Socialnomics – Social Media Blog

Entries from December 2009

Ho Ho Holy Cow! Facebook CPC Rates Dramatically Increase on Christmas Eve

December 24, 2009 · 8 Comments

By Erik Qualman

I was planning to take a day off from writing when the equivalent of eight tiny reindeer caught my eye.  The past few days I’ve been testing some Facebook Ad buys to see what kind of fluctuation there might be around the holidays (yes, this is what I do for fun).  Having played with PPC within Search Engines for over a decade I knew there were always spikes & valleys around this time of year.   Never in my wildest dreams would I have suspected such a spike in Facebook CPC.  Facebook already announced they were profitable earlier this year; I would love to see the final revenue they generate in December as a result of  retailers clamoring for Holiday sales frantically tossing good money their way.  Here is one quick data point:

Ads for my book Socialnomics targeting 18 to 100 year olds in the U.S.

  • Dec 19-22:  Avg CPC $0.47 -0.83

    In one example CPC on Christmas Eve went from $2.12 in the morning to $25.94 in the afternoon

  • Dec 22-23:  Avg CPC $.55-.95
  • Dec 24 Morning:  Avg CPC $2.12
  • Dec 24 Afternoon:  Avg suggested bid $18.38 – 25.94 USD (see image)

Looks like Christmas came a little early for Facebook! Mele Kalikimaka to them – did you know there are only 12 letters in the Hawaiian alphabet?  If only social media were that easy…

Are you seeing the same things?  Please comment below.

Bookmark and Share

Categories: Facebook
Tagged: ,

NBA Rookie Fined for Positive Tweet

December 20, 2009 · 9 Comments

NBA Rookie Brandon Jennings was recently fined $7,500 by the league office according to a recent post by J.E. Skeets at Yahoo. From the image you can see that the Bucks Rookie was excited about his teams recent win that got his team to a .500 winning percentage with the end of the Tweet stating “Way to Play Hard Guys.” Jennings was fined for the timing of his post, rather than what he Tweeted.

The NBA’s social media policy states that players cannot tweet during game time, defined as beginning 45 minutes before the game starts and ending after players have finished talking to the media after the game.

Jennings was a bit befuddled: “I understand I got fined, but 7500? For being happy over a win, you would of thought I said something bad. I mean it was a big win for us.”

As the NBA is a form of entertainment my guess is that if ratings  and attendance continue to drop, don’t be surprised if they loosen this policy a bit to allow the fan base to have a more intimate relationship with the players in the hopes of building a loyal following for its product (games).  We saw this earlier in the year with the Ladies Golf Tour (LPGA) – where the commissioner was encouraging golfers to tweet during the event.  Male golf Stewart Cink (@stewartcink) has over one million followers as a result of tweets like “Yeah much tougher hole. One of golf’s best tee shots, but not my favorite green.” Speaking of green, ultimately that is what will probably shape most sports leagues social media policies – what drives the most revenue; especially during these tough times.

By Erik Qualman

Bookmark and Share

Categories: Twitter
Tagged: , ,

Social Media Privacy = Oxymoron?

December 16, 2009 · 9 Comments

By Erik Qualman

Whether you’re a CEO or student, at some point you’ve pondered the decision of whether to have multiple social media accounts (business vs. pleasure). Some have had success doing this, but these examples are dwindling fast.

Facebook’s new privacy policy allows more individual controls, but it also allows for more openness at the same time. Facebook, like other social media tools, realizes that openness is king to be more useful to its users and (in the end) effectively monetize their platform. Ironically, as individual users of these tools, we often want the best of both worlds when it comes to the hotly debated topic of privacy.

Members of Generation X and older have most likely spent most of their lives in “separate” worlds. You took on a different role or character depending on where you were or who you were with.

Most of us had at least two personas — normally a work persona and a non-work persona. Many of us had several personas: social, work, family, coach, charity, and so on.

Image Source: Laurel Papworth

For instance, your behavior at an event like Woodstock or Burning Man was much different from your behavior at the office the following Monday. “Al the Accountant” may only be known by his coworkers as “Meticulous Accountant Al,” while his bowling pals would know him only as “Al-Valanche” because you better get out-of-the-way when he’s on a weekend bender.

Social Media has Changed the way we Live Offline

Even if you believe that life with social media is worse, you can’t argue that social media has forever changed the way we live. With this change, people are best off being comfortable in their own skin and not pretending to be anything that they aren’t.

Author Marcus Buckingham’s (“Now Discover Your Strengths”) philosophy of playing to your strengths is further played out in a social media world. Transparency demands it. With so much information at our disposal, it’s extremely difficult for a well-rounded person to stand out in this new world.

Without a doubt, it’s somewhat daunting to always be on your best behavior. It’s mentally taxing to have fewer avenues to blow off steam or to always maintain a perfect persona. Perhaps “Al the Accountant” is more effective at work and dogmatic on the details because outside of work he can let it all go and doesn’t have to burden himself with the details.

While there are downsides to such 24/7 personal openness, overall it’s easy to take the side of arguing that appropriate transparency is in sum a good thing for individuals and society. Without question, it’s much “cooler” to say you’re bungee jumping off a remote mountain pass overhang in New Mexico than updating your status that you’re watching the latest episode of “Keeping Up With the Kardashians.”

Imagine a world that encourages people to live their own realities, rather than watching someone else’s. Perhaps people have come to the realization that, in reality (pun intended), it’s much cooler to lead their own lives.

Businesses Need to Find Their Niche

The same holds true for corporate behavior in social media. For corporations, trying to be too many things to too many people is costly.

Historically, we’ve seen the “we are the best at everything” messaging come out of many marketing departments. In a 140-character world, if you want to have a chance at helping the consumer retain something and eventually pass it on, it’s crucial that you focus on your strengths or particular niche.

There’s also a need for continuous information exchange across the entire organization; in particular, it’s critical for production and marketing to be in constant contact. It’s one thing for marketing to listen to consumers’ complaints, but it’s an entirely different thing to respond to their complaints, look for trends in product deficiencies, and work closely with production to develop solutions.

To stay relevant, businesses or individuals must:

  • Realize everyone is watching — just ask Tiger Woods.
  • Be true to your brand, whether it’s your personal brand or company.
  • Realize we’re all human and make mistakes. Hopefully people are forgiving when each of our times come.

Two keywords when it comes to social media: fun and common sense. Have plenty of both.

Bookmark and Share

Erik Qualman’s international best-seller, “Socialnomics,” is available for sale at all major bookstores.

Categories: Uncategorized
Tagged: , ,

How Wikipedia Makes Money & Exists

December 13, 2009 · Leave a Comment

By Erik Qualman

Bookmark and Share

A popular question these days is how does Wikipedia make money?  First of all, Wikipedia isn’t in the business of making money.  The quick answer is that they function similar to National Public Radio (NPR).  There are some much more in-depth answers on the Web and Wikipedia FAQs, but here is a synopsis:

  • Wikipedia employs less than 35 employees – 1/2 of which work on Technology and a large majority of the authors concentrate on fundraising
  • Visited by more than 330 million people every month, making it the number five most-popular site in the world
  • Wikimedia Foundation is a non-profit that helps support Wikipedia and other popular collaboratively-edited reference projects in the world
  • Wikipedia is budgeting $9.4 million in expenses, and an annual operating reserve of $1.2 million for 2009 for a total of $10.6 million
  • Most of the donations come from individuals, but major benefactors ($50,000) include Alan Bauer,
    Bing, The Hellman Family Foundation
  • Wikipedia accepts donations by credit card, check, stock transfer, etc.  The minimum donation is $1 for security reasons (fraudulent entities often run tests for small donations to see if they can capture credit card information)

Wikipeida Makes Money thru Donations

Whether you donate to Wikipedia is up to you.  I have donated because I really can’t imagine a world without it.  That would be a huge step backward for society. You can donate by clicking here – after you donate if you like you can post a statement that runs as a banner across the top of the Wikipedia page about why you donated.  The donation in many countries is tax-deductible. If just 4% of the U.S. population donated a $1 they would be well over their goal.  Remember what a full Encyclopedia set used to cost from the door-to-door salesman?

Bookmark and Share

Wikipedia Affiliate Button

Categories: Wikipedia
Tagged: , ,

1/3 Are Sexting

December 4, 2009 · 2 Comments

By Erik Qualman

Haven’t heard of sexting?  Your kids certainly have.  Almost one-third of youths admit they have sent a photo or video of themselves in the nude or have received such items via e-mail, text, Facebook , etc.  Sex + Texting = Sexting.

Kim Zetter of Wired writes a great story detailing these recent findings.  Some of the more interesting items:

  • Girls were more likely to share a naked image of themselves than boys
  • Those who are already sexually active were much more likely to send an image than those who were not sexually active
  • 29 percent said they shared naked images of themselves with someone they knew only online

The  survey was conducted by MTV and the Associated Press.  It involved 1,247 youths between ages 14 and 24.

The survey results and article express an important takeaway for me;  since these kids have grown up in the digital age there is the misconception that they understand how to best use the digital tools at their disposal.  This is not always the case.  Parents shouldn’t be intimidated by getting onto social media, it’s part of your job as a parent to be aware of your kids online activity and give them appropriate guidance where needed.

If your kids aren’t open to listening to you, perhaps a series of somewhat humorous commercials involving James Lipton in conjunction with LG may deliver the message about proper digital behavior.  I’ve posted the most popular of these above (over 65,000 views), but all four can be viewed at Give It A Ponder YouTube Channel.

Even funny commercials may not be getting the sexting message across as evidenced by these two photos (above)

Sadly however, even these commercials may not be sinking in, as evidenced by the screen shots of the photos for the two most recent comments on the Give It A Ponder YouTube Channel.

Bookmark and Share

Categories: General Web · Mobile · Social Media
Tagged: , , ,

Social Media Q & A

December 3, 2009 · 4 Comments

By Erik Qualman

Social media is still in the early stages of development, and with that comes many questions. I’ve picked some of the most often asked questions by companies and individuals and have responded with my thoughts. Please let me know whether you agree or disagree.  This is a re-post from my SEW column this week.

Q: Are there things that should always or never be done in social media, things to consider or options to weigh when deciding which one to join (or stop using!)?

A: Fun and common sense — have plenty of both.

Q: Are marketers betting on social media marketing already? If they aren’t, what do you think they are afraid of?

A: Marketers are afraid of the unknown and also giving up control of their brand. They are also afraid of making mistakes. That is why it’s important to fail fast, fail forward, and fail better. You aren’t going to get it right the first time so be quick to listen, interact, react, and repeat.

Q: Why do you believe social media is so important?

A: As human beings, we have the dichotomous psychological need to be our own individual, yet we also want to feel like we belong to, and are accepted by, a much larger social set. People are willing to have an “open diary” as a means to stay connected — as their ultimate desire is to feel accepted.

Part of this lies in a yearning to have a clear understanding of what the majority is doing. It was much easier to know what the majority was doing when all one had to do was tune into Casey Kasem’s “American Top 40″ to find out the latest and greatest in music or to flip through “Vogue” magazine to quickly grasp every fashion trend. Social media help us make sense of information overload by quickly seeing what our friends find important, helpful, or interesting. It also helps eliminate people performing the same tasks — if three of your friends have already performed the task (finding a good hotel in Bermuda), why should you be redundant?

Q: Which is the best business model for social media? Is advertising the only way?

A: That is one revenue stream, but there are many more. Think about people exchanging gifts in social media, small businesses setting up their businesses and using PayPal-type functionality (mircopayments), and craigslist-type interplay. There is also search revenue to be had, as people care more about what people think about products and services than an algorithm.

Q: Who is going to lead this new marketing? Big agencies? Specialized agencies? Media agencies? Brands themselves?

A: It’s a people-driven economy, stupid — people will lead the charge. People that shepherd brands (e.g. Scott Monty, Morgan Johnston, Barry Judge) will also play leading roles. Technology development (application development, etc.) will continue to be outsourced to specialists/agencies.

Q: How will social media force the hyper-acceleration of better search results?

A: You’re already seeing this. Google recently launched four products that are social in nature: Google Sidewiki, Google Searchwiki, Google Hot Trends, and Google Wave. Google understands its main competition will come from social media. That is why in October we already started to see search deals being cut between Microsoft and Twitter/Facebook. This is only the beginning, but it’s happening much sooner than I thought.

Q: Who helps you stay informed?

A: Lee Odden (TopRankBlog) Jeremiah Owyang (Altimeter Group), Mashable, Charlene Li & Josh Bernoff (Groundswell), Chris Brogan & Julien Smith (Trust Agents), Shel Israel (Twitterville), Steve Levitt (Freakonomics), Dale Carnegie books, Laurie Sullivan (MediaPost), Mark Walsh (MediaPost), Dan and Chip Heath (“Made to Stick” and Fast Company), Silicon Alley Insider, David Meerman Scott (The New Rules of Marketing & PR), Abbey Klaassen (AdAdge), CNET “Buzz Out Loud” Podcast with Tom Merritt, Molly Wood, and Jason Howell, Buckhead Church Podcasts, ESPN Fantasy Football Today Podcasts, and of course anything Michigan State Hoops related.

Q: There are many social networks nowadays. Should advertisers try each one, or how should they choose the right ones?

A: Start with the placements that have the best chance for success and progressively grow from there — eventually you should be everywhere that is contributing to success (however you determine that). If you’re engaged and using the tools, it’s pretty easy to determine which social media tools your customers are on. If you can’t figure this out, Forrester has a good Social Technology Profile Tool that will help direct you to where your customers are.

Q: Do you know an agency that is doing it right in social media? Or a brand?

A: Zappos, Comcast, Ford, JetBlue, Skittles, Starbucks, Ben & Jerry’s, Best Buy, Dell, and Virgin are leaders in the space. Crispin Porter + Bogusky and Razorfish have been progressive in this area as well.

Q: What is the “next big thing” in social media marketing?

A: The merging of search and social.

Q: What about those who just want to say, “Enough of this online chatter, I just want to connect with people in the real world”?

A: Social media isn’t a zero sum game. Just because you can stay connected with your daughter in college via social media doesn’t mean that there isn’t a need anymore to meet face to face. Social media is great at keeping people connected when distance/time is a hurdle or limiter. Also, remember that sometimes the opposite can occur — meeting offline after first meeting online. Think about Mashable’s popular Tweet-ups or that one out of eight couples married in the U.S. met online.

Bookmark and Share

Erik Qualman’s #1 Amazon Best Selling book “Socialnomics” can be purchased at all major bookstores and online.

Categories: Social Media
Tagged: ,