diary of a digologist

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We're not one-at-a-timin' here! We're mass-communicatin'!

Peter Drucker says, "the purpose of business is to create a customer," not to create a sale (as the sales-driven strategies of olden days purported) or even a product (as our more enlightened "market-driven" selves proclaim). So the big questions really haven't changed, whether your media focus is the local newspaper, a radio contest, or Twitter: can you create customers out of this audience? Is this where your target market hangs out? Is this medium consistent with your brand's personality? Do you know how to be relevant here?

There is a lot of discussion on the web about what's different about social media. It's equally important to understand how it's the same. While the path to the customer may be a different one, the goal is the same. To create a customer (and, I would add, to keep your customers). If you can't do that with social media, then maybe you should rethink your presence there.

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Case Study--FiOS Part I: How does Verizon's FiOS value proposition translate into a strategy targeted to college students?

via collegehumor.com

Verizon's FiOS value proposition is clear: blistering fast Internet service (up to 50 Mb download rate in some areas), sparkling, realistic TV picture, so lovely to behold, and a ubiquitous mobile network. The "Triple Play" offer ties a bow around the whole thing and makes it tempting to give Verizon all your technology-oriented business for the convenience of one bill.

But, how to target such an offering to the very lucrative college market? The I-may-be-poor-now-but-I'm-a-heavy-technology-user-and-will-be-your-mainstay-customers-before-long market? It's easy to think that broad-market advertising, a Facebook Fan page and Twitter account will do the trick, but I submit that this misses the mark entirely. In today's social media-driven environment, how about an approach that leverages the social tendencies of this age group? How about a strategy that's one part Netflix, one part DirecTV, one part Twitter? Let's call it FiOSFans. Here's what I mean:

FiOSFans Groups Use TV Shows to Create Social Sharing

Imagine that, not only can you schedule your DVR from your phone (that's the DirecTV part) but you can also choose to share your DVR list (maybe you have the ability to mark some DVR items as private) with your friends by joining FiOSFans groups (that's the Netflix part), check their lists on your phone app and choose to add their shows to your DVR lineup? What's genius about this? Well, instead of relying strictly on advertising to get new customers, social groups encourage one another to be on FiOS so they can share their entertainment choices and commentary. How?

Well, what if customers could leverage their Twitter sign-ons to find out who in general or just among their friends are watching a particular show? Let's say the Twitter stream isn't just context-sensitive but can be filtered down to just your Twitter friends or even just your FiOSFans group and you can search history so that you can get filled in on what your friends were saying about the show when they were watching it...say two days ago.

FiOS as a 24-7 Viewing Party

What would this look like? Imagine a reality show like American Idol, a football game, or a drama series like 24. How many updates do you see on your Facebook page or your Twitter timeline today specifically related to a particular show, many times one that you don't watch? But if you had a group formed of all your friends who watch your shows, (maybe there's a jock at your college who watches American Idol and you would never have guessed!) you could chat about the shows you love with only other friends who love them, too. Every show becomes a viewing party with your friends, even if you have class, work, or need to study for an exam. You just watch it later on your DVR and use your FiOSFans group to join the party whenever it works for you.

It's a self-perpetuating cycle: using the mobile format to take advantage of "time and place" opportunities (friends say "you've gotta see this" and you can put it on your list now, rather than risk forgetting about it), using the TV format as common ground to build social groups, using Internet widgets to share commentary and strengthen the value of the groups' shared interests.

Can You Feel Me Now?

To me, an approach like this is the difference between a company that "gets" how to leverage social media for a key target market and a company that just jumps on the social media bandwagon without a strategy for using these channels to reach out to their target markets. Verizon is one of the top technology companies on the east coast. College students are not going to be swayed by a lame Facebook page. What means something to them is a company that understands that they trust their friends' opinions more than any advertising and becomes the host at a party where they can do just that.

Tagged FiOS media social media target marketing Twitter

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Own yourself

About a year ago, someone gave me a very good piece of advice about branding yourself on the web: find a unique way to express your name and own it everywhere you can. "What a good idea," I thought to myself. Then I searched and learned that the URL http://debjjones.com was available, so I purchased it, and...nothing. I just held onto it for a long time, because I wasn't really sure what I wanted to do with it. But when LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter offered opportunities to have a username, guess what I picked? Go on and Google debjjones right now and see what you get... I'm not pretending to be an expert, but a year ago, you would have thought I was in the Google witness protection program. I was nowhere to be found.

In my case, I have an extremely common name, which is a disadvantage. I overcame that by coming up with a unique configuration that no one else was using (at least not on the Internet) which included my middle initial and no period. When I first did it, it seemed a little silly, but now I'm glad I did. A presence on Google fits my professional goals and paves the way toward more extensive PR and marketing activities. http://Twitter.com/debjjones is not in use right now, because I choose to promote my marketing activities; however, I did go ahead and get control of the username to protect my "brand."

Try it for yourself. http://www.Godaddy.com has a simple interface for checking on the availability of URLs. That's a great placed to start. If you find one that works for you, try to append it to your favorite social networking sites that allow you to select a username, such as http://facebook.com/debjjones, http://linkedin.com/debjjones, and http://twitter.com/debjjones .

Tagged branding Facebook Google LinkedIn marketing Twitter

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Why demographics are useless in the real world

Okay, I don't mean to say they are TOTALLY useless, but demographics form only part of the picture when you are defining your target markets. After I tweeted my last post title, "Twitter demos remain female, young, shifting toward African American," I got a response from @madmain (a white "adult" ad guy on Twitter) that said, "Yep! That's me alright!" And I turned a little red, at least in a virtual sense. Because he made an excellent point: when it comes to products that are lifecycle oriented (diapers, college loans, rascal scooters) demos might be relevant. But not all products can be easily segmented this way and not all target markets are so easy to pigeonhole.

So why do we keep doing it? Well, first of all, it's human nature to name, label, tag, organize, categorize, understand and control. It's part of the job of being at the top of the food chain. But the practical answer is that when it comes to identifying our target markets, there are only a few ways they are "findable." One of those ways is by their demographics and another way is by the media they use. The fact that Twitter users use Twitter probably says a whole lot more about them than their demographics do. But what's equally interesting about the demographics is who's NOT using Twitter, or at least not to the extent that you would assume. It just goes to show that social media is resonating with a broader audience than the naysayers would suspect, that different communities are leveraging different platforms, and that the potential for this medium is in no way tapped out.

So, yes, use demographics to define your target markets. But add to that lifestyle factors, media choices, and any other key motivators of purchase for your particular product. How important a part each perspective plays in finding customers depends on your particular product. The better your understanding of your customer base on every dimension, the better shot you have at finding more customers

Tagged demographics marketing target markets Twitter