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?

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!

If we got together we could make brown babies

There is a tabletop game called Risk! I cannot quite remember all the territories but I think the most difficult to win with was the Russians. Fighting a war on so many fronts was a costly business and often the death of many a player. It’s seems clear that Google never played Risk! as their purchase of YouTube was much like buying the Russian territory in the game – a relentless battle on many fronts that drains resources. But if there was ever an organisation with a war chest big enough to to take the ‘risk’ then it would have to be Google. With some of the brightest minds pouring over the YouTube business looking for revenue models, they have done well to at least stem some of the flow if not plug it entirely. With that we’ve also seen an ascent (?) taking YouTube from ‘Poacher to Gamekeeper‘ and this continues with the (very discreet) launch of their new video rental service.

This is a HUGE piece of news due to the potential impact of this business model succeeding.

last seen wearing a T-shirt that read "I killed Blockbuster Video"

First, there is the competitive marketplace that already exists in this sector. Netflix is the major player here but there are many more like LoveFilm (UK) or the new Hulu service. The issue for those guys is the sheer size of YouTube’s audience which should steam roll them and mean it starts with a significant advantage.

Taking a bite out of Apple

Then there is the already existing rental service of iTunes. This is a big player too but Apple benefits from a large community of advocates (sometimes against reason) who will remain loyal. But this is not the biggest fear for Apple or potential ‘win’ for Google. That comes when we move to future technology. Let’s consider the YouTube rental service does well and picks up momentum. It would be very logical to build a YouTube Android phone…

take me to your iPhone

Android is already hotly tipped to take over the iPhone as the number one smartphone. There is no doubt it can win on units but what about the service. I’ve long said that Apple stands head and shoulders over it’s rivals because of the iTunes platform. It is more reliable, intuitive and ‘ingrained’ with the audience than any other store (including Ovi). But a YouTube Android phone changes that game. Imagine YouTube start serving all music (with optional videos) too. Now with an API on my phone (or dedicated handset) I could stream (on tether to my phone) a massive library of my music and video content. This becomes a major selling point for Google (and their partners like HTC) whilst really eating in to the iTunes dependency of some user. Consider, that I could then also easily share my playlists with friends or arrange to watch a movie at the same time (in different locations) and chat or skype too. There are a lot of possibilities here and it’s very exciting to see where things go.

argg, me hearties. I love's a good Googlin' on the high seas!

Finally, there is the irony element. Forget the potential here, let’s look at the service being a success and YouTube creating original content for their audience. Pretty much every online video service has done this at one point or another. You then have to consider the irony of YouTube creating original content which will be ripped and pirated by the audience and uploaded for free around the web – maybe even on another future YouTube. And is that the point when we recognise YouTube has finally come of age?

NB. I couldn’t put all this in and not mention Blockbuster Video. What has happened to them and where will this leave them?

"I used to be a somebody..."

In a slight side-step from Neoco’s staple digital-focused posts, I thought I would air a few comments about a campaign that has almost burnt-out the pixels in my brand new TV, owing to the media buyers who seem to have bought all the slots on More 4 as part of this campaign at the minute. The campaign is for Halifax, whose recent TV ad highlights the £5 payment they offer all their award current account customers each month.

As a Halifax customer, I have to admit that this ad makes me feel genuinely embarrassed, firstly for seemingly entrusting my money to a complete bunch of social outcasts, but also for the poor individuals working for Halifax who have now had this idiotic reflection forced upon them by their marketing department.

I can usually understand the logic behind involving the staff in advertising campaigns – using it as a motivational tool by letting the staff know they are respected and valued, while at the same time appealing to the sensitivities of the consumer by appearing to be a transparent and sharing, caring organization. This has been a strong theme in a lot of above-the-line ads of late, my most memorable being the ongoing Sainsbury’s campaign, and in the main I think it works.

However, this campaign fails to build on the success of the Halifax Howard years, simply because Howard was a genuine employee, clearly having a laugh at his own expense, rallying the workforce to get on board and have a laugh with him. As such, this highlighted Halifax as a bank unafraid of breaking with stuffy banking conventions, clearly focusing on more liberal ways of doing things, whilst always continuing to credit its employees within its advertising. Unfortunately, what this new campaign has done is offer a pedestal to a group of Halifax employees who, rather than spending their days working in the bank (God forbid!), instead work at a Halifax radio station taking calls from other employees who have deluded themselves into thinking they’re in space, simply because they’ve put a waste paper bin on their head. And I’m not even going to mention the ‘high fives’ littered throughout the minute-long ad – I’m sure you can reach your own conclusion.

What DLKW have failed to realize is that the success of the Howard campaign was simply because it offered the consumer a laugh alongside the main sales message, a laugh which was at the expense of an individual rather than reflecting on the company as a whole. In my opinion, this campaign doesn’t offer nearly enough ‘entertainment’ to achieve cut-through with the audience to actually deliver the sales message (I’ve watched this ad 100 times or so now and still needed to re-wind the YouTube video just then to actually figure out what the ad is trying to say!). Not only that, it makes you wonder why you would ever put your money in the hands of a bunch of work-shy monkeys, so even if the message does hit home, you’re immediately going to question it anyway. In short, I’ll be moving my savings account. <Rant ends>

How does it relate to you?

Social Media/”Consumer Generated Media”, although fairly new compared to other forms of online communication is the third most popular way to spend time online, in fact 1/5 of all time spent online, in the UK is spent on Social Networks. Added to this is the perception, among the more traditional among you is that Social Networks are there just for younger audiences that just spend most their time on Facebook/Myspace/YouTube. Yes these are key sites, and yes young people are still in these spaces, but there is a huge space online that is inhabited by all ages, in fact between April 08 – April 09 18-34 age group lost a 8.3% share of online user composition, in community member sites. There is almost an equal share between 18-34 and 35-49 age groups, if you then add in 50-64 group, the share held by 18-34’s is looking rather small.

Once you take away the big sites I have mentioned above, naming another 7 Social Media sites which reach over 3m unique users (in the UK) per month might be a bit of stretch and no Twitter isn’t one of them! But this just points out there is huge untapped market, where you can interact, it doesn’t have to be through the initial channels that you would think of.

So basically, pretty much all age groups are using Social Media, you know their interests, age group and where they live. For Marketers, this is a dream, as all over the internet users can be talking about your brand, doing some of the leg work for you.

Who rules online?

This would be fantastic if everything being said was positive, however as we all know, this is not the case! What has happened is that control has been taken away from brand’s and instead given to the public. A scary thought indeed, but you can help even the balance through buzz monitoring, such as Neoco’s PoNo service. But added to this you can interact with disgruntled consumers in a very public place and can in fact turn negative publicity into a very positive outcome. Toyota did this in the states with one of their best selling car’s, the Camry. They opened a dialogue with key bloggers who were unhappy with the product, helped improve the product and in front of a huge audience of readers solved the problems for them. This was great PR, and was widely praised in blogs. For organisations who do latch on to this new approach to marketing, that sometimes you do make mistakes, but you are happy to rectify them, its a huge step forward and can forge trust in a brand that cannot be repeated elsewhere.

One thing you need to think of before approaching the world of social media is planning. With both negative and positive outcomes in mind, knowing how to react to them before they come. Having key set of objectives and KPI’s in place so you can track how well your campaign is doing, whether this is brand awareness or ROI. When it comes to planning and experience Neoco are digital experts, so please drop us a line to find out how are tools and services can help you.

Thanks to the guest speaker Alex Burmaster, from Nielsen.

Every now and then something happens to remind me of the power of the Internet and why I love it. The latest came in early February this year when the celebrity gossip website TMZ published a recording of Christian Bale throwing a bit of a strop on the set of his new movie, Terminator Salvation. Within hours the recording had hit YouTube and clocked up millions of views, with people from all over the world listening to it and blogging about it.

The recording quickly became an internet meme and computer geeks the world over flocked to their laptops to create their own versions and remixes.

RevoLucian’s Techno Remix was one of the first: (NSFW)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?gl=PL&hl=pl&v=YTihsJQHt48]

YouTube user ‘TheMaeShi’ went as far as creating their own song: (NSFW)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7oFjz6JfACk]

While my personal favourite played out a re-enactment on the streets of Hollywood: (NSFW)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Tq-ojRAlWJU]

It even got the family guy treatment (NSFW – again!)

Peter tells his friends about his run-in with Christian Bale

Eventually it hit mainstream news channels around the world. The BBC had to apologise for accidentally broadcasting the un-censored version, and even Christian Bale’s mother had her say. Bale was forced to make a public apology for something that he probably never thought would be listened to by millions of people.

Thanks to the internet I got to spend a few hours laughing at an overpaid Hollywood prima donna making an idiot of himself, and you can’t say fairer than that!

It sounds like something out of one of my old uni sketchbooks. How can Cadbury boost sales of everyone’s favourite chocolate egg this year? I know, street installations! Yes, in bus stops, brilliant! Then bored commuters can interact with the brand on a new level with cutting edge touch screen technology – how can they resist, with nothing better to do other than wait for the number 68 to turn up? No one’s ever done it before, it’s a sure fire winner!

‘But what about budget?’ your tutor would interlude, ‘what about vandalism?’ I don’t have to care about that stuff, I’m a student, its theoretical (and looks very pretty in my sketchbook!)

Saatchi & Saatchi however have unbelievably put this in to practice by transforming a number of bus shelters over the country into interactive touch games, where players must splat as many eggs as possible in an attempt to rack up a high score.

You can find your nearest crème egg stop via their website, and imagine my excitement when I discovered that a number had sprung up around our Soho office, the closest being on New Oxford Street – I had to go and see this for myself.
So here’s the stop in all its glory:

Yes I know: thank-you Google maps, it is just an ordinary bus stop. I took the above photographic evidence solely to document my disappointment. Perhaps the vandals got there before me, or maybe Google’s just lying? I’m not sure.

If anyone’s actually interested in seeing what it should have looked like, the fun has been documented:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z1U1OM5UsLA&eurl=http://www.cremeegg.co.uk/]

Shame I couldn’t find one, but nevertheless this is a really brilliant idea. We’ve done some innovative digital installation projects over the years and they are a great way to engage audiences. I hope it pays off for Cadbury’s and S&S. If anyone comes across a functioning game at a London bus stop, let me know!

monty python you tube channel banner

“We’re letting you see absolutely everything for free. So there! But we want something in return. None of your driveling, mindless comments. Instead, we want you to click on the links, buy our movies & TV shows and soften our pain and disgust at being ripped off all these years.”

And you know what? It seems to be working. Monty Python’s DVDs climbed to No. 2 on Amazon’s Movies & TV bestsellers list, with increased sales of 23,000 percent!

Great marketing ploy to get one last silly walk from the dead parrot.
Enjoy.

The possibilities are endless, and could open up a whole new set of opportunities for viral marketing. Check out the instructional video, or check out the example below:

[youtube=http://uk.youtube.com/watch?v=CYlUcXs5xGQ&feature=iv]