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Future of Social Media: Mark Schaefer at SXSW Interactive

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When you stop to think about everything that the internet offers us on a daily basis – the answer to any question at the tip of our fingers, the ability to connect with people on the other side of the planet and to communicate with hundreds and thousands of people from the comfort of your own home – it feels as if the future is already here. All we’re missing is the hover cars.

Social media plays a big part in the innovations and abilities the internet provides. But where do we go from here? What is the future of social media?

One of my South by Southwest highlights: Mark Schaefer, author, public speaker, blogger, and marketing professor, presented what he believes the future of social media is, and how to navigate through it. More about Mark Schaefer on his blog.

Schaefer outlines the four Digital Revolutions, the three previous and the one to come. Image found here http://www.businessesgrow.com/2014/04/28/digital-marketing-innovation/

Schaefer outlines the four Digital Revolutions, the three previous and the one to come. Image found here http://www.businessesgrow.com/2014/04/28/digital-marketing-innovation/

The Four Digital Revolutions

Presence (The WWW) 1990-2000 – Companies were really only expected to have a website at this point, to show an online presence.

Discovery (Search) 2000-2010 – A bigger emphasis on search engine optimization (SEO) happened in this time period, to encourage the discovery of your company.

Utility (Social Media & Mobile) 2010-2015 – The focus in this phase is on meeting the consumers’ needs when they need it, which is possible because mobile devices make it easy to consume content at anytime. The average American is spending 10 hours a day consuming content online, a two-hour increase because of mobile devices.

Immersion (User-Generated Content) 2015-? – This is where the future of social media exists. Social media sites are becoming more and more about users creating content. Schaefer estimates that by the year 2020, the amount of data online will have grown by 600% and 75% of that will be created by the consumer. This will also be the era of “wearable technology” and “immersion,” where, Schaefer says, “the Internet will surround us like the air that we breathe.” This would create a whole new landscape of marketing possibilities.

How to navigate the new social media landscape

Content Shock is created when the amount of content being produced is greater than the amount of content that people can consume. Image found on Mark Schaefer's site http://www.businessesgrow.com/

Content Shock is created when the amount of content being produced is greater than the amount of content that people can consume. Image found on Mark Schaefer’s site http://www.businessesgrow.com/

While it’s great that everyone and her brother has access to create content online, offering a more diverse and thriving online market, this also generates stronger competition for your content to break through the clutter and be seen.

In fact, there will be a time in which the amount of content internet users can consume will be outweighed by the amount of content produced. Schaefer calls this “Content Shock” which, unfortunately, is uneconomical.

This Content Shock, which Schaefer believes is coming soon, will have some negative implications on small businesses, including:

  • Big corporations will overtake the market.
  • Schaefer says just like with most industries, those with “deep pockets” can obtain control over a market and even create barriers that perpetuate the Content Shock for their competitors.
  • Companies will have to invest more in their content than they are getting back, making the production of content no longer worth it.

Create content that will stand out

Schaefer says that the Content Shock might be a few years off for some markets and might be here now for others. It’s important to plan ahead and think about how saturated your particular market is.

When producing content, Schaefer says to think about whether what you’re making is “RITE,” meaning:

  • Relevant
  • Interesting
  • Timely
  • Entertaining

He says that the element of fun is essential, as is serving your consumers’ needs and keeping your content human. Content that is “RITE,” especially in an under-saturated market, will get views and garner your brand attention.

Another important thing to keep in mind as the market keeps evolving is search filters, which are becoming increasingly sophisticated. Filters like Zite might soon replace Google even, making SEO less important than it used to be.

It’s essential that your brand evolves with the industry, or it will be lost in the shuffle and unable to stand up to the competition.

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How do you envision the future of Social Media? What are you doing to prepare your brand? Share your thoughts and insights with a quick comment.

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Social Media Ethics: How transparent should your social media marketing be?

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Do you recognize this video?

Big Papi took a selfie with the President, which then became an internet sensation.

Big Papi took a selfie with the President, which then became an internet sensation.

Or this picture?

The famous Oscar selfie that became the most retweeted picture ever.

The famous Oscar selfie that became the most retweeted picture ever.

How about this picture?

Most likely, you’ve seen all of these more times than you can count, but what do they all have in common? They’re examples of content that companies have released on social media sites, using the momentum of the internet to advertise without explicitly presenting it as advertising.

All three of these examples were released, became viral, and then people began realizing they were actually part of marketing campaigns and not as spontaneous as they might have seemed. Some publications and people weren’t happy with the companies for planning what was made to seem spontaneous, making the customers feel like they had been lied to.

But is it unethical to present content to consumers without being clear about its purpose? Does it work in favor of the company?

Wren’s take on their social media marketing campaign

Melissa Coker, the founder of Wren, considered the video a huge success for the clothing business, including the backlash surrounding it. In an article on Business Insider she said, “Traffic to the Wren website is up 14,000%, and 96% of those visitors are new to the site.” Coker sited the subtlety of the video’s message as part of its success.

In fact, the video had originally been tweeted with the line, “We asked 20 strangers to kiss for the first time for our Fall14 collection,” clearly indicating it was a video to promote the clothing line. When the video was shared, it lost that context and began to make people feel duped when they discovered it was meant to advertise the clothes. People were also unhappy to discover the strangers were all models, actors or musicians, meaning their reactions may have been less genuine than you would initially expect. But was it unethical?

Coker indicates that making media like this – which is content-based, rather than heavily commercialized slogan-based advertising – is actually more ethical. There are no tricks or carefully calibrated marketing techniques meant to sway people to buy these products. If people are interested in the content, they’ll forward it, and if not, they won’t.

Samsung’s social media marketing campaigns

Samsung has been less upfront about these images than Wren was – in fact the company says they paid David Ortiz to use his Samsung phone and Ellen DeGeneres to use her Samsung phone during the Oscars, but that the selfies were spontaneous.

As a result from Ortiz’s selfie with President Obama, the White House has discussed banning all selfies with the President to avoid situations where it appears that he is endorsing one brand over another.

The Oscar selfie got so much attention, however, that it was responsible for Twitter crashing briefly. It has been retweeted more than 3 million times and became the most retweeted post ever. It has certainly gotten people talking about Samsung.

According to this article in the Wall Street Journal, “Kontera [a company which tracks social media content] said that 23% of the online commentary around the ‘selfie’ on social media has been positive and about 69% of the comments have been neutral. Only 8% of the comments were negative, the company added.”

How should you employ this type of social media marketing?

There definitely are some benefits of using social media for marketing.

  • It’s less expensive than traditional advertising.
  • You can get direct response from potential customers.
  • Audience is actively involved when retweeting, sharing, blogging, etc.
  • You can use more memorable and creative outlets for marketing your brand.

What are the downsides?

  • If you aren’t clear enough about what you’re doing, you may get backlash online.
  • It is much harder than it seems to make things go viral – a large part of it is simply luck.

While it is largely up to the content maker to decide what is ethical when using social media marketing, it’s important to remember that customers want to feel like a brand is trustworthy. Feeling tricked or duped may not be the best strategy – but subtlety might work better, as in the case of Wren’s video.

Try to be upfront and honest with your potential customers, but use the internet and social media to your advantage, because, when done right, it could help put your brand’s name on the map.
 
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Looking to further your engagement but not sure how?

New Media Education Experts Designated Editor offers customized courses from the convenience of your laptop or device. Contact Suzanne at Sue(at)DesignatedEditor.com now to  set a time that best suits your busy schedule.  

Octalysis elevates gamification principles at SXSW

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Gamification via Octalysis – Not as tricky as it sounds

Again, this year’s South by Southwest Interactive festival united an astonishing group of innovative thinkers and strategists. One of those innovators was Yu-kai Chou, “a Gamification Pioneer (since 2003), International Keynote Speaker and Occasional Guest Lecturer for Stanford University,” according to his profile on the SXSW website. You can find more detailed information on his theories from Chou’s website, from which some of the information from this article was sourced, in addition to live attendance at the best session of the festival.

But what is Gamification?

Gamification enables companies to use game-like elements such as competition, point systems, challenges etc. to entice customers to use their product. It’s meant to make boring things seem fun, encouraging people to do what they might otherwise ignore.

  • An example of explicit gamification is the Monopoly game at McDonalds.
  • An implicit example would be the progress bar on LinkedIn profiles, showing what percentage of your profile is complete.

Volkswagen started a campaign on its “Fun Theory” to prove that making things fun encourages people to do them more often and therefore change their behavior. While gamification isn’t a new idea — think about every store that offers you cards to earn points or receipts that will enter you to win a prize if you fill out a survey — Chou offers a new way of looking at this strategy, and explains why some gamification plans fail, by describing his theory of Octalysis. This theory analyses eight types of motivations behind successful gamification.

Why does motivation matter in gamification?

This comes down to the difference between extrinsic and intrinsic motivation, meaning being motivated to do things by outside reward, compared to being internally driven. Understanding your consumers’ motivations is very important because intrinsic motivation can be snuffed out by trying to force extrinsic motivation on them.

  • When customers are intrinsically (internally) motivated, they care about your product or service on their own.
  • Extrinsic motivation, like a point system or other gamification technique, won’t matter to customers who aren’t interested in your product to begin with.

A good example of extrinsic motivation defeating intrinsic motivation is looking at students in school who are so concerned with grades that they fail to really learn the material beyond what they need to know for tests and assignments. Poor handling of motivation may be why, even though “70% of all Fortune 500 companies will be using gamification” according to Chou, “80% of these [gamification plans] will fail.”

How Octalysis can keep gamification from failing

Chou argues that simply incorporating gaming “elements” won’t get customers intrinsically motivated to use your product or service, and they simply won’t make a game interesting. In fact, gamification could turn people away, if it feels gimmicky. What will convince potential clients to use your brand, or to keep current customers coming back, is to think about how the gaming elements make them feel. Design games with a human-based, rather than function-based, focus – keep human motivation in mind.

Gamification Pioneer Yu-kai Chou's model of effective gamification motivations, as presented at South by Southwest Interactive 2014.

Gamification Pioneer Yu-kai Chou’s model of effective gamification motivations, as presented at South by Southwest Interactive 2014.

Octalysis driven by 8 drivers

1. Meaning – The drive to be involved with something bigger than yourself, a community or a bigger purpose that drives decisions.

2. Empowerment – The motivation that drives people to paint or play with Legos. Expressing creativity and getting feedback is empowering and creates intrinsic motivation in players.

3. Social Influence – Includes drives such as competition, mentorship, companionship, acceptance, and envy.

4. Unpredictability – Comes into play with gambling at bCasino or http://www.minionlinespiele.net/. When the result is unpredictable, it drives players to try to discover what will happen next.

5. Avoidance – The drive to avoid a bad consequence, such as admitting defeat or feeling if you don’t act now, you’ll miss an opportunity.

6. Scarcity – When things are rare, it increases the motivation to obtain it. For example, if in a game only a select few are awarded a special accomplishment, it would make the players try harder to be one of the few to achieve it.

7. Ownership – When a player feels like he or she owns something, the drive to improve upon that ownership motivates him or her to continue working toward a goal.

8. Accomplishment – The drive to overcome a challenge. This is the easiest motivation to design for, according to Chou. It’s important to stress the challenge, otherwise the reward received will be meaningless.

How to employ Gamification using Octalysis

Begin with how you want your potential customers to feel when engaged with your process and your company. The motivations you wish to emphasize and act upon will help you decide on the best gamification techniques to employ. But ideally, you would use almost all of these motivations since different people are motivated by different drives. After that, consider these four phases a customer will hopefully go through. It’s important to think about how you want your clientele to feel at each stage, showing participants the value of not only beginning your game but sticking with it. These stages include:

  1. Discovery – Value must be evident immediately or no one will begin the process.
  2. Onboarding – When a new participant begins to create a space for themselves in this new gaming community or situation.
  3. Scaffolding – In this stage, value is often achieved through customers’ actions. Their motive may be driven by the core values of accomplishment and empowerment.
  4. End Game (Veteran Retention) – This stage includes mentoring new players and improving the community.

You have the power to interest potential clients and keep your current customers interested in your product or service by employing techniques that will speak to their motivations and show them value every step of the way. No one really needs your particular brand of product, so according to Chou, you need to figure out how to make them want your specific brand.
 
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Which of these tips would you use as a customer? As a business? Let us know what you think in the comments!

 
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Suzanne McDonald discusses social media, women in business on the Dr. Pat Show

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The Dr. Pat Show

Dr. Pat discusses social media and being a woman in business with President of Designated Editor Suzanne McDonald.

 

 

Are women too reluctant to seek deserved recognition?

Dr. Pat Baccili hosts an online radio talk show which focuses on positive transformation. Dr. Pat is a “coach, teacher, adviser, inspirational speaker, consultant, and internationally acclaimed radio personality,” and won the 2013 Stevie Award Winner for Women Helping Women in Business and Management Team of the Year. Through the Dr. Pat Show and her consultations she encourages others to rid their lives of the “Crust” that holds them back and instead push themselves to do what they would want to achieve if they were not afraid to fail.

President of Designated Editor Suzanne McDonald sat down with her to talk about many topics, including what it’s like to be women in innovative fields, like social media and internet radio. As two Stevie Award Winners, they discussed how it feels to be recognized as innovators in their fields.

Dr. Pat said, “Passion and purpose come before all the awards and the accolades,” and that women tend to not see what they’re doing as “award-worthy.” She laughed that she even feels too busy for awards. “Does that take more than five minutes?” she joked.

McDonald agreed that “This is one of the failings of many women. We’re very humble about what we do – it’s just what we do.”

Dr. Pat asked McDonald what makes Designated Editor different from other technology companies, and she answered that she doesn’t see herself as a technology person, but first and foremost as a communicator.

When asked what McDonald’s personal message is, she replied, “Give yourself time to develop a vision and think about what you want that reality to be in your future, or to help other people, and keep that at the forefront of what you do.”

McDonald showed she’s taken her own advice when she described her own work, including the TickSmart campaign that gained much traction online with the help of four student interns and two other social media experts and included the viral video, Ticknado, and Newport Interactive Marketers, a series of events and guest speakers she organizes that teaches and discusses innovative and effective ways of using social media.

Listen to the podcast for more insights on social media, including how busy people can benefit from it most.
 
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What do you think about this podcast and what was discussed? Let us know in the comments!

 
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