If you like it check out the Making of as well, which is worth it.

Hat tip to AdGoodness

To prep us Joe linked to Tracking the Influence of Conversations and Distributed Influence: Quantifying the Impact of Social Media, which were interesting, however not very enlightening, reads. Both documents had the lofty goal of “starting a conversation” on the subject and while there was definitely some insight, there were few, if any, tangible and practical thoughts on actual measurements.

The one contribution that I would like to make at tomorrow’s roundtable is to keep the conversation away from the notion of “one metric to rule them all”. However, I also don’t want the conversation to devolve into “every prorgam is unique” rhetoric, since I believe that both paths will likely spur heated debate, but bear little useable fruit. I propose that a middle way is the most reasonable way to approach it.

I believe that there are a finite number of communication objectives, each with their own stable of relevant metrics. So here is my opening salvo into this conversation:

The 10 Communication Objectives

Generate Awareness - Simply to inform the market that a commercial offering exists. This is often combined with other objectives.
Example Tactics: Mass advertising, media releases, public events or stunts
Example Metrics: Reach, frequency, impressions, page views, media clippings, ad equivalency, search frequency

Drive Trial – This objective focuses around getting the audience to test drive the product either virtually or in person
Example Tactics: Web site product demos, test drives, trade show demos, private betas, events, direct mail
Example Metrics: Time spent, leads generated, sign-ups, attendance at events, response rates

Product Launch: Closely related to Generate Awareness, but a special case, where a product is new or significantly changed.
Example Tactics: Industry Events/Trade Shows, Journalist/Blogger trial, Media Stunts, Mass Advertising, Media releases
Example Metrics: Media coverage, blog posts, retail enquiries, pre-orders, impressions, reach, frequency

Establish Need/Want - In new or underrepresented categories, establishing the problem and positioning a companies offering as the solution.
Example Tactics: White Papers, Feature/Benefit focused ads, media relations
Example Metrics: downloads, incoming links, blog posts, video views, media coverage

Product/Service Comparison – Comparing two or more products, brands or approaches with the intent of positioning one as superior or more relevant to an audience
Examples Tactics: Survey/Poll news releases, comparative ads, Award show submission
Example Metrics: Media pick up, share of market, awards

Positive Association – Essentially linking the product, service, or brand with anything that is likely to create a positive impression in the audience’s mind. This is also a subset of Generating Awareness
Example Tactics: Sponsorships, entertaining ads/viral with tenuous connection to product, celebrity endorsements, games
Example Metrics: Impressions, traffic, increased activity surrounding association

Form/Change Opinion – To create or change an opinion within the mind of the audience
Example Tactics: Political Campaigns, Lobbying, Crisis Communications, PSA Ads, White Papers, Blogger outreach
Example Metrics: Polls, political decisions, votes, Op-ed media, lack of media coverage (for Crisis Comms), increased donations, supportive blogger posts

Influence the Influencers – Another offshoot of Generate Awareness, but tactically distinct by generally avoiding mass methods in favour of niche and one-to-one methods
Example Tactics: Social Media Press Release, Targetted media release, invitation events/betas, Direct Mail, Social Media outreach
Example Metrics: Positive/relevant blogs or media, incoming links, trackbacks, technorati (or similar) rankings

Drive action/traffic – Trying to get people to something like visit a retail or online store,
Example Tactics – Sales Events, Direct Mail, Targeted display, Search Engine Marketing, Friend-get-Friend,
Example Metrics – Sales conversion, redemption, response rates

Establish/Regain Trust - This one is tricky to define, but basically the goal is to shine light on a positive societal aspect of a brand or recover from a damaging event or portrayal
Example Tactics – “Green” products, Charitable events/sponsorships, Crisis communications, corrections or media follow up, General Do-goodery,
Example Metrics – Polls, stock price, survey results, sales, change in media tone

This list is almost certainly incomplete, and several of these overlap, but I think they are distinct enough to warrant their own listings. Happy to edit this as others have suggestions or edits.

The purpose of this was not to lay down the law, nor to start a meandering conversation, but to put down a skeleton with enough meat on it that it may lead toward a useable metrics library based upon type of initiative.

This kind of stuf has been on my mind alot and I have been wondering about the whole conversation thing and how much does it really mean to business. I am not a naysayer, in fact I still consider myself an evangelist for Social Media in genera, but personally I wouldn’t trust any evangelist who can’t look themself in the mirror and question their own faith. The presentation is a bit cute, but I do believe it makes a good point.

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0:31 Dave vainly tries to present a softer, gentler side of himself, by introducing the wishy-washy topic of everything new is old again. Doug smells blood in the water and writes a cheque his ass can’t cash.

1:30 The wide awake listener will notice that Dave doesn’t really believe that things have changed much. Doug snorts his contempt while spouting new media bafflegab like a tongue-tied politician on a filibuster. And so Shill hits cruising speed.

2:00 Doug shouts the obvious from the rooftops, claiming that infinite media tends towards zero value while Dave quietly laughs up his sleeves.

3:18 Dave tries hopelessly to make sense of the senseless. Doug verbally bludgeons Dave like an obtuse child while expecting retribution from the listener for his own obtuse claims.

4:49 Dave makes a withdrawal from the Clue Bank reminding us that there has always been more content than any human being could intake. Doug accuses the whole Internet of piracy by saying that to consume digital content is to copy. He also admits to boarding the SNL bandwagon en route.

7:30 Dave plays the Doug Whisperer and tries to tease some sense out of Doug’s ranting and wonders whether searching for needles in a haystack is a good use of time.

8:10 TRITENESS WARNING: Doug brings up Sturgeon’s Saw.. er Law.

9:05 Dave attempts to claim a point for Team Status Quo talking about the value of editors and the hassle of DIY media. Doug pats Dave on the head and says that the glut of content allows for blessings like LOLCats to thrive, which would have been impossible in traditional content.

12:31 Dave conjures the ghost of repeater bloggers and value creation wondering aloud how social media only took two years to be inane when it took traditional media a few decades.

13:35 Smug bastard Doug takes a cheap shot at Dave calling him linear in a networked world and then doubles the output at the abstruse factory. He further embarrasses himself using an archaic meaning of the word “Ho!” like a grade school Shakespeare play.

15:16 Dave comes to Doug’s rescue and makes his point for him that the network does indeed bring value to finding content of interest and admits to stalking his favourite echo chamberites via twitter.

17:10 Dave again wonders about the value of repeater blogs and attempts to close Shill where it started. This gets Doug’s goat and in a fit of irritation says that saying everything is the same is sloppy thinking, he then gives his own hypocrisy a hug.

21:12 Doug questions the value of the last 21 minutes and then like a teenager driving a manual transmission, Shill splutters and lurches to an end.

Theme Music:

“I Want To Hear What You Have To Say” by the Subways via the Podsafe Music Network.

Comments:

Let David and Doug know how dumb they are at shillpodcast@gmail.com or visit the blog at shillpodcast.com

In the race for media buyers to turn online video into something they are familliar with, namely broadcast TV, an important opportunity has been lost: the ability to really measure something.

In the rush to maximize impressions of video content online, media sellers have created pre-roll, post-roll, overlay and other forms of unskippable and interuptive ads to squeeze out a reluctant impression. In media terms they are working to maximize reach, so that the most people possible are exposed to the ad.

However for advertisers who already have a large television buy where reach and frequency are the order of the day, forcing views is a mistake. I say this because an impression on the TV while one s making a sandwich, in the can or fast-forwarding on the PVR, is not worth much, the problem is advertisers have no way to measure who is paying attention to that ad.

If an advertiser allowed the user to skip an ad in online video there are a few potential benefits:

1. Number of ads skipped helps in developing creative that grabs or earns attention, since we know whether people actually watched the ad.

2. Voluntary views can be added up to give marketers a meaningful time spent estimate with the brand

3. It might even give a reasonable percentage that can be applied to estimate attention paid to your TV ad (if the ad is the same). Right now no one has any idea of actual impressions.

4. One of the big benefits of BitTorrent and other file-sharing clients, is the fact that commercials are usually removed and therefore less wasted time for the audience. Allowing ads to be skippable takes away one of the biggest benefits of video’s “dark grey” market.

5. Perhaps even some audience love for understanding their needs and allowing them to skip.

This is a bit old now, but an NYT article has some good stats on about 60% of DVR users watch ads.

[tags] TV, ads, advertising, mediapost, videoinsider, video [/tags]

Only in the Age of YouTube could the people from stock footage be able to speak out about how their footage is used.

I can’t stand political attack ads, but this one comes off okay in my book. I also appreciate that Obama campaign didn’t take the easy route out and make it look like the girl had just done this on her own with a web cam.

Maybe background checks for people in stock footage will have to become standard practice for political ads…

[tags] Barack Obama, Hillary Clinton, election, campaign, attack, advertisment, Casey Knowles, youtube [/tags]

I can’t live without twitter.

Twitter is a complete waste-of-time.

Twitter is a valuable part of my day.

Twitter links me to some really smart people who find fascinating stuff.

Twitter shows me that even the A-listers are people who can be smart, dumb, mean and kind. In short, human.

Twitter gives me direct access to people I couldn’t otherwise get access to.

I am a better and a worse person for the things I have found through twitter.

Twitter is worse than filling out timesheets.

So when Jonah Bloom (Ad Age columnist) asked the Ad Age Power 150 : “which single technology, site or application do you think is most deserving of marketers’ attention in 2008 and why?” I couldn’t stop myself from saying: Twitter.

So in case my statement doesn’t make Ad Age’s upcoming digital special report, I am posting it here:

Twitter may be a time-sucking, narcissistic stream of 95% drivel. However, as a platform featuring two-way opt-in, conversational tone and overlapping circles of influence it may be the most human form of online conversation to date. Marketers must learn about earning their audiences through value one follower at a time and then listening to what others are saying (and not just about the brand).

Modern audiences are fragmented, inattentive, skeptical and fickle, I can think of no better test track for the inevitable future of communications than twitter.

[tags] twitter, ad age, Jonah Bloom, Power 150[/tags]

Just about everyone I know is spending considerably less time on Facebook these days comscore reports that the ads don’t work. So if they aren’t gaining user time and having a tough time making money then what will Facebook be in a couple of years?

[tags] Facebook, viral, fatigue, Anthem [/tags]

H/t to my bro Graham for finding it.

I have seen various versions of this type of “nagware” licesnse before in shareware, but this was the most specific declaration of its kind that I have seen. As advertising becomes de-bundled from content and Chris Anderson’s new book Free seems to be gaining some momentum, I am very curious to see how far this trend will go.

Curious to see if Google docs  or Microsoft office eventually heads this direction too.

[tags] twitter, twitterific, google, microsoft, docs, Free, ChrisAnderson [/tags]

Forwarded to me by my brother, Graham. Who made an excellent point about it:

“It is interesting though that in the days before the internet, something like this would almost never get seen. With the ease of distribution we all get to enjoy this fingerlicking goodness that one person was creative enough to notice.”

So an inside joke formerly avaiable to only a few teenagers who knew exactly where to stand in the food court is now available to us all. Thank you Mr. Internet!

[tags]kfc, kentuckyfriedchicken, foodcourt, fingerlickinggood[/tags]