Lecture from Creighton University covering the new, massive competition among media brands. Every brand is now a media company, and that means every brand will have to learn how to think like a media company and use emotion in their messages.

1. The New Social Media Landscape-Welcome to Somalia. Enjoy your
stay.
February 2014

2. Who I Am

3. Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How We Got Here
How Brands Work
Why People Like Brands
The New Customer Journey
What Markets Look Like Now
Social Media Strategy for the New World

4. Once Upon a Time, Big Media
Ruled

5. And You knew how to reach your
buyers

6. Then, the Web came

7. And it was easier to create your
own content

8. And People Changed their habits

10. “This is a very
noisy world.”

11. Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How We Got Here
How Brands Work
Why People Like Brands
The New Customer Journey
What Markets Look Like Now
Social Media Strategy for the New World

12. What’s a brand?
“A brand is the set of
expectations, memories, stories and
relationships that, taken together, account
for a consumer’s decision to choose one
product or service over another. If the
consumer (whether it’s a business, a
buyer, a voter or a donor) doesn’t pay a
premium, make a selection or spread the
word, then no brand value exists for that
consumer.“
--Seth Godin

13. “A brand is the sum of the good, the bad, the ugly, and the off-strategy.
It is defined by your best product as well as your worst product. It is
defined by award-winning advertising as well as by the god-awful ads
that somehow slipped through the cracks, got approved, and, not
surprisingly, sank into oblivion. It is defined by the accomplishments of
your best employee– the shining star in the company who can do no
wrong– as well as by the mishaps of the worst hire that you ever made.
It is also defined by your receptionist and the music your customers are
subjected to when they are placed on hold. For every grand and finely
worded public statement by the CEO, the brand is also defined by
derisory consumer comments overheard in the hallway or in a chat
room on the Internet. Brands are sponges for content, for images, for
fleeting feelings. They become psychological concepts held in the minds
of the public, where they may stay forever. As such, you can’t entirely
control a brand. At best you can only guide and influence it.”
– Scott Bedbury

14. Brands are made of data points
• Your brand is a sponge
• The sponge fills up with data points
– Can be true or false
– Can be from personal experience, legit sources or
rumor
– The most recent ten data points define the brand
for you
• There are more data points out there than
ever before, but most are ignored

15. Three Types of Messages
• Research: Investigation into and study of
materials and sources in order to establish
facts and reach new conclusions
• Advertising: Paid communication intended to
encourage purchase
• Word-of-Mouth: Passing of information from
person to person
– Friends
– Authorities

16. What We’re Talking About
Old World
Research
Advertising
Word-of-Mouth
New World
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Phone Book
Sears Catalog
Prime Time TV
Radio
Print
Outdoor
Uncontrollable
Unmeasurable
Google
Websites
Search
Digital Display
Digital Banner
Native
Controllable
Measurable

17. Recommendations > Advertising
Percent trusting medium “Completely or Somewhat”
Source: Nielsen, 2012

18. How Supply has Changed
Supply
Research
Advertising
Word-ofMouth
Impact
• Search Engine use up
• Company Content up
• Catalogs, Phone
Book, Magazines down
• Google is ultimate
arbiter of short list
• Need for SEO, constant
content creation
• All digital (esp search)
up
• TV flat to down
• Print down
• Sales start with search
• TV/Radio Ads for
brands, booze, cars
• Unlimited supply, falling
prices
• Amateur content way up • Most trusted content is
amateur
(Yelp, Amazon,
• Need to leverage word
Facebook)
of ordinary people
• PR flat

19. Endorsed Impressions Drive 40%
Increase in Buying
• People exposed to Starbucks’ brand messages by their
friends’ Facebook actions (likes, comments, etc.) are 40%
more likely to buy than control group
Source: ComScore, Facebook

20. Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How We Got Here
How Brands Work
Why People Like Brands
The New Customer Journey
What Markets Look Like Now
Social Media Strategy for the New World

21. Why “Like” a Brand?

22. Social Media is Identity
Production
• Danah Boyd and MySpace
• You define your own brand with content (data
points)
• You are what you like
– Jane Austen, Earl Grey Tea, Joslyn Museum
– Kendrick Lamar, Coors Light, Cali Taco
• Your brand is a sponge, too

23. Top Car Brands
On Facebook
By Sales
Million Likes
YTD October 2013
BMW
15.6
Ford
2.0
Ferrari
13.1
Chevrolet
1.6
Mercedes
13.0
Toyota
1.6
Nissan
Honda
8.7
Audi
Nissan
7.8
0
5
10
1.1
15
20
0.9
0
1
2
3
Source: Fanpagelist.com, GoodCarBadCar.net

24. Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How We Got Here
How Brands Work
Why People Like Brands
The New Customer Journey
What Markets Look Like Now
Social Media Strategy for the New World

25. Sales Start with Search
2. Evaluate
1. Need
5. Bond
3. Buy
4. Experience
Source: McKinsey

26. Sales Start with Search
2. Evaluate
1. Need
5. Bond
• Average consumer
consumes 10 pieces of
information during
search
• What does their
network say?
3. Buy
4. Experience
Source: McKinsey

27. Sales Start with Search
2. Evaluate
1. Need
• Social Media touches
customers after sale
(Customer Service, User
groups, R&D)
• Customers can evangelize
5. Bond
3. Buy
4. Experience
Source: McKinsey

28. How do we make a shortlist?
What we
already think
about the
brand(s)
New Information
• Research
• Advertising
• Word-of-Mouth
• If the brand is not on the shortlist, the
brand will not be purchased
• Your job as Marketer is to get onto the
shortlist
Shortlist

29. The Culture Has Changed
• “99% of purchases of a complex
product or service begin with a
Google Search.”
• “60% of the customer’s buying
process is done before having a
conversation with a supplier.”

30. The Culture has Changed
Average Age of Selected Medium’s User, 2012
Newspaper
Evening TV News
Morning TV News
Average American
LinkedIn
Facebook
Pinterest
Twitter
57
53
51
46
44
40
40
38
0
10
20
30
40
50
60
Sources: Doubleclick, Pew Internet Project, INMA

31. Where We Are Now
• Infinite supply
– Supply of content is unlimited
– 80% of everything is mediocre
• Less Trust in Old Names
– Professional Media trusted less than Amateur Media
– Old Media circling drain
– Old ad formulas don’t work
• More efficiency in finding what you want
– Search is consistently refined, asymptotically approaching ideal/ SEO
losing juice
– Search Ads is arms race
– Personalization of everything

32. Rising Importance of Emotion
• Increasingly noisy market; more people trying
to press emotional buttons
• Need zero ambiguity around segment and
desired emotion
– “Make truck drivers feel proud”
– “Make new moms feel awe”
• Most effective emotions for sharing: Curiosity,
Amazement, Interest, Astonishment,
Uncertainty

33. Plutchik’s Wheel of Emotion

34. Source: HBR

35. Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How We Got Here
How Brands Work
Why People Like Brands
The New Customer Journey
What Markets Look Like Now
Social Media Strategy for the New World

36. Any property that successfully aggregates an
What Is A Media Company?
audience through content is a media company.
– David Meerman Scott

38. So how do we pick?

39. (Almost) Perfect Competition
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Infinite buyers and sellers
No barriers of entry and exit
Perfect factor mobility
Perfect information
Zero transaction costs
Rational buyers
No externalities
Profit maximization
Homogenous products
Non-increasing returns to scale
Property rights
• De facto perfect
competition in many
subsegments
(news, sports
news, stock prices)
• Some differentiation
between
segments, but fixed
time budget
• Potential for
Treadmill

40. Jack Welch was Right
• #1 or #2 in every market you compete in.
• Only a few reap benefits; all others are
commodities
• Key is to define market appropriately
– Not general education news, but news about
Catholic Elementary Schools
– Not all swimming pools worldwide, but swimming
pools in our region
– Not accounting, accounting for truckers

41. Agenda
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
How We Got Here
How Brands Work
Why People Like Brands
The New Customer Journey
What Markets Look Like Now
Social Media Strategy for the New World

42. Strategies for (Almost) Perfect
Competition
• There are no strategies for perfect competition, but
we’re not there yet.
• Two main thrusts
– Exploit structural advantages while you still have them
• Customer relationships
• Distribution/Gatekeeper relationships
• Tie up scarce assets
– Aggressively execute tactically
•
•
•
•
Build Audience
Build Distribution Channels
Build Content engine
Optimize for Search and Sharing

43. Low Risk Moves: by Buyer
• B2B Brands: Increase Relevance
– Deepen Emotional Benefits
– Emphasize Risk Reduction
– Avoid mediocre “Thought Leadership.”
• B2C Brands: Deepen the emotional
connection
– Emphasize emotion
– Make your sharers look good
– Try new forms (e.g., Lowe’s Fix in Six)

44. Low Risk Moves: by Positioning
• Incumbent Brands: Maintain Audience, Deepen
Emotion
– Maintain/Grow Audience
– Deepen Emotional Benefits
– Maintain segment integrity
• Attacker Brands: Experiment aggressively, own an
emotion
–
–
–
–
Focus on Shareability
Own an emotion
Grow the audience
Try new forms

45. Lessons from Show Business
1. Be distinctive. Narrow and deep beats big and
general. CNBC v TBS.
2. Be where your audience is. Don’t ask them to use
formats or platforms they don’t like.
3. Reformat. When you take your content to a new
segment, recut it to suit local needs.
4. Sequels and Franchises work, but only for a while.
You will lose the trust of the audience if you milk
your ideas too hard.

46. Lessons from Show Business
5. It’s all about talent. Some people have more star
power than others.
6. Word of mouth matters. You want people telling
their friends about how good your stuff is.
7. Scheduling matters. Don’t release your big movie
the same day your rival releases their big movie.
8. Storytelling wins. Study everything Pixar does.

47. Pixar: The Story Spine
1. Once upon a time, _____________________
2. Everyday, _____________________
3. One day, _____________________
4. Because of that, _____________________
5. And Because of that, _____________________
6. Until finally _____________________
7. And ever since that day, _____________________

48. Pixar: The Story Spine
1. Once upon a time, there was a man called Adam and a
woman called Eve who lived in the Garden of Eden.
2. Everyday, they tended the garden, and they were happy in
their work.
3. One day, the serpent convinced Eve to eat the forbidden
fruit.
4. Because of that, Adam decided to eat it too.
5. And Because of that, God got very angry.
6. Until finally he kicked them out of the Garden.
7. And ever since that day, people like you and me have to
struggle to make a living.

49. Mamet on Drama
QUESTION:WHAT IS DRAMA?
DRAMA, AGAIN, IS THE QUEST OF
THE HERO TO OVERCOME THOSE
THINGS WHICH PREVENT HIM
FROM ACHIEVING A
SPECIFIC, ACUTE GOAL.
--DAVID MAMET

50. Lessons from Show Business
9. Guest stars can get people to check you out. Borrow
audiences where you can.
10. The money’s in the publishing/syndication. It’s a hitdriven business, so you need a big portfolio.
11. Service the superfans. Star Trek wasn’t for the cool kids.
12. Promote your stars. Don’t be afraid to talk about how
good you are.
13. Good artists borrow; Great artists steal. There are no
original ideas. Just good execution.

51. Questions
• How does social media for brands differ from
social media for individuals?
• What brands do you use, but not publicly like?
What brands do you publicly like but not use?
• How could brands do social media better?
– Creighton Admissions?
– Lucky Bucket?
– Archdiocese of Omaha?