Whether in celebration of its Friday IPO or Saturday’s wedding of founder Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook has added another mobile acquisition to the pile with the purchase of the year-old social gifting company Karma. The e-commerce startup creates a curated catalog of products that mobile app and Facebook users can send directly to their friends. You pick a gift from the app-based catalog, add a card and send it via SMS, email or Facebook. The app advertises its convenience, in that it can gift anyone from anywhere without the sender having specific shipping information on the recipient. When the gift-getter receives notice of the gifting, he or she can make color or flavor choices, even swap the gift for an alternative from the catalog or convert the gift to a charitable donation. The getter then enters the shipping info, which Karma fulfills. The acquisition is significant in that it not only gives Facebook an interesting e-commerce revenue stream but further enhances its mobile footprint. While the newly IPO-ed company has been criticized widely for its lack of a mobile ad strategy, Facebook seems to be establishing its mobile presence mainly through acquisition. In addition to its high-profile $1 billion purchase of Instagram, Facebook has also acquired mobile media companies Lightbox, a photo-sharing app for Android, and location-based people discovery app Glancee this year. The acquisition was announced on the Karma Web site by founders Lee Linden and Ben Lewis, who previously had developed TapJoy. “We’re thrilled to announce that Karma has been acquired by Facebook,” the two founders announced on the blog. “The service that Karma provides will continue to operate in full force. By combining the incredible passion of our community with Facebook’s platform we can delight users in new and meaningful ways. As we say … only good things will follow.”
If Twitter and NASCAR go together like rubber and asphalt, it's partly because every race features every NASCAR team, so every diehard fan who can't actually be present at, say, Pocono Speedway wants the experience of being there, regardless of where they live. Also, while quarterbacks and shortstops don't really have the freedom to post photos and tweets during games, drivers and crews do. Racer Brad Keselowski proved that during the Daytona 500 this year. Keselowski tweeted from his car a photograph he had just shot of a jet-dryer truck engulfed in flames right after having been rammed by driver Juan Pablo Montoya. Keselowski promptly got 100,000 Twitter followers. He was also tweeting his reactions to other weird stuff that happened during the race. No surprise, then, that NASCAR has become the first sports league -- or company for that matter -- to ink a special arrangement with the social medium that gives fans a live Twitter experience. The partnership, launching the week of June 10 around the Pocono 400, focuses on a digital program supporting live race broadcasts. During a race, when fans click on #NASCAR, search for #NASCAR on Twitter.com or visit twitter.com/#NASCAR, they will reach a Twitter platform scrolling the most relevant tweets from NASCAR drivers, families, teams, commentators, celebrities and other racing fans and personalities. Twitter.com/#NASCAR will be available starting with the Pocono Raceway race weekend and then on June 10 in conjunction with TNT’s first of six television broadcasts of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. The companies said that Twitter.com/#NASCAR will use algorithms and editorial signals to select and feature the best tweets and photos from NASCAR insiders during race weekends. Twitter’s media team will curate the tweets. Scott Warfield, director of entertainment and marketing communications for NASCAR, tells Marketing Daily that the partnership didn’t happen overnight. "We have been having conversations with Twitter a good part of 12 months," he says. "We think it's fair to say that NASCAR is the most liberal sport when it comes to our social media guidelines. We encourage athletes to tweet until the start of the race and following the race, so we have been very proactive." The racing association has been focusing on social media as a way to grow the sport because the dynamics of the races make each one a big event. "Frankly, NASCAR for long time has been focused on giving access to fans. Fans can walk around garages, check out the cars, and meet the drivers and crew. This is actually an extension of that; it's another way of providing access and the best complement to what's happening on TV," Warfield says.
In college, one of my pals bought an 80-watt Dynaco stereo control amp kit and painstakingly built it over four months. That fall, he pulled a 0.2 GPA -- a lost semester that cost him, after figuring in his $30 savings on the amp, about two thousand 1974 dollars. I bought the identical model, pre-assembled, and listened to music while he soldered. The point of the story? One is to beware of false economies. The other is that I’m no DIY boy. I happen to follow Radio Shack on Twitter, but not to get the latest deals on capacitors or some such. I do almost nothing myself, and if I could hire someone to brush my teeth I would. Truth be told, I only started following Radio Shack because I was trying to do some work for the now-departed CMO. But the tweets still pop up on my screen, and the other day one captured my attention: “The ability to stop time exists... if you calibrate a camera’s frame rate to match the frequency of water vibrations http://shack.net/LPEIPX” Hmm. Unusual. I’ve grown accustomed to seeing Radio Shack tweets about deals on new products and promotional offers. (Example: “RT if you're ready for a new phone. @RadioShack will give you $5 to let us check your eligibility. http://pic.twitter.com/c3hEoySJ”) And on Friday, when TechCrunch reported that Facebook engineers had rewired the NASDAQ opening-of-trading button to instantaneously share the company’s moment of truth as a story on Mark Zuckerberg’s Timeline -- and used Radio Shack components to do it -- it was a no-brainer for Radio Shack to retweet. (“RT the most epic button push ever. NASDAQ button hacked w/ @RadioShack parts to update Mark Zuckerberg’s FB page. http://shack.net/KIUDy3”) But water vibrations? Why pass that along? Here’s why: because it was cool. The link led to a Gizmodo post of an amazing video, appearing to capture flowing water droplets suspended in time and space. The effect was accomplished by passing the tube of flowing water over a loudspeaker, vibrating at a certain frequency. This was photographed by a digital videocam whose refresh rate had been adjusted to match the speaker vibration. The resulting playback was super totally fascinating in every way. No deal on stereo speakers was promoted. Or digital cameras. Or anything else to do with the Radio Shack brand. The only connection to Radio Shack was the brand’s natural connection to a community that would find this video worthwhile. Look, if it was cool to me, can you imagine how it played to the geekosphere? Better than “Game of Thrones.” Isn’t that how social media is supposed to work? Or else they’d call it “sales media.” “Having a conversation is not just pushing products all the time,” says Billy Roberts, who handles Radio Shack’s Twitter presence for a third-party agency. “We obviously have a lot of scheduled messaging: ‘Here are the promotions, here are the products that are coming out.’ But as much as I can, I try to share things to engage the audience, which is what the social media space is for, if you ask me.” How subversive. Treating the people in your social circles like friends you like to share stuff with. Being thoughtful. Strengthening connections. Cultivating relationships. Weird. “I try to do at least four or five of those sorts of posts a week,” Roberts says. “They tend to be DIY projects that Radio Shack customers have built. Where I find this stuff, is I personally subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds for blogs where people upload their projects.” Mind you, Roberts does devote the lion’s share of his tweets to Radio Shack-specific matters, and -– hand it to the guy –- when invited to grouse about clients abusing the social space as a virtual Advo bag, he doesn’t take the bait. The precise question was: “Billy, shouldn’t the majority of tweets be there not to sell but to cultivate common ground?” “That’s not exactly what we’re here for,” he replied. “We’re here to help the client get the messaging across that they want to on their channels, so what we try to do, as much as possible, is marry the two worlds. We want to engage the audience and make the client happy and then everybody wins.” Maybe. Or maybe he was just being diplomatic. (In tracking him down, I was a bit surprised the work wasn’t done in-house. Alas, I can’t mention Roberts’ agency because, as it turns out, it is one I do business with.) But having recently spent a day with social media execs at major multinational brands, I have the distinct impression they would like their management to stop thinking of Twitter and Facebook as “messaging channels” and start embracing them for what they are: places to share with fans, friends, potential friends, casual acquaintances and total strangers, so that the brand might be liked, trusted and maybe even admired. Sending something cool to people who you suspect will find it cool is cool. Using Twitter, et al, as a medium for free advertising is a fantastic method for boring or scaring people off. As my college pal learned the hard way, it is ruinous trying to save money by assembling something you don’t understand.
In college, one of my pals bought an 80-watt Dynaco stereo control amp kit and painstakingly built it over four months. That fall, he pulled a 0.2 GPA – a lost semester that cost him, after figuring in his $30 savings on the amp, about two thousand 1974 dollars. I bought the identical model, pre-assembled, and listened to music while he soldered. The point of the story? One is to beware of false economies. The other is that I’m no DIY boy. I happen to follow Radio Shack on Twitter, but not to get the latest deals on capacitors or some such. I do almost nothing myself, and if I could hire someone to brush my teeth I would. Truth be told, I only started following Radio Shack because I was trying to do some work for the now-departed CMO. But the tweets still pop up on my screen, and the other day one captured my attention: “The ability to stop time exists... if you calibrate a camera’s frame rate to match the frequency of water vibrations http://shack.net/LPEIPX” Hmm. Unusual. I’ve grown accustomed to seeing Radio Shack tweets about deals on new products and promotional offers. (Example: “RT if you're ready for a new phone. @RadioShack will give you $5 to let us check your eligibility. http://pic.twitter.com/c3hEoySJ”) And on Friday, when TechCrunch reported that Facebook engineers had rewired the NASDAQ opening-of-trading button to instantaneously share the company’s moment of truth as a story on Mark Zuckerberg’s Timeline – and used Radio Shack components to do it – it was a no-brainer for Radio Shack to retweet. (“RT the most epic button push ever. NASDAQ button hacked w/ @RadioShack parts to update Mark Zuckerberg’s FB page. http://shack.net/KIUDy3”) But water vibrations? Why pass that along? Here’s why: because it was cool. The link led to a Gizmodo post of an amazing video, appearing to capture flowing water droplets suspended in time and space. The effect was accomplished by passing the tube of flowing water over a loudspeaker, vibrating at a certain frequency. This was photographed by a digital videocam whose refresh rate had been adjusted to match the speaker vibration. The resulting playback was super totally fascinating in every way. No deal on stereo speakers was promoted. Or digital cameras. Or anything else to do with the Radio Shack brand. The only connection to Radio Shack was the brand’s natural connection to a community that would find this video worthwhile. Look, if it was cool to me, can you imagine how it played to the geekosphere? Better than “Game of Thrones.” Isn’t that how social media is supposed to work? Or else they’d call it “sales media.” “Having a conversation is not just pushing products all the time,” says Billy Roberts, who handles Radio Shack’s Twitter presence for a third-party agency. “We obviously have a lot of scheduled messaging : ‘Here are the promotions, here are the products that are coming out.’ But as much as I can, I try to share things to engage the audience, which is what the social media space is for, if you ask me.” How subversive. Treating the people in your social circles like friends you like to share stuff with. Being thoughtful. Strengthening connections. Cultivating relationships. Weird. “I try to do at least four or five of those sorts of posts a week,” Roberts says. “They tend to be DIY projects that Radio Shack customers have built. Where I find this stuff, is I personally subscribe to a lot of RSS feeds for blogs where people upload their projects.” Mind you, Roberts does devote the lion’s share of his tweets to Radio Shack-specific matters, and – hand it to the guy – when invited to grouse about clients abusing the social space as a virtual Advo bag, he doesn’t take the bait. The precise question was: “Billy, shouldn’t the majority of tweets be there not to sell but to cultivate common ground?” “That’s not exactly what we’re here for,” he replied. “We’re here to help the client get the messaging across that they want to on their channels, so what we try to do, as much as possible, is marry the two worlds. We want to engage the audience And make the client happy and then everybody wins.” Maybe. Or maybe he was just being diplomatic. (In tracking him down, I was a bit surprised the work wasn’t done in-house. Alas, I can’t mention Roberts’ agency because, as it turns out, it is one I do business with.) But having recently spent a day with social media execs at major multinational brands, I have the distinct impression they would like their management to stop thinking of Twitter and Facebook as “messaging channels” and start embracing them for what they are: places to share with fans, friends, potential friends, casual acquaintances and total strangers, so that the brand might be liked, trusted and maybe even admired. Sending something cool to people who you suspect will find it cool is cool. Using Twitter, et al, as a medium for free advertising is a fantastic method for boring or scaring people off. As my college pal learned the hard way, it is ruinous trying to save money by assembling something you don’t understand.
Recent reports indicate the Pinterest tidal wave may be receding, yet there is no doubt people are just as bananas about new, quirky and socially connected platforms as ever. Entrepreneurs are jumping at the chance to invent the next hottest start-up and one thing remains clear: Marketers must be just as interested in understanding best practices for using these emerging platforms. Entrepreneurs are not alone in recognizing the potential for sites that offer high user engagement, often tied to social networking and e-commerce. The Fancy is a Pinterest-like site that monetizes user-curated images and allows users to organize images into lists and conduct transactions on the site. Two new digital start-ups, Pinstagram and Pingram, merge Pinterest and Instagram in the latest mash-up to reach investor’s eyes. It’s no wonder the venture capital world is bubbling and marketers are scrambling to understand how they can monetize emerging platforms. Peer pressure: Everyone else is doing it-should you, too? According to comScore, Pinterest users spent an average 89 minutes on the site in January, far passing Twitter and LinkedIn, tying with Tumblr and second only to Facebook. Just because Pinterest has more than 10 million members, should every brand have a presence? If so, how can it be impactful and ultimately drive brand participation? Brands need to recognize that the power lies within the listening. Clients should sign in and listen/watch what participants create, how they share and with whom. At that point, you’ll have a more clear vision of your potential reach, engagement and competition. Shift From Consumerism To Participation Inherent to Pinterest’s intrigue and its commonality with other social sites like The Fancy, Instagram, Twitter and Facebook, is the social connections and share ability. When marketers make content easy to share via the site, they tap into a new vehicle for raising brand visibility. The user experience is less about consumerism and more about participation (both active and passive). It feels organic, relevant, focused and socially driven. Both marketers and participants post content and share it, which increases reach and relevancy, but also raises credibility of the message. A marketer doesn’t just have to share their own brand’s information or products. If you know your participants are seeking trend and style, why not also connect with content from leading stylists and fashion setters, within your branded page? Marketers should harness and utilize available data to better understand new and existing customer behaviors on socially connected platforms like Pinterest. Pinterest users are estimated to be largely between 25 and 54 and the majority are women. Would a brand that caters predominantly to male baby boomers benefit from a Pinterest presence as much as a brand with a core customer base of millennial females? Probably not, so one size does not fit all and marketers must consider this before allocating dollars to the latest and greatest. Leveraging the social analytics behind a platform can help guide where and with whom to invest time and resources. Marketers may be surprised and see that a small sub segment of their total customer base is male and drives a larger average order size within social shopping platforms like this than they do females. This is when we can make social data truly powerful for brands! According to comScore, the typical Pinterest user profile: •68% of users are women •80% are 25+ •50% have children •28% have a household income of $100K+ So You Begin to Pin: Now What? Smart marketers harness the power of the pin, among other social capabilities, and capitalize on emerging social platforms. They engage with: Visually appealing content: Startups like Pinterest and Instagram owe much of their success to presentation. High resolution, appropriately sized and clear pictures and video are a must. Brand consistency: Emerging platforms, just like any digital platform, are an extension of your brand identity. Maintain consistency with your native site and other branding efforts. There is also no room to be stagnant on an emerging platform. Original and shared content: Many emerging platforms are designed to mix both. As evidenced by the sign on partnerships with Facebook and Twitter, engagement begets engagement. Test and learn: Emerging platforms are really a win-win in this area. Use analytics to understand site engagement, test new opportunities and learn the best way to engage with users on any given platform.
Whether in celebration of its Friday IPO or Saturday’s wedding of founder Mark Zuckerberg, Facebook has added another mobile acquisition to the pile with the purchase of the year-old social gifting company Karma. The e-commerce startup creates a curated catalog of products that mobile app and Facebook users can send directly to their friends. You pick a gift from the app-based catalog, add a card and send it via SMS, email or Facebook. The app advertises its convenience, in that it can gift anyone from anywhere without the sender having specific shipping information on the recipient. When the gift-getter receives notice of the gifting, he or she can make color or flavor choices, even swap the gift for an alternative from the catalog or convert the gift to a charitable donation. The getter then enters the shipping info, which Karma fulfills. The acquisition is significant in that it not only gives Facebook an interesting e-commerce revenue stream but further enhances its mobile footprint. While the newly IPO-ed company has been criticized widely for its lack of a mobile ad strategy, Facebook seems to be establishing its mobile presence mainly through acquisition. In addition to its high-profile $1 billion purchase of Instagram, Facebook has also acquired mobile media companies Lightbox, a photo-sharing app for Android, and location-based people discovery app Glancee this year. The acquisition was announced on the Karma Web site by founders Lee Linden and Ben Lewis, who previously had developed TapJoy. “We’re thrilled to announce that Karma has been acquired by Facebook,” the two founders announced on the blog. “The service that Karma provides will continue to operate in full force. By combining the incredible passion of our community with Facebook’s platform we can delight users in new and meaningful ways. As we say … only good things will follow.”
If Twitter and NASCAR go together like rubber and asphalt, it's partly because every race features every NASCAR team, so every diehard fan who can't actually be present at, say, Pocono Speedway wants the experience of being there, regardless of where they live. Also, while quarterbacks and shortstops don't really have the freedom to post photos and tweets during games, drivers and crews do. Racer Brad Keselowski proved that during the Daytona 500 this year. Keselowski tweeted from his car a photograph he had just shot of a jet-dryer truck engulfed in flames right after having been rammed by driver Juan Pablo Montoya. Keselowski promptly got 100,000 Twitter followers. He was also tweeting his reactions to other weird stuff that happened during the race. No surprise, then, that NASCAR has become the first sports league -- or company for that matter -- to ink a special arrangement with the social medium that gives fans a live Twitter experience. The partnership, launching the week of June 10 around the Pocono 400, focuses on a digital program supporting live race broadcasts. During a race, when fans click on #NASCAR, search for #NASCAR on Twitter.com or visit twitter.com/#NASCAR, they will reach a Twitter platform scrolling the most relevant tweets from NASCAR drivers, families, teams, commentators, celebrities and other racing fans and personalities. Twitter.com/#NASCAR will be available starting with the Pocono Raceway race weekend and then on June 10 in conjunction with TNT’s first of six television broadcasts of the NASCAR Sprint Cup Series season. The companies said that Twitter.com/#NASCAR will use algorithms and editorial signals to select and feature the best tweets and photos from NASCAR insiders during race weekends. Twitter’s media team will curate the tweets. Scott Warfield, director of entertainment and marketing communications for NASCAR, tells Marketing Daily that the partnership didn’t happen overnight. "We have been having conversations with Twitter a good part of 12 months," he says. "We think it's fair to say that NASCAR is the most liberal sport when it comes to our social media guidelines. We encourage athletes to tweet until the start of the race and following the race, so we have been very proactive." The racing association has been focusing on social media as a way to grow the sport because the dynamics of the races make each one a big event. "Frankly, NASCAR for long time has been focused on giving access to fans. Fans can walk around garages, check out the cars, and meet the drivers and crew. This is actually an extension of that; it's another way of providing access and the best complement to what's happening on TV," Warfield says.
Following the Facebook IPO launch on Friday, Experian Hitwise has provided an updated post based on US data showing the impact Facebook has online with its growth over the years. (US market only) Here are 15 stats as of the May 18th IPO: