The end of October, 2010 was a very “social” time for Fusion.
19 October saw us co-presenting the research paper “The Social Media Leap” in Berlin with The Ehrenberg-Bass Institute(UniSA) and on 28 October we hosted the premiere of the hit movie, “The Social Network”, which traces the beginning of Facebook.
Innovation and connecting with people is in our DNA so it’s no surprise that Fusion have a strong association with social media and more importantly, social media thinking.
The world research industry organisation, ESOMAR recently invited us to present our paper, “The Social Media Leap”, prepared by Dr Karen Nelson-Field (UniSA) and myself (Fusion) with the assistance of 2010 UniSA Marketing Practicum students and Lisa Kennewell (Fusion). Our paper was one of only 15 presented globally at this year’s conference in Berlin titled “WM3. Worldwide Multimedia Measurement: Your Audience = Media Consumer + Generator”.
Well, what a whirlwind! Before we even had time to shake off our jetlag, we were centre stage presenting our findings. Our paperand presentation took people through our research of over 240 Australian organisations and 1000 articles and papers. Our findings included current practice and recommendations on best practice for integrating social media into business strategies.
Through an industry survey, we found that whilst there are some barriers for entry, there is a consensus amongst marketers that social media is not a fad and is an area for growth in 2011. The paper observes that this social media revolution provides opportunities for consumers, but it is providing challenges for marketers who may not be drawing upon information that is credible or based on evidence or academic rigour.
We also found that there was a significant disconnect between measurement of traditional media vs social media and a general lack of integration of complementary social media into broader marketing strategies.
We compiled nine industry best practices based on over 1000 industry insights (filtered by what we know empirically).
These were:
1. Strive for reach (fish where the fish are)
2. Don’t be too narrow (don’t narrowly target)
3. Use brand cues (build and refresh memory cues
4. Look for recency (incorporate recency planning tactics)
5. Be social (put people in the picture – remember to be social)
6. Plan with multi-hats (plan for success)
7. Listen and spy (monitor activity)
8. Ready your troops (enable your employees)
9. Start slowly (don't leap in unprepared)
Interestingly, 1-4 are not new to media planning - but new in context of social media whereas 5-9 represent a shift in thinking.
More of our findings have been reported in adelaidenow and are summarized nicely in the slides (with handy speaker notes) and documented in more detail in our paper available for viewing and download. We also presented our "Sharefactor" video of marketing case studies incorporating social media (featuring the brands Uniqlo, Heapsgood, Picnic, McDonalds and Old Spice).
Overall WM3 was very enlightening and it was great meeting so many research and marketing leaders from around the globe. It was interesting to hear about the global challenges and innovations faced by the shifting face of media research and measurement. There was much discussion about the word "fusion" in context merging traditional and digital media metrics - in fact I disappointed one of the delegates who thought I was from an official “Fusion” measurement organisation.
On the local front, Fusion actively support academic research in this area, having hosted and worked with two Practicum student research papers on social media marketing: Claire Harris in 2009, Shane Burford and Michael Day in 2010. Additionally, we present lectures on social media and have set-up Sharefactor, a Facebook community page for students, and anyone else, interested in the topic of social media research. Those interested can join the page and be a part of the ongoing discussion. We welcome your involvement.
Connecting with students by providing helpful information on the University of Adelaide’s website created a visual platform of the student experience that features actual University of Adelaide students.
Positive brand experience is something Santos definitely generated when staffing their pop-up photo booth at the Adelaide Festival’s annual Northern Lights installation. The event which paints Adelaide’s historic architectural icons on North Terrace with stunning light and vibrant colour at night, is a hugely successful free, family-friendly event run during the 2010 Adelaide Festival.
