Year of the Unimaginable...? Part II.

Thank you to my friends @margieclayman and @tommyismyname (twitter) for their thought provoking feedback on my last post.  I want to take this opportunity to expand on this subject, and hopefully generate some more insight.

"Real Life Mad Man (@margieclayman) said...

It seems like you're kind of playing both sides - and that's the problem marketers are running into as well, I think.

On the one hand, there are people like me who literally would run away from data mining if I could. I mean, shoot me in the back, I am a coward in the face of that stuff. It creeps me out!

On the other hand, though, there is what some are calling the "opportunity economy." I was just reading a chapter about this in The Now Revolution. A restaurant worked it out so that whenever you check into a neighboring restaurant on Foursquare, a little pop-up comes up saying, "Well, you could also come over here since you're so close."

Creepy because they know exactly where you are, but a great marketing technique.

Good post - lots to ponder :)

February 11, 2011 6:22 PM    "

"tommyismyname (@tommyismyname) said...

Excellent and thought provoking post!

But to answer your question about anyone doing this, the answer is yes. I'm that marketer who is tapping into your thoughts. I am that marketer that plants the subconscious seed that says "I just did this, I think I'll go here next" I use all of the information you have talked about, and a little bit more to reverse engineer people's social media profiles to get them to spend more money with my clients.

As a consumer, I wish more marketers were doing this too. I would love to only see deals for things I already wanted. I would love to see less noise in the products that are advertised to me. I wish life were a bit more like pandora radio. I wish advertisers understood my needs, and gave me what I wanted. I think that would cut back on wasted dollars for sure.

February 11, 2011 9:41 PM           "

Margie, you're absolutely right, I am tip-toeing the line the line a bit.  I'm torn.  The marketer in me wants to capitalize on this, but the sociologist in me says, "Whoa, total invasion of privacy!" Recently, Wisconsin passed legislation regulating the Payday Loan industry because folks were being taken advantage of by outrageous fees and interest rates.  On the one hand, they knew what the terms of the agreement were when they signed the contract; on the other hand, these businesses profited by knowingly lending money to people who would not be able to pay it back.  Who is in the wrong? 

I'm not suggesting that Social Media Marketing is nearly as deceitful as what happened in the loan industry; but, when you create a Facebook account or add a new app to your iPhone, you agree to the terms and conditions (which you may or may not read) that, in some cases, allow those applications to tweet on your behalf or share your information with third parties.  It seems now that you’re almost obligated to be on Facebook, at minimum.  I currently use Facebook, Twitter, and MySpace (although I haven’t been on MySpace in half a decade) and I am beginning to feel pressure from my fellow social media-lites to join some other platforms as well.  None of them are coming out and telling me to join, but by not joining, I feel left out.  At any rate, “Social Media (Peer) Pressure” is a whole other topic in itself.  The point is, we are kind of “forced” into divulging all this personal information and have little to no control over how it is shared. 

In the corner of my Facebook page at this very moment I see that I should support our troops by purchasing a survival bracelet at "survivalstraps.com".  Coincidentally, I recently posted well wishes on my cousin’s wall.  He just arrived in Afghanistan for his 5th (or so) tour.  I also have (roughly) 57 “friends” that have served, in some capacity, in the armed forces.  Coincidence?  Not likely.  I can’t represent survivalstraps.com, but I am willing to bet that they are in no way endorsed by the armed forces.  That’s just one click I don’t want to make in the event that it causes this marketing chain to spin on and batter me with more ads.  My question then, is this: How far is too far?  I agree 100% with what @tommyismyname said, “I would love to see less noise in the products that are advertised to me. I wish life were a bit more like pandora radio. I wish advertisers understood my needs, and gave me what I wanted.”  I think this strategy would be better than any existing strategy for the marketer and equally as beneficial to the consumer.  My concern comes from Peter Parker’s (Spiderman) Grandfather, “With great power comes great responsibility!” I’m weary that many marketers may use this power negatively, deceitfully, to create exponentially more amounts of noise.  Thoughts?

Year of the Unimaginable...?

In one of my favorite Twitter chats (#smmeasure) the @Marketwire team covered a topic that got me thinking, as their topics usually do, about the direction Marketing, Social Media, PR, and (quite frankly) Society in general is headed. 

We are now a world of skeptics and non-believers.  As Seth Godin says, “All that succeeds is the unreasonable.”  Consumers are looking for unbeatable prices on unattainably high quality items that are unimaginably marketed.  In this particular post, I’d like to address the latter of the three.  I won’t pretend to be a Marketing expert, as I am still “wet behind the ears,” but I want to attempt to paint a picture of an otherwise unimaginable marketing strategy of which I’m certain I am not the first to consider. 

The Patriot Act in 2001 was sold to the public, by our elected few, based on the fear of terrorism and has since been under immense scrutiny based upon the invasive nature of the legislation (among other reasons).  However, the level of invasiveness we consciously gave our government is peanuts compared to that which we are unconsciously giving to Marketers on a daily basis.  The folks in #smmeasure yesterday were talking about "locator" apps such as Google Latitude, Layar, Wikitude, FB Places, and it FREAKED me out; and, not just in a “big brother” kind of way.  We hear all the time that “the power of social media is endless” and we should “be careful what we post online” but, how is the “power endless”?  Why should we “be careful”? 

The simple, cookie-cutter response is:  It’s so “powerful” because millions use it and you should be “careful” because you never know who’s watching (creepers!).

But there is a far more complex answer to these seemingly simple questions:

The information we make public about ourselves and our friends is to Marketers what plutonium is to Marty McFly.  That is no lie!  When we allow Marketers access to our likes, our dislikes, our favorite music, what we are watching on TV, who we are watching TV with, their likes and dislikes, etc. we are planting information for them to harvest and it truly is a cash crop.  Though the arenas have changed, marketing itself remains the same it always has: INPUT à ANALYSIS à OUTPUT.  The “INPUT” is everything you tell them; be it in a focus group, survey, consumer report, or (nowadays) on Facebook.  What you don’t realize is that, now you don’t even have to offer the information, you offered it as soon as you accepted the “Terms and Conditions” of Facebook use.  The “ANALYSIS” is everything they think your saying and how they plan to respond with exactly what you want to hear.  This may or may not have changed much, but the technique and philosophy of analytics vary from company to company.  Some successful examples of truly impactful analysts; Clotaire Rapaille, Frank Luntz, Mike Maslansky, Leo Burnett, and the list goes on.  The “OUTPUT” is the message they are sending you; you know, the one you told them you wanted to hear (though you may not realize you did so) during the “INPUT” phase.  The “OUTPUT” is the part of the equation I am increasingly weary of. 

They already know how to strategically advertise via social media platforms.  I’m sure you’ve realized this every time you log onto Facebook and see an ad for Dick’s Sporting Goods if you “like” hunting, or an ad for Tangled if you have 4 year-olds, or an ad for Depend if you’ve recently retired ;)  Marketers have clearly been successful in infiltrating social media ad space, and are proving to be nearly as successful in engaging via SM, but what I have yet to see is “unimaginable OUTPUT” coming from social media.

With all these “locator” apps, marketers possess the capability to slap an @DairyQueen ad on an e-billboard across the street as I’m walking away from the dinner table @ChinaBuffet and tweeting about how much I could go for an ice cream.  Isn’t it creepy enough when you’re driving and happen to be craving something very specific, a taco perhaps, and all of the sudden a Taco Bell ad comes across the wavelengths?  Now, they know what you want, they know where you are when you want it, and most importantly, how to deliver it instantaneously.  Imagine leaving the office with a tweet, “Could totally go for a burger right now…@(myoffice) #starving #mcdonalds” and as soon as you walk out the door an LED billboard flashes golden arches and an arrow, “1.2 miles to Mouth Watering, Heart Stopping (quite literally) Goodness.” 

I wanted to get my feet wet in SM Consumer-ism so I recently “followed” some products I use as well as signed up for some mobile coupon offers from some stores I shop at.  I am NOT impressed (from a marketing standpoint).  I can’t tell you how many times I’ve mentioned @verizon @sprint or @mtn_dew and gotten ZERO response.  Why do you have a twitter account if you’re not going to engage?  In some of those cases, I have asked direct questions to them and been referred to a link about their products.  As a consumer, I don’t want to be “referred” anywhere.  I asked you on Twitter, because I want you to talk to me on Twitter.  My mobile coupons are a joke! @JCPenney texts me a coupon maybe twice a month.  How about @JCPenney figure out when I am in need of new clothes for work or when my tennis shoes crap out (like when my Facebook status says ‘D#!@ I just blew a hole in my shoe…in the market for some fresh tennies!’) and send me a sweet coupon on shoes?!?  Is it possible to monitor hundreds of thousands of followers and engage them individually?  I sure think it is, there are certainly the metrics available to monitor what your “followers” or “likers” are saying, why not use them to your advantage?!

Can you imagine an otherwise unimaginable marketing strategy like this? Is anyone out there doing this?  I’m sure the boys @Marketwire are cooking something up as we speak!

@spittk07