Social Sights
Social Sights is now the Networked Insights Blog. All new posts will appear there.
Where is GM placing its ad spend?
Online, that’s where.
Following my previous video about UBS analyst Ben Schachter’s prediction that ad spend will continue to shift online in a down economy, I thought we’d take a look around to see if this was shaping up to be true for 2009.
JP Morgan also just recently issued an outlook that confirms online ad spend will increase, saying “although the economic news cycle is largely negative, we believe the longer-term secular trends that are driving the growth of online activity remain quite positive.” Turning attention to the auto industry, General Motors CEO Rick Wagoner also projected the budget shift to online advertising.
But WHERE is GM going to put that investment? In order to get real value, they must place it in relevant areas. See what I mean…
Games that are popular before, now and later
Our Measuring the Social report on gaming has sparked some interesting discussion in the media.
I put together a video to better explain how online interactions around games can affect advertisers and game-makers that are thinking about the sales cycle.
The break down, for the gaming industry, is between video games that are sparking engagment before, during and after the sale, which plays a big role in how marketing and advertising of these games can be effective.
There’s “no throwing shoes about it,” advertisers need to start looking for new sources of social media measurement and actually understand the relevant online audience.
Measuring the Social Report #3: Video Games
After visiting television ratings by Nielsen and music charts by Billboard, our newest Measuring the Social report focuses on the top console video games based on gamers’ interactions online as compared to NPD Group’s monthly list determined by monthly sales. As with our previous reports, we have found some interesting insights based on the differences between the two lists. The online, engaged gaming audience differs greatly from the audience measured by the NPD Group through game sales. The latest report is available here.
Even with slowing economic growth across retailers, the video game industry has been doing surprisingly well, which is why it’s a crucial time for game developers and advertisers to understand the entire audience, offline and on.
The new report exposes this online audience, showing that people are interacting with each other around video games before and after the sale:
The data provides specific insights for different players in the gaming industry. For in-game advertisers, understanding what the audience is engaging around online can improve targeting within the games. For game developers, knowing specific thoughts and sentiments from consumers can help inform future versions and updates, perhaps developing stronger game franchises. Even for those marketing virtual goods within games, customer insight can drive more relevant creative ideas.
Some key findings include:
- 4 of the video games on Networked Insights’ top 10 list do not appear in NPD’s top 10 video games, showing a discrepancy between sales and engagement around video games online
- LittleBigPlanet has a strong social networking and creativity component which resulted in the game earning a much higher spot on Networked Insights’ list due to significant online engagement
- While Guitar Hero: World Tour did not appear on NPD’s list due to its release date in late October, the game was number 9 on Networked Insights’ list due to the significant buzz leading up to its release through the month of October
- Grand Theft Auto IV, which was released in late April 2008, does not appear on the NPD list, but holds the 6th spot on Networked Insights’ list indicating that it is still being played and discussed heavily by gamers even well after the game was released
- While NBA 2K9 is 9th on NPD’s list, no sports games appear in Networked Insights’ top 10, most likely due to the straightforward nature of the games and lack of social interactions around them
Stay tuned for more Measuring the Social reports in the new year, and for continued updates and more social insights subscribe to our feed at www.socialsights.com/rss.
UPDATE: There is some interesting conversation going on at Kotaku who posted about our report last night. The main topic of conversation is that the data does not take into account the sentiment of the interactions — whether people like or dislike the game, for example. In fact, this is the next level of analysis that Networked Insights is capable of, and while we are looking mainly at interactions and overall engagement in this report, upcoming ones will begin to take sentiment into account, because indeed it’s a very important part of people’s interactions online.
Revisiting Social Broadcast TV Data
As you may remember from our first Measuring the Social report, we took a look at broadcast TV ratings as compared to Nielsen’s weekly top 10 list of shows. We found some huge discrepancies proving that the online audience is a far different one than that measured by Nielsen. Well, we ran the numbers again, and found some equally interesting and revealing insights.
Jon Lafayette at TV Week wrote about our data and noted some interesting findings including the lack of “Grey’s Anatomy” on Networked Insights’ list due to low online engagement around the show, and the “24” prequel show appearing on Networked Insights’ list and not Nielsen’s. Unlike Grey’s Anatomy, this show may not have had enough viewers to make Nielsen’s list, but those that did watch are passionate and engaged with the show, resulting in “24” making Networked Insights’ list.
So here it is, Networked Insights top 10 shows for the week of November 17 - 23 as compared to Nielsen’s list for the same timeframe:
Stay tuned to the Social Sights blog tomorrow for our latest Measuring the Social report. We’re taking on a whole new industry this time, and you’re not going to want to miss it.
How does a ripple become a wave?
We’ve all heard about a lot about Motrin lately and we all know there’s a brand team and an ad agency nursing some big time web 2.0-inflicted bruises. You know how much a slip like this hurts; it hurts morale, it hurts your PR and it hurts your bottom line. There are a bunch of potential customers who haven’t thought about Motrin lately who are hearing about it now for all the wrong reasons.
The tough part is that it was entirely avoidable. We know Johnson and Johnson conducted focus groups with moms but we also know that traditional market research tools don’t keep pace with the speed of conversations on the web. Nor do they necessarily uncover the depth of engagement or sentiment felt about a topic by the target audience. The ad failed in several important ways:
- its message about baby wearing came across as flippant
- it reached an audience for whom the topic was deeply personal
- it reached that audience in an environment (the web) where a vocal minority can dramatically influence a much larger group of media consumers
And that’s what happened. A small number of content creators created a ripple of negative sentiment towards the ad on the web. It quickly became a wave by virtue of a much larger group of media consumers linking to and interacting with the content. This in turn was picked up and distributed by major news media which prompted Johnson and Johnson to go into damage control mode and pull the campaign.
While the importance of content creators is obvious, the key to this social media story is the silent majority - those media consumers who speak through their actions on the web rather than by creating original content. They link, they read, they recommend, they share and by virtue of their actions they can act like a giant amplifier between a vocal minority and the wider distribution of ideas across the internet. And they strike fear in the hearts of lots of large companies.
Today, in order to build meaningful connections between your brand and consumers you have to know how your ad will be placed and who it will reach. You need to know how consumers are engaging around content and whether or not that engagement may indicate a potential groundswell (positive or negative) for your company or your brand. At Networked Insights we look at people creating content and we’ll show you how other media consumers are engaging with that content on the web so you can target your creative and your ad spend wisely.
Contact us, we’d love to talk to you.
Measuring the Social Report #2: Music Charts
We’ve come out with our second Measuring the Social report — last time, we compared our television ratings based on online social interaction data to Nielsen’s approach. This time, we’re focusing on music charts and comparing our data to the Billboard Hot 100 list, and once again, the results are very revealing. You can download the full report here.
Billboard’s weekly Hot 100 chart is currently based on sales and airplay. The fact is, nowadays, people are listening and interacting with music online more than ever before - just look at the way MySpace has changed the game for emerging musicians. This effect is true for big-name artists on the charts as well, there is a ton of social engagement around music online. While sales and airplay do play a role in determining music popularity, those metrics are becoming less relevant as millions of social interactions around songs, albums and artists are happening online everyday.
Our second Measuring the Social report was actually slated to appear as an exclusive in Billboard magazine. Unfortunately, some higher-ups at Nielsen, who owns Billboard, put the kibosh on the story because they see us as competitive.
Regardless, looking at the lists it is clear that the online audience is unique, and music companies and advertisers need to approach them and market to them in a very different way:
Some of the findings of the report:
- Seven of the songs on Networked Insights’ top 10 list do not appear in Billboard’s top 10 songs, indicating a large discrepancy between song purchase/airplay and audience interactions online
- While both lists consist mostly of pop and hip-hop/R&B songs, Networked Insights’ chart shows a different genre with two songs in the “alternative” category: Secondhand Serenade – “Fall For You” (5) and Coldplay – “Viva La Vida” (7)
- Secondhand Serenade’s lyrics are popular among social network users as they lend themselves well to posting as comments and on friends’ pages as evidenced by “Fall For You” taking the fifth spot on the Networked Insights chart
- During this timeframe, R&B group Brutha released an a capella version of Kanye West’s song “Love Lockdown” online, generating interest from the online audience, and boosting the rank of the original song on the Networked Insights chart to number 9. “Love Lockdown” does not appear on the Billboard top 10
- American Idol winner David Archuleta’s “Crush” is third on Networked Insights’ list due to the strong interactive component of the show transferring to online interactions
Clearly, the importance of “the social” doesn’t stop at TV ratings and music charts — we have more upcoming Measuring the Social reports focused on other industries and revisiting the ones we’ve already looked at. So stay tuned, and for more social insights subscribe to the Measuring the Social feed at www.socialsights.com/rss.
Don't Forget About Influence
When we look at Measuring the Social, we need to pay attention to WHO is doing the reading, rating, sharing, linking, inviting, etc. This piece is important not because of the the individual’s identity, but because of his or her influence. The influence of a person’s actions in social media can make a great deal of difference in how others perceive and respond to them.
For example, Tiger Woods’ social actions are arguably more relevant and influential to a conversation about golf, compared to the average Bob. At Networked Insights, we can determine if Tiger Woods indeed influences more members of a golf discussion or community. But this isn’t just true for celebrities. An active and relevant contributor could be just as or even more influential. Looking at the influencers and the areas of social media where they are is an integral part of Measuring the Social.
In this latest video, I talk about the role and importance of measuring influence:
Making Sense of Social Media
Over the past couple of weeks I have been asked many times to share my thoughts on how we get companies to do more with social media insights. The problem most companies have is quantity of social media insights coming at them… I met with one company last week that uses 4 different sources to gather intelligence across social media— now that is a fire hose…. I offer the following which is based on how we think about insights from social media in our SocialSense application, Level of Engagement is one Axis and Sentiment is the other. It allows companies to think about what is important and who should solve it:
It's Time for Defrag!
The Defrag 2008 conference is happening in Denver next week - It’s a really great conference that’s “accelerating the ‘aha’ moment,” something we love and are trying to do ourselves.
The conference has some stellar speakers and attendees this year, and I’m lucky enough to be one of them!
I’ll be speaking on the “Deriving Intelligence from Distributed Communities” panel on Monday, November 3, with David VanHeukelom from IglooSoftware, Neil Beam of Lithium Technologies and Patrick Moran from Mzinga. The panel’s moderated by my friend Deb Schultz, and should be a great discussion around listening to and learning from communities.
Networked Insights will also have a booth, so be sure to stop by and say hello if you are attending. Defrag is exploring all sorts of topics around social media and collective intelligence, so we definitely wanted to be part of the conversation.
More info about the conference here, hope to see you there!
Measuring the Social Report #1: Network Television Ratings
As you may know by now, Networked Insights measures the social. Well, so far we’ve talked the talk, but now we’re walking the walk. Today we are proud to release our first Measuring the Social report. The first installment focuses on network television ratings based on social interactions (download the full report here).
What is measuring the social? Today, social media measurement only analyzes about 15% of people who actually contribute content online. Rubicon Consulting puts this number even lower, at 10%. No matter the number, the reality is that the vast majority of people are interacting online in other equally important ways, and to truly understand the social, these actions need to be taken into account too.
Networked Insights measures the entire online audience, including those who post and those who interact by reading, rating, sharing, linking and inviting. Equally important, we also take into account the influence of each interaction — if Tiger woods shares a golf video with some friends, that interaction carries far more weight than you or me doing the same.
For our first report, we set out to measure the social for ratings of network TV shows in comparison to Nielsen’s age-old weekly top 10 TV ratings that have been the standard for television show measurement for years. Nielsen’s ratings have largely defined where and how much money advertisers spend, but as more and more ad dollars continue to shift online, these measurements are becoming irrelevant as they are not accurate across other mediums, such as online.
Enter Measuring the Social, and our first report proves this phenomenon. As you will see, Networked Insights’ top 10 television shows among the online audience is far different from Nielsen’s:
Some of our key findings…
- Half (5) of the shows in the Networked Insights top 10 list do not appear in the Nielsen list: Criminal Minds (2), NCIS (5), Brothers & Sisters (6), Cold Case (7) and Family Guy (9)
- Two and a Half Men has a strong hold on the top spot among online audiences, but is a distant fifth in the Nielsen ratings. Strong online engagement is due to Two and a Half Men’s “quote following” — a high level of interaction around specific quotes from the show
- Criminal Minds does not appear on the Nielsen top 10 list, but is the second highest rated show on Networked Insights’ list, likely due to the psychological nature of the show and its complex criminal storylines
- Likewise, the second highest rated show on Nielsen’s list, Desperate Housewives, has very low engagement among the online audience due to the lack of passion and pain in the show’s content
Online engagement around television shows varies dramatically from offline viewership, stressing the importance of advertisers measuring the social to understand their target audiences and where to spend their ad dollars. As economic times continue to get tougher for advertisers, making the most of each ad dollar is more important than ever before. It’s no longer about trying out campaigns and seeing what sticks, it’s about making your online marketing stick the first time.
Stay tuned and subscribe to the SocialSights blog for continued measuring the social insights and the next installments of the Measuring the Social report that will explore other topics and areas of interest from our unique social perspective.
Dowload the full Measuring the Social report here.
