A new report from Yahoo! and MediaVest describes the behavior of a group of consumers called “Passionistas.” With only the press release to go on, I’m assuming what sets these consumers apart from brand “evangelists” is overall involvement in an interest versus a specific manufacturer. The stats that they released are interesting:
53 percent said they would try a brand they had not previously considered if it were associated with their passion, versus 41 percent of typical users;
49 percent said their opinion of the brand would be more favorable if associated with their passion, versus 34 percent of typical users;
46 percent said a brand has greater credibility if associated with their passion, versus 34 percent of typical users;
43 percent said their opinion of a brand is more positive if they sponsor an event related to their passion, versus 30 percent of typical users.
While this speaks volumes about the value of aligning an image with a lifestyle segment, and the importance of psychographic targeting, it does not address the potential threat that this group can pose to a company. The study also mentions that this group performs over 100 searches a year related to their interest area and uses tools such as RSS to stay updated with related news and sites, implying that they are hyper-aware of related developments. This hawkish attention can result in teapot tempests around developments that would be considered minor by the general public - say an inattentive rep at an event, discontinuing distribution through a store, or a trademark dispute. All of these relatively trivial business decisions have caused real-life outrage among isolated groups in the past, as once fond consumers turned quickly on brands they had embraced. A high-profile example of this is the current iPhone unlock/bricking “scandal”, where a software update temporarily rendered a tiny portion of phones inoperable. But the small number that were affected are owned by the “Passionistas” of tech, who are the most vocal and connected. And though Apple has a stellar 20+year record of embracing its evangelists, the last two months (starting with the $200 price drop) have created an increasingly negative perception of a formerly “untouchable” brand. An extreme example, to be sure, but one that advertisers would be well served to keep in mind as they look to engage their customers through personal interests, and realize that the commitment needs to extend much deeper than hanging a logo at an event.
Wired has a great article on how the open nature of Google Maps is changing how we interact with our surroundings. What really struck me as interesting is the potential of KML, which allows users to mash-up maps with any data they want and openly share it. Notably, Google is indexing all of the KML files they can find, whether or not it is specific to their own product. So what does this mean for marketers? Google Maps (and for that matter Live Local from Microsoft) will be integrated more and more into mobile, as evidenced by the iPhone’s deep integration of the service, and “third screen” marketing will become a much more effective and necessary part of the media arsenal. Will I drive an extra mile off the highway to go to a well reviewed local diner, versus a fast food chain at a rest stop? Definitely. Would I plan a vacation itinerary around other user reviews that I find via an online map, versus brochures I pick up, or a paid travel site listing? Absolutely. The talk about online local advertising is mostly focused on the online extensions of local media, not the local extensions of global portals, but I think that this will shift in the near-to-mid term. And again, what will drive the expansion, plus make local search (and by proxy, mobile search) much more effective is user tagging. Instead of a product page, it’s a businesses sticky on a map, and letting your users know how you want to be described (not that they’ll always listen) is a large part of taking advantage of this new platform. Whether I’m a car dealership that is betting that my location and advertising will carry the day, a casual dining restaurant chain that wants a new, better way to connect with my customers, or even a global CPG that wants to communicate with a customer base that is on a cell versus a laptop, the geoweb is worth exploring.
Digg’s popularity is not news, in fact, many mainstream news sites, like the Washington Post have embraced social news services for some time, based on the fact that a story on the front page of digg can drive tens of thousands of extra visitors in a 24 hour period. What I find fascinating, however, is that marketers have failed, AFAIK, to incorporate social news services on their own sites. The investment to incorporate such functionality on a product page is minimal, and the return can be significant. It also has SEO benefits, and can create a long term presence within social networks for accurate product information. Unlike news organizations, which have to maintain objectivity, companies are also free to suggest tags to shoppers who want to share their finds with others, and while screening out negative tags is impossible, the vast majority of shoppers who have come to a page will follow a recommendation versus creating their own. As we see more and more search engines begin to incorporate user tagging into their rankings, it is likely that experience integrating services such as digg now will potentially give a significant edge to marketers in the not-so-distant future.
Great article “Wonderful World of Wikis” over at Read/WriteWeb, which gives an overview of the many different flavors of social reference tools. One interesting point made at the end is that social networks are a type of Wiki, though limited in user input to an individual’s profile. I think that the announcement by WetPaint that they are adding social media tools to their product, showing the inverse to be true as well, points to a growing trend of Web 2.0 convergence. For social reference sites to be viable, they must have an active community that ensures the validity and value of the content. Conversely, for a social network to be a success, they must make it easy for members to provide worthwhile information to other members. Add to this equation the development of Wikia Search, and this convergence will potentially have a huge impact on marketers.
This, of course is entirely new ground for brands, as striking the balance between providing marketing speak and valuable, balanced information. What will most likely happen, however, is that brand information will be provided at a much quicker pace by consumers, both pro and con, than brands can adapt to participate in the conversation. Though the impact of an unflattering or inaccurate Wikipedia profile today is significant, it will pale in comparison to the damage that can be done as these types of sites proliferate and a potentially large share of the search market migrates to a user-indexed product. The challenge will be navigating a slew of protocols that are implemented to prevent abuse by those who would look to “game” the system. While the threat of such behavior is definitely real, companies can be an extremely valuable source of information to these communities once they look at these platforms as another way to talk with the consumer versus just marketing at them.
Hispanic Audience seeks mobile entertainment (eMarketer)
Social Media = Local Search guides (Clickz)
The Best Games of Summer (Business Week)
Sphere launched today, to a lot of press (such as here, here and here), after being in Beta for quite some time. Haven’t gotten a chance to play around with it today, but I’ve downloaded the Sphere bookmarklet and will report on my thoughts after a 48 hour test run. The site is sparse and clean, which gives the gang over at Sphere a lot of room to create new tools and applications.