The Sphere of Influence which follows is a bespoke Neoco tool – one of the many to come from our CPD. This tool enables us to measure, benchmark and accurately project engagement and reach for existing and new campaigns. We build the insight around specific client and industry data, knowledge and experience.

This tool is ideal within Social CRM as it puts the customer at the very heart, so we can monitor their Sphere of Influence. This tool also enables us to measure both individual and group level influence, in addition to campaign activity. This is of great benefit to know as it enables a level of filtering that would otherwise be unavailable. Through this we can specifically select and engage highly influential individuals, groups of individuals and benchmark campaign activity.

Here is an example of a campaign:

Sphere of Influence sample - campaign

We can see that the campaign generated 117 Primary Engagements – in this case, let’s say it was audience photo’s uploaded to a Facebook app.

Those 117 Primary Engagements delivered 13,339 Secondary Engagements – in this case, let’s say it was Likes and Comments on the photos and Votes on the Facebook app.

Primary Reach is simply the original 117 audience members multiplied by their total, non-overlapping friends (a very important point that one, as overlapping friends are much more common in any activity but substantially reduce the Sphere size – it’s always best to be honest). Our Primary Reach in this case is 15,784 people. This is also interesting as it enables us to approximately calculate our audience average friend count – about 134 in this case. Another useful piece of data as you start to build up campaign activity.

Secondary Reach are the impressions generated from the activity. This data is raw data that defines how many times any of the photos, Likes, Comments or Votes was displayed on a user Wall or other feed. This is a combination of Facebook and server metrics. In this case, the secondary reach was 1,739,104 impressions.

As a one-off campaign you can now see and measure the effectiveness or Sphere of Influence of this activity in a way that previously you would not of been able to. As one piece of activity in an on-going strategy, you can likely see the value and accumulated knowledge that can be built up and used to assess effectiveness, engagement, reach and much more of each type of activity. This helps us understand the audience and what they ‘like’ which ensures we can better engage them in future campaigns.

Going back to the earlier point, we can also apply this tool to all the individuals from our Primary Engagement. In the above case, we could build a ’solar system’ of 117 Spheres and map the overlap or interplay between them. For practicality, let’s just look a few of the 117 sample data:

Sphere of Influence sample - solar system of Individuals

Interestingly, we can now start to define Influence of individuals and their networks. Within the solar system we also define people who engaged across multiple Spheres or people who generate their own powerful gravitational pull – much like Jupiter or Saturn hold several moons in their orbit. Again, this data becomes even more valuable as we build it up over time, developing a richer understanding of the audience, their networks and their influence.

Finally, it’s important to note that the model also enables us to redefine what the Primary Engagement is. In the above case, we used photos submitted to a Facebook app but it we could we be measuring virtual or affiliate purchases, video uploads or almost anything besides.

This tool is one of many in use at Neoco and more still in development. We see these as a small part of ensuring our clients get the very most from their Social CRM activity with us.

Social media is increasing becoming a factor in how brands communicate with their customers.  The facts are hard to ignore:

- Facebook has over 400 million users worldwide

- 40 per cent of the UK population is on Facebook

- 2.5 million active Twitter users in UK

- Over 30 million tweets per day

- YouTube is the second biggest search engine in the world

These are just a few of the social networks out there and there are many more…   However, you don’t have to be signed up to all of them to effectively communicate with your public.  Three regularly updated, channels are better than nine neglected social platforms.  Once you’ve established what social channels best reach your target audience, outlined below are a few tips to get the best out of what’s out there.

5 Social Media Top Tips

Keep updating

Creating a profile page is the first step, not the last.  Content needs to be refreshed, statuses updated, keep on top of it and you’ll find it becomes part of your marketing day.  Even better still is a customised page for your brand that keeps your visual presence uniform on various social websites.

Tone of voice

Social media is an opportunity relate to your audience in a more direct and open way.  Often it’s the personality of the brand or the more human qualities that distinguish your posts from other brands, and in turn will get you a reaction or comment from your audience.  This form of authenticity is in a sense a conversation rather than a lecture or company statement.  Plus you only have 140 characters (for Twitter) so make them count..

Don’t keep talking about yourself

Keep your communication varied and interesting.  You don’t have to keep pitching your product or service, as this can get repetitive and may switch people off your updates.  Remember not all news is newsworthy to your audience.  Do your followers or fans want to know about your admin issues?  Probably not, however they may want to know about a new innovation in the industry or a funny viral video that relates to your line of work.

Use multimedia platforms

Social video websites like YouTube are a great way of demonstrating how a product works in its optimum context.  This can aid the marketing efforts no end if produced correctly and with a bit of imagination.  Plus these videos can receive valuable feedback as well as integrate with other social platforms.

Make all your channels work for you

Combine the reach and high usage on Facebook with the status updates of twitter.  Also post YouTube videos of events or product demonstrations on your Facebook page.  Your social media can work together to provide a cohesive message for all you’re company communications.

Here at Neoco we can identify, consult and look after your businesses social media requirements.   Having worked with leading brands like Topman, Nationwide and Ubisoft – we can help you get in on the social act!

Pokemon times are over for emerged social media users

Narrowcasting in social media is nothing new, from a theory perspective it follows the lifecycle of ‘real life’ friends as you gain friends through your younger more energetic years and then refine these relationships to only maintain the meaningful or typically most convenient. Burger King ran a great campaign a while ago encouraging people to trim their Facebook friends for food rewards.

One of the recent tools to enable narrowcasting in an interesting way is LoKast. LoKast is a disposable, location specific social network. In a nutshell, anyone can create a Lokast network (at a club, party, conference, etc) and allow other people to join. People can then share anything from contact info to music and video files, chat or more.

LoKast social network creator

It’s still a little buggy (at time of writing this) but it’s a nice idea and something I’ve done a few times with friends for good effect. This is a good way to create narrowcast networks that are 100% relevant to what you are doing right now and only reaching the people who immediately count. There is always the option to push this content further – in a broadcast way – to make the most of content created or to encourage people to join your narrowcast.

The other attraction has to be the ‘disposable’ nature of the network. This is a boon regarding privacy and security fears but also ties in with the fast moving nature of some social groups. This also works well with marketing promotions: We run a limited audience music gig and share audio and video with the fans who attend. in a much easier way than any other method for immediate delivery at the gig. They are also more likely to push this on to their networks as it is ‘live’ with them right away.

Is narrowcasting the future of social networking? Most definitely not. But it is definitely a part of the future of social media and social networking.

A free iPhone App offers a map of all the spots across town and an augmented view to help people find spots near them. The campaign brings London’s rich history to life through a simple experiential event.

So far so good… I obviously had to check out the website www.youarehere.com. First impressions where really disappointing and the online element just didn’t achieve the same level of engagement as the rest of the campaign. From a design perspective the ‘page’ is cluttered and content hierarchy is unclear. I was expecting a whole microsite around the campaign with more photos and content – maybe real stories from people associated with each photo. In fact it’s just a poor landing page – they may as well had not pushed the URL on all the posters as heavily. It’s a shame because there is a really big opportunity to add a further level of engagement online through user interaction and social media. I’d have liked to have seen an online platform for discussion and information exchange – helping to paint an even richer background to each of the spots and events, from local peoples knowledge.

I just wish the online element was stronger, or even just more clearly sign-posted. Don’t get me wrong the iPhone App is simple and fun, but trying to find it in the App store was difficult. Maybe I was having a stupid moment! I tried searching for ‘Museum of London’ first – nothing. Then ‘You are here’ – nothing again! Finally I realised the small print on the landing page which read “Just search for Streetmuseum on iTunes”. OK I downloaded it but this third campaign title was a little hidden and why they couldn’t highlight the App name more if it was so different (especially on the posters), or even hyperlink to the iTunes store (like I have).

Overall it’s a real shame because the thinking behind the idea is beautiful, the offline execution is done brilliantly, and the iPhone itself is good fun. In summary ‘must try harder next time’.

The Topman trouser shoot did not go to plan.

We’ve been working with Topman on their social media and developed their profiles from a standing start to thriving communities providing rich consumer insight and sales. One of our recent projects for London Fashion Week was identified by Yahoo! as the most viewed and searched show during the period. This is a great example of how involving the community demonstrates real value, providing more impact and exposure than competitors. Independent pat on the backs from brands like Yahoo! are always welcome but we also have our own way of tracking results – just ask about our social rating tool.

The press release is below but we think it is a powerful testament to our social work when our male only campaign trumped unisex campaigns by other brands.

***TOPMAN REIGNS SUPREME ON LONDON FASHION WEEK’S CATWALK***
Men’s Growing Passion for Fashion Revealed By Yahoo! Search

Friday 26th February 2010.  As the curtain falls on London Fashion Week, Yahoo! Search has been looking at who reigned fashion supreme as King or Queen of this season’s catwalk.

The Yahoo! Search data over the last week revealed the Topman Design collection made the greatest impact and buzz.  Proving that consumers still have a passion for high street fashion the show generated the highest search reaction and greatest keyword spike of the entire London Fashion Week.

Usually incorporated into the successful MAN event, this year’s AW2010 showcase is the first time Topman Design stepped out on its own.

Following on the smartly polished heels of Topman’s premium collection, the ever popular Vivienne Westwood and Burberry collections ranked in runner-up positions.

Top 5 London Fashion Week Collections by Popularity

1 Topman Design
2 Vivienne Westwood
3 Burberry
4 Jaeger
5 Jasper Conran

After being selected as the Twitter logo, Kevin the bird piled on the pounds (dollars)

Yeah, I know. That title is pretty cool huh? Twitter is catching up as a sales channel but I switch the ‘catching’ with ‘ka-ching’ (the sound of money ringing the tills). I’m certain my talent as a newspaper headline writer is lost in this job. Anyway, the twittering right now is about Sony Vaio generating £1m in sales from their Twitter channel.

Quite a few people have picked up on this and response seems to be quite mixed. Many figures are taking it with a pinch of salt but it’s not that much of a stretch. This is a global channel and part of their integrated marketing and PR. From our own experience with clients we’ve delivered social campaigns with a crazy high sales ROI, that if you scaled up to the Vaio activity would be substantially higher. A good example would be our work for Topman… but Sir Phil Green would likely slap me if said any more than that. Needless to say that the main costs are in the set up and once you have a critical mass, directing traffic, response and importantly sales becomes easier and increasingly more effective.

interaction vs proximity graph

Brands are no longer able pitch the credentials of their products to the current social media generation. Push is almost out, but pull is sky rocketing in. Buyers and consumers want trusted and real information from people like themselves and know where to go, to get it. They need it stamped as trustworthy and good for usage (with extra features) not by any company that dreamed up the slogan at a coffee shop meeting, but by the members of a social network that they can see, interact with, and most importantly something that they chose to join. They all have an appetite for the real interaction that generate buzz in which they are a part of. Facebook’s 350 million user posts and its shared 3.5 Billion different content per week, is what these consumers want.

Talk about a lot of possible brand awareness and brand management. People know the members of their social media networks and trust what they have to say. They can access all this information quickly and easily to help them learn about the product, and step into a shop knowing more about the goods compared to the shopkeeper himself.

Social media is about investing in relationships that create more economic value than they cost. It is about engaging with the people who decide whether to buy or not buy what you are selling, like it or dislike it, recommend it or trash it, and even to mould it or to throw it out the window.

A great (and very fun) way to show the power of social media marketing is to enter “(BRAND NAME) sucks” into Google. Put into consideration the fact that around 80% of the information read on the Internet today is not read on the site that it was originally published, but through social media, the word is spread to different websites, blogs, forums and networks. It is no longer just a fad for kids or a way to spread the word about your fart app; social media is evolving as a powerful and a fast paced low-cost, high-reward tool for making the sales, turning profits and taking home the big prize.  The price tag is appealing and it is no holds barred.

Channel Chanel

User-generated content is key to social media and fashion. From blogs to Facebook photo contributions to product reviews, the user-generated content is at its apex. One of the most notable and consistent campaigns that are built around user-generated content and social media has been from the brand Charlotte Russe, The brand’s weekly trivia contest on it’s Twitter channel or virals from their YouTube channel, drives the consumers to their website with the high hopes of snagging some great prizes.

Another great example of user-generated content used is Burberry’s Art of the Trench site. The people are encouraged to upload photos of themselves wearing Burberry’s signature style, the trench coat. Burberry is on a roll when it comes to online advertising to showcase their goods.

Moving into 2010, brands and retailers will be delving deeper into social media to reach online audiences. Digital and e-commerce launches of new products have also been a popular way for brands to keep costs low in a tough economy for luxury products. A variety of mobile platforms have taken off as brands, magazines, and web sites to develop apps with the goal of extending their online presence and widening the distribution channels.

When it comes to developing apps, fashion brands are some of the fastest out of the blocks. Chanel shows its runway collections via iPhone app, and the Gilt Groupe app allows users to shop sample sales and receive alerts as to when sales are starting. Guilt free apps to download for the stylish brand hunter! We’re currently developing iPhone and Blackberry apps for fashion brands around London Fashion Week.

The future of fashion is in digital marketing, not only have these brands started to win over the consumers through social media campaigns, but are starting to create their own niche groups. Louis Vuitton, Dolce & Gabbana and other major league heavy hitters in the fashion industry have launched their own social networks or added social components to their existing web sites. Or in the case of TOPMAN, we’ve worked to build their community over existing social networks and channels to lighten the load on the brand and keep things relevant to their audience.

It’s been a tough education, but we start to see less one-way discount promotions, and more genuine interaction between the brand and the people, it makes everyone happier and allows sales to boost, with satisfaction of personally acquainting yourself with who you are purchasing your new outfit from.

It seems that wanting to measure media is related to how people like to use familiar and perhaps ‘safe’ business terms such as transactions, revenue and customers when taking about returns on investment. And it’s up to the ‘social media guy’ to be creative around how to meet these requirements.

But why is it that no one seems to know how to measure ROI for social media? Could it be that ROI is a business metric inapplicable in this instance?

One of the many suggestions that came up during the last camp involved going back to basics, and therefore monitoring the baseline before and after social media activities. This has proven to work in a few cases where ROI has increased as brand image and customer communications has improved. However, on big projects social media might not have any threshold weight and so it is very unlikely to be measured against the baseline… Also, how do we apply this when the social media activity is no longer new to the business, but rather built in? I’m afraid, this evening Measurement Camp didn’t manage to measure a lot…

Two final notes: Firstly, although this may sound obvious, organisations should really get better at saving buzz and sending over a copy to the RnD department. Talk about valuable leftovers! And secondly, a little bird tweeted in my ear and said that ‘if it easy to measure it is useless’. The debate about how to best measure social media is not over yet!

It would probably have been useful if the organisers had determined the definition of social media before the debate begun, as this was the main part of the whole debate and its aftermath.

There were a few interesting questions that came up during the debate though; if you pay for viral is it still viral? If you pay for social, have you really earned it? Are social media users, and more importantly bloggers, really in it for the money, or for increasing status, their passion and personal expertise?

For sure, the social platforms are all out there, open for any user or organisation for free. But there is a huge benefit from getting help from people who knows the drill. The debate took silly proportions as there is no way of neglecting the value time and money spent on social media brings to businesses. Social media management is a long-term investment that requires people’s time. The pay-offs are amazing though.

At the end of the event all present took a vote, and it became clear that over 65% of the audience thought that social media could or should be paid for – and thereby got Neoco’s sign of approval!