Siffter… is a new way to ask people what they think.
Opinionaided, Survey Monkey, and Soda Head are all social polling sites that already do this. They ask people what they think and they have a large number of users willing to tell you their opinion. The one fatal flaw that is consistent with all social polling sites… is… (next slide)
I don’t care what Bob in Montana orJoe down the street think.
What I do care about is what my friends think. If I’m a company or celebrity, I care what my fans and followers think.
Siffter is not just another social polling site. Siffter is personal polling. It’s asking the people you care about most what they think.
The prototype is working and available in the App Store for the iPhone and iPad.
But we don’t want to limit Siffter to just Apple enthusiasts. By making Siffter a full service application available to everyone via a cloud service,… anyone… anywhere… on any device… will be able to use Siffter to ask their friends what they think.
This is straight off of the Siffter description in the Apple App Store. When someone posts something on Twitter, it go out to everyone in what they call a tweet. When someone posts a question on Siffter, it is in the form of a sifft. I hate the word poll. It sounds too governmental -- too stuffy. When you are baking, you put stuff into a sifter and you sift out what you want to use. On Siffter, you ask a sifft and you get your friend’s opinions.
The Gap and Coca Cola… two of the most recognizable images in American marketing. But as great as they are, someone had the brilliant idea to make them better.
In 1985 Coca Cola changed it’s secret formula that had been used for a hundred years and introduced us to New Coke. That didn’t go over so well and after a few years they switched back to the original formula for coke. They tried to put a PR spin on it and called it Coca Cola Classic. That happened in the mid 80’s. Technology has advanced and the news cycle has gotten a lot shorter since then… (next slide)
It didn’t take The Gap near as long to change it’s course. Within a week of launching it’s new logo in October of 2010, they released this statement saying how thrilled they were about the passionate debates over the new logo, and how the wanted input from their fans about new ideas for the logo. They didn’t send out a press release or announce this on their website. No… they posted this statement on their Facebook page so their most loyal fans would see it. In the end they decided to go back to use the original logo… and they posted this politically correct statement basically saying, “Oops, sorry for the screw up.”
What would have happened if The Gap and Coca Cola had asked their fans their opinions… before they went and changed a major component in their companies?
Facebook and Twitter are both worth billions. Facebook is 8 years old and about to have one of the biggest IPO’s ever. Twitter has millions of followers hanging onto every word a celebrity says… in 140 characters or less. Yet, Twitter is reportedly still losing money and Facebook has been turning a profit for only a couple of years.
What makes Siffter different? How can Siffter pull together millions of people using free… social networking sites and actually make money? (Long pause…)
According to Merriam-Webster the word fan is short for fanatic and is defined as: An enthusiastic devotee – as of a sport OR an ardent admirer or enthusiast – as of a celebrity. In short, if you are a fan of a team, a movie star, or even of a company… you give a damn about what they do!
The LA Lakers have 12.3 million Facebook fans. That means that the little LIKE button at the bottom of their Facebook page has been clicked on over 12 million times. But with all those fans screaming at the same time as to what they want the team to do, they can’t hear a single one of them.
If the Lakers were to post a sifft and ask their most loyal fans what jersey they should wear for a game against their oldest rival; how many people do you think will respond?
For our purpose here, let’s assume only 1% answer the sifft. Do I expect a much higher % to answer? Yes, I do. But for now let’s keep it small and simple. So if only 1% answered a sifft posted by the team on their Facebook page… (next slide)
That’s 123,556 votes for one question. Now let’s put some dollar amounts to that.
For regular everyday people, Siffter is free. They will be using it to ask their friends what color shoes to wear with an outfit, or what movie they should see tonight, or where they should go eat. But companies on the other hand… they will only use Siffter to generate a profit. Every question they pose in the form of a sifft will be designed with their bottom line in mind. Should we change our logo?… Should we change our 100 year old formula?... Who would you like to see host New Year’s Eve at Tao this year?... What should tomorrow night’s special be at Ferraro’s?
There are two ways of paying for Siffter. The first is PPV or pay per vote. Most people won’t bend over and pick up three pennies off the ground. It’s not worth their time. It’s this mentality that makes PPV ideal for a smaller company that doesn’t have a huge Facebook following. But what about the Lakers? One sifft with only 1% click through would cost them over $3,000 each time they posted a sifft. I have a feeling they will be getting a much higher % answering their siffts. And this won’t be the most economical way for them to run a business.
The second way for a company to pay for Siffter is to do Pay Per Month or PPM. This is a fixed amount they pay every month to use Siffter and post as many siffts as they want. The Lakers would save over twenty four hundred dollars if they posted just 2 siffts a month.
Fans want to feel that their favorite team cares about what they want. And teams want to get as many fans as possible to sell out their arenas and their stadiums… buy their jerseys and watch their games on TV. If I’m a Lakers fan and they show up tomorrow night wearing the jersey that I voted on… I feel like I had a direct say in their daily actions. I feel more connected with my favorite team. If I’m the Lakers… I feel I have a better understanding of what my fans want.
Facebook and Twitter have hundreds of millions of users wanting to share what the think. But when a user signs up for either one of them, they are also sharing where they live, what they like, what they don’t like, where they are willing to spend their hard earned money and lots and lots of other information.
All this information is collected and processed and is known as Big Data. It’s this Big Data that allows them to know what company’s ad should pop up when a user logs on and spends hours on their sites. This same Big Data will allow companies that use Siffter to learn what consumers like the most, which new products a company should roll out and which ones to scrap.
Google uses a shotgun pattern model for its advertising and is extremely profitable doing so. Facebook is considered a sniper rifle with how it can pair you with a company from your personal Big Data it has collected. Based on how people vote, we will be able to pair companies with consumers with laser precision. We will not just be selling a watch with Google, or a Rolex with Facebook, but rather the brand new Rolex Submariner Oyster Perpetual watch… with the blue face.
When the Lakers ask their fans which jersey the team should wear, they are asking a simple question but getting a lot more than just the answer back. They are now able to see how the registered users voted and their past votes and then tailor their marketing towards them. Maybe they offer 25% off the winning jersey for the next day only on their team website. Maybe Rolex asks which of these two new watches is better. Then sends all the users that voted for the winning watch a redemption code to their email for a discount for the winning watch. The possibilities are truly endless when it comes to which companies will use Siffter… what questions they will ask their fans… and how they want to do their own marketing after they get the answers.
Now let’s look at Twitter. Traditional CPM or cost per impression advertising works for Siffter on Twitter. The online average is $5.29 per one thousand impressions.
Lady Gaga has over 20 million followers on Twitter. If she asks her fans which shoes to wear to the Grammy’s, and we attach a small ad for the designer of those same shoes, that’s over 20 million impressions we just sent out. When she shows up the next day all over the tabloids wearing those same shoes, not only has she connected with all of her fans, but they now feel a personal connection to her everyday life. At the average CPM rate and still only 1% of her fans responding, that’s over $1,000 from advertisers… just for one sifft. But I do expect a much higher response rate.
Fans want to be connected with celebrities. And Celebrities want to stay celebrities so they will follow through with the winning vote on their own siffts… because they want to keep their fans!
Think The Gap and Coca Cola would like to have all the money they spent on these two marketing campaigns back?
Siffter is the best way to generate advertising dollars across the biggest social networks by asking the most important people what they think
A bigger and better Siffter is coming soon and we want you to be a part of it. Thank you.
