Catherine's post #9

I was surprised by how much I liked Likeable. While I love social media and am a heavy user of it, I never really thought about how impactful it could be. I know a lot of brands utilize social media heavily and that It works but I just never really thought deeper about the impact it could have. While the work environment seems laid back and enjoyable to be at, I don't see myself working for a small agency like that or dressing that casually for work. Personally I think that would affect my professionalism. I am still gravitated towards corporate but I am intrigued by how up and coming the social media business is.

Primer on Facebook Demographics

The article I found links a lot to my research and discoveries about Victoria's Secret. Victoria's Secret is one of the top 20 most popular brands on facebook and has over 23 million fans. This is no doubt one of the secrets to their success and a crucial element where they leverage connection with fans, connect their other social media platforms and try to reach a wider audience. The Facebook demographics are on the younger side but not too young for their target audience. The visual centric-ness also fits perfectly with the brand's reliance on images of its models and promoting their appeal.

Mathilde's 9 post

Likeable

Even if I have a Facebook account, I wouldn’t define myself as a social media person. I’m not active on it even if I check the website multiple times a day. As Brian said, social media is not a choice and that’s probably why I’m on it. I feel that I would miss something by not being on social media anymore. Whether it’s to stay in touch with friends or just to know what’s going in on in general around you, our presence on social media is not anymore an option but it’s a minimum requirement.

From this perspective, I was not particularly excited about our visit to Likeable, but still curious. I found Brian’s presentation relatively interesting; however, I didn’t really learn anything special in the terms of using social media efficiently. The big rules such as interacting with the consumers, apologizing, and taking the next steps to fix issues are not new and honestly not surprising. The process of knowing your audience, understanding the platform and creating relevant content is quite applicable to any other form of communication.

I liked Brian’s honest point of view regarding the fact that sometimes Likeable has to work with other agencies and has to share the cake, so to speak. He recognized that Likeable has a specific domain of expertise and that there’s no good in extending services in which the agency is not highly qualified.

I liked how Brian formulated Social Media realities especially when he explained that Social media are about relationships and not about instant purchase like Google, giving the example of the orange table. Social Media are not programmed to instantly respond to our purchase needs.

I don’t see myself working either at Likeable or at other similar social media agencies. I have no passion for or even real interests in social media and consequently I don’t have the necessary desires to work for this type of media. In terms of culture and working environment, I’m afraid Likeable is too casual and relaxed to make me feel like I’m at the right place. I remember during our visit at Landor, Tam told us about her experience at Google, and how this overly casual atmosphere did not match with her personality. 

Current Event

As we talked about Snapchat as part of the Likeable’s recruitment process, I wanted to follow up with the fact that the application recently spurned a $3 billion acquisition offer from Facebook. It’s really surprising that a growing app such as Snapchat doesn’t jump on this considerable offer and thereby on the great opportunity to associate its success with the giant social media platform. I remember that Facebook did also decline a Yahoo acquisition offer for $1 billion years ago, but the possibilities of growing and developing the website were way bigger. Facebook as a platform was able to create and introduce new features. On the other hand, from my perspective, the concept Snapchat, as powerful as it is now, is limited and not really expandable. The possible evolution of the app is limited to the concept itself. By declining Facebook’s offer, Snapchat made a bold decision to keep independent but the risk for the app to fall well below its current heights without any major way to rebound is important since the app has not generated revenue yet.  

Wei Yun Lim Blog Entry #9

Likeable definitely seems like the kind of place that I would like to work at-- and as I continue to visit places and compare them to one another, I think that Likeable's environment is one that suits me. I definitely like the idea of coming dressed casually to work, especially because I don't enjoy buying work clothes as should have been evident from the fact that I did not know I wasn't supposed to show up in jeans on my first day of this class.

However, what I think is that social media needs to evolve. Young teenagers are shifting towards WeChat and Snapchat over Facebook, which they think is uncool. It'll be interesting to see how Likeable shift as teens shift their social media marketing back to instant messaging-- it'll be like the early 2000s again!

As for Amazon Kindle and my new findings? Well, I've written about most of this on my paper by now (I'm writing this at 1:16 a.m. on Wednesday like the world's best student.). However, I've noticed that as a whole, Amazon's marketing has been directed towards the Kindle Fire HDX rather than towards the Kindle Paperwhite, which has had a lot less hype. This is probably because they are trying hard to enter the tablet market, and exit the e-reader market which is not doing as well as expected.

I have also not been able to include everything within my paper, so some promotions I found out about had to go. But never mind. I've done my best, and fingers crossed that tomorrow will do well.

Monica Nguyen Blog #9

Likeable

I really enjoyed the visit to Likeable Media and what Brian Murray said about all the platforms. It is crazy the advancements social media has and the importance of each company’s role is. His examples were enlightening and the strategy of using “Thank you and I’m sorry” made sense to me. It shows that small financial investment from companies can really have a big payout and can turn a negative situation into a positive one.
I am active on social media and a big fan of Yelp so it’s nice to see the same ethics being carried over on Facebook and Twitter.
I love social media and enjoy tweeting on a daily basis and sharing content. I also like blogging so I could see myself doing this for a company. However, I am not sure if I could see myself at Likeable because I’d like to still do PR. Brian did say they have designers and writers so it would be something I would consider applying to as a short-term job.
I did like the casual vibe of the agency. I wish we could’ve gotten a tour of the place!

The Target is You: IBM Smarter Planet Update

The semester is almost done and I cannot believe how fast it has been.  Our TTIY project is coming to an end as well and I have enjoyed compiling all my research this semester. IBM Smarter Planet is a brand that I feel passionate towards and I love what they stand for.

I love how they get their audience involved and it helped when I was writing my paper about how they use two-way communication.

This month, they created the “Fractal Fest” on their IMBlr. They then told people “Join the Fractal Fest on IBMlr this month by fractilizing your own photos. Don’t know what Fractiles are? Look here-- http://ibmblr.tumblr.com/”

It was a great way to create interaction with the public and also having everyone channel their inner creative “fractilizer”

Yesterday, they also released a video that celebrates the life of Benoit B. Mandelbrot, IBM Fellow Emeritus and Fractal Pioneer. In this final interview shot by filmmaker Erol Morris, Mandelbrot shares his love for mathematics and how it led him to his wondrous discovery of fractals. His work lives on today in many innovations in science, design, telecommunications, medicine, renewable energy, film (special effects), gaming (computer graphics) and more.

Helene #9

Likeable:

Likeable was the first social network agency we went to visit. It was interesting to find out about its activities, and how the company quickly grew.

I always asked myself how big brands were dealing with social networks’ evolution. I had no idea they were hiring external agencies to take care of that. The work Likeable does is extremely important. Through the Facebook client’s accounts, Likeable’s messages reflect what the brand wishes its customers to believe. Its role is thus primordial in order to keep the brand identity and the customers’ loyalty to a product.

As more and more people are using Facebook, PR activities coming from it must not be neglected. Likeable’s challenges would be to earn new clients while having a competitive advantage in order to compete against its competitors. Another challenge would be to keep being relevant to what the brand wants its consumers to think and believe.

As social networks are always being more important, one opportunity for Likeable would be to increase its growth.

Likeable seems to be a very nice company to work in. However, I would not want to work there. I consider my interest in social network too small to be highly effective in the missions that would be allowed to me. I use Facebook mostly as a hobby, and I would not my job to focus on its use. 

TTIY:

We had this week to finish our final paper. I looked more in depth into the financial results of American Apparel and discovered that the brand was not in its best shape.

Moreover, I found an article of American Apparel’s manager that gave me more information on the brands marketing policy.

It is very difficult to summarize everything the brand does, as it is highly present on every media channels. However, working on American Apparel made me learn a lot about its communications strategy, and the one that its competitors should maybe adopt.

Current topic:

Last week, Ad Age was informing us of a partnership of the clothing brand Patagonia and a Belgium beer. This week, it is Coca-Cola who decided to partner with Dorga5 in order to sell Coke Zero sweaters.

Customers are able to choose them on Coca-Cola's website, and custom them with the "Coke Zero Sweater Generator".

Ariel Feldman Blog Post #8

I can't believe the semester is already almost over! I feel like classes flew by and there was just such a whirlwind of work and projects that I didn't realize November and the holidays would hit so quickly! The Evolving Industry still remains my favorite class, because I feel like we come to insights in this class that we simply don't touch on in others; also, the real world experience is what makes it so interesting and engaging.

I'm looking forward to combining all of my research about Dove's women's branding into my TTIY project this week. I have really enjoyed synthesizing information about the way that Dove brands their products alongside their social outreach, such as the Real Beauty Campaign and the more recent Self-Esteem Campaign. Finding the balance that Dove strikes between pushing a product and pushing an ethos is really the most exciting part of my project. The "My Beautiful Self" is a new concept that Dove is pushing in tandem with the Self Esteem Campaign - encouraging women of all ages to "embrace their younger self" - i.e., exude the care-free confidence that they did when they were 5 or 6, before they started to care about other people's perceptions of them. I think a beautiful way Dove illustrates this is in this TV and online commercial, a one minute spot that really speaks for itself with barely any words: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SPFsa6FLvlg.

In terms of Likeable Media, I was interested in what Brian Murray said about each platform having a different function in social media. The advancements in social media have caused platforms to fracture and section off based on interest groups, so I think that self-sectioning will be beneficial for marketers in a few years when the lines might be more clearly defined of what types of audience go where. I also enjoyed his story about Carrie and Dave! I thought that was so cute and sweet (although I wouldn't want my own wedding to be like that!)

I personally couldn't see myself at Likeable because I know that I want to do in house PR and not be at a firm, but I found it really interesting that there are firms out there simply dedicated to social media. I wonder where this type of marketing will take us in the next ten, twenty, or thirty years - will we consume the same way? Overall, I found the Likeable trip to be very informative on the topic of social media and engaging - Brian was a funny and lively speaker.

Tanya Dentham: Blog #9

I was inspired by the story of how Likeable came to be the agency it is today. How the marriage of the two founders were the starting point of the idea behind word of mouth marketing. I thought that it was so clever for them to ask different brands to sponsor their wedding as they were on a budget. It was a win-win situation for them and the brands that agreed to be the sponsors. I think that because of our evolving world and the changes in different industries, it wasn’t a surprise when Brian said that social media is a must in practically every business. It is definitely a requirement if companies want to stay competitive in the market – especially if brands need people to talk about them.
k that this is truly the art behind social media and the viral impact it can have on people. The scope of work at Likeable was as expected. I had some experience of interning at OgilvyOne Worldwide, with a focus on their digital and social media work. I knew that the activities and marketing communications revolves around the use of social networking websites like Facebook, Twitter and so on. Because of

I liked how Likeable implemented certain strategies that touched customers emotionally. The strategy of the four most important words – Thank you and I’m sorry – were very interesting to me. I never really realized until it was mentioned that small gestures like that can make a difference in the customer’s perception, essentially turning the negative around. It is one of the company’s unique personalities of creating “likeable” brands.

I think working in a social media company like Likeable offers a lot of opportunities. For one, I think that the company allows people to grow horizontally and vertically, allowing all employees to work on different things. This also enables people to learn the tactics and the art of working with social media. As someone who uses social media like Facebook, I can definitely tell the difference of a successful brand’s social media and an unsuccessful one. A study that I did on Facebook showed that a lot of brands just want to be on social media to have a presence. However, the challenge for these brands is to consistently update, whether it is to respond to customers or to engage in social media activities. This is where the agencies come in. I think a main challenge is to be consistent with the information provided to the customers and always respond on a timely matter. Brian also mentioned that in most cases, people just want to be heard.

Having observed the agency, I think that it definitely gives off a casual vibe, just like any agency we have been to. However, since I am more interested in marketing and branding as a whole, I would like to touch on social media along with other aspects in the work process as well.

Current Events:

I was reading up on an article on Mashable about the 10 types of Instagram users and found it quite interesting. We go on a social networking platform such as Instagram but may not be aware that the pictures that people post can show the type of person they are.

The Foodie: these people take pictures of every single meal they’ve eaten. 80% of the foodie’s budget goes to sushi and cronuts.

The Latte Artiste: posting pictures of latte art. Hasn’t slept in days but still has the strength to find beauty in decorative foam.

The Couple that ‘Grams Together: joint account. They have taken the same picture so many times that their face have begun to merge together. 

The Eternal Vacationers: The couple that always go on vacation and posting pictures from those vacations. Do they work at Google? Do they own Google/ How can they afford to go on so many vacations? You hate them, their attractive faces, toned bodies and perfect lives. 

Every Day is #tbt Guy: Throwback Thursdsay is designated to one day per week because of people like this Instagrammer. He abuses the system, posting a never-ending slew of embarrassing childhood photos.

The Frequent Flyer: Eternally flying into and out of JFK. Always makes sure that he is delivering cityscapes and plane wings.

The Selfie Girl: On picture day, on New Years Eve, on her wedding night – never stops taking selfies and makes the same face in every single one. 

Mr. Bad News: Doing drugs, selling guns, and recording 15 seconds of his most recent poaching trip. Might not grasp the concept of “public profile” 

The Dog Girl: Loves dogs and always takes pictures with her dogs.

The Bridge Troll:  Loves bridges, works by a bridge, commutes over a bridge, lives under the bridge – we may not know. But this Instagrammer has taken pictures of the bridge from every angle possible.

Which type of Instagrammer are you?

Source: http://mashable.com/2013/11/17/types-instagram-users/

TTIY Project Update:

Since B&BW has been quite idle on their social media sites, I decided to only take a snap shot of their home page to get the look and feel of the upcoming winter season.

Also, since B&BW is mainly retail oriented, I looked into reviews of employees who work or have worked at the store before and see what they said. Here are some responses on Glassdoor:

“I used to be shy and have a hard time breaking the ice to start up a meaningful conversation, but I now know how to engage with customers in the store and I know how to better interact with people even outside of work - truly a great place to work to learn and grow, and work with friends that seem like family.”

“Really great part-time collage job. I had a really great team and was sad to leave the company. Everyone was really supportive and great to work with”

“Great product, and employee discounts at store and other divisions of the company. Pay at the time was above average of most small mall type store employees made.”

“The job is always different; you never get bored. Associates are hired to work in ALL areas of the store. You get to work in the back, the front, the cash register, wherever you’re needed most. The time flies and my managers are amazing.”

Most of the reviews say good things about the company and how they were able to engage well with the customers – creating a relationship with them. They were also operating like family in the store, making people feel welcome and relaxed. This on top of the employee discounts, new job rotations and so on. I really think that the store’s retail employees are the drive of the company. Without them, it would make the store just like any other in the market. I remember walking into the store and got an immediate greeting, as if the salesperson already knew me. She would recommend me to new products and gave me advice on how I should purchase my products. Overall, it was very helpful and it leaves a great impression on me every time.

I definitely think that other types of customer engagement would be useful to the brand’s online and offline touch points. It will definitely create a lasting relationship between the brand and its customers. Besides what they have already been doing, I think they can leverage on their strengths to build a strong existing customer base and potentially reach new ones as well. I will touch upon this in my TTIY Final Project.

Titi Ogunbayo- Blog Entry #9

I’m not someone you would describe as a “fan” of social media but when it comes to expanding or deepening the relationship between a brand and its audience, I’m all for it. As Brian said during the Likeable Media presentation,” social media has changed the dynamic and turned marketing onto a conversation”. The notion of marketing being a one-way street is long gone and consumers expect their comments and concerns to be heard, acknowledged and acted upon.

At Likeable Media they understand that listening is an important part of social media and they craft their social specific campaigns in a way that leads to active and proactive consumer engagement. And I think this ties in very nicely with their mission: To create a more likeable world- being likeable and having people like you is ultimately good for your business.

The scope of Likeable Media’s work is somewhat what I expected but I didn’t expect Brian to stress upon relationships as the building blocks of an effective social media campaign. My ears perked up when I heard him say that and it sort of endeared the company to me a little bit more. I was also surprised to learn that after a social media campaign has been created for a company, Likeable Media still manages the campaign. I would have thought once the campaign has been created and it has a solid footing, Likeable would hand over the reins to the company in question. But I suppose, since companies approach them for their social media expertise, it wouldn’t make sense to leave a campaign under the care of the company it was created for. After all, if they could do it themselves, they wouldn’t have hired Likeable.

I also appreciated his honesty regarding what brands/companies can expect social media to mean for their business:

-Social media is NOT free: it is based on mutual trust and resources such as time have to go into it. Consumer engagement is a full time job and companies that go into it need to realize that it is a commitment.

-Social media will NOT always drive instant results: patience is indeed a virtue when it comes to social media campaigns. Now that I think of it, I wonder if there is an average waiting period most companies can expect before seeing this type of investment yield any fruit. Or does it differ from brand to brand? Or maybe the type of social media campaign also affects the waiting period? I should have asked these questions but they didn’t come to mind during the visit.

-Social media will NOT make up for a bad product or service: while I agree with this, I also wonder if social media can improve a bad product or service. After all, with all the customer feedback and comments, companies in this unfortunate position can use all of this information as insights on how to improve their products or services.

In serving their diverse roster of clients, Likeable is in a unique position to explore and grow in terms of meeting challenges and exceeding expectations. But with so many clients, is it also possible that the staff could be spread too thin and may not be able to give the proper attention that each brand deserves?

I can see myself working for a company such as Likeable, based on both the work and the company culture. I like that building and maintaining relationships is the cornerstone of their work. Plus, I’ve worked at a small agency before and I enjoyed the ease of communication between the different levels of staff. I found it much easier to learn and grow in that type of environment.

 

Khue Ngo Blog #9

My Take on Current Events: Disappearing Ads

Snapchat seems to be all over the place, as Facebook attempted to buy it for US$ 3 billion this week. I found this opinion piece by David Berkowitz about disappearing ads that picks up that topic: http://adage.com/article/digitalnext/marketers-world-disappearing-media/245294/

He basically proposes that marketers could use the special feature of disappearing media to force the audience to pay more attention. There is a great chance that it could go wrong and a one time availability will not be well received. However, in a world where everything is available anytime and anywhere we want, could something rare or scarce might be able to catch our attention? As Berkowitz says, could it make the viewers pay more attention because they know that they have to either watch it now or never? I actually think that this is quite an interesting idea and I can imagine that it would work. However, it could only be effective if the audience actually knows that it is a one time view. And the biggest challenge would be to get that into the minds of the people that are used to having all information at their fingertips.

My TTIY

I am currently working on my TTIY project. I haven’t discovered anything specifically new this week (I believe I have covered all communications channels so far), but something Brian said at Likable caught my attention. He said that 10% off is nowadays normal, and you can already get that from walking into the store. And I realized that this completely applies to American Eagle Outfitters. There is always some sort of sale that they are offering. Either it is a special holiday sale, or just an ordinary “buy 1 get one free” sale. I think I have never bought something at full price at American Eagle. This basically means that their strategy is to position the brand at a certain price level, but they are selling it as another one. Considering the target audience this makes a lot of sense, as they are targeting15-25 year old females. In this age group, one might only have a certain budget. Positioning American Eagle at a good quality price level, but actually selling it for less and allowing the low-budget teens to buy the clothes is actually pretty smart.

My Recap

So this week we visited Likeable, a social media marketing agency. The office space was less fancy than other agencies we have seen. However, the ambience felt very suitable for their work. In terms of scope of work: What Brian presented and explained matched my expectation for such an agency. One thing, I was always wondering about was how or if they get approval for every little tweet or Facebook comment from their clients. But as Brian and Steven explained, the client usually provides some sort of social media brand bible that contains guidelines for answers, tweets and comments. This is somewhat different from what we heard at Cohn & Wolfe. There they most of the time have to get client approval for every single message. The scope of social media work I think might be quite different at these two places, though.

I believe that one big challenge is to learn the “brand language” of each of their clients. If you manage several accounts at one time, you always have to be careful to use the right tone, language and style that represents the different brands, and not to mix them up.

Even though I found their work highly interesting, I could not necessarily see myself working in a social media marketing agency. Without any intention of devaluating their work, I could rather see myself working on “big campaigns” than little Facebook comments and tweets.