Creating Compelling Content

We’re all familiar with the saying: “content is king”. Although this statement is true, it should really be “compelling content is king”. There’s no use adopting a content strategy if you’re content is crap. The guys at College Humor, a site that gets about 10 million unique visits a month, have a few tips to ensure you land in the latter camp.

Today at the Mashable Media Summit, College Humor’s CEO Ricky Van Veen announced a partnership with SoBe to launch SoBe Studios — a project that creates branded video content — and with it a three-part web series called Mr. Vicarious, set to premiere on June 9. He also shared with the audience his “10 Web Content Urban Legends.”

In true Internet entrepreneur style, Van Veen started College Humor in his dorm room — now it’s an operating business of IAC with more than 10 million unique visitors a month. Although it now produces TV shows, films, live tours and books, Van Veen told the audience that the web always remains at the center. And how did the site gain such high standing on the web?

And how can brands capitalize on such cache? According to Van Veen, by being hyper aware of the 10 Web Content Urban Legends, which are as follows:

Myth #1). People will want to watch your branded content: Why would anyone watch this? If you don’t have a good reason, don’t make it. If your goal is 75% to entertain and 25% to sell a product, you already have a handicap.

- Brands need to be flexible. IE, College Humor is a racy site — so if you want to partner with a media outlet like this, its content will be racy. Embrace that. To remedy this issue, you can present content that is not explicitly branded, and then reveal your involvement later.

Myth #2). People will be patient with your content: 35% tune out soon after starting to watch a web video. Also, one third of web activity is executed while watching TV.

- So, get to the point — quickly.

Myth #3). People will find your content: Your video will not necessarily go viral. Over-saturation is not the key, either.

- Have a strong seeding strategy.
- Team up with an established brand or platform.

Myth #4). The Internet is a level playing field: A link on Drudge Report yields more results than some dude’s blog.

- Tap into power users.

Myth #5). We have no idea why things go viral: There are no rules for making a viral video. But all viral videos give the user a reason to pass it on. This all has to do with identity creation: What does passing this video on say about me?

- College Humor has a hit strategy: Only hit for nines and 10s.
- The shorter the better.
- The hook comes within the first 20 seconds.
- Sweet spots College Humor taps into: Topical issues and “Candycorn” (cultural touchstones that everyone knows, but doesn’t actively think about).

Myth # 6). Experience () beats documentation: We have a new generation that puts documentation above experience. It’s all about Flickr feeds and Facebook status updates. It’s basically high-tech bragging.

- if you’re a marketer, create experiences that allow people to show off how cool they are.

Myth #7). You should build your own community and tools: The web values simplicity and openness. Don’t limit the openness of your project. Make all tools open and easy to share. Don’t build your own features — if you want people to share photos and whatnot, use Facebook () and Flickr (). You get much more exposure and reach in that way.

Myth #8). Keep things professional: Show the people behind the scenes. It gives your site personality and makes it sticky. Personality drives your brand. Post photos of staff as well as videos and other content. Perez Hilton does this really well, according to Van Veen.

Myth #9). Traditional media is irrelevant to the web: TV is not over. Content creators are always working to get to TV and film — that’s where the money is. The average American watches 151 hours of TV a month, so that’s nothing to sneeze at. You get a stamp of approval thusly.

Myth #10). People will create good content for you: This is the biggest myth of all.

SOBE STUDIOS

Van Veen topped all of this off by announcing the creation of SoBe Studios, a production studio that creates content centered around the SoBe brand. According to Van Veen, this partnership adheres to two of the rules laid out above: 1). SoBe is partnering with established brand with a history of creating good content. 2). It’s working directly with College Humor to create something that people will actually want to watch.

And what exactly are they creating? A series, which was filmed at South by Southwest, based on SoBe’s “re-skin” campaign — which involves the drink company redesigning the labels of the SoBe Elixir and Tea bottles called Mr. Vicarious. In true metamorphosing spirit, the show centers around two comedians — Paul Scheer and Nick Kroll — who live vicariously through three actors dressed up as different characters, including a karate sensei, a massage therapist and a caricature artist.

Source - Mashable

The Purchase Funnel - A Different Lens

Purchase models are always a little flaky because they assume the purchase cycle is a linear process. As we know, everybody behaves differently and context plays a critical role in any decision. The following article suggests that looking at the purchasing funnel from a different angle (literally) can have a profound impact on your marketing efforts.

Enough already with the arguments about the death of the so-called Purchase Funnel and its relevance or not, for the digital age. Because maybe the real issue is not whether the funnel is obsolete – but that agencies and marketers have been looking at the funnel the wrong way?

So, take a deep breath. Take a different view of the funnel. And think about it this way.

In a consumer-controlled world, where it’s less about taking the brand to the consumer and more about taking the consumer to the brand, behavioral patterns are less likely to be linear – or sequential. And therefore it’s hard to imagine a consumer who seamlessly transitions from a state of awareness to purchase, by smoothly sliding down the funnel as they consume media. But knowing this doesn’t mean that the funnel is no longer relevant. There’s more to consider. And let me explain why:

1. What we know from our work behind the 7 Modes of The Mind is that consumer behavior in a digitally-powered world is increasingly shaped by their mood, mode and mindset.

2. We’ve discovered that mode of behavior and potential brand receptivity is shaped by a confluence of consumption – based on how a consumer interacts with categories, brands, technology, content and media.

3. We’ve found that the consumer journey towards a brand experience begins at one of seven primary modes: entertainment, share, learn/research, task/transact, socialize/connect, play and information mode.

4. We’ve also studied how the consumer jumps from one mode to another as they make their way towards the path to purchase – based on what frame of mind they’re in while consuming different media, devices and content.

By connecting these dots together in this way it then becomes apparent that the consumer mode of behavior and the “gravitational-pull” towards the bottom of the funnel are highly inter-related. And what’s amazing is that when you take a peak inside the purchase funnel you can begin to see all this unfold.

Go beyond a two-dimesional view of the funnel, dig deeper inside, and with the benefit of a three dimensional perspective it’s fascinating to actually see this modally driven form of behavior unfold. Far from being a linear sequential series of steps, what you’ll likely see is a meandering path to purchase towards the center of the funnel – that’s akin to a journey through a twisting-turning labyrinth, with trap doors and blind alleys, trampolines and pitfalls. But because this journey is fraught with distractions along the way, it also means the consumer may or may not make it down to the bottom of the funnel – depending on when and how a brand engages them.

So far, what’s clear from our initial work in this area, is that knowing how and when to intercept the consumer within the funnel and understanding what mode they’re in at a particular moment, increases the odds they’ll take the chute to purchasing your brand and become an advocate. Using a snap-shot of the three-dimensional view from above the funnel as an integrated modal connections framework can also be helpful, as a way to potentially mapping-out the journey a consumer might embark on as they make their way through the complicated ecosystem within.

So in short, don’t be mistaken. The funnel is far from dead – because on the inside, what we’ve found is that it’s very much alive. Dare to dive in, and what you may discover might initially scare your brand to death. But equally, don’t be surprised if this new perspective of the funnel provides you with a better understanding of how to give your brand a new lease on life.

Source - Mullen

What Makes A Great Planner

The role of a Planner has always been tricky to define. Sure, Planners are strategist & problem solvers but what characteristics do great Planners have in common? In an attempt to answer this question, PSFK interviewed a number of Planners and combined their findings in a series of videos. Take a look and make sure you are getting the most of our your Planner.

Link to the first video here.

Taking A Page From Farmville

Consider this: Farmville has three times as many active users as Twitter. We brought social gaming to your attention in past bulletins and this month we’d like to share some insights on social gaming provided by Zynga, the leading social gaming developer and creator of Farmville. Be sure to water your crops and check out this article. Oh, did we mention Zynga made over $100MM last year?!

Earlier this week John Doerr, an investor in Google, Amazon, and Intuit, said Zynga is the fastest growing venture he’s ever been a part of. Zynga’s flagship game, FarmVille, has 3 times the reach of Twitter. FarmVille has 71 million active users while Twitter has around 22 million active users (Twitter has 110 million registered users, of which an estimated 20% are likely active). Perhaps more impressively, Zynga is estimated to generate $50 million in revenue from the most engaged members who buy virtual goods and keep up a toolbar.

Every web experience designer can learn from the tactics deployed in FarmVille to engage members over the long term. Here are 8 tactics you should include:

1. Reward users for returning in a short time period. Every website visitor is going to leave at some point. But why will they return in 24 hours? FarmVille is centered around planting and harvesting crops. The shortest time a new user can harvest a crop in is 4 hours. So on the first experience, FarmVille says: “Go away and come back in 4 hours”. How bold! In order to make progress in FarmVille, you need to go and come back. The site also has functionality that you can only use once per day (e.g., giving gifts to friends), further encouraging you to go and come back.

2. Reward users for helping friends every day. When you give a gift to a friend on FarmVille, it actually benefits you. Fertilizing a friends’ crops does not cost you cash. Instead, it raises your experience level. So, you can feel good about both helping someone else and gaining points at the same time. Dropbox.com does something similar with their program for inviting friends that gives both the inviter and recipient extra space. But on FarmVille, you can earn coins and give gifts every day you visit a friends’ farm.

3. Allow users to create without typing. FarmVille is incredibly easy to play–you just point and click. Click to till soil. Click to plant seeds. Click to harvest. It can be played by 5 year olds, drunk college kids, or tired parents. You never need to think about what to say, how to spell, or what key does what. Perhaps most importantly, it can be played by the user whether they have 5 minutes free (i.e., to harvest crops) or 30 minutes free (i.e, to redecorate their farm).

4. Show progress…everywhere…on everything. It seems like everywhere I look in FarmVille there are progress bars implying future levels of achievement can be obtained. If it’s an activity you can do on FarmVille, it’s measured somehow with coins, cash, points, levels, ribbons, and more. This make’s users aware of the value of their past actions. It also suggests what the next step can be.

5. Make users feel lonely without friends–because if they get friends on, they’ll stay longer. After spending a few minutes clicking around FarmVille, you quickly see the game is designed for you to have friends. The main screen has at least 10 reminders of where your friends should be. These serve as a call to action to add friends. And you’re more likely to stay engaged if you have friends involved. FriendFeed claimed that, for their service, a new user is much more likely to stay active if they have 5 friends.

6. Enable self expression. FarmVille immediately lets you customize your avatar and start to customize your farm. You can represent yourself with just a few clicks of the mouse. And by making a representation of yourself, it’s likely you’ll care about it. Do you want to be the person who has withered crops or a small farm?

7. Offer increasing levels of complexity for mastery. After playing FarmVille for a bit, they started to unlock new things that cluttered my display. For example, after a week of play did I get a “gas meter” for a “Tractor”. I expect that if I keep playing they’ll be more and more things to unlock that can be mastered. [Editors note: I've now heard that "horse trading" is something veterans can do]

8. Have surprises & limited time events. Sometimes when you plow a plot of land, you find coins. Sometimes when you log in, there will be a special promotion for a limited time stuff to buy. These surprises make it fun and encourage repeat visits. Even Google changes up it’s logo every now and then just to keep things fresh. I’m so curious about what FarmVille will think of next that I’m sure I’ll regularly stop by in the coming year.

In summary, FarmVille is designed to retain users over the long run. There is a lot that designers of websites can learn from the tactics deployed. To hear about follow up posts on how FarmVille acquires users and monetizes, follow me on Twitter.

Source - Making Sense Of Good & Bad Content

Love Angry Customers

Brands have always claimed to put their customers first and it’s no surprise that quotes like “the customer is always right” are commonplace. In today’s media landscape, brands are forced to live up to consumer centric claims or risk the wrath of the crowd. Fear not, this is an excellent opportunity for brands and their consumer relationships. As this article highlights, disgruntled customers serve a compass once you’ve charted a course of authenticity.

For a long time advertising has operated on a conceit that brands and consumers were in dialogue when, in truth, brands were dictating consumer behavior, pushing messaging on the public and often exploiting their trust or gullibility.

Phrases such as “We’re here to help you”, “We put you first” and notions like customer-centric companies sounded good, but as brands discovered more profit could be eked out of customers by manipulating their messaging, such language lost much of its meaning.

Thanks to information on the web and social media connectivity, consumers are now better informed and media savvy. By organizing themselves within social networks they have found their voice. The phrase “be careful what you wish for” comes to mind. Brands finally got the two-way dialogue they’d been talking about.

That two-way dialogue means brands can monitor in real time the hopes, frustrations and opinions of consumers – something they had to second guess before with the aid of research and focus groups. This is enormously valuable. On the downside, it means consumers are calling out brands for duplicity, disingenuous advertising or unconscionable behavior.

Yet brands shouldn’t fear angry customers. In fact, now that a two-way dialogue is in place, the dynamic functions as a self-correcting mechanism that can ensure the longevity and profitability of brands.

If a brand has a defined purpose, clear core values, and consistent communications (wow, that’s some steeplechase), its consumer base can serve as an invaluable feedback loop to keep the brand on track. As that authentic dialogue deepens, mutual trust grows with it.

A great example of this is the t-shirt company, Threadless. While its been rightly lauded for its crowdsourcing economic model, the integrity of the company is what strikes me as most revolutionary. Not only do they make sure that people want their products before they make them, but they never compromise their commitment to their original mission and community, both in terms of who they hire and how they run their business.

Brands that remain committed to their core values will keep and expand their community around shared values. If a brand makes the wrong strategic move, and every one does at some point, the community will set you straight. When they do, the correct brand response is, “Thank you”.

Disgruntled customers serve a compass once you’ve charted a course of authenticity. Better yet, consumers want to help and they’ll do it for free. As this new two way dialogue gets further entrenched through mainstream adoption of social media, the single most important defining quality of successful brands will be the quality of their listening.

Let me know of any good brand listeners? Are there any out there?

Source - Simon Mainwaring

How To Start A Movement

Some very successful campaigns have emerged from strategies that focus on creating and facilitating movements. Take Dove’s Campaign For Real Beauty as an example. There are a number of variables that go into creating a movement and they’re all readily available to brands. The following video looks at what it takes to get people behind a rallying cry.

Video link here.

Source - TED