The other day, Fast Company launched a great promotion idea of trying to find the most influential person in social media. After a discussion in the office, the inevitable name of Justin Bieber surfaced (the teen pop star with claims of being the most viewed on YouTube and most tweeted celeb). So, in the interest of science we ran a little challenge:

1. Create a Justin Bieber profile.
2. Get Justin in the top 20% in no more than 10 tweets.

The tweet limit was really important as the way the Influence Project works is by measuring how many people click your link – it’s reactive, not pro-active.

First we grabbed an image of his Bieberness. This one was nice with the sun and trees in the background.

Now considering the site was already monitoring more than 19,000 social media folk, who were actively messaging/spamming their contacts across Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook and anything else, getting our JB to the 20% in only 10 tweets was a tall ask. But, if there is one thing I’ve learnt from this, it’s never under estimate the power of word of mouth when driven by delirious teen-bop fans and a very large lesbian fan club.

Next step was to get tweeting. For convenience, I used one of my own existing Twitter accounts. The fact I already have followers is a moot point as none of them would click to vote for Justin Bieber. I know 95% of my followers on this account personally and they are certainly not Bieber fans.

Yes, ignore my Twitter name and focus on the messaging. I think the link is still live actually.

Now all profiles on the social influence site start at zero. Unfortunately, I forgot to screengrab the profile when it was fresh but it was at zero. Create one yourself to see.

So, the profile was created at 17:00 (GMT) and tweeted twice in ten minutes. The result was climbing from rank 19,155 to 6,432. To clarify, that’s a nose-bleed climb of nearly 13,000 places… in 10 mins… in 2 tweets. That puts him in the top 34%. Pretty impressive numbers

Bieber storms up nearly 13,000 places in 10 mins!

So I then tweeted five times in the next seven minutes and saw him reach the top 18%. Target reached in seventeen minutes!

Only seven minutes later and the Biebernator is still flying!

And once more, two hours later.

Smashing all targets, Justin claims a top 15% place within half an hour of going live!

And finally, once more two hours later. This saw him climb to the top 9%.

Within a few hours of going live, Justin Bieber sits in the top 9% of the list.

What we get to see is the power of Bieber’s fan factor. That only a few tweets in a few hours can deliver thousands of click throughs and take a profile from zero to the top 9%. Whilst it was a fun ‘test’, it still leaves a lot to be considered:

• Would so many people click if it was linked to a product endorsement?
• How many of the fans even cared about the end result?
• What ratio of fans would ‘unsubscribe’ from a similar initiative?

The test was never going to answer these questions, it was just a peep under the curtain of the power of celebs in social media, within which we should also cover the power of fake celebs in social media.

The point is that whilst you may not have Justin Bieber following you, there are likely to be many influencers out there who are advocates for your brand and how many of them do you know? How many of them do you actively engage with and supply with relevant content and tools to empower their messaging about your brand?

If you want to find out more about who the key influencers are for your brand and how to better engage them then just get in touch.

PR agencies just don't get Social CRM, so they lie to win the work which ultimately fails the client, themselves and the industry at large.

PR focuses on getting a message out and achieving the widest possible reach. It’s essentially a one-way process. Transposed online, this approach boils down to an exercise in collecting the widest possible number of contacts and practically spamming them. Unfortunately, having a big address book doesn’t just create a two-way dialogue. PR firms are not equipped to go beyond shallow relationships which treat all contacts the same – but there’s nothing “social” about being put on a press release mailing list. Worse, PR agencies are often not able to deal with the fallout when things go wrong and the social tide turns against them. Numerous brands have suffered from coming across as smug, cocky or overly-aggressive as a result of seemingly innocuous Facebook pages, Twitter feeds or mobile apps.

In an attempt to win all the business, many PR agencies claim to have a Social Media team, which is often only one person... usually the one who tweets the most

True social relationships are sophisticated and hard to maintain. They require nurturing, support and constant stimulation in order to thrive, and this has to be specific and targeted to the people at the other end. No one enjoys a conversation with someone who just talks at you and doesn’t listen back or engage with what you say.

This maintenance takes specialist knowledge, skills and tools to really work. Unfortunately this is often overlooked because many of the tools are widely used and freely accessible. Too often social media is treated like a bolt-on to a PR strategy – in fact I know of at least one PR agency who told their client that they would do social media “for free”. This attitude devalues the work and knowledge of the firms who really understand what they’re doing in the social sphere and it fosters a view that if someone can build a fan page on Facebook or login to Blogger then they are fully equipped to run a firm’s social strategy.

Sadly this isn’t true. There’s a reason that good Social CRM costs money and it’s the same reason that clients don’t get their neighbour with a camcorder to make their TV ads. Knowledge and skills cost real money, but funnily enough so does damaging your brand. So next time a PR agency tries to tell you that their social media “team” can do it all for free, ask them this:

1. What experience do they have of building long-term social relationships? Can they show examples of actual two-way engagement?
2. What tools and services can they offer which are specific to the social realm? Can they measure the success of their efforts in actual results and real data – and not just give you a figure for the number of people who clicked “like”?
3. What specific technical skills do they have? How are they set-up to react to the evolution of online technology?
4. How are they equipped to dealing with customers online, especially when things go wrong? Including responses outside of ‘office’ hours?

If any of these get a blank look or a politicians answer, you know it is time to talk to someone who knows what they’re talking about.

H&M have undertaken a very central-lead approach to social media that means that most of the activity and all of the messaging comes straight out of the head office in Stockholm.  This has also meant that instead of starting up separate Facebook fan pages for each and every nation where they have a presence they run an international fan page that brings together all nationalities (do I need to mention that the language used is English?).

High quality video content from H&M

However, the pictures is slightly different if you have a peak at Twitter, where they have multiple accounts representing different countries including Norway, Israel, Spain, Canada, US… the list is long.  If you look at these channels the following is very different, and the UK based page has only 2,500+ followers (much lower than rivals such as River Island, All Saints and Topman/Topshop).  Why do you think that this is?  My take is that they use Facebook as a hub for activity and information, whereas Twitter is a more tactical channel that will benefit from using the local languages of the different markets.

I especially like their approach to video, and how they update their website and YouTube channels with regular and high quality content (H&M Fashion Video’s) from around the globe.  By glancing at views these are much appreciated by the fans and followers.

Shop H&M online in the UK this autumn

This autumn H&M will start selling clothes online to the UK market, which currently is only available to a limited number of countries (Scandinavia and a few select).  Further, they will introduce a new collection called ‘H&M Home’ with affordable fashion gear for your home – leopard print towels, sheets and cushions in current colors, lace curtains and more.  Do you think it will be well received?

Sarah Curran at mywardrobe.com event this week

I always used to think that buying clothes online had that discount-lead and almost ‘flog-it-on-Ebay’ feel to it. I would browse for fun (for hours) but before clicking to buy thoughts would always cross my mind in line with: I wonder if this is fake? What if I don’t like it? What is the hook?

However, this has changed and E-tailing has grown into a beautiful swan allowing us to by those desired goodies that you only could get when travelling before. We can also see a shift in how the big brands approach online: what used to make them nervous has turned into something that they heavily rely on whether it’s outlets or marketing and awareness, as well as engaging with customers and building loyalty.

Sarah Curran, Co-Founder and CEO for mywardobe.com, opened up to a small group of fashionistas (and myself) at SOHO Sanctum this week and shared her thoughts and experiences from working within this environment. She explained how passion and good PR has been the key ingredients in the success that she and her husband Anthony have seen so far. “I didn’t know all the answers when we started, it was simply learning by doing, which is sometimes the hardest but also the best way to do things.  E-tailing is a different animal from retailing so needs a different treatment.“

Mywardrobe.com has seen some rapid growth and will this upcoming autumn be able to offer over 200 fashion brands for women and men online.  The main KPI is conversion:

“You have to have that width and breath to be able to offer a unique and lasting browsing experience, which in turn requires a large stock. It is not enough to have three different models within the category ‘skirts’. Better browsing equals better conversion. Fact.”

Based upon this mywardrobe.com is investing in their stock, as well as new marketing initiatives and continuously developing the website. Innovation and web development is something that determines how they compete with other E-tailers. Social media is another field where they are focusing a lot of efforts. Sarah presses the fact that there is no hard sell within these channels; 77% of users come back every week and so the most important thing is to speak directly to these customers, making them feel welcome and allowing them to be inspired and browse the different content.

The Mulberry bag that sold out before it hit the shelves

One last comment for those fashionistas reading and wondering what products sell best at the moment – Women are buying colourful statement pieces this year, and so allowing things to cost a little bit more if it makes us feel good and stand out. Sounds about right, do you agree? I’d also be curious to hear if you buy clothes online?

TOP 10 CAMPAIGNS 2000 – 2009

1.      2006: Eepybird.com – Mentos + Diet Coke experiments

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hKoB0MHVBvM]

This campaign was never planned, neither by The Coca Cola Company nor Mentos. It started out as an experiment by Eepybird. A qualified guess would be that more than 60 million people have seen the clips that made Eepybird, Coke and Mentos internet stars.

2.      2006: Dove – Evolution:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U]

A great example of a corporate brand using the web to gain the trust of consumers. Taking internet users behind the scenes of the fashion industry allowed Dove to occupy the moral high ground, no mean feat I think you’ll agree!

3.      2006: Blendtec – Will it blend

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qg1ckCkm8YI]

Some people and marketing campaigns succeed in life against all odds. Tom Dickson and Blendtec are two great examples. 90 videos and 100 million views later he, Blendtec and “will it blend” are forever part of internet history.

4.      2007: Diesel – Heidies 15mb of fame

http://www.farfar.se/awards/cannes2007/heidies/

Heidies was all the reason Diesel usually succeeds. Doing something the others wouldn’t dare and doing it in a way that is highly surprising – and very sexy.

5.      2004: Burger King – Subservient Chicken

http://www.bk.com/en/us/campaigns/subservient-chicken.html

A man in a chicken suit willing to do whatever you tell him: what’s not to like? This is undoubtedly one of the most memorable campaigns of all time.

6.      2008: Obama’s online campaign

http://my.barackobama.com/page/content/ofasplashpresident/

Barack Obama’s digital campaign was truly game changing. A great use of online advertising, social media and mobile allowed Obama to connect with millions of young, influential voters in a way that will act as a blueprint for all future political campaigns.

7.      2000: John West – Bear

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CVS1UfCfxlU]

One of the most forwarded videos ever, Leo Burnett’s ad featuring a kickboxing Kodiac bear arguably marked the birth of viral marketing.

8.      2009: Tourism Queensland – Best Job in the World

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SI-rsong4xs]

This campaign extended far beyond the web to effectively become the world’s greatest PR stunt – generating more than £50m of equivalent paid-for ad space. Anyone still need convincing of the power of social media? No, I didn’t think so.

9.      2008: Burger King – Whopper sacrifice

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YI4uzOAtPiE]

Delete ten friends and get a free whopper. Eventually removed by Facebook itself. Genius because it tapped into an existing truth – everyone has friends on Facebook you care so little about, you’d swap them for a whopper.

10.     2008: Cadbury’s – Gorilla

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TnzFRV1LwIo]

This was a game-changer in its humour, broad appeal and in showcasing that digital advertising can reach a wider (non-web-centric) audience.
Read the full article with analysis from Jimmy Mayman over at NetImperative

where will you put your photo?

when people want to edit their photos looks cool, we always use photoshop, but it’s not easy for a novice .so i was look for a easy way to do this. Yesterday, i found an interesting and useful website that we can creat our own funny photos effect online easily .

Picjoke.com is an online photoshop website that will give you a cool experience. It is using for photofunia technology. Photofunia is a online photo editing tool that gives us a pleasant experience. It is a widget that lets you merge your photos into already prepared templates and you can create very funny pictures.

For more info, links and photos check out the post here.

make 2009 a very merry Xmas

Online has demonstrated non-stop growth every Christmas in the retail sector and never has this been more important than in the current economic climate. Luckily for you, it can be even more cost effective…

We’ve teamed up with SheerLuxe to offer our clients a massive discount of the full day conference… and now we’ve managed to negotiate coverage for all followers of Neoco. The full agenda is below, including how to get your discount but the important thing to remember is that if you are planning on any selling this Christmas, this is a must-attend event. Neoco will be down there too to help out with any additional questions you may have.

A highly esteemed array of industry experts are presenting, including:
• Nick Robertson – founder of ASOS
• Nick Wheeler – founder of Charles Tyrwhitt & other half of The White Company founder Chrissie Rucker
• Emilie Carson – More2 & the founders of Isabella Oliver Vanessa Knox-Brien & Baukjen de Swaan Arons
• Vicky Lovell – Head of Operations at Astley Clarke, previously x7 yrs at John Lewis Direct
• Paul Sheehy – Chillifish & Peter Levenspiel – Chillifish & Ex Net-A-Porter e-commerce manager
• Andrew Wilson – The Catalogue Consultancy

Topics to be covered include planning your Christmas Strategy / Budget / Timings, your Christmas PPC campaign, viral marketing to grow your database cost effectively whilst driving sales, Christmas online merchandising, PR & standing out from the crowd, as well as the invaluable opportunity to network with likeminded businesses in your sector.

Wednesday 8th July, 2009 9am – 5pm Fulham, London SW6

9.30 – 10.10 Ecommerce Lessons from an Entrepreneur
Nick Wheeler (founder of Charles Tyrwhitt)

10.10 – 10.50 Your Christmas PPC Campaign
Piri Ramazanoglu (founder of MinuteSteak)
- When to start
- Allocating your PPC budget
- Finding the right key words in this competitive period
- Writing the right copy
- Bidding on Christmas competitors

10.50 – 11.20 COFFEE

11.20 – 12.05 Strategy / Timings / Budget this Christmas
Anne Stagg(more2)
- When to start planning your Christmas activity
- How to allocate your budget between existing and prospective clients
- Incentives and choices beyond discounting
- Co promotions and joint marketing
- Can you recruit through a sale?

12.05 – 12.45 Viral Marketing to Grow Your Database
Paul Sheehy (Chillifish) & Peter Levenspiel (Chillifish & Ex Net-A-Porter e-commerce manager)
- What is Viral Marketing and why does it work?
- Looking at ways to grow your database in the run up to Christmas to ensure you are communicating to a larger audience during this crucial trading time.
- Pssst, pass it on: a look at successful viral campaigns

12.45 – 13.45 LUNCH

13.45 – 14.35 Online Merchandising
Andrew Wilson (The Catalogue Consultancy)

In this fast paced session Andrew will cover how you can get the most of your merchandising this Christmas to increase your sales and profits with no extra expenditure.
- “Long Tail” or “Paradox of Choice” which applies to your range?
- How to use analytics to inform your merchandising
- Creating the correct price hierarchy for your site
- Getting the correct relationship between navigation and merchandising
- The small changes that can make a huge difference to your profits

14.35 – 15.15 PR, Marketing, Standing Out From the Crowd
Emilie Carson (more2) & Founders of Isabella Oliver
- Recognition: Who are your target markets & how to find them
- Repetition: Getting maximum impact from your campaigns / creative approaches to pr and media
- Reputation: How to influence what people think of your brand / tips to bringing your brand to life
- Recommendation: How to encourage customers to become brand advocates

15.15 – 15.45 COFFEE

15.45 – 16.25 Planning & Executing Successful Christmas Trading:
The rules are the same whether you are large or small
Vicky Lovell (Astley Clarke, Ops Director & previously John Lewis Direct, Head of Customer Service)
- Stock, Delivery, Customer Communications: What should you be thinking about – now
- Which strategy best fits your business?
- A unified approach
- Pulling it off!

16.25 – 17.00 Q&A Session
Nick Robertson (founder of ASOS)

17.00 – 19.00 DRINKS @ Chateau 6

*******

Interested in your discounted entry:

Simply email georgiecoleridgecole@sheerluxe.com quoting NEOCO to book at the early bird rate ( only £155 for independents).

Don’t say we never give you anything!

*******

one dimensional chart showing media influence on consumers

A Marketing article from last week covered the new Deloitte report on media influencer on consumers. Unsurprisingly TV is listed as the most influential media for consumers. Even less surprising are the old school media people scoffing at online ‘scraping in’ at third place – after magazines. The sad fact is that a lot of (but thankfully not all) marketing and brand people will look at these results and not consider the following:

• Cost of Online vs TV
• Potential reach of Online vs TV
• Indirect support benefit of Online with TV
• Consumer awareness (how many times do you remember Googling a brand? It’s just part of web life now and does not have the recall value of an advert)

The sad thing about this is that despite the fact there has never been a more exciting, dynamic and interesting time to be in Marketing, to many budget controllers believe it’s ‘business as usual’ and pour money in to TV without applying a contextually relevant figure to Online.

I loathe stats like this. Sales increase of £12m thanks to ad spots on Coronation street - what about the other activity? And how much did it cost to get amonth of ad spots on Coronation Street! I appreciate Thinkbox is TV focused but come on.

At Neoco, we’ve been saying for years that Online/ Digital is not a silo and should not be treated as such. Don’t look at these media in isolation; Digital works best as part of an integrated campaign. Integrated campaigns work best with Digital.

IKEA furniture

Based—where else?—in Sweden, I LOVE IKEA is a new online marketplace for consumers looking to buy and sell secondhand IKEA furniture.

Buyers can search by region and city to find items nearby, or by category: bathroom, kitchen, office, etc. Product descriptions include the usual: photo, price and contact details, but are generally brief—after all, buyers can easily find more information in IKEA’s catalogue. Placing ads is free until August 1st. After that, the site will charge sellers a small fee per ad.

On every general classifieds site, from Craigslist to preloved.co.uk, there’s an abundance of secondhand IKEA goods on offer. According to I LOVE IKEA, they’re included in over 20,000 ads per month in newspapers and online marketplaces. And that’s just in Sweden. So it makes sense to create a marketplace dedicated to IKEA’s wares, making it easier for consumers to locate items by name or type. I LOVE IKEA isn’t affiliated with the object of their affection; as they put it, they’re “a tribute to IKEA’s amazing range, and a response to recent developments towards a more sustainable society.” Following its launch in Sweden, I LOVE IKEA aims to expand to the rest of Europe soon.

Enduringly popular around the world, IKEA will no doubt continue to spawn businesses that offer complementary goods and services. Need more inspiration to start an IKEA ‘feeder business’ of your own? Check out slip covers for sofas by Bemz, delivery to Nasheville by ModerNash, decorative adhesives by Grippiks and add-ons by Parts of Sweden, all of which have built successful companies on an IKEA foundation.

Website: www.iloveikea.se
Contact: info@iloveikea.se

The only potential issue is that we’ve yet to own IKEA furniture that would be reusable to anyone second-hand – most of it only last a few years. It’s also interesting that whilst some brands like Habitat have yet to even implement a first-stage ecommerce site, industry leaders like IKEA are involved in several!

source: Springwise

Want more insight like this? Neoco send out a regular email with a collection of great facts and insight like this, combined with a series of workshops for that enable you to maximise that knowledge. Just get in touch with Benn for more info.