You HAVE the power..

It has never been easier than it is right now to voice your opinions, and to make them heard. The advent of websites such as TripAdvisor, which allow users to review accommodation and tours, have revolutionised the world of customer service. With regards to TripAdvisor, hotels are now paying upmost importance as to what their customers experience on their stay. The opinions of their customers and their hotel in general are now immortalised on the internet for everybody to see. Since my personal discovery of TripAdvisor, whenever I need to book accommodation it is the first place I go, and I find it great, no more dirty or overpriced hotel rooms, generally if it is rated well on TripAdvisor, it is a good hotel. Hotels themselves have well and truly recognised this newfound power in the hands of their customers, and actively monitor and reply to reviews on such websites.

'Tried to kill the cockroaches, they fought back!'

An article on The Age website caught my eye, discussing this newfound form of 'customer feedback' (http://www.theage.com.au/technology/technology-news/tweet-revenge-at-last-for-shoppers-with-complaints-20110823-1j8h4.html). Even traditional forms of social media such as Twitter and Facebook are being utilised by the general public, which is forcing businesses to closely monitor what is being said about them, and to respond quickly, in order to maintain their image and reputation. There are many examples, but the most recent, and probably the biggest, is the 'Vodafail' campaign. Many consumers recently became fed up with the Vodafone network, after struggling with drop outs, poor reception, and generally bad service. The momentum and sheer numbers behind this 'protest' forced Vodafone to respond, announcing a prompt network overhall and service restructure.

www.twitter.com/@vodafailure

Personally, I believe this is a great tool for consumers, and I generally find myself checking reviews on the internet for any high involvement product I purchase. However, I think it will be interesting to see how this evolves in the future. Consumers need to be constantly aware of the sheer degree of subjectivity and personal bias taking place with everything posted on the internet, including reviews, and take everything with a grain of salt. 

Pom Wonderful Presents: Blog Post Number 3

Product Placement. Something which has been utilised by marketers for many decades, seems to be increasing in its use in recent years. From subtle to extremely obvious. From Smirnoff Vodka featuring in James Bond's Martini in almost every 007 movie, to Apple products featuring in nearly every single episode of 30 Rock. Morgan Spurlock's newest film 'Pom Wonderful presents The Greatest Movie Ever Sold' tackles the issue of product placement and really takes it to the next level, with every single scene and every single aspect of the film featuring product placement. If you haven't seen it, it's worth checking out the trailer here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MJvl5JTuKV8.

http://www.themoviebanter.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Morgan-Spurlock-Pom-Wonderful-Presents-Greatest-Movie-Ever-Sold.jpeg

The recent trend towards product placement has not spared forms of digital media and social media, either. Celebrities, and other people who have a strong following on social media websites, are being sought out by companies to 'name drop' their products into their updates or blogs. It may be difficult to claim this type of advertising as 'product placement', due to product placement traditionally referring to television or films featuring a subtle advertisement for a product where you traditionally wouldn't expect to see one. This has spurred a new found definition, 'tweet sponsorship' - which I still personally see as a form of product placement. It was featured by the Daily Mail that 'socialites' such as Kim Kardashian are paid up to $10,000 per tweet which feature a particular product (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/tvshowbiz/article-1238285/Is-worth-10-000-tweet-Kim-Kardashian-earns-big-money-using-Twitter-account-advertise-various-products.html). Furthermore, it is widely known that popular YouTubers are often sought after for products to be placed within their videos, which YouTube cracked down upon, due to it not receiving payment for these advertisements. Clearly, this is starting to become big business.

http://i.dailymail.co.uk/i/pix/2009/12/24/article-1238285-07B23EFF000005DC-542_468x272.jpg

I believe it is reasonable that product placement transcends into digital forms of media such as social networks as they explode in popularity. However, where do we draw the line between advertising and simply irritating consumers? I know personally, I find this type of 'tweet sponsorship' on Facebook or Twitter by celebrities annoying, and it seems quite blatant and obvious rather than often subtle forms of product placement in some films or television shows. I find it really cheapens the image of the celebrities, and I usually just don't bother following them. But then again, I'm probably not the exact target audience for Kim Kardashian's Reebok EasyTone shoes. Despite this, I think that the future holds much more for digital forms of product placement, and we will probably see it take a much more subtle form as consumers begin to become more aware, if it hasn't already. 

Do You Have a Facebook?

Okay, so the idea for this post sort of stemmed from my previous one. It's a massive issue plaguing social media at the moment, and a million blog posts could probably be written about it. Privacy.

A recent news article caught my eye at the Daily Mail (http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2024449/Anonymous-threaten-close-Facebook-November-5.html), where 'hacktivist' group Anonymous was planning to take down Facebook over their supposed misuse of personal information (keep in mind that whether this is an 'official' threat from the group looks to be false).

(http://www.xssed.com/files/Image/News/facebook.jpg)

Are Facebook and other forms of social media such a privacy concern that we need a group like this to consider shutting them down? People seem to like the idea of Facebook holding less information about us, with groups like 'MILLIONS AGAINST FACEBOOK's PRIVACY POLICIES' continuing to pop up, however no one seems to be doing anything about it, whilst still uploading 191 pictures from last weekend's festivities. Furthermore Facebook's facial recognition capabilities have recently hit the news, being labelled as 'creepy' and 'scary', with the ability to automatically recognise and tag people in uploaded photos. 

Facebook itself has recognised the strong concern around its level of control around people's information and privacy, and has provided the users of its service with a number of ways of altering, viewing and changing their information and the way it is seen by others, and the company itself. This attitude revolving around a positive view towards its users privacy clearly needs to continue, in order to counteract such negative publicity. However, its methods of generating revenue have also changed from its beginning, as ads within the service are now tailored to each individual user, becoming intertwined with their friends preferences and activities. 

I feel that Facebook and other forms of social networking really are what we make of it. It has proven to be a force for good, and one for bad, as Karina spoke about in her recent blog post here. The only information which the site can hold is information which we provide it with, so it is really up to us to decide how much we want to be out in the public domain. I recognise the concern about one entity holding such a large amount of information on one person, especially if the issue of misuse comes into play, but it really is easy to not post any information which you wouldn't like others to know about. Does Facebook need to be stopped? Or should people be responsible for their own privacy?

Check-in Closes in 30 Minutes

Foursquare. Facebook Places.

These are two (somewhat recent) forms of 'Location Based Social Networking', with the purpose of announcing to the world where you are currently located, what you're doing and who you're with. Many people argue, what's the point? At first glance, it can be seen that these tools provide few benefits, which can include:

- being alerted when a friend is near, then being able to get into contact
- discovering a new bar or restaurant which a friend has frequented
- providing another outlet of 'no one really cares' information, such as the check in at 'My Bed', or
- bragging to friends that you've just landed in a tropical holiday destination

However, it is clear we are only just beginning to see the true potential of these types of services, especially for those concerned with digital marketing.

On a recent trip to the US, many places I visited publicly encouraged visitors to 'check-in' to Facebook or Foursquare, usually through big posters plastered outside the venue or building. One particular place was The Lion King musical. Upon 'checking in', you are greeted with a professional page with information and photos of the musical, its location, and its history. This allowed the individual to connect with the brand, if they enjoyed the musical and wished to learn more they could, but there was no considerable pressure to do so. Furthermore, the benefit for the organisation itself was also great, my friends knew where I was and I'd ensured my continued connection with the show I had just seen, equating to (almost) free promotion of the musical itself.

The use of location based services as a promotional tool is only just beginning to be explored by marketers. As stated on Mashable (http://mashable.com/2011/08/01/mastercard-facebook-places/), MasterCard recently ran a campaign where seats from Yankees Stadium were scattered around New York City. People were encouraged to find the seats, scan a QR code on the particular seat which 'checked them in' on Facebook Places, which then entered them into the competition to win VIP seats to a 2011 Yankees game. Another example also highlighted on Mashable (http://mashable.com/2011/01/10/facebook-places-campaigns/) refers to a Westfield shopping centre in California offering considerable discounts to patrons who 'checked-in' to particular stores.

This type of utilisation of location based social networking provides a real exchange of value between both parties, the individual receives an entry into a competition, or a discount for a particular product, and the organisation is able to promote itself through the users page. However it is important to note that the three examples are quite different, the MasterCard and the Westfield campaigns asked individuals to post advertising material to their Facebook 'walls' in order to receive the stated benefit, whereas The Lion King was much a more subtle form, being seen as a regular 'check-in' which could be done at the individuals leisure, without being an overt form of promotion. Are Facebook or Foursquare users willing to 'whore' their pages out to get their competition entry, or their discount? Or, should marketers focus on creating 'official' check-in pages for their organisation, encouraging individuals to make use of the service at their leisure?

(http://www.liberatemedia.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/05/foursquare-talks-about-facebook-places.png)

Personally, I feel that marketing utilising such tools requires a balancing act, between the social and personal level, and the promotional aspect of the product itself. The Lion King model did this quite well, allowing people to check-in at their free will, enabling a connection with the brand to enhance and continue their experience with the musical. Marketers need to be flexible and remember that Facebook and Foursquare are both generally seen as a tool for sharing, and people are generally willing to share brands which they have a positive connection with. I know that, if I enter a competition on Facebook, I usually quickly delete the spam that has been posted on my wall, embarrassingly alerting all my friends that I've 'just received a free Coke Zero from 7-Eleven'. For me, this would continue even if I'd entered such a competition through Facebook Places, or any other means.

As stated at FastCompany (http://www.fastcompany.com/1746838/facebook-places-foursquare-social-medias-tiny-2-impact-on-businesses), marketing campaigns revolving around Facebook Places and Foursquare have provided little benefit to organisations to date. It is clearly early days, as the model for effectively using these tools to provide a benefit for the marketer hasn't been perfected yet.

The real question is what type of incentive is enough to encourage individuals to utilise location based social networking for marketing purposes?

Can 'Location Based Social Networking' prove to be a useful tool for marketers? Or, is it simply a gimmick?

Welcome!

So, I thought I'd do a bit of an introductory post to get things started.

I'm Dave, this is my blog 'The Digital Train' for MKF3881 Electronic Marketing. I aim to blog once a week, covering one of a wide range of topics within the world of Digital Marketing! However, my interests include social media and mobile marketing, so you'll probably see more posts relating to those areas.

I'm always up for comments/discussion/chat, so feel free to go nuts.

Cheers!