Techno//Marketer

Facebook's DIY ad targeting explained

Ever time that I show somebody what is possible with Facebook's advertising system, they immediately see the future of advertising. Facebook allows marketers to create ads that are extremely targeted to a unique, specific audience. The ads are pay-per-click so you only pay when somebody is interested enough to engage with you through a click.

In the example I go through in the video (which you can see in the image below) I show you the full range of targeting capabilities within Facebook. While it is very robust, there are some missing elements including ethnicity. Though you may not be able to target the exact individual you are looking for, you can use interests and keywords to achieve the same result.

Here is an Inside//Out look at Facebook's advertising system:

[Feed readers please click through if you cannot see the video.]

Here is the screen capture from the video.

So what does this look like when done right? Here is a good example that I saw today when I logged in to Facebook. The ad to the right is promoting a Chris Brogan "Twebinar" that is hosted by Radian 6. The ad is targeted to my interests, the headline caught my eye and I recognized Chris' headshot immediately. I clicked through to the Twebinar in short order.

Key Takeaways:

• Micro-targeting your audience using these services is easier than ever
  
• Determine how you can target people directly with ads as well as using meta data to reach them indirectly (for example reaching people who watch Monday Night Football to target football fans)
  
• Ads that speak to the audience with the right message at the right time are highly effective
  
• The prevalence of broad, un-targeted advertising inside social networks is nearing an end
  
• Invasive ads like Facebook's social ads should be used sparingly if at all (there is too much risk at this point)
  

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Technorati Tags:
advertising, Facebook, Inside//Out, marketing, Matt Dickman, social networks, strategy, Techno//Marketer, trends

Social reputation patterns

I found a very interesting post on the Yahoo User Interface blog today discussing social reputation patterns. Reputation is a way to create engagement inside a community and plays an important part in many social networks and other action-driven sites.

Some quick examples of reputation systems are LinkedIn's profile completeness and eBay seller ratings. Having these levels of reputation in the system give interactions an added value. In eBay, sellers are given the incentive to deliver what they say they will, because they know they'll be rated afterward. LinkedIn's profile completeness level is dependent on helping others in the system and encourages more interaction.

Here are the patterns that Yahoo mentions:

These patterns can also be used in different types of community environments. They range from altruistic, nurturing communities to combative, winner-takes-all environments. Certain brands can use each to deliver value to their community.

Take a minute now and think about the communities that you participate in where users are given an incentive for taking action. Where does it fit in these patterns? Most sites use multiple patterns to engage different groups of users and it's a very powerful technique to engage users online and drive repeat visits and extended loyalty.

Technorati Tags:
conversations, marketing, Matt Dickman, social networks, strategy, Techno//Marketer, Yahoo, reputation

Inside//Out: Plurk

If you read the title of this post and thought I was kidding about the name of the service, I assure you I am not. Plurk is a new micromedia service that is just coming on the radar screen for the early adopter crowd. It builds on the ideas that Twitter has made de-facto standards and adds a bit more interactivity.

The key differentiator for Plurk is the timeline of messages that users can surf through, the modifiers (loves, hates, thinks) that are used to filter messages and the overall style. This looks to be geared toward a younger audience overall. There is a mobile site at www.plurk.com/m that allows you to post and read Plurks from your friends.

Here is a video overview:

[Feed readers please click through if you cannot see the video.]

Key Takeaways:

• These sites are all about community and this one is still young
  
• Users must update Plurk separately from Twitter, there is no stream connection at this time
  
• Plurk allows mobile web and IM updates (haven't seen SMS yet)
  
• Plurk is still new so the API isn't open yet
  
• I personally think that people can reasonably manage 2 services like this at one time, the most broadly functional services will win out
  

Are you using Plurk? It's open to try if you'd like. Make sure you add me there. I'll add you back.

Technorati Tags:
Inside//Out, marketing, Matt Dickman, micromedia, social media, Techno//Marketer, technology, Plurk

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Owning your digital identity

Do you own your corporate domain name? It sounds kind of silly in 2008 doesn't it?

Let's go a level deeper. Do you own your personal .com name (i.e. www.mattdickman.com)?

That may be a bit more of a stretch for some of you, but it's crucial from a personal branding perspective. Just ask Shel Israel who did not have www.shelisrael.com purchased and someone else put up a site devoted to poking fun at him.

Other heavyweights like Robert Scoble (www.robertscoble.com) don't own their domain names either. Re-acquiring a domain name from a cybersquatter has some legal precedent, but it can rack of legal fees or large one-time purchase amounts.

Do you own your Twitter, YouTube and Flickr usernames?

However, let me ask you this. Do you own your personal/corporate Twitter username? How about your YouTube username? How about your Flickr username? If you don't, it's probably a good idea that you do (they're mostly free anyway). I lost out personally on my YouTube name because I used my nickname instead. You may not acquire them all, but you can sure try. These usernames do come up with search result pages adding to the importance of owning your identity.

The risk to your reputation that you run when somebody does register your username is potentially huge. There is no legislation (which I am aware of) that addresses these micro level identity-squatters. It could get to a point where people/companies have to pay for their usernames ala the late 1990's domain name deals.

Once you have acquired the usernames you will need to decide how, if at all, you use the account. While I don't like the fact that accounts may sit empty in the short-term, it is advisable that you secure your ID as soon as possible.

What are you waiting for? Go get your identity!

[Update: It looks like Shel Holtz and I are on the same page today. Check out his post on the same topic with FriendFeed.]

Technorati Tags:
branding, communications, PR, social media, social networks, strategy, Techno//Marketer, identity, reputation management

Nokia's Jan Chipchase on the evolution of mobile

I am a huge fan of the TED Conference's video library. If you're not familiar head over there and poke around (be warned, you will spend a lot of time there).

This video of Nokia's Jan Chipchase is one of those videos that I come back to over and over again. It truly changed the way I look at technology's implications on the global community.

Jan spends his time traveling the world and doing ethnographic research to figure out how the mobile phone fits (and will fit in the future) into our culture. This local, first-person research is so valuable and has very wide-reaching implications.

The coolest part is when Jan goes into the way that phones are used in Uganda as ATMs. People basically exchange airtime minutes as currency. There is a central point person in the local village who has a phone and who exchanges minutes into cash. In other parts of the world there is a whole industry created around supporting and repairing devices where those services do not exist. Other countries are using mobile phone numbers above the entrance to houses instead of house numbers. That's their identity.

Check it out:

Technorati Tags:
communications, Matt Dickman, social media, social networks, Techno//Marketer, technology, TED, mobile

First//Look: BrightKite

In a world of shiny new things, BrightKite is the current top of the list. Beta invites are hard to get and new ones go quickly. So what is BrightKite all about? BrightKite is a social network that hinges on one key differentiating factor. It knows where you are. Users of the site update their locations (manually for now, but I could see GPS updates in the future) and share information with friends as well as other people in the same location.

The content on the site includes Twitter-esque messages about where you are/what you're doing and photography. One very limiting factor at this point is that BrightKite doesn't integrate with the content users are already creating on sites like Twitter and Flickr. BrightKite will push your updates to Twitter, and has a cool way of co-updating your Twitter location, but it still means that you have to create content twice. That's not going to happen in large numbers.

The idea of social, location-based networks aim to close the gap on contextual relevancy that has resulted in irrelevant information overload. I have found that proximity adds context and makes things more relevant to me. This is BrightKite's beta so I'm really looking forward to seeing how they evolve this and bring out more mobile consumption elements (iPhone app, BlackBerry app, proximity alerts, etc.). Advertisers will undoubtedly be perking up at the targeting ability that location brings. That's for another post. If you're on BrightKite make sure you add me.

[Feed readers please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]

Key takeaways:

• Location-based social networks are growing in number and will be standard in the near future
  
• Location is manually updated, but will move to real-time, GPS-based updates when the technology catches up
  
• BrightKite has good privacy filters in place which is crucial for the promise of this level of off-line connectedness
  
• BrightKite does a good job of pushing its content out, but needs to do a better job of pulling it in
  
• Social media overlap (creating the same content more than once) is a growing problem and needs to be planned before sites get to launch stage
  
• Location-based ad targeting is a way to monetize this very quickly, but has to be in balance and aim to add value (like if I am standing in line at Wendy's it could offer me an immediate coupon)
  
• Mobile plays a large part in the success of this network and will for all social networks in the near-term
  
• Would love more consumption options on the phone (not just publishing) to get the most benefit from the service
  

If you know of a new service that you think I should take a look at drop me an email or leave a comment.

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First//Look: Facebook Chat

I have been hearing murmurs about Facebook's new chat application for months. Within the past couple of weeks that chatter has intensified as they systematically roll out the service across the community.

Here is a quick video overview of Facebook's new chat service

[Feed readers please click through to the post if you cannot see the video.]

Key takeaways:

• The service is nicely integrated into the site, not overwhelming, seems to be where I thought it would appear in the design
  
• Follows very familiar interaction models of other, more popular chat services
  
• Will be interesting to see if they allow 3rd parties to hook into this to extend the functionality
  
• User control here looks to have been handled correctly, you can turn it off and on
  

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To help you stay on top of what is happening and to filter the myriad options, you can now subscribe to the Techno//Marketer podcast on iTunes. Get updates in real time when new videos become available.

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Technorati Tags:
marketing, Matt Dickman, Techno//Marketer, technology, Facebook, chat

Personalized brand experiences; Radiohead's Nude Re/Mix

By now you most likely know about Radiohead's experimental release program for their newest album "In Rainbows". Basically, the band set up a site where their fans could buy the album for whatever price they wanted to pay. People could have paid $0 or $100 if they wanted. You can read my original post along with what I decided to pay here.

Radiohead is continuing to find innovative ways to allow fans to own the brand in a personalized way. The latest idea is a contest in partnership with Apple and their Garageband product. It allows people to buy their song "Nude" (track three) with all of the independent pieces of the track. So, you can buy the drum track, the bass track, the guitar track, the strings track and the voice track all independently.

Once people have the pieces of the track, they're encouraged to remix the song using Garageband to create a completely unique take on it. Once they have a file they then go to the site www.radioheadremix.com and load their track into the community. Once there, people can vote for each track and create a widget to promote their entry.

This is a fantastic idea as a way to allow fans to get involved with the Radiohead brand, create something that is their own and join in a community of other, like minded fans. More companies, bands, products, teams, etc. need to look at this model as a way to create deeper engagement. Providing raw assets that can be used to create original, personal by-products could be powerful. It's not for every brand, but for Radiohead and their fan base it works well. Take a listen to some of the songs, they're quite incredible and took an obvious time investment.

Technorati Tags:
community, marketing, Matt Dickman, Radiohead, social media, Techno//Marketer, trends, widget, branding

Your thoughts on election 2.0

This coming Friday, I am speaking on a very cool panel through PRSA at Kent State University's "You Too social media boot camp and leadership summit". The title of the panel is "Packaging the Presidency online" and will be moderated by John Elsasser, Editor in Chief of PRSA Strategist. Other panel members include a former congressman and CEOs of various communications companies. You can read more about it here.

I want to pick your brain on this topic to add to my own thoughts. Here are some questions that you can answer in the comments or by shooting me an email. I'll recap your responses and what I learn at the panel in a post next week.

Discussion points:

• How has social media been used during this election?
  
• Who is using it the best?
  
• Do you think they have a plan for what to do with these communities once the election is over?
  
• What mediums have been most successful in reaching you?
  
• Have you become involved in a campaign and used social media to take action?
  
• What else would you like people to know?
  
• If you live outside of the US, how has politics evolved in your country?
  

Let's use this to open the conversation and talk about the future of politics.

Technorati Tags:
Kent State University, marketing, Matt Dickman, strategy, Techno//Marketer, trends, politics2.0

Interview with Rev. Lennox Yearwood, CEO of the Hip Hop Caucus

Reverend Lennox Yearwood is a very passionate, media savvy person and he took some time to chat with me at the WeMedia conference in Miami last week. His organization uses social media tools like Facebook and Youtube to get their message out to the community at large. Bloggers have played an important part in the mission of the Hip Hop Caucus and has pushed many of their issues from the local community to the global community.

Operatives in the field have help raise the profile of important issues to the level where national, mainstream media is forced to pick them up. The organization uses a broad assortment of tools including CD mix tapes, a blog, MySpace, Facebook and other outlets to get their message to the people who need to hear it.

"The revolution may not be televised, but it will be uploaded." ~ Rev. Lennox Yearwood

[Feed readers please click through if you cannot see the video.]

You can see the passion that Reverend Yearwood has for his work and the major impact that social media tools have had on his organization. We often look at this industry as a marketing vehicle for products and services, but it also has huge potential to bring about social change. Now *that's* social media!

Related Posts:

• WeMedia Miami recap
  
• Interview with Jean-Marc Coicaud of the United Nations University
  
• Interview with Nic Fulton, Chief Scientist at Reuters
  

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Conference, marketing, Matt Dickman, social marketing, social media, Techno//Marketer, wemedia