In the Tipping Point Malcolm Gladwell talks about “the moment of critical mass, the threshold, the boiling point”. In essence that magic moment in time in which an idea, trend or product gains significant notoriety such as the rise in popularity of Hush Puppies in the mid-1990’s or the decline in NYC’s crime rate after 1990.
He attributes much of this incredible growth to three primary types of people.
The Mavens who are the experts in a particular subject matter. They are the computer nerds, the movie buffs, or the fashion-forward friends. They are the people you ask first when you need advice or help.
The Connectors are people that seem to know everybody. They have a vast network of friends and colleagues and are instrumental in spreading the word.
The Salespeople are the people that persuade others to jump on board. Their charm and gift of gab makes people want to believe them.Typically, the maven, the connector and the salesperson are different people with very different personalities and skills. And, for an epidemic to catch on, the three need to be working together simultaneously which often takes a lot of time and/or never happens at all.
Social Media has changed everything. Now Mavens, Connectors and Salespeople can all be one person.Or, said another way, Mavens can now be connectors and salespeople.To me, the Mavens in social are the top Bloggers, Photographers, and Videographers that create incredible content that spreads rapidly across social networks. The content goes viral, not because connectors or salespeople are the messengers, but simply because it is good content. Mavens can also authentically and creatively promote brands that they believe in.Malcolm Gladwell on Steroids = Influencer Marketing because it provides brands with the ability to reach that magic moment faster where their products and services spread naturally and generate a marketing life of their own via word of mouth and high visibility.By working with the right influencers, brands can bypass the need to have the stars (mavens, connectors and salespeople) align on their behalf and gain more control over their destiny.Want more tips and tricks for how to dominate social this year with Data, Creative and Amplification? Download our 2016 Social Media Survival Guide.
I hate Tim Burton movies. Hate them. They’re all 45 minutes too long and Helena Bonham Carter’s lifelong search for anti-frizz shampoo has lost its luster. But I’ll be damned if Edward Scissorhands isn’t a gorgeous movie to look at. It’s the only movie that he’s ever made that doesn’t have a dark color palette, and its contrast of the washed out, pastel suburbia against the stark, black leather of Edward Scissorhands (Johnny Depp) is striking.
Tim Burton did that on purpose. He knew that having a central character that stood out from the scenery was vital to keeping to his audience’s interest. At Socialtyze, we’re finding that same approach to contrast is paying off for our entertainment clients. After controlling for contributing factors like the number of people in a photo, the shot type, campaign type, and the gender of the people in the photo, we found that newsfeed ad photos with dark backgrounds performed 12% better. The reason for that is the same reason we couldn’t take our eyes off of Johnny Depp. Check out this Snickers post in the wild.
The (very) light blue background of Facebook provides a frame for the darker look of the Snicker’s photo asset. Your attention immediately is drawn there.
Now some might say that 12% isn’t a huge lift. But I would disagree, Facebook advertising is a game of inches. Any competitive gain has to be pushed, especially when so many of the creative factors didn’t pan out as successfully predictive. Shot type (up close, full body, etc.), for example proved to be essentially worthless when correlating it to its success.Using color psychology isn’t a particularly new trick to advertising, as our VP of Creative likes to remind me, primary colors have been the staple of movie posters for years because they’ve been proven to catch your attention. That same rule doesn’t seem to apply as completely to Facebook ads, but that’s most probably because of context. Where ads are served provides a more definitive opportunity to catch your eye.And at the end of the day, that’s what all of this fancy modeling, testing, and spending is all about. How can you, the entertainment brand, catch the eye of your customer. So be bold and choose dark colors.Want more tips and tricks for how to dominate social this year with Data, Creative and Amplification? Download our 2016 Social Media Survival Guide.
My vote is Red Bull. I think they are head and shoulders better than anyone else in connecting with their consumers while building one the strongest beverage brands in the world.Check out Redbull.com and you’ll find content on Adventure, Motor Sports, Music, Extreme Athletes, Skateboarding, Surfing, Snowboarding, etc… You will not, however, find anything on the drink itself.When posed with the question of how do we market ourselves, Red Bull asked a different question:How do we make our customers lives better?Their answer was to create adrenaline-pumping content that M16-34 weren’t getting elsewhere. In addition, Red Bull found, connected with and supported the top extreme athletes in the world to help them to do what they do best. And, it was not necessarily the Shaun Whites of the world that they aligned with first. It was with the lesser known, yet nearly as exceptional, athletes that had relatively small but loyal followings. Once sponsored, the awareness of these athletes’ skills, death-defying stunts and sheer courage skyrocketed, right alongside Red Bull’s sales.Right now, I think there is a short window of opportunity for marketers to mimic the massive success of Red Bull’s marketing. They just need to be committed to asking and answering a different type of marketing question.Want more tips and tricks for how to dominate social this year with Data, Creative and Amplification? Download our 2016 Social Media Survival Guide.
Recently, I was in the market for a curling iron; the perfect tool to transform straight, flat hair into the bouncing, beauteous locks of a Disney princess or a Kardashian.
In doing my research, I discovered there are many different types of modern curling irons, which can vary by diameter, material, shape of barrel and the type of handle. I also needed to know what type of curls I was going for: did I want tight, tiny twists that when brushed out would give my hair the look of a wild lioness? Or was I going for loose, dreamy waves that give me the beachy look? Upon narrowing down my selection of curling tools, I faced another conundrum: how to use the tool to get my desired look.
I searched Google for how-tos and found 21 year-old YouTuber “Made You Look By Lex,” a licensed cosmetologist and makeup artist with a brand (YouTube: 832,615; Instagram 169,000; Facebook 262,975). In the 4:30 video (118,000 views) she showed me how to use the “NuMe Magic Wand” to get my va va voom locks. I was thrilled, and I was sold.
This got me thinking about the power that influencers have over the marketing funnel.
The Phenomenon of Microcelebrity
Lex has created her brand by refining her identity, tone and voice using social channels and platforms that bring her authentic story to the masses. She knows what’s cool and has an engaged community the size of San Francisco to prove it. She is a microcelebrity.
Millennials grew up watching YouTube and reality TV stars, making it seamlessly easy to feel entitled to becoming a star themselves. Jon Murray, the creator of The Real World and Keeping Up With The Kardashians says that “seeing regular people celebrated on TV gives millennials confidence. They are going after what they want.” Kim Kardashian readily admits that she has no particular talent, but she also knows why she appeals to her peers. “They like that I share a lot of myself and that I’ve always been honest about the way I live my life. They want relationships with businesses and celebrities.”
This notion of blurring lines between celebrity and “regular people” is ubiquitous in social media. Millennials know how to turn themselves into brands, and for those who do this well enough on Instagram, YouTube and Twitter, become microcelebrities.
The Impact of Influencers
In the New York Times article “Turning Microcelebrity Into a Business,” Oliver Luckett, CEO of the social-media publishing company theAudience, recognizes the massive power of micro celebrities. Pacing to do $30 Million in revenue, the bulk of theAudience’s business stems from some “6000 Influencers, ranging from Vine actors to YouTube singers to Instagram models.”
It turns out; the microcelebrities have just as much pull as the Charlize Therons, if not more. They create more engagement among their audience, and are more relatable and willing to incorporate a brand into their social media.
Lex represents the microcelebrity phenomenon at its best. In October, Lex’s Facebook page pulled in an average of:
In contrast, during the same time period NuMe averaged:
According to Socialbakers, the average post engagement for a brand with 100k-499k Facebook fans is 0.19%, well below Lex’s threshold.
This scenario underscores Lex’s ability to authentically captivate and connect with her audience at scale with far greater success than the brand, and it is for this reason Influencers are more valuable than ever.
HOW BRANDS CAN PARTNER WITH INFLUENCERS
Find An Authentic Voice.
For many brands, borrowed equity is critical. The recommendations and products they choose to align with mean something to their followers. Identify a network of Influencers that share similar passion points and interests and that best align with your brand. Understand their unique aesthetics, skillsets, and areas of influence.
Develop A Strategy.
In partnership with your Influencer, create content that is tied together by a common theme. The result is an authentic and naturally compelling campaign that resonates with the Influencer’s audience while delivering a big payoff for the brand.
Distribute Your Content.
Seed your Influencer network with beautifully curated content. You can share your content through pins on “Pinterest Storyboards” created by your Influencer. The Storyboard is a blend of unique pins that visually tell a story to your followers and the Influencer’s engaged audience.
Part 2: In part two of this blog, I will show a case study or two where an Influencer partnership campaign delivered successful results.
Want more tips and tricks for how to dominate social this year with Data, Creative and Amplification? Download our 2016 Social Media Survival Guide.
Snapchat launched its first ad ever on October 17th for Universal’s movie, Ouija. The ad appears in recent updates and disappears after being viewed or within 24 hours. To see the ad, users press and hold the image, similar to viewing snaps from their friends. In their blog Snapchat seemed almost embarrassed and apologetic that they have started running ads "to make money”.“This is the first time we have done anything like this….it’s going to feel a little weird at first but we are taking the plunge.” Snapchat continued, "We want to see if we can deliver an experience that’s fun and informative, the way ads used to be, before they got creepy and targeted."At this point, Snapchat has so much inventory and choice in advertisers that they can easily run ads that are valuable to both advertisers and consumers. Personally, I think they need to watch what they say now, as they will most likely begin to target based on users’ behavior so they can maximize inventory. I do, however, like their interest in placing “content” in the form of ads in front of users. Marketers that focus on creating entertaining, relevant content that happens to also build brand will be the most successful in social media.Below is a sample of the ad -
Want more tips and tricks for how to dominate social this year with Data, Creative and Amplification? Download our 2016 Social Media Survival Guide.
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