Category Archives: Digital Strategy

Jan 17 2013
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Advertising, Business, Digital Strategy, Social Media, Strategy

Do You Still Want to Hear About Social Media Trends 2013?

Although everyone and their mother has already given their point of view about current social media trends, here are couple of more predictions.

Good folks at Kurio (Finnish Digital Marketing Think Tank) asked me and 17 other Finnish “social media experts”(stated by the report, I prefer to just be “the planner guy with funny glasses”) about social media trends in 2013 and conducted interesting study about the results. They identified nine emerging trends in social media for the year 2013. The report is in Finnish, but the main trends can be read below. All the finnish-speakers should definitely download the report below.

Big Social Media Themes for 2013  (my comments in italics):

1. 2013 is the year of Mobile (this has been my favourite prediction for at least five years. The main difference is that this year I am actually believing it)
2. Multichannel story-telling is the way to create modern phenomena (Or put it this way: If your marketing activity is not multi-channel/channel-agnostic/holistic/360/add your favourite buzzword by nature, it will be doomed to fail)
3. Lack of human resources is the main constraint in social media (The problem is two-folded, there is definitely lack of people actually working with social media. But there is actually even bigger talent problem: there are lots of “social media experts”, “community managers” but not enough actual strategic thinking about what we should do with and in social media. Social media without strategic thinking behind it is irrelevant at best and purely dangerous at worst.)
4. Big Data (Like the report also points out: we have lots of data & information, but do we have talent, resources and capabilities to turn that information to action?)
5. Content: Interesting, current and value-adding (Which starts the discussion about what is the good content? I still believe that good content is either 1)useful 2)funny 3)on some rare instances both)
6. Picture tells more than 2013 words (Despite the revolt against Instagram, people will rather share more pictures online than less in 2013)
7. Social cannot be just a digital or marketing function, but should be thought holistically (Definitely true, but also the most difficult to achieve. On some instances to make the change requires totally new management, who understands the possibilities of digital and social media. On other instances it requires adequate mix of sticks and carrots to ensure the competitive advantage in digital age)
8. Social media channels are starting to resemble more bought media (The pressure to monetize is already showing with different social networks, especially with Facebook)
9. Users are more and more critical towards marketing activities in social media (You might fool a customer once, but not twice. The opportunity to fool once has already passed)

Download the report (in Finnish).

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Oct 25 2012
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Business, Digital Strategy, Social Media, Strategy

Why Google is Struggling with Mobile?

The future of the business is mobile.

Or so they say. Currently it seems more that future business of companies is ruined by mobile. Zynga has lost 85% of its value, because the mobile adoption has been faster than expected. Facebook has been stumbling with mobile advertising, although its recent mobile ad revenues beat the industry estimates.

Even the traditionally steady high-performer Google has been showing signs of slowing down. The problems have their root cause in mobile: Motorola acquisition has not yet paid off and mobile advertising has driven average click prices down.

Here are five other reasons why Google (like many other companies at the moment) is struggling with the mobile:

1. Status Quo Bias
For years the AdWords has been the hen that lays the golden eggs for Google. As humans, we are more likely to believe that things remain the same and are more likely to select to stay in status quo whenever possible. Every company encounters status quo bias at some point. AdWords are still selling like pancakes, the main difference is that the average click price has dropped for four consecutive quarters in row.
Although no one accuses that Google is not doing mobile innovations and investments, there has apparently not been pressing need for them to roll them out faster.
2. Android Ecosystem does not pay off (expect for Samsung)
According to certain estimates, Google makes about $6.50 through ads on Apple devices, compared with under $2 in Android. Google makes roughly the same amount of profit selling Android ads & apps in year that Apple makes selling iPhones a week. Google has regarded Android ecosystem more of an extension of the advertising. Currently it seems that it only benefits Samsung (and maybe to some extend users).
3. Mobile advertising ecosystem is currently broken.
People are not yet ready to make purchases with mobile. That is likely due to change in the future. Meanwhile, the mobile ads generate less revenue than traditional ads on average. Mobile has been thus far more about duplicating the web experience for Google, than regarding it as a center of the advertising innovations.
4. Consumers are even more unpredictable with mobile
Who would have predicted that texting will become popular? Or that tablets will become hits? Consumers are always fickle and surprising, but especially in mobile. Consumers do not really know (or at least articulate) what they want, but they still act quite fast to get it.
5. Google is not (yet) producing phones
Although Google bought Motorola, there has been a strict separation of church and state between Android and Motorola. Apple and Samsung have proven that the money in mobile lies in hardware. Microsoft has returned to hardware game as well. Facebook will probably enter the competition soon. Can Google stay away from the phone game?

I am sure that Google has certain tricks up on their sleeves regarding the mobile. Until those tricks are revealed, there will be more growing mobile pains ahead.

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Oct 24 2012
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Business, Digital Strategy, Strategy

iPad Mini and The Future of Mobile

Despite the surprise launch of the next generation iPad and the brouhaha that followed it, the most important launch of the yesterday´s Apple event was still the iPad Mini. According to late Steve Jobs that tablet should never been launched:

“This size isn’t sufficient to create great tablet apps in our opinion”

The point is not that Apple is ruining the grand vision of iPad or dancing on the grave of Steve Jobs. The launch of iPad Mini is just a reflection of the current market situation. People do not necessarily want to have great tablet apps, they just want to read e-books with the tablet. Kindle Fire and Nexus 7 have shown that there is a great demand for smaller tablets which are designed mainly for content consumption (such as text, videos, audio and basic casual games). Judging by the strength of Apple´s content ecosystem (iTunes, iBooks), it is likely that iPad Mini will be successful. The biggest concern is the higher price, but that does not really have stopped Apple buyers before either.

The launch of iPad Mini is a good indicator of where we are moving in the mobile sphere. Here are four predictions what will happen in the near future:

1. Apple will release bigger iPhone.
If (when) iPad mini will be a hit, we are quite likely to see bigger iPhone. The success of Samsung Galaxy S III has proven that the traditional heuristic of “it has to fit the pocket” do not really apply. We have the need to communicate and consume content. For those whose urge for the latter is bigger, would want to use bigger smartphones. And they just put it in bag instead of trouser pockets. Or get bigger trousers.

2. The Tablet+Dock hybrid will be the laptop of the future
There has been flood of new device announcements with Windows 8 OS that are not traditional laptops. Instead they are hybrids, merging tablets and laptops. These devices might not be the future yet, but the thinking behind them will be. It is odd and inconvenient to carry around smartphone, laptop and tablet with you. I would presume that the separate bigger tablet would be the one to go. Smartphone would be the urgent communication vehicle; the separated tablet for mobile content consumption and that powered with the dock would be for work.

3. Mobile is the driving force in technology usage of the consumers
Also with the launch of Windows 8 OS, there has been quite a big surge of touchscreen laptops. The way we use mobile is shaping how we use other devices. Mobile is all the times with us, so we expect the same user experience with other devices. That is also reason why companies are struggling with mobile. They view it as an add-on, when it should be the core of what they are doing.

4. Forget the different devices, it is about integration of screens.
In the near future, we will not talk about mobile, tablets or laptops. We will just have different screens, which are integrated together and serve different purpose. The company who will master this integration most fluently will be the winner of the technology race. We will have screens for home, work and mobile (enabling both work&entertainment) and certain devices that enable us to use these screens. What devices those will be, remains to be seen. One certain consequence will be that there will be renewed interest to TV screens, which have and still are the default home screens for the majority of households.

iPad Mini will not be the last interesting technology launch in the near future. There is still plenty of white space to discover while consumer technology usage is changing. The one who understands the consumer experience and “the integration of screens” most thoroughly will be able to find and conquer that white space.

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Oct 22 2012
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Advertising, Digital Strategy, Planning, Strategy

Everyone Should Be a Producer

We used to live in the age of ideas, but we have already moved to the next phase:

The Age of Experiment.

It used to be about “what”. After the digital revolution we have to stress the importance of “how”. You cannot really separate the actual production from the actual idea. You cannot have real creativity in digital without the understanding and working knowledge of the actual channels. There are million ways to kill a great idea, nearly as many ways to save good one as well.

By the time you spend on polishing that perfect idea, someone else has already done ten imperfect tests. And actually reached the perfection that way. We have to do prototypes, demos and test runs to find the perfect idea. Ideas without the actual experiments are worthless. The difference between companies will be in the agility to come up with actual working executions as fast as possible. Produce something real or die.

There will neither be separation of the “thinkers” and “doers” anymore. If you want to succeed, you have to be both. Strategy will be more and more shaped with the actions and actual outcomes, not with non-productive marathon meetings discussing some incomprehensible PowerPoint presentation. Forget the “high-level” thinking or “low-level” doing. There will be just one level: the working level.

Everyone should be producer.

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Oct 18 2012
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Digital Strategy, Social Media

Why Would You Pay for Your Facebook Status Updates?

Facebook piloted the promoted post –format already last spring and now rolled out the feature in US in the beginning of this month. Basically it allows normal Facebook user to get more exposure for her post when paying money for it.

Sounds great from the Facebook standpoint. They are in desperate need for new ways to monetize the vast user base. The initial cost for rolling out this advertising format is probably quite low. And it might be hit. Judging from the reality tv shows, there are lots of celebrity-seeking self-promoters around wanting the attention at any cost. On Facebook product site for the Promoted posts, there is linfo about practicalities of the function. One crucial piece of information is however missing:

Why would anyone want do that?

The example Facebook uses is engagement announcement. But I find it hard to believe why anyone would pay for that? If you really have to make sure that people now that you are engaged, there other communication vehicles to ensure that message goes through. Also the virality of those announcements is already high and it is likely that you get hundreds of likes and comments for announcements like that naturally. How many likes will it take that you are satisfied? Of course the situation might change if Facebook decreases the reach of non-paid status updates. That has already happened with brand pages.

There seems to be only one inevitable result from this. Your newsfeed gets bombarded with marketing messages. The promoted post function seems suitable for only small-business owners, politicians, bloggers, company spammers commmunity managers, event organizers, social media con artists consultants and other narcissistic egoists. For those people, the promoted post will probably be good addition to advertising toolkit among other Facebook advertising solutions.

What will it do for the user experience?

There will be municipal election this weekend in Finland. Thus I have avoided checking my newsfeed lately because I just cannot bear all that election advertising from all “Facebook friends”. The newsfeed is almost unreadable. Especially because I do not currently live in Helsinki and I am not even eligible to vote. How worse the situation will be when these annoying self-promoters can pay for more wider reach for their propaganda?

Or maybe this is just clever marketing and the next product Facebook announces is: Unpromoted Post. By paying certain fee, you free yourself from those self-marketing promoted posts.Facebook Premium, without ads?

Someone might pay for that as well.

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Oct 16 2012
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Advertising, Business, Digital Strategy, Marketing Strategy, Social Media

39.045 KM: The New High for Advertising

“Sometimes you have to go up really high to understand how small you are.”

Felix Baumgartner not only made the world´s highest parachute jump. And he not only did the record height manned balloon flight or had the greatest free fall velocity.

He is also the future of advertising. Or actually, Red Bull is.

Red Bull made the jump possible with their Stratos-project. Stratos is a textbook example of the new marketing gathering them millions worth of free publicity. When you only have your brand as the differentiator from the competition, you have to change the traditional rulebook. Also if the marketing is pretty much your only cost item, should you do something that stands out with all that money?

Why you should jump from 39 km to succeed in advertising in 2012?

From advertisements to acts.
Once upon a time, there used to be brand films. These long (at least longer than regular tv-spots) films were on top of every advertising creative wish list, because they let you capture the brand essence and flex your creative muscles. Some relics still mourn for the brand films.

The world´s highest parachute jump is the brand film of the next generation.

We cannot get back to the times of the brand film and the one-sided broadcasting era. If we, the advertising industry, cannot make the shift to do acts instead of ads, we will vanish. And deservedly so.

Many marketing managers and advertising executives throw the term “lifestyle brand” around too carelessly. Whether it is mobile phone, toothpaste, ice cream, jeans, hemorrhoid creams, you name it. The brutal truth is that the majority of brands are just products, which have merely functional value to audience. There are less truly inspirational brands than brand managers in the world. Red Bull is a lifestyle brand, build around extreme experiences. Can you really say that your brand is lifestyle brand compared to Red Bull?

The role of traditional advertising is totally miniscule for Red Bull. Judging from their cartoon TV ads, traditional advertising might even be counterproductive for their success. They have build their brand by events, strategic sponsorships and great content produced from those two. This content is mainly distributed digitally.

Before the death-defying jump, there was also a double-win on Sunday for Red Bull F1 team. Red Bull does not just stamp their logo to everywhere to fulfill their sponsorship duties. They use sponsorship as a strategic marketing weapon.

Great brand is media.
The key to successful content marketing is not producing content. The key is to produce interesting content. If your brand wants to really be part of your audience lives and be that “lifestyle” brand, you have to create content which is up to par (or as in Stratos, even over) with every other content your target audience consumes. Being OK in “advertising standards” is not enough, because people could not care a less whether you are brand or not. There is no handicap league for advertisers.

If you go visit Red Bull website, their content about extreme sports and music beats many major media sites. If you build a media, it takes longevity and it requires quality. You have to have clear picture about what your brand represents and act upon it. The parachute jump was totally on Red Bull brand. If your brand aspires to be media, you cannot only be content agregator and rely only on your partners. You have to be an active content creator as well.

Digital is natural part of the winner brands.
When you understand your target audience, the digital executions are not the challenge. You do not need social media expert to tell that you should broadcast the jump in YouTube. Or that you should have hashtag dedicated the event. Great brands master digital presence efforlessly, because they understand their audience.

Digital is air, you either breathe or die.

You might not be able to fund the world´s highest parachute jump. It might not be the right for our brand either. You should still find ways to become truly part of the lifestyle of your audience, instead of just being an interrupting nuisance for them.

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Oct 11 2012
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Digital Strategy, Social Media

Endorsements: LinkedIn Likes?

During last couple of weeks, there have been sudden surge of people adding their business skills in LinkedIn. The main reason for this is that  you can now do one-click endorsement of particular skill of your LinkedIn contacts. It is as easy and probably as worthwhile in professional way as Facebook like in less-professional setting. I don´t know will the amount of endorsements affect your employment opportunities in future, unless you apply to become a social media manager.
More than just another way to flex the virtual vanity, endorsements are a great example of smart “nudging” from LinkedIn to make people use their service more. More complete LinkedIn profiles, the closer will be the day that your LinkedIn profile has completely replaced traditional CV.
LinkedIn Endorsements is a great example of the power of social recognition and how it can be one of the most powerful incentives you can have. Overall LinkedIn has been build brilliantly combining nudges, gamification and social elements to make people make their profile complete and spend more time with the service. Naturally that helps LinkedIn to better monetize their service with advertisers. And while everyone has been concentrating on hoopla around Facebook, LinkedIn has been doing their thing more quietly and arguably more effectively (at least adjusted to user numbers) as well.
And thanks for all the endorsements I have gotten in LinkedIn. I probably thank by endorsing you back.
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Oct 08 2012
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Business, Digital Strategy, Strategy

Read This Thought Leadership Piece

“Military intelligence is a contradiction in terms”
-Groucho Marx

Since when has a mundane B2B marketing effort become thought leadership marketing?

Blog post is not a thought leadership piece. On a worst case it does not really include any thinking in it, but is only a disguised and long-winded sales pitch for the company behind it. Just that you are sharing your thoughts does not make you a thought leader. Thought leadership is always judged by audience and not the marketer.

If you are a thought leader, whatever you do, it is thought leadership marketing. And the other way around, if you are not, no matter what you write, it is just another blog post, which no one wants to read. People should aspire to really be thought leaders and not just appear to be one.

Because we as a people are naturally lazy and trying to find shortcuts, it has not been surprise that marketing companies selling thought leadership marketing have found a lucrative market. Companies and individuals should concentrate more on doing things worth telling and doing some serious thinking worth sharing instead of buying some “thought leadership toolkit”. The actual methods to reach out to your audience come quite naturally if you have your real story in order. That story should be based on the actual truth.

Thought leadership marketing is just a contradiction in terms. Too often it lacks both the actual thinking and the real leadership.

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