Info-Currents March Issue Online: New Norms — Dads As Caregivers, Loyal Customers in Social Media, Internet-only TV Households

Emerging trend: Coparenting is for couples who are together as well. As moms carry on with demanding jobs, dads increasingly take on child-rearing duties.

Implication: Opportunities to market to men expands into different facets of family life, going beyond typical CPG messaging on self-care and home improvement.

Action: Go beyond the classic assumption that women shop for men. Market to men in ways that acknowledge them as able and involved partners and parents. Note what family products and services they consider to be valuable and practical.

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Emerging trend: Social data gets connected with post-purchase behavior.

Implication: Engagement is not the only outcome of a social media relationship. Facebook’s partnership with data companies Axciom, Epsilom and Datalogix, suggests marketers can now trace the social profile of a loyal buyer.

Action: Start your analyses with purchasers, instead of those who are just aware or considering. Buyers will reveal most about the role of social in purchasing decisions, as well as up-sell and cross-sell opportunities.

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Emerging trend: Definition of TV households will include Internet-based and mobile viewing homes as well. Nielsen announced it will include Internet-connected TV viewers in its TV ratings sample households.

Implication: Advertisers will get a more comprehensive perspective on audience reach and the impact of ads and branded content on consumers.

Action: Look at the momentum generated by those households canceling cable subscriptions and watching on-demand, online only. Compare the impact of shared (i.e., family living room) and private (e.g., mobile) viewing experiences on brand recognition and likelihood to purchase.

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Sandwich Maker from Antep Solves F-Commerce Riddle!

Move over GM, Tostcu Mehmet from Gaziantep, Turkey will show you how to work Facebook. Tostcu means sandwich shop in Turkish. Gaziantep is a major city in the Southeast region of Turkey, known for its cultural heritage, phenomenal cuisine and entrepreneurship. Mehmet is the owner of this ‘Tostcu’ in Gaziantep who takes orders from his clientele in the area via Facebook. That’s not all — you can even chat live with Mehmet’s staff. One click from the simply designed Facebook tab will launch your MSN.

To date, the page has over 1,200 likes and more than 150 check-ins. The dialogue between Mehmet, his staff and customers is the kind you can’t imitate through all the social media tricks in the house. The comments read as if everyone knows each other and Tostcu Mehmet always thanks those customers who order through the page.

No fancy app or sapplet. No check-out cart. Just authentic hospitality, rapid response and a network of loosely connected individuals in one area.

Wish they delivered to my office!

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What do Instagram, Slideshare and Meebo Have in Common?

These are the latest/pending acquisitions by social media giants Facebook, LinkedIn and the omnipresent Google. What does it all mean? Even the largest distribution channels need sticky content. Yes, I used that web 1.0 word ‘sticky’. I could have said ‘engagement is the new king.’ Bottomline, advertisers need eyeballs to stay with content for a long period of time so they can sell more and more. Whether you’re looking at a friend’s photos, a colleagues’ slides or getting social ads served to you, it’s the same basic principle of being exposed to a message.

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Water is Everything

charity: water is truly the master of online word of mouth. Check out their latest campaign, Water Changes Everything, that educates audiences about the connections between an everyday matter such as water and macro issues such as education, food security, sanitation, women’s issues, healthcare and economic development.

The campaign first caught my attention on Facebook with clever depictions of what lack of water would mean for us in the developed nations.

Then I found the trail to the web area where they have six key messages you can Tweet and/or like, each one of them opening the viewers’ eyes to the impact clean water can make in a country’s economic development and public health.

Between these messages and the photos on Facebook I generated four tweets and three likes, which turned into four additional re-tweets. In other words, one enthusiast created more than 10 messages through direct involvement and pass-alongs. Randomly peppering like buttons on a web site does not guarantee online buzz. Yet giving a community of advocates strategically packaged, byte-size messages can turbo-charge word of mouth.

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What Will Happen By 2015?

We know what will happen in 2011. Marketing plans are ready. Teams are staffing up for research, ideation, and launches. There will be news of acquisitions, hostile takeovers, and inventions. We will need to be nimble enough to respond to these ad-hoc changes. Yet we truly need to plan for the future, not just for today and tomorrow. We need to start thinking about how content, distribution technologies and audience behavior will change by 2015. The following are predictions on the landscape shifts that will become increasingly defined within the next five years.

Content:

1- Short entertainment will be standard on phones: Audiences prefer short excerpts to long exposes. Most people do not like to read. Many of us need to or would like to stay in the know. With the advent of tablets and mobile broadband, we will read 300-500 word stories on our smart phones. Since online video will be near ubiquitous, content providers will produce more infotainment clips and rely on visual communications to tell stories in creative, succinct ways.

2- We will arrange the features on your favorite Web sites: We will see click and drag web sites. The content management systems will move to the front end from backend. Brands and news portals will have a better understanding of their users’ preferences and have the chance to improve on their services.

Audience:

3- CSR audiences will be more demanding: Generation G (giving) will scrutinize philanthropy and CSR efforts more closely. Donating two to 10 percent of proceeds to a cause will not be enough. They will expect more creative approaches from brands that produce tangible results and offer meaningful engagement.

4- Information filters and organizers will regain popularity: People will use filters to organize their ever-growing list of contacts and prioritize among them. Instead of switching to 50-people networks, such as Path.com, online audiences will defer to new group and folder features on their Facebook pages.

Distribution:

5- Facebook will turn people info into business (and it won’t be just advertising): Facebook will fight with Amazon and smaller players like Yelp to be a word of mouth search engine. The vast amount of personal information it collects will continue to help marketers map out consumer preferences based on social connections and profile details. Privacy battles and issues will continue. Users will search for experience-based recommendations and listings within their extended networks.

6- Google will become a content distributor: Google will expand its e-stores to include music, movies and clips, creating a vast indie market online. Audience ratings on these pieces of content will be added to Google algorithms.

7- Word of mouth marketing will become more precise: Marketers will successfully target beyond the inner/immediate circle of influencers. Our understanding of second and third cycles of word of mouth will improve. There will be more sophisticated program offerings to mobilize crowds and offer innovative products/services to a wider range of influencers.

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