the F rant

And check out what they did with their logo…

FUN: Music, Culture and Entertainment, FUTURE: Digital Media, Marketing, Insights and Trends

Borat obviously took over the closed caption system at the Nine Network for last night’as “Footy Show” Grand Final special.

As reported in The Age, when Mike Brady got up to sing his famous football anthem, Up There Cazaly, hearing impaired people <insert joke here> saw this caption…

FOOTY: Sport in general closed caption, footy show, grand final, hearing impaired, mike brady, up there cazaly

Measurement of advertising effectiveness on social media is a hot topic in the online space. Organisations understand the effectiveness of online engagement via conversations, but who ultimately funds the social media spaces – providing the middle ground between “pay for space” and “pray for space”? The advertisers. This just in from Nielsen Online, announcing their new collaboration with Facebook, and their attempt to better measure these ads – the first cab off the rank is Nielsen BrandLift:

Dear Valued Client;

I am pleased to inform you of an important development at The Nielsen Company. Today we announced a multi-year strategic alliance with Facebook. This relationship pairs Nielsen, the world’s largest market research company, with the world’s largest social network, now some 300 million-users strong.

Together we will collaborate on products and solutions that enable you to better understand the value of the Internet and social media in the overall marketing mix.

Our first product, Nielsen BrandLift, measures the effectiveness of advertising on Facebook through the proven, simple and engaging user experience of the site, primarily a simple and unobtrusive one or two question poll. Nielsen BrandLift will be commercially available in the coming months and we expect to conduct hundreds of studies with clients who advertise on Facebook by the end of the year.

Of course, Nielsen will continue to maintain our high standards for respecting consumer privacy and use the same open, transparent approach for conducting research on Facebook.

Raising advertiser confidence in online media is a key opportunity for the entire industry. With this new product and future developments, we will continue to bridge the gap between marketers and “connected consumers” to provide a deeper understanding of what works online and what does not.

By joining with the world’s largest social network, our work in online is further strengthened and, we believe, surpassed by none. As a long-time leader and innovator in the field of media and consumer data measurement and analysis, Nielsen has always worked to find new ways to increase our ability to help our clients. The Facebook alliance is a tremendous example of this heritage, and an exciting addition to our Anytime Anywhere Media Measurement program, launched in 2006.

FUTURE: Digital Media, Marketing, Insights and Trends

Goodbye Anthony Rocca – A wonderful servant, a leader, a warrior for the Collingwood Football Club.  All the best, big fella.

FOOTY: Sport in general afl, anthony rocca, collingwood, retirement

If rumours are true, George Clooney’s assertion that he would rather have a prostate exam than a Facebook Page, must mean that he REALLY, REALLY wants a Facebook Fan Page.

The lucky bastard is hanging out with Christian Vieri’s former squeeze (and former Striscia La Notizia Veline) Elisabetta Canalis, pictured below…

So – why does George want a Facebook Fan Page so much – and why are they so good for celebs, brands and movements?  Here are my reasons why…

• It’s the end of the “destination web”, where purpose built URLs can be expected to have a large and loyal readership. At last count (today), there are exactly 6,838,880 Australians on Facebook. If George were to build his own site, then he’d have to create it and promote it – and competing with sites such as Facebook and YouTube.  Why not build a presence on a site where people already are?
• Insights – because people put so much info into Facebook, you can find out incredible amounts about visitors to the Fan Page – age, sex, location, type of visit, quality of interactions – Facebook insights is excellent.
• Top software – Facebook allows for events to be created, photos and videos to be uploaded, conversations and discussions to be had – a perfect, purpose built site for Fans.
• It’s free!

FUN: Music, Culture and Entertainment, FUTURE: Digital Media, Marketing, Insights and Trends facebook, fan page, george clooney, social media

“There is an international register of Magpie clubs.”

…so wrote John Harms in The Age, in this great piece: The Creature is back, this time in a global conspiracy.

FOOTY: Sport in general afl, collingwood, football, geelong, magpies

Just a few hours ago, Telstra shut down it’s high profile corporate “propaganda” blog, nowwearetalking.com.au.

According to their former Communications Tsar, “Fabulous Phil” Burgess, Telstra started the Now We Are Talking Blog for the following reasons:

• Shareholder mailouts cost upwards of $2m each, so in providing a site that could be updated often, it would assist Telstra in getting the message across to their hundreds and thousands of shareholders, who could then act as advocates for the firm.
• Digital media is a cheaper and more effective channel for frequent updates.
• A strong, direct advocacy site to take the battle up to Government, regulators and competitors.
• It could provide multiple touchpoints within the company, with opinions from staff members in various departments, each with a unique view of Telstra’s operations – at various levels of the firm.
• Rich media such as video and audio would allow for more engaging communications
• Listening device  - by allowing comments and user generated content, it would allow Telstra to learn about the real opinions of Australians and tailor communications and products to suit them.

When the site started, it was largely interactive, with feedback, opportunities for consumer comments, voting and user generated comment – the screengrab below is the site from 2005:

It then started to become a lightening rod for disaffected and angry Telstra customers, whose negative feedback overwhelmed the site.  In response, Telstra began to shut down these functions, leaving the site largely one way.  While this might have pleased the board of Telstra, it angered social media geeks, the media, and many punters.

Nevertheless, Tesltra felt that the site still had effective elements, in encouraging a pro-Telstra perspective in battles against the Howard Government / ACCC (over wholesale pricing), Optus (major competitor) and most recently, the Rudd Government’s various plans (operational separation and the NBN), screengrab is the site from 2007:

The departures of Communications guru Phil Burgess, CEO Sol Trujillo and Chairman Donald Mcgauchie means that Telstra has lost the will to fight the fight front-on, preferring a softly, softly approach of conciliation and partnership.  Hence one of the main tools used in the battle, the NowWeAreTalking.com.au blog, is no longer.

Just moments ago, as flagged in today’s The Age article, this email came through:

Dear Subscriber,

Since we established nowwearetalking almost four years ago, much has changed in the online landscape. In Telstra’s world, it is also a different climate now compared to when the site was launched in December 2005. After a review of where we were headed with our online communications and how best to engage with important stakeholders like you, we have decided to close our nowwearetalking website and develop a new, more engaging, interactive site under the main telstra.com umbrella.

In the process, we will make some changes to the content and the way we interact online with people who have an interest in all things Telstra. Be assured that the new site, which is under development, will provide ample opportunities to engage in genuine online conversations.

The new site will be dedicated to allowing us to talk with you, but more importantly – to listen to your views, opinions and ideas.
In the meantime, we have set up a temporary home where we can receive your comments/input and share our perspectives on the new site moving forward. You are invited to visit www.telstrablogfeedback.com.au and tell us what you think.
Thanks so much for your interest and support over the years.

We look forward to welcoming you to our new website when it goes live in the coming months, and will keep in contact with any news and updates on the way.

So – what lessons can be learnt from the mistakes / activities of Telstra’s Now We Are Talking “social media” site?

First, that any such advocacy sites have to be open to comment.  Comments were highly moderated / censored, with responses often taking days before they were approved.  As the years went by, the ability to vote, respond or comment lessened.  Not good if it’s about “talking”.

Second, focus on adding value, not adding argument.  NWAT was too aggressive.  The last few years of the site were almost a satire in terms of aggressive opinion.

Third, Telstra is… quite a hated firm by many.  Seen as a monopoly firm, there is much pent up frustration with “the Big T”, and the perception that they milked their monopoly as the once sole telecommunications provider to Australia.  It is quite possible that a site of such style might not have been appropriate for Telstra.

Fourth, online forums were not used appropriately.  The strategy was driven by the American management of Telstra, who believed that blogs were (as they are in America), a very popular means of communicating socially.  In Australia, we know that discussion boards / forums are by far the more popular means of conversation – most appropriately in this case one of the largest, most popular forums in Australia, Whirlpool, which ironically, was started in response to a lack of online discussion about Telstra’s services.  Telstra didn’t use forums, but used a type of message board service, that distinctly lacked a conversational style – it took days for a public message to go up, and days for responses to appear.  A sample of the guidelines:

Moderators will ensure that postings are relevant and may take any steps they think appropriate to ensure that content meet the site’s Discussion Guidelines, described below. All postings will be reviewed by a moderator and are generally published on the site within 1-2 working days.

Fifth, the most successful communities aren’t driven by opinion, but questions.  There was little in terms of Telstra opening up to questions from the public, and adding value with answers.  It was all top down.

Sixth, there was an enormous investment in the site.  Such sites shouldn’t be costly, but should be effective.  In terms of a Return on Investment outcome, the return can be decent, if the investment is small.

Finally, that it was too much about Telstra the brand, Telstra the company, rather than Telstra the provider of services.  The site did very little to help people understand about product rollouts, explaining services, how to’s and providing answers to the many questions people have about Telstra, thereby providing genuine transparency and understanding.

So – there endeth Now We Are Talking; as a former senior communications manager at Telstra said to me today:

It will be an interesting artifact in the social media history vaults…  It had so much potential but for the wrong company

I would be extremely disappointed in Australia’s communicators if the closure of Now We Are Talking was to be used as a convenient excuse for not pursuing an online engagement strategy for their own firm.  Australian communicators are conservative enough without being able to point at the NWAT closure and say “if it didn’t work for them, it won’t work for us”.

The ultimate lesson is that social media is an effective tool for managing corporate reputations, if done properly.  All organisations have to engage with their stakeholders – and social media is an incredibly powerful way to engage, if done transparently, openly, authentically and most importantly, by adding value to the conversation, rather than simply using social media as a means to bash the Government and the competition.

FREEDOM: Economics, Politics and Business, FUTURE: Digital Media, Marketing, Insights and Trends advocacy, blog, corporate reputation, politics, social media, telstra

Andrew Murfett was in the US last week, playing The Beatles: Rock Band.  He reckon it rocks.  Here’s his write up.

How good do the video trailers look?  Me wanty.

FUN: Music, Culture and Entertainment, FUTURE: Digital Media, Marketing, Insights and Trends game, music, review, rock band, the beatles