Why People Follow Brands

Source: Get Satisfaction

At Home, In My Room, Alone.. Chilling With All My Mates

On the back of this video Ive been spending a lot of time monitoring technology and trend blogs trying to identify the where we are heading. In doing this one of the things that has really rubbed my nips is the rise in Social Commerce. Websites like this and this, and this, are really starting to gain traction and are generating healthy user-bases. Groupon, a website that slid straight out the tubes of social commerce was offered a staggering $6 billion dollars from Google just 2 years after inception. And they turned it down. There is BIG money getting thrown around in this area already, and its poised to get bigger.

Its not hard to see why either. A big portion of Gen Y spend almost all of their time behind a screen. The rise in cloud computing software has meant they are online while they work . The growth of smartphones and the steady decline of mobile data rates means they are online when theyre waiting at the super market. When they get home after a long arduous day at work.. They jump straight back on the internet and meticulously check Facebook until their heads hit the pillow.

They do this because thats where their friends are.

Their whole network of friends is sitting behind a screen talking about their day. About what the drunken chick on Jersey Shore said on TV. About what they are going to do on the weekend.

As they do this, lurking deep within their timelines are the Brands and Products that they like. Each one pushing out new deals, links or questions that spark conversations with their fans and followers.

As a marketer this is golden.

Companies pay massive money for market research. They pay companies to hold focus groups, to conduct A/B website tests, to survey their customer bases and to determine what is currently resonating with their target markets.

For the companies this is essential information when they're working out how to position products and build campaigns. Only now, its not necessary to spend the bucks.

All you have to do now is kick back and absorb Facebook and Twitter, get amongst some blogs, dabble in some popular YouTube clips. You can literally sit behind a computer screen and find out exactly what you target market is talking about, what they are interested in and what products they like.

Social Commerce is about to get massive because that is where the market is beginning to live. Theyve gotten sick of flicking through shopping racks at malls and sales. They cant be arsed driving from one shop to the next looking for a top that like totally makes their eyes pop. They want to sit in front of the TV chatting to their mates, and flicking through products that their peers have recommended.

THE FUTURE IS NOW

I recently stumbled across an ingenious facebook group called the Trademe auction bombarders! Now basically what these guys do is every week they pick one lucky trademe auction and bombard it with funny and witty questions about the product. Now I say lucky due to the fact that it is an extremely effective use of new media and new communications technology to promote a product. This is a trend that we are seeing more and more in the marketplace as we charge through this rapidly changing technological landscape. Schneezy Mcgee, the group’s creator, personifies a new age marketer. He is at the cutting edge of technology riding the wave of new and social media by utilizing the new promotional mediums they create. To get an idea of just how revolutionary and visionary this approach is we must first understand where we have come from and thus the direction we are heading.

The nature of marketing has changed dramatically over the past few decades as a result of the development and implication of new information and communication technologies (ICT’s). Perhaps the most influential ICT over this period has been the Internet, and it continues to grow. Since 1997 Internet traffic has doubled annually, and due to constant enhancements it continues to grow at that rate. In 1990 the average speed of the internet was 9.6kbs, in 2000 the introduction of broadband saw speeds to increase to 512kbs, and now as we charge through 2010 speeds are set to increase to a staggering 100mbs (100,000kbs). This huge increase in bandwidth availability has opened the door for the transmission of data rich content like HDTV (high definition television), Radio Broadcasts and Full Magazines and Newspapers to be streamed over the internet, thus taking a lot of power away from the traditional media outlets.

This rapid growth of the internet is crippling traditional media channels and thus advertising and promotional mediums. Magazines and newspapers are on the verge of death; the emergence of the iPad enables consumers to access their news and culture online. Traditional over-the-air radio broadcasting is also on the verge of extinction with experts predicting that by 2020 the last terrestrial radio transmitter will be turned off in America, with the last in the UK being turned off in 2015. And even TV isn’t safe, the birth of on-demand free video content like youtube.com is completely changing the way young people consume their television and the more they watch youtube the less they watch TV. In a nut shell everything is going digital and online. This is particularly concerning for marketers who are left with mediums with diminished audiences, and thus less promotional merit. Therefore innovative new mediums must be found on the internet and marketers must utilize the capabilities of the new and emerging ICT’s.

In regards to Schneezy Mcgee, the group’s creator, his utilization of one of the fastest emerging ICT’s, social media, is indicative of the direction we are going as an audience. The future appears to be in interactivity, with evidence of this sprouting up through all forms of traditional media. News websites are now allowing readers to post feedback and opinion at the bottom of their stories, thus encouraging readers to engage further with the material. Radio stations have introduced txt machines and set up twitter and facebook feeds and are encouraging listeners to provide feedback and interact with DJ’s. Even TV is heading this way with broadcasters who are using multicasting (e.g. TVNZ on demand) looking to establish interactive advertising. This is essentially where viewers would be able to click on and purchase products in the programme they are viewing online. For example a designer dress worn by a character on an episode of ‘The Hills’ could be clicked on by viewers who will then be directed to a retail website where that dress could be purchased. This increased interactivity is valuable as it encourages greater engagement and thus prolonged interest in the content, which in turn means greater promotional visibility. Social media in this regard is a gold mine for marketers as it provides an audience that can engage with the product.

This is where we can truly see the revolutionary aspects of the Trademe auction bombarders! Their success as a promotional tool lies in there encouragement of not only interaction but engagement. The group’s challenge for consumers to create witty and funny questions about the product requires them to critically look at and think about the product. It burns it in into their brain by forcing them to consider every aspect of it in order to create a well worded, well thought out question. In order to fully appreciate the effectiveness of this one only needs to look at how consumers engage with older promotional mediums such as billboards. They are looked at, processed then forgotten. Interactivity is the future and the Trademe auction bombarders! Are the guides.

By Jake Davy

NOTE: The Trademe auction bombarders! have been closed down due to the complaints of a few of the older trademe users