Monday, April 6, 2015
Tuesday, March 17, 2015
Samsung Mobile: Social Media Monitoring Part 2
In the last Social Media Monitoring blog, we looked at the brief history of Samsung and how it has expanded from South Korea into a multi-business organization that is well known worldwide. Specifically, we discussed its mobile department and the Galaxy product line. Since then, the long awaited "unpacking"of the Galaxy S6 and S6 Edge was presented on March 1st through Samsung's social media sites.
There has been buzz accumulating in the months prior to March for the new Galaxy as shown in the previous SMM blog, but the event that took place on March 1st answered all of those fans' questions and raised curiosity about its features and the release date. Here is the official video showcasing the 2015 Galaxy phones, which now has over 21 million views.
Samsung vs. Apple
Samsung has for years been in a rivalry with Apple, not only competitively but in the court as well over the replication of "original" ideas. Both parties have accused each other of such act, but Samsung has pointed out in their commercials from time to time that Apple are only catching up to the innovations of smartphones...
for the Galaxy S3 in 2012
the Galaxy S4 in 2013
and for the Galaxy S5 in 2014.
Social Mention
In Social Mention, the Samsung Galaxy has had its measurements of buzz up and down for last several weeks, which is normal. The period of time surrounding the announcement of the new phone was where Samsung was mentioned the most. Here below you will be able to see the many types of feedback through social media about the Samsung Galaxy over the span of 2 1/2 weeks.
February 22 March 4 March 12
Google Trends
This chart on Google Trends shows the measurement of searches in Google between the Samnsung Galaxy S6 and the iPhone 6. As shown, the iPhone 6 was already talked about a lot already and interest skyrocketed by the time the unveiling of the phone was announced in September 2014. The graph also shows the sharp spike in interest for Samsung recently due to the announcement of the new Phone.
IceRocket
This graph from IceRocket shows the fluctuating percent of all blog posts, which come from the growing number of rumors of the new phone, and also shows the huge leap in percentage on March 1 due to the announcement of the new phone. That huge buzz only lasted for a couple of days though before the flow of buzz began to fluctuate again. For Apple, the buzz has been remaining constantly high with a drastic decrease during the unveiling of the Galaxy S6.
There have been no recent social media campaigns to help Samsung with their sales, but they broke ground in 2012 with a campaign that allowed consumers to do most of the online marketing for them. With the days counting down to the release of the Galaxy S4, Samsung and New Zealand marketing agency Colenso BBDO created what was called the "virtual line".
Facebook and Twitter users from New Zealand would log in through their respective accounts on the site getinline.co.nz (currently non-existent) to get in the "virtual line" and would be given content about the S4 to share on their profiles. The quantity of shares, retweets, likes, comments, and reposts would bring the person closer to the front of the line. Pretty much, the person in the front of the line shared the most content and received the most shares, retweets, likes, comments, and reposts and received the first Galaxy S4 in the country. This campaign was not only a smart move on getting people to spread as much awareness about the phone as possible, but it favored those who preferred not to wait in a real line for a phone. After two weeks of the campaign, there were 12,000 people who joined in and 85,000 stories shared to over 3 million people which reached 15 million people. This campaign caused the smartphone market share to go up 12% as well. As shown in the graph, buzz about the Galaxy was high during 2013, especially in April which was when the social campaign took place.
Conclusion
It comes off as common sense (if this blog didn't help enough) that Apple is clearly the most popular brand and it only seems like it will always be no matter what Samsung does. But lets not forget that the iPhone was introduced when Apple dominated the market with MacBooks and iPods. For this reason, Apple users not only have a following with their products already but those users feel like the iPhone is simply a easier and more efficient phone to use than a Galaxy. I really admire the satirical commercials that Samsung make against the iPhone as they create debate and I think they should still be continued. I do believe that the Galaxy has just as much potential as the iPhone but it also needs to capture the attention of America more efficiently. The "virtual line" idea worked great for New Zealand, but I know it would work wonderfully if the entire United States got involved. By implementing more social media campaigns like this, the groundswell would only cause the numbers to increase and create a massive buzz that would change the way we look at these two competing smartphones.
Monday, March 2, 2015
Jack Threads & the Groundswell
Online shopping has been a huge habit in the digital era due to the ease of finding what you want without going to a store, possibly finding sales, and using the customers' comments as advice to make sure you are getting the best quality item. I personally give credit to Amazon for paving the way for other online markets. Now it is the standard for online markets to implement groundswell elements in their business such as customer feedback. Every online business knows by common sense that everything that they do should be for their customers. In order for companies to grow with the groundswell, there have to be mental shifts taking place in order to think clearly what can be done for the company before they can build strong foundations on those ideas and move forward. And of course there needs to be executive support to finalize the transforming decisions.
Jack Threads started in 2008 in Ohio by Jason Ross (CEO & Founder) as a online website that sold overstocked mens clothes from lesser-known brands for a cheaper price and for a limited time (this is the flash sale method of selling). Like Amazon, the online aspect of purchasing clothes for Jack Threads worked for the business, but what made them different is that they offered daily flash sales for several items of a 40-80% discount via email. Their thought behind this method of sales, as explained by the company, is "that taking some risks with your style is something that every guy should be comfortable doing." Since the 2010 collaboration with online newsletter Thrillist, Jack Threads has elevated into one of the most known and reliable sites for men to shop for street wear and contemporary clothes that has created around 1,000 brands of its own and has gained over 4 million members. According to their Facebook, their company is "Empowering guys everywhere to look like a million bucks without spending a million bucks".
Jack Threads Video
Groundswell, by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff, constantly preaches the importance of the customer interest and opinion for any business, so it is imperative in this age of technology for a company to use their technologies to not only reach out to their customers in many ways but to be able to listen and respond to them. As implied in the book, this company's engagement with their customers has definitely allowed them to expand and establish themselves throughout the internet. The last chapter of the books talks about preparing for the future of the groundswell and how to prepare for it. Competition is always going to be an ongoing thing, but this company stays afloat by maintaining its two relationships; between its customers and the brands that are featured on the site.
What separates Jack Threads from other online vendors is the integration with Facebook (785k followers) that allows users to sign up and login to Jack Threads right through Facebook. Not only is the company spreading awareness and support through social media, but it allows people to join their site via Facebook. This allows for automatic updates on Facebook whenever a purchase is made so that the user is buying merchandise from the site while promoting the company.
The Facebook page for Jack Threads is constantly uploading relatable content that promotes their products as well as replies to questions or comments wether they're positive or negative.
Their Twitter (82.3k followers) and Instagram (57k followers) accounts are also effective in spreading awareness due to the fact that men want to be able to view these clothes and spark up ideas on these sites that are the most used. While Instagram shows the visuals of Jack Threads' products and relatable photos, Twitter does the same and also replies and retweets general tweets, including those of customer support. Giving more reason for the customers to stick around, the customers feel appreciated and makes them loyal to the company.
Jack Threads is only improving and innovating thanks to its relationships with its brands and the customers. It is safe to say that this company has grown and earned to perfectly listen, talk to, energize, and tap into the groundswell. In the future, I can see this company create more relationships with brands, increase their sales, and apply itself to more technologies. Of course, this company will have to follow the 7 steps in success with the groundswell as mentioned in the book (Remembering that the groundswell is a person to person activity, Listening, having patience, Being opportunistic, being flexible, being collaborative and being humble). The whole idea of this business being exclusively online really gets online users involved into the groundswell, but I feel like having several stores would be a major step in their advancement as well as spreading their presence throughout various social media outlets in the internet.
Monday, February 23, 2015
Samsung Mobile: Social Media Monitoring 1
Currently the best-selling phone brand, Samsung has innovated and revolutionized the way we look at smartphones. Often looked at as the predecessor for the brilliant ideas that are applied to many smartphones (i.e. the large screened phones), Samsung continues to provide the market with the most sophisticated cellular devices through the Galaxy series.
About
Lee Byung-chul of South Korea created Samsung in 1938 as a trading company for simple goods like dried fish and flour that moved on to other businesses throughout the 50's and 60's such as life insurance and textiles. Samsung Electronics, which is currently the world's largest information technology company) was created in 1969, initially producing televisions and moving on to PCs, VCRs and tape recorders. By the 80's, Samsung Electronics were shipped to North America and by the 90's mobile phones were making their mark in the mobile phone industry. Since 2010, Samsung has been releasing their trademark Galaxy smartphones that all run under the Android operating system.
Presence on Social Media
Being that Samsung is the most recognizable brand in electronics, it comes as no surprise that this company has a strong presence on social media, being on every social media site including Facebook, Instagram, and Twitter.
Typing "Samsung" on the search bar on Facebook will get you multiple page results, including "Samsung Mobile" and "Samsung Mobile USA". Samsung Mobile, which has over 40 million likes, concentrates on the promotion of their mobile products with detailed pictures and intricate videos.
Samsung Mobile USA, which has over 27 million followers, promotes their products with more intriguing and perople-related pictures of their products like these:
What's also great about the Samsung Mobile USA Facebook page is the customer service that it offers to its followers. This page will respond to just about any feedback, wether positive or negative, about their products with the best help that the com pay can provide.
Their Twitter presence is similar to that of Facebook. Samsung has multiple twitter accounts, including the official account @samsungtweets, @samsungmobileus, and the support twitter @samsungsupport. These accounts offer the same things that the Facebook pages offer, such as the pictures and videos. But the twitter accounts are more frequent in giving feedback to the people who post questions or comments to them, since people are more likely to post on twitter.
The Instagram accounts of Samsung serve the same purpose as the Twitter and Facebook accounts but they specifically show through pictures and videos what is new for the Galaxy and their other products, often using the same pictures as the Facebook pages and Twitter accounts. The Instagram accounts include Samsung Mobile USA, Samsung USA, and Samsung Mobile.
Social Mention
This website searches any term and sees how much it is mentioned within blog sites, social media sites, an various other sites. With the numbers constantly changing, these numbers are indicating that the Samsung Galaxy is still relevant, especially with the Galaxy S6 coming out soon.
In case you're wondering, here are the definitions of the terms used in Social Mention;
Sentiment- the ratio of mentions that are generally positive to those that are generally negative
Passion- a measure of the likelihood that individuals talking about your brand will do so repeatedly
Reach- a measure of the range of influence
According to this graph from Google Trends, Samsung Galaxy has had a good position on Google's searches, showing the interest that people have had on it since the word of the first Galaxy went out back in 2009. The spikes that come after 2012 most likely indicate the popularity of Samsung due to a new phone coming out.
IceRocket is a website that can be used to see how much of an impact the search topic has on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, or all three. This graph shows the Daily Blogs Citation trend of the Samsung Galaxy from January 25th to February 22nd. The amount of increases and drops for blog posts seem about the same considering the new Galaxy products coming out like the S6. And most likely because of this upcoming release, there are an average of 634 posts about the Samsung Galaxy per day.
http://www.crn.com/slide-shows/mobility/300072681/the-five-best-selling-smartphone-brands-of-the-first-quarter.htm/pgno/0/5
http://www.businessinsider.com/history-of-samsung-2013-2?op=1
Dodge: 100 Years
For those who watched the Super Bowl on February 1st, how awesome was that last-minute win? Before I get into talking about the game, I also want to note out the obvious fact that what was just as entertaining as the game were the commercials. Being that the Super Bowl ads are a crucial part of this event, this year proved no different.
It was really cool to see Walter White back on TV, Liam Neeson get angry on some online gamers, and Pierce Brosnan be offered the "perfect getaway" by a movie executive (I still don't know what Kim Kardashian was doing). The commercial that stuck out to me the most though was the commercial that Dodge released for their 100th anniversary. If you are not familiar with it, here it is:
When I was in my Social Media Marketing & Communication class this past Wednesday, we reviewed the marketing tactics of several brands, including those of L.L. Bean in their "100 Year" commercial. This commercial uses elements like nostalgia and product reliability to not only promote the brand, but to point out that these products have survived whatever obstacle was thrown at them and prevailed at the top of their class for a century. The Dodge commercial aims at using theses same tactics for their commercial.
The commercial contains centenarians (people that are 100 or more years old) dropping some wisdom. As simple as it sounds, wisdom is a valuable thing that we all hope to achieve through life experiences and to me the most credible knowledge; and who is more full of wisdom than the elderly?
The icing on the cake is that the wisdom that these elderlies are sharing are to live life to it's fullest extent. They tell us to do things like "put the pedal to the metal", "live fast", "don't bitch", and "never ever forget where you came from". Having an elderly person tell you to grab life by the horns is not really expected, but for that reason it works very well for this commercial.
This tactic of promoting is effective in having present Dodge owners feel a sense of satisfaction for contributing to the history and success of this brand and also ensure their loyalty to the brand. Also, this specific commercial will convince newcomers that Dodge has been, still is, and will always will be the brand that one can rely on and has the wisdom of 100 years to prove it. Having this commercial be broadcasted at any other time wouldn't have done much for the brand, but because it played during a huge event like the Super Bowl, the majority of America got to see it and form their opinions (wether they like Dodge or not). With 15 million hits on YouTube and counting, this commercial is sure to go down in history as one of the most memorable commercials of the Super Bowl.
Monday, February 16, 2015
Starbucks and the Groundswell
Whenever we go into Starbuck, we feel more relaxed. I find myself going into Starbucks whenever it's nearby and whenever I want a specific beverage. As opposed to Dunkin Donuts' "on-the-go" vibe, the dark lighting and the contemporary music serve the customer a lounging mood that creates a coffeehouse atmosphere and makes them just want to relax with their coffee instead of go out and about. For me, the many variety of beverages and their names give me the feeling that I'm drinking the best-quality drink around, being pricey and all. Overall, Starbucks gives people relaxation and a sense that they can accomplish whatever work they have to do and feel relaxed (like I am right now as I type this blog post and drink my hot Cinnamon Dolce Frappuccino).
One thing that makes Starbucks stand out to me is that the baristas cater to their customers. Another thing is that Starbucks has such a loyal following on social media, wether it be on Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram. Their desire to "embrace the groundswell", as Li and Bernoff state in Groundswell, allows their customers to become an integral part of the way they innovate and improve overall (pg. 183).
Both the Facebook (38 million likes) and Instagram (3.7 million followers) accounts of Starbucks offer store updates, visually captivating pictures of their products and freedom for their customers to give out feedback (positive or negative). On Facebook, Starbucks can actually reply back to anyone who leaves a post on their wall, wether it be a compliment or a complaint. On Facebook, Starbucks can actually reply back to anyone who leaves a post on their wall, wether it be a compliment or a complaint. All compliments are praised and shared to spread good reputation and all complaints are read and responded with the best customer service. For example:
Even through nasty comments (all companies will have negative comments), it is important for the company to do their best to assist the customer in every way possible. This ensures that the company is trustworthy as is Starbucks.
Their twitter +Starbucks Coffee , which is 7.2 million followers strong, is where the company keeps a live presence that keeps the people on the go informed and gets them thinking about their brand with updates, pictures and interesting quotes, such as this one:
As stated in Chapter 9, embracing the groundswell is a crucial way to improve a company because not only do the people give out their opinions fast and for free but because it allows the company to never stop improving; and Starbucks know how to do it well. For this reason, Twitter is by far the best social media site for a brand to create and spread their presence throughout the social universe. The ease of following an account, the quick 140-character tweets and the availability on mobile phones not only encourages Twitter users to express what they're thinking at the moment but to do so wherever they are, creating an endless amount of feedback to the company.
Starbuck's twitter also shows how much they appreciate the followers that mention them by retweeting their posts that contain @starbucks.
To get twitter users even more involved with the growth of Starbucks, a twitter page called https://twitter.com/MyStarbucksIdea exists with 48.4 K followers solely to get new ideas for products from ther very customers.
And since Twitter is used more than Facebook, Starbucks quickly replies to any general comment or question that's asked by a person who posts the question and mentions @starbucks.
Companies like this one should make their customers feel like they are important and that their opinions are valuable. Like mentioned before, Twitter (and Facebook too) not only listens to what you have to say, but responds accordingly to make the commenter feel like they are contributing to the growth of the company.
https://twitter.com/Starbucks
http://instagram.com/starbucks/
https://www.facebook.com/Starbucks
Monday, February 9, 2015
Kanye West vs. 50 Cent: How they used the Groundswell
By 2007, rappers Kanye West and 50 Cent have made a name for themselves and already had two best-selling albums each. When it was announced that each rapper's third album would be released on September 11, the potential of competition between the two was brought to many people's attention, including Def Jam CEO Jay-Z.
By August of 2007, the idea was too hard to ignore and the two rappers embraced the idea of a friendly competition for the top album. The most popular rap music that was on the radio in the early 2000's was that of the "gangster" kind, which is what gave 50 Cent the upper advantage. 50 Cent was so confident that he would win this challenge that he proclaimed, and I quote, "if Kanye West sells more records than 50 Cent, I'll never write music again". That statement elevated this bet into the biggest hip hop moment in 2007 that had all rap nerds debating amongst one another and choosing sides, while lead singles, videos, and interviews about the bet were advertising these albums.
Rolling Stones interview
Celebrities make their decision
When September 11 came, sales were skyrocketing for the both of them and by the following week, a winner was determined. By September 18, Kanye West's Graduation sold 957,000 copies in one week (I even bought a copy at the time to join in the bet), while 50 Cent's Curtis sold a mere 691,000. Kanye West was marked the winner of this bet and his album has brought him the most first-week album sales out of all of his 6 albums. As for 50 Cent, he profited reasonably well from this bet and, not surprisingly, still makes music 'till this day.
This friendly rivalry was, as Jay-Z describes, "a great day for Kanye West and Roc-A-Fella Records and a fantastic day for hip hop and artistry". It did good not only for the sales but because hip hop has always been built on competition. Fans want to see rappers compete to see who's top dog like they want to see sports teams compete (like I mentioned earlier, it has served 50 Cent well for his career). This event encouraged people to actually buy the CDs instead of downloading the music. It also got loyal fans to encourage lukewarm fans to purchase CDs and create debates and discussions among rap fans throughout the nation, thus spreading the word for these two artists. Wether the buyers of the CDs bought them just to enjoy the music or to support a rapper in the bet, these people (including myself) aided in what is possibly the most simple example of how the groundswell works.
http://rap.about.com/od/top10albums/tp/TopRapAlbums2007.htm
http://www.vh1.com/music/tuner/2013-06-27/soundscanner-yeezus/
http://www.stopthebreaks.com/hip-hop-features/50-cent-first-week-album-sales/
http://www.mtv.com/news/1570001/kanye-west-pounds-50-cent-in-first-week-of-album-showdown/
Monday, February 2, 2015
Losing its Fizz: Coca-Cola "Classic vs. New"
The basics of having a profitable and long-lasting company have always included to cater to your customers; not only to have brand loyalty but to have the word spread by those loyal customers. Even before the book Groundswell carefully detailed this fact, the success of a brand has always been a two-way street; while the company presents a product to the world that is based off of there wants and needs, the customers give feedback on what works and what doesn't.
Your brand is whatever your customers say it is. And in the groundswell where they communicate with each other, they decide.”
Groundswell, page 78
Smart companies know by now that the customer is always right and although this rule of thumb is pretty much common sense, there are those few companies that had to learn this fact the hard way; in this case, Coca-Cola.
Coca- Cola has always had a rivalry with Pepsi, which was introduced a couple of years after Coca-Cola was, due to the similar ingredients they both share. During the mid-70's, Pepsi was conducting these taste tests called the "Pepsi Challenge" that proved that people preferred Pepsi over Coca-Cola, thus making Pepsi THE new drink.
But Coca-Cola was not just gonna let a newcomer take its place after almost a century of being the standard of refreshment. In desperation to be on top again, Coca-Cola released the "New Coca-Cola" in 1985, with the recipe altered to try and create a taste that was superior to that of Pepsi.
Although there were taste tests conducted by Coca-Cola that showed that out of the 200,000 tested that 62% approved of the newer recipe over the classic one, the company overlooked the relationships that Americans in general had with the drink. For this reason, the new Coke suffered a huge backlash with the customers, making people buy and preserve thousands of cans of the "real" Coke, causing people to go in protest against this "fake knockoff" and actually did the exact opposite of what it was trying to do with Coca-Cola in the first place; increase Pepsi's already rising popularity. The act of Coca-Cola trying to compare its taste to that of Pepsi's only made the company look like posers instead of trying to be original like they had been for almost a century. Due to sales dropping exponentially and the customers speaking loud and clear about the new coke, it took Coca-Cola just 79 days to announce that they were going to bring back the original Cola.
While the regular Cola was put back in the shelves by extreme popular demand, the "New" Cola coexisted and was later called "Coke II" until it existed no more by 2002. Also, the original Cola was called "Coca-Cola Classic" to avoid confusion with the new Cola until 2009, when the new Cola was non-existent and there was no longer a need to have the word "classic" on the packaging.
But Coca-Cola was not just gonna let a newcomer take its place after almost a century of being the standard of refreshment. In desperation to be on top again, Coca-Cola released the "New Coca-Cola" in 1985, with the recipe altered to try and create a taste that was superior to that of Pepsi.
Although there were taste tests conducted by Coca-Cola that showed that out of the 200,000 tested that 62% approved of the newer recipe over the classic one, the company overlooked the relationships that Americans in general had with the drink. For this reason, the new Coke suffered a huge backlash with the customers, making people buy and preserve thousands of cans of the "real" Coke, causing people to go in protest against this "fake knockoff" and actually did the exact opposite of what it was trying to do with Coca-Cola in the first place; increase Pepsi's already rising popularity. The act of Coca-Cola trying to compare its taste to that of Pepsi's only made the company look like posers instead of trying to be original like they had been for almost a century. Due to sales dropping exponentially and the customers speaking loud and clear about the new coke, it took Coca-Cola just 79 days to announce that they were going to bring back the original Cola.
Although Coca-Cola was trying to innovate the quality of their product, this event proved that Coca-Cola is just a classic drink that is perfect already. They could have followed the steps mentioned in Groundswell on pages 93/94 to find a way to innovate without tarnishing the reputation of Coca-Cola, especially the first one; to find out what your brand stands for. I know that Coca-Cola would have never changed its recipe overall if they knew just what this beverage meant to America. I would have suggested making more flavors of Coca-Cola (such as the Cherry Cola that we have today) back in 1985 rather than change the main recipe altogether.
If this change were to happen today, then it would definitely take much quicker than 79 days to go back to regular Coke, since the Internet and social media have made the common voice stronger than ever. There would be tweets, hashtags, blogs, and even skits on popular shows like SNL or The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Although Coke currently lives up to its name, lets just hope that other aspiring companies can learn from this infamous moment in history.
If this change were to happen today, then it would definitely take much quicker than 79 days to go back to regular Coke, since the Internet and social media have made the common voice stronger than ever. There would be tweets, hashtags, blogs, and even skits on popular shows like SNL or The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon. Although Coke currently lives up to its name, lets just hope that other aspiring companies can learn from this infamous moment in history.
“Concentrate on the relationships, not the technologies. In the groundswell, relationships are everything. The way people connect with each other – the community that is created – determines how the power shifts.”
Groundswell, page 18
http://colafountain.topcities.com/newcoke.htm
http://www.businessinsider.com/pepsi-challenge-business-insider-2013-5
http://sabotagetimes.com/life/the-coke-wars-when-the-pepsi-challenge-nearly-killed-coca-cola/
http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/new-coke-and-new-media-reimagining-the-infamous-product-launch-in-the-digital-era
http://www.businessinsider.com/pepsi-challenge-business-insider-2013-5
http://sabotagetimes.com/life/the-coke-wars-when-the-pepsi-challenge-nearly-killed-coca-cola/
http://www.coca-colacompany.com/stories/new-coke-and-new-media-reimagining-the-infamous-product-launch-in-the-digital-era
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