Social Currency

Facebook just held its annual developer conference, F8. Mark Zuckerberg made some radical announcements about the changing face of the largest social media platform on the planet, changes that will impact our personal and professional lives online. 

We cover the six principles Zuck shares in this week’s episode as well as our feedback on their true impact to your business strategy. The six principles include:

Also, announced were a few sexy upgrades to Instagram and we end with a touch on VR, with the new Oculus Quest, vs AR, and where we think these technologies are useful in the near future.

Links we reference in the show are below:

https://venturebeat.com/2019/05/02/everything-facebook-announced-at-f8-2019/

https://techcrunch.com/2019/05/02/takeaways-from-f8-and-facebooks-next-phase/

https://www.theverge.com/2019/4/30/18524068/facebook-f8-2019-keynote-highlights-summary-news-feed-messenger-instagram-oculus

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035 | 7 STEPS TO BUILDING YOUR PERSONAL BRAND

Developing your personal brand online is easier than you think and more important than ever. We outline the 7 steps to do just this in episode #35 of the Social Currency podcast. 

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Links we reference in the show are below:

Feedly news aggregator: https://feedly.com/i/welcome

Google alerts: https://www.google.com/alerts

How to Build a Personal Brand in 5 Steps (and Why Everyone Messes Up on Number 1): https://www.inc.com/nicolas-cole/how-to-build-a-personal-brand-in-5-steps-and-why-everyone-messes-up-on-number-1.html

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034 | THE RISE OF SOCIAL SHOPPING - INSTAGRAM LAUNCHES CHECKOUT, PINTEREST SHOPPABLE PINS

In episode 034 of the Social Currency marketing podcast, we jump on the rise of social shopping. With the introduction of Instagram Checkout and the growth of Pinterest Shoppable Pins, has the age of contextual commerce arrived?

The concept of social shopping has been around since early 2000s, but with the launch of new capabilities like Instagram Checkout and the ease of setting up Pinterest Shoppable Pins, it's easy to see the natural connection between social, influencers, and the consumers interested in what's new, cool, and next. Social shopping is interest-based: Native, natural, and now easy, because it's seamless and in context of the content you are already enjoying.

This is contextual commerce. Now that the platforms are enabling the power to access consumers in a new way, with clear attribution models and integrated e-commerce capabilities, why wouldn't you use social to sell...and shop?

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Links we reference in the show are below:

https://www.emarketer.com/content/social-commerce-referral-grows-110

https://www.pymnts.com/news/ecommerce/2019/instagram-paypal-checkout-social-commerce/

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We love eMarketer’s in-depth reports on all things digital marketing. In this episode, we discuss the highlights from this 18 page report on the podcast. Big thanks to Debra Aho Williamson for including Jess in the interviews and research.

Instagram is hitting it out of the park across so many vectors. Influencers is yet another one. According to eMarketer’s research, the fleeting nature of Instagram stories combined with the ability to include outbound links is hugely attractive for both brands and influencers. If your influencer program is not leveraging both the Instagram Feed and Stories platforms, it should.

The rise of “tiering” of influencers has also caught our attention. With celebrity influencers losing credibility with audiences and inflating their follower counts, many brands are turning to microinfluencers and nanoinfluencers. Are you a nanoinfluencer? Find out in the podcast!

Budgets are growing, both in whole number spend and as a percentage of the overall marketing mix. 31% of marketers say that they are increasing focus on influencer marketing. Here's a quote from the report:

"At Qualcomm, it’s still a very small percentage of the overall marketing and PR budget,” said Jessica Jensen, the company’s global director of digital marketing and strategy. “But because there is enough interest in it, and an awareness that it’s not going to go away, there will likely be additional budget."

So much more in this in-depth global report on all things influencers. Listen to episode #33 to get our POV.

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Links we reference in the show are below:

Intro to report and link to buy:

https://www.emarketer.com/content/global-influencer-marketing-2019

eMarketer’s Podcast with highlights from the report: https://www.emarketer.com/content/podcast-influencer-marketing-stories-fraud-and-microinfluencers 

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032 | ALL THINGS FACEBOOK. IS IT THE NEXT WECHAT? LIVE FROM PEPPERDINE GRAZIADIO IN IRVINE, CALIFORNIA.

Recording together from our alma mater, Pepperdine University, in episode 032, we jump in on the latest news from our old friend, Facebook. This time around, it’s all about PRIVACY.  Zuckerberg says they want to move from a town square format to a smaller, living room scenario. This will have huge implications for the newsfeed, Facebook Messenger, and even Instagram Stories. With more scrutiny than ever from regulators in Washington D.C., security breaches and the never-ending pressure to reinvent, Facebook is pivoting fast.

Also, what’s all of this have to do with massive Chinese-based social platform, WeChat? Is Zuckerberg looking overseas for domination inspiration? We think Facebook is positioning itself to be the next super app by tying its messaging platforms together as they let slip a couple weeks back. Now, it is just a matter of time before this is monetized. These are signals to watch and Facebook is giving all the clues to what they are going to be next.

If you aren’t yet on Facebook or Instagram, this is the time to get involved: B2B, B2C, services, products, global, domestic - the next wave of innovation is coming and you want to be ready.

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Links we reference in the show:

https://www.wired.com/story/zuckerberg-privacy-manifesto-questions/

https://www.cnbc.com/2019/03/07/zuckerberg-doesnt-know-yet-how-facebook-will-monetize-new-strategy.html

https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/7/18254717/facebook-instagram-whatsapp-regulation-antitrust-mark-zuckerberg-klobuchar-hawley-blumenthal

https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/7/18253547/facebook-zuckerberg-future-blog-post-redefining-reputation

https://www.foxbusiness.com/technology/facebook-privacy-pivot-a-china-type-move-trying-to-corner-the-free-world-cyber-guy

https://www.businessinsider.com/future-of-facebook-looks-like-china-wechat-2019-3

https://web.wechat.com/

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Just when we think we’ve got social media dialed, it changes on us. Unlike the internet, which often feels like a utility, social media platforms are living, breathing entities. They are run by people, respond to market changes, and are constantly evolving their functionality and algorithms. The Social Media Marketing World conference, held in San Diego, California, brings together over 100 social and digital marketing experts and really punched above its weight this year. In this podcast, we riff on what we learned AND the patterns we’re hearing. So much good stuff!

Our key takeaways:

Links  and people we reference in the show:

https://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/smmworld/ 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PDHIyrfMl_U

https://twitter.com/mike_stelzner

https://twitter.com/briansolis

https://twitter.com/jessikaphillips

https://twitter.com/nicknimmin

https://twitter.com/eringarganking

https://twitter.com/theadstrategist

https://twitter.com/greenarrowdigit

https://twitter.com/JohnNemoPR

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Social Currency | Episode 030

There is one constant in digital marketing. And it is change. In episode #30, we discuss three topics that all revolve around this ongoing pattern of change, growth and consolidation. 

Up first is TikTok. If you haven’t heard of it, you will soon. The short video sharing app just reached 1 billion installs across iOS and Android, globally. In fact, in 2018, TikTok was the 4th most downloaded non-game app worldwide and the most downloaded non-game app in the US as of January 2019.

TikTok is owned by China-based company, ByteDance, who bought and consolidated lip-syncing app Musical.ly into TikTok. It’s demographic is largely gen Z with a large growing user base in India. While TikTok may not have yet made it into your annual digital strategy, it is one to watch.

Next, we discuss Amazon’s return to video as a content format aimed to sell` more product. Back in 2016, Amazon dabbled in video with their “Style Code Live” effort and now they return to video as a content strategy. Live video, reality show and celebrity guests like Heidi Klum and potentially Blake Lively will up the ante for the over 100 million Prime members offering exclusive content. 90% of Amazon’s product views result from searches within Amazon. Adding in this element of video is, no doubt, going to increase time on site and average spend per transaction. Amazon is on fire!

Last, we comment on how fast digital marketing spend has grown. In 2019, it will surpass traditional marketing spend for the first time (per eMarketer’s forecast) topping out at $129.3 billion in the US. We both recall when digital spend was lucky to earn a seat at the table, perhaps comprising 10 or 15% of the marketing budget. If spend is any measure of where attention is going, all eyes should be on digital marketing.

Key takeaways:

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Michael Stelzner is globally known as the founder of Social Media Examiner, one of the forefront sites reporting on social media and digital marketing today. He is a digital marketing leader and social media expert, author of the books Launch and Writing White Papers, and the man behind Social Media Marketing World– the industry’s largest conference. In addition to being the host of the Social Media Marketing podcast, he's the founder of the Social Media Marketing Society, and the central character in The Journey, an episodic YouTube documentary.

Our discussion with Michael delves into his passion around video and the powerful tool inside our phones to capture footage and tell a story. He makes no bones about the fact that every company and brand should have a video strategy and if it’s not part of your mix, it needs to be. Not just because we can but because it draws our audiences closer to us as people. This is evidenced by his evolution from blogging to podcasting to video-based episodic storytelling as seen in The Journey.

Next, we delve into podcasting, why Spotify is making a big play here, and the length of time people are spending in this (not so new, but exploding) medium. Followed up by the green field opportunities that exist within Instagram- one of the final frontiers of “free” organic reach. That leads us into a discussion on social influencer marketing and his thoughts on finding influencers inside a company.

Listen up! Check out the full interview.

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In episode 028, we cover three topics: Reddit, Pinterest and Spotify. 

Reddit is clearly making moves to “professionalize” their platform of 13 years with a fresh look at how they market themselves to advertisers. The community-based forum has received $300 million in funding of late and is touring the agency world touting their new ad targeting, reporting capabilities and adding new cost per click ad units. Reddit has also made some user experience changes to improve overall design of the platform and is tackling “brand safety” issues head on. We are intrigued. In fact, Reddit may be the next social platform to watch as their ability to reach topic-based audiences within subreddits is a trend across digital marketing. This audience is also not always found in the “traditional” social properties so perhaps less duplication. If you’re not dabbling in Reddit, if even simply for social listening reasons, now is the time to check them out.

Pinterest, long known as the place you go to find interior design ideas and birthday party themes, is also repositioning themselves as  what they call a “discovery engine.” Not a social  media platform, they say. Although, we’ve  heard Jack Dorsey (CEO of Twitter) say Twitter isn’t a social media platform either- so this just might be a massive trend to not compete with the likes of Facebook and Instagram. Oy vey!  Meanwhile, Pinterest plans to go public this year and wants to be known for inspirational images that drive sales. With around 250 monthly active users, could Pinterest possibly compete against Google or Amazon? We shall see...

Lastly, one of our favorite topics, podcasting. We share some arresting statistics about average listen time and the power of being “in someone’s head.” With Spotify acquiring Gimlet and Anchor, there is a clear move to expand beyond music and dominate the audio space. Podcast apps are still very fragmented on Android-based devices (unlike Apple podcasts for iOS). We predict Spotify will own this space in short order. All in all, podcasting is exploding and there is still much more to come.

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SOCIAL CURRENCY | Episode 027

In episode #27 of the Social Currency podcast, we tackle one of our favorite topics - storytelling. Like many of us, we' ve always been drawn to people who were good storytellers. The core of content marketing, which supports a brand's connection with the consumer, is a compelling brand narrative.

From Jess after the interview:

Like a moth to a flame, I’d find myself at parties wedged into a tight kitchen with a group of others hovering around the one guy who could tell a story. It could be about anything. What mattered is the way he told the story. It seemed like magic to me. Like a magnetism that some people just had innately.

Over the years, I’ve come to learn that good storytelling isn’t just magic. There is actual structure around a good story. In fact, that story structure is repeated again and again across many of our favorite books and movies. I may be the last one to this party, but realizing that stories could be crafted using a framework and, better yet, applying this framework into the world of marketing was a big breakthrough moment.

In this episode, we interview Naomi Beaty. A long-time friend of mine and writing expert. Naomi founded Write & Co. where she coaches screenplay writers, directors and producers at all levels. She got her start working for Madonna’s production company, Maverick films, and has worked in the entertainment industry now for over a decade. 

Naomi teaches me about the hero’s journey, a commonly used architecture where we are introduced to character as he/she battles a problem or faces a journey ahead. We discuss how a brand or product can often act as the mentor or savior for this hero, ultimately leading him/her to success or resolution.

I also learned about the idea of high concept. Often used in entertainment to pitch a script or film idea, it can be applied in the business world as well. Essentially, high concept is an idea that is very easy to understand from the mere name of it. Easy to grasp, repeatable by others and instantly relatable. It got me thinking about how I could package my own ideas in this way too.

Another facet of my interview with Naomi gets at the very root of why stories resonate so much more with us than statistics or facts. It is this: Stories elicit emotion. Often we make decisions first based on emotion (often this is subconscious), then we look to validate those decisions with data or evidence. This is sometimes referred to as confirmation bias.

How can we apply this to digital marketing? I think it’s this simple: First make your audience care about you, then tell them the benefits and features. If they don’t identify with you or your product/service, they ultimately won’t buy. Brand value in a nutshell.

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