Well, it’s the end of Social Media Week 2012. We’ve moderated events, taken part in lively panel debates, asked lots of intelligent questions, tweeted like it was going out of fashion and engaged enthusiastically at more than 20 events from ‘Augmented Reality, Mobile Apps & Mobile Payment’ to ‘The Future of Sharing’ to our very own ‘Never Mind The Buzz – getting to the real value of Social for entertainment brands’.

We are very proud to support Social Media Week 2012 and our good friends at Chinwag. Our hands are quite sore from all the tweeting and we could easily have written a 10-page post about the knowledge and interesting new opinions we’ve acquired over the past five days. Instead, we’ve gone for some key takeaways. Here goes!

Social Platforms

1. Google+ is now the second biggest social platform in the UK next to Facebook. How good Google+ will be depends on who uses it and how it is used. With the age of active users on Facebook increasing the platform is maturing whilst younger people are moving away from Facebook and embracing Google+.
2. 70% of Twitter topics are about television and the platform gives shows an opportunity to be ‘always on air’. Twitter gives the audience another view of the programme, providing exclusive content and teasers. It helps fans know when the show is on; they can catch up with the show by reading twitter feed.
3. Over 150 hours of YouTube footage are watched every day on Facebook and sites with video content have, on average, a 8.33x longer dwell time. This means it is essential for brands to ensure that they have varied and engaging content featured on their pages.
4. The biggest concerns around F-Commerce seem to be related to safety – customers are uncomfortable ‘giving Facebook access to my credit card details’. There needs to be some education and reassurance that any safety issues are addressed via third party apps such as Comufy; essentially you aren’t giving any information to Facebook, you are giving it to the brand via a secure eCommerce platform.
5. F-Commerce has the potential to be a fantastic, engaging purchase platform for users that is 100% socially driven.

Measurement, insight and data:

1. Companies that understand how to turn data into insight will become the most successful. Location based targeting on Twitter is very beneficial to both brand and user – brands can work out your location then use a ‘weather feed’ to serves you a set of products that match your needs.
2. It is vital to track measurement on mobile campaigns and to use video as a medium for mobile campaigns where possible.
3. Brands need to understand that their traditional website eCommerce can’t be replicated into Facebook and needs to be far more socially engaging. Tracking a user’s social interactions over time will result in a far better user experience and result in relevant, targeted marketing.

Campaign best practice:

1. Informing friends, expressing opinion and humour will continue to drive us to share content.  People who are sharing your content need to be getting something out of it – they will ask themselves why should I share this? What is the value to me as an individual? The people who are sharing need to be getting something out of it. It has to be opted in for and has to have value to the recipient.

Mobile

1. Google believes that this is the decade for mobile. They predict tablet ownership will increase and by 2013/2014 mobile payment will be established.
2. Instant messaging and emails are still a huge part of the social space and smart phone penetration has meant email is still a very popular and relevant form of digital comms.

So, there you have it. Twenty events rolled into a five minute read. We hope you’ve enjoyed it as much as we have. Roll on 2013.

As much as I love technology, the convenience – and distraction – I have never been an early adopter. I held out on purchasing my first mobile phone during the Motorola Startac days. I never created a MySpace page despite a great love and appreciation for music. And then came Facebook, forget about your friends telling you what is going on in their lives if you weren’t logged into Facebook, you were not in.

So you can imagine my friend’s reaction when I exclaimed I was tweeting. “What? Isn’t Facebook enough?” Yes it is enough — about everyone I know as if I was attending a middle school reunion, and personally I have become a bit bored with the content. So on a whim, I ventured to Twitter and it was an enlightening experience. Where Facebook is about people you already know, Twitter is connecting you with like-minded individuals based on your interests. Celebrity? Sports? Dining? Health? Virtually every topic is represented by some of the most influential and knowledgeable people in its space. It’s YOUR personal news aggregator.

Some of the people or institutions I follow are the who’s who of entertainment, fashion and politics; all subjects I crave. The conversation and insight is smart and interesting as if I was at a fascinating dinner party made up of just the right guests. Whether the discussion of the moment is the political climate, a charitable cause or the latest celebrity baby birth. I happily tweet, RT and reply within a 140-characters to my tweet-peeps.

This is my favorite time of year for tweeting though, as it is Awards Season. I love watching the red carpet arrivals and commenting on the #fashiondos and #fashiondonts, its as if I am in a room with all my favorite Fashionistas. And while watching the Award show like the Grammy’s, the performances are so intense and spectacular that you have no choice but to comment #rockedit. My boyfriend feels the same way about watching sporting events, to him its like hanging with his “Bros” adding commentary with every pass and tackle #superfan.

Its evident that in the social age, people like to use Twitter to chat online about the content they are watching on TV. Tweets per second (TPS) records were at an all time high for this year’s Superbowl. Check out these stats*:

• End of Superbowl: 12,233 TPS
• Halftime Show featuring Madonna: 10,245 TPS
• Total tweets throughout the game: 15 million compared to 4 million in 2011

So join the conversation, and set up your Twitter account today. And if the thought of tracking another social account brings you to tears, check out Tweetdeck, a must for keeping one’s social life intact, it’s a streaming dashboard of all social accounts. Who just checked in (Foursquare), who finally landed a job (LinkedIn), the latest baby photo (Facebook)….its perfection. And of course, it includes my twitter feed @bonchance1.

* http://venturebeat.com/2012/02/06/twitter-bowl/

It’s been an interesting week in social, we’ve seen everything from interactive Super Bowl ads to unique ways to find a date. Here’s our top picks:

Twitter enhanced brand pages in the UK

UK brands such as Cadburys and ASDA have begun to unveil their enhanced Twitter pages. The new page layouts include a banner ad across the top of the page and the option to feature a YouTube video within the brand’s profile. The new enhanced pages are completely public which means users can view them without being logged into Twitter. Twitter has also rolled out the new pages onto mobile devices giving users a more consistent experience across platforms.

Ford Social Sales Tool

Ford has launched a new tool in the US to show a real time vehicle inventory through social media platforms. The tool integrates with Facebook, YouTube and blogs allowing customers to browse new and used cars. For example on a local dealers Facebook page you can search for vehicles by make model or price. They can also submit any questions they may have to the dealer and refer a vehicle to friends.

Heineken

This Valentine’s Day Heineken has made an app to send funny, personalised songs to a potential valentine inviting them on a date. It only takes four or more clicks and you have your own personalised Serenade which is posted on your potential date’s wall – here they can say yes or no to your proposition!

Google and Facebook Block Content in India

Google and Facebook have had to remove some of their content from Indian websites as they are not protecting material considered to be religiously offensive.

This will come as quite a blow as even though only one in 10 of India’s population of 1.2 billion has access to the internet it is still the third largest internet market after China and the US. At the moment India’s internet is fairly open but could be at risk of censorship due to concerns over social media. The situation is strikingly close to the attitudes towards online censorship in China, which currently has ‘The Great Firewall’ censoring the content reaching Chinese citizens.

Social Media transforming the way we follow events

The Grammys and the Super Bowl are some of many events in 2012 that are embracing Social Media.

From the beginning the 2012 Grammys have had a big focus on social media. They are active on a large number of social platforms including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Tumblr and Foursquare to name a few! But what’s great is The Grammy’s embracing digital music services. On Spotify they have created several playlists that will let users listen to Grammy winners, nominees and the songs of the year.

The Super Bowl XLVI appeared across a variety of social media platforms including Twitter, Facebook, Get Glue, a Mobile App and Google +. The Game was also the first ever to be streamed live over the internet, officially through NBC and NFL.com absolutely free! It also claimed 2nd and 3rd on twitters most-tweets-per-second list with 12,233 tweets per second at the end of the game and 10,245 TPS during Madonna’s half time performance.

It’ll also be exciting to see what BAFTA pulls out of the bag this weekend following their annual awards ceremony, more on this and other new exciting things happening in social to follow next week.

Transmedia. It means “across many channels or media.” But that isn’t the full story.

Imagine that you are sitting in an audience about to watch a dance troop come onto the stage. Anticipation is high. Will they move in glorious unison or miss cues? Perform something complex or basic? Beautiful or disorganised? When it starts you could become instantly riveted, or you might walk out utterly disappointed. You might praise it to the high heavens across a lot of channels, or tell everyone never to go. At this point in the story, all options are open.

The world is shifting, from an époque of persuasion to a new world order of dialogue. Not too long ago transmedia meant a loud one-way sermon to consumers, but now we are in the days of a subtler two-way dialogue; more collaborative and instant, all about influence.

If you’re a brand of any size, it is hard to break the habit of trying to be ubiquitous across as many channels as possible; to be – as it were – fully transmedia. But that is not enough. Transmedia is simply a new word for an old convention: storytelling. What has changed exponentially is the amount of reactive channels and devices that brand stories can live on and be engaged with.

The film studios were among the first industry to think transmedia long before it became a buzzword. Remember getting a toy for your favourite film franchise at McDonalds or in a CrackerJack box? Remember that spin-off TV series? Billboards? Clip coupons? Radio spots? Call in shows? All content that offered a “multi-screen” experience.

Now film studios deliver franchise narratives across a lot more real estate. Think Pirates of the Caribbean; you still get your McDonald’s toy, but now while you’re waiting in line you might play a Captain Jack Sparrow game on your mobile while thinking about getting the video game for your console, or the Pirates Lego set, or chose to follow Captain Jack tweets, or comment on his Facebook fan page or even check-in at that location to claim 50% off your “Pirate” burger. (Oh, and that poster by the menu allows you to unlock exclusive pre-release content on your mobile – maybe even using a QR code.)

Therein lies the new transmedia challenge; with so many ever-changing channels and devices, and so much noise, and consumers being increasingly time poor, content evaporates fast, like snow on a hot street. So how do you get your snow to stick? Or better yet, get consumers making snowmen from it?

Broadly speaking the key to a great transmedia strategy begins with the right sequence of steps, and they are: getting your story straight, knowing your audience, identifying the right channels and consideration for delivery on multiple devices.

Your brand story

It is as old as time itself: get the brand narrative right. Who is the protagonist? And who is the antagonist, what is the conflict and in what setting? This shapes a brand theme, and forms a “lens” (or “brand Bible” if you prefer) through which all else can be focused and hang upon.

Whether you’re one person or a massive multi-national, always begin with the brand narrative. Ignore this at your peril. Then you can move on to:

Your audience

Who are your target audience and how and where do they operate? This step is a little more scientific in nature, and alongside the increase of media and channels has come analytical tools to help strategic planners really map out how large an audience is, potential reach and clout, and identify fertile areas to plant your brand story in.

Take a simple example: the TV show The Big Bang Theory follows the misadventures of four super-nerd geniuses and their dopey blond actress neighbour, to great comic effect. Twitter channels were set up where the characters tweeted, well, in character. They also tweet between each other when the show airs, conversing about actual events as the show plays out. Given that Twitter is often considered a niche realm for nerds, it is a perfect match of narrative and social channel for that audience.

Other stories that got the steps right and amplified;

• Angry Birds: started as a game, went viral, then spread to TV-series and toys.
• Moshi Monsters: started as a kids’ social media initiative and now spans toys, Twitter, Moshi music, books, magazines, and more.
• BBC’s The Well: Started as a TV series, then moved to an online series and game.

However, there is no one size fits all solution. Consider a show like The Wire, or even Mad Men or Pan Am; they all drew huge viewing thanks to recommendations and social media mentions, but they are truly a one world experience: no spin offs, or merchandise, or games, or apps, or any official social presence other than fan pages.

And that is what the adoring audience love about those properties: They are crafted “one screen” experiences. Especially in the case of The Wire, the narratives are deep and singular, but non-transferable.

The right channels

Got your brand narrative? Know your target audience? This is where tactics can begin to form; the actual mechanisms to deliver your story, and there are increasingly more and more channels.

However, people are more time poor than ever before, and also have the power to make instant choices about the conversations they want to be a part of. Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg tags this notion as “real-time serendipity.”

On one hand, behavioural targeting (i.e. analysing discovery mechanisms on social media, forums or leveraging recommendation engines) plays an ever-increasing role in identifying the best channels to operate on. We increasingly view consumers though the lens of their friends, family and habits to analyse their propensity to consume, and ultimately that educates how brands aim to be in the right place at right time; seeding the fertile areas with the conversation your brand wants to be part of, or even lead.

On the other hand, those same targeted consumers are awash in data, evermore leading lives through dashboards and using aggregation tools to filter and personalise their preferred channels and the content they receive and respond to.

But old habits die hard: there might be more channels then ever before, and lots of dashboards to filter, but we always seek thought leaders (or curators of high value information) first when we think about a product. Knowing who the clouted power players are on any given subject goes a long way in defining a great channel choice and outreach strategy.

Then, you can think about;

Multi-Devices

Whatever you do, do not push the same message across lots of different devices. Each channel has a purpose, and each device a different interface, hence offering a sustained experience that works across multiple formats and screen ratios is key – in fact, it is now expected.

What does your dance look like?

Back to the dance troop. Imagine that you are now no longer in the audience waiting for the show to start, you are the choreographer who must put it in motion. All eyes are on you – audience and your troop.

What story are you about to tell? How complex or simple is it, and how well rehearsed are your dancers? What is your audience expecting? Will you blow their minds or disappoint them? What will they say about it after, to whom, and how?

It all boils down to that: Take care of the story, and the rest pretty much takes care of itself. Sprinkle in some guidance, intelligence and optimisation, and that brand story can travel much further and last a long time. Get the story wrong, and all the steps in the world won’t save anyone from putting on a poor performance.

Doco’s Head of Strategic Planning Maurice Wheeler gives a talk on why Facebook is for Kids. Have a listen below, or feel free to download it.

To read the original “Facebook Is For Kids” article in it’s entirety, click here.

Want to attend Social Media Week? Drop us a line on info@docopeople.com, or register with the links below.

Social Media Week returns to London on 13^th – 17^th February 2012, and Doco is proud to once again be lending its support to the activities. As part of the global Social Media Week platform, SMW London will provide conversations and debate on the emerging trends in social and mobile media across all major industries.

In just under three years, SMW has expanded to 21 cities, including New York, Los Angeles, Rio de Janeiro, São Paulo and Mexico City, with Tokyo and Singapore joining for the first time in 2012. It attracts more than 60,000 attendees across thousands of individually organized events, with half a million people connecting to the conference via online streaming and through mobile devices.

When we consider the global impact of social media and its role as a catalyst in driving cultural, political, economic and social change, it is clear that Social Media Week will be packed with exciting discussions, workshops and networking events.

This year, Doco is hosting one event, and in partnership with SMW London’s organisers Chinwag, producing another two. All of these are taking place at the Design Council in Covent Garden, which is the main hub for the week’s activities.

Never Mind the Buzz – Getting to the real value of Social for Entertainment brands
Wednesday, February 15 at 9:15 AM – 11:00 AM
Hosted by Doco London

How is Social is changing the way we consume entertainment? From friends’ recommendations and discussion, to acting as a distribution platform for content, to social commerce and the popularity of applications such as Zeebox, social media now touches almost every point in the decision making process and consumption of films, TV and gaming.

Join us, as we explore some exciting future predictions for Social Media and entertainment with owners, platforms and key industry commentators.

For more information, and to register for the event, click here

Family Circles: Parents, Children and Marketers
Tuesday, February 14 at 9:00 AM – 11:00 AM
Hosted by Chinwag, in partnership with Doco London

Seen through the prism of the family, this session will investigate the dynamics of the socially connected family unit and how marketers engage. We’ll explore how children and parents use social media both separately and together and the effects of this on relationships between the generations. Marketing in its purest form should enable parents and children to make informed decisions about what’s best for their family. Social media can simplify and empower this process in a way that’s never existed before. This presents opportunities and challenges for brands and their marketers, in a sensitive but important area.

Taking a look at the latest research, the panel will discuss how marketers can support the family and answer those critical questions: “What’s new?” and “Who’s doing it well?” as well as providing plenty of time for Q&A with the audience.

Panel topics: (and there’ll be plenty of time to add your own)
- What’s the latest thinking on social media and family dynamics?
- How is social media affecting brand engagement and purchasing?
- How can brands engage positively with families using social media?
- What are the new opportunities to engage with the family?
- What’s ‘Best practice’ communications with families and children?
- Potential impacts of the Bailey report and OFCOM digital literacy research?

For more information, and to register for the event, click here

Social Media: Teenage of the Species
Wednesday, February 15 at 11:00 AM – 1:00 PM
Hosted by Chinwag, in partnership with Doco London

In a very literal sense teenagers are different, aside from hormones their pre-frontal lobes are still forming. Studies indicate that social may actually be altering the physical make-up of the brain. What impact is this having on behaviour? On relationships? And what impact will this have on brands, their marketers and the relationship with the generation of social media natives?

For more information, and to register for the event, click here

We look forward to seeing you there!