Social Network Sites: Definition, History, and Scholarship

http://jcmc.indiana.edu/vol13/issue1/boyd.ellison.html
Accessed on the 18th November 2012
danah m. boyd 
School of Information
University of California-Berkeley 
Nicole B. Ellison 
Department of Telecommunication, Information Studies, and Media
Michigan State University 

Facebook Business

https://www.facebook.com/business/overview

Accessed on the 17th November 2012

https://www.facebook.com/business/promoted-posts?campaign_id=281942581907756&placement=homepagewhatsnew

Accessed on the 17th November 2012

https://www.facebook.com/business/influence

Accessed on the 17th November 2012

These are all pages taken off Facebook section for business and advertising which are appealing to companies to set up shop off at Facebook.com. This starts to show in more details how facebook is making its money for hosting all this information and traffic to their site. So a sponsored story is when they post on the users feed when they do not follow them or when one of your friends likes a fan page and it posts through that users account.

This page simplified what I have been exploring through this blog. "Build relationships with them, reach new people and drive sales using facebook." It is basically saying about tapping into the word of mouth marketing section that facebook has created through the framework on sharing upon things each user is using and liking.

So when a user is interacting on a brands fan page the brand is able to "sponsor" the story the user was interacting with onto their feed so everyone else in their network can see what they have been doing. This enables peer to peer recammodation in an indirect form. Sponsored and promoting a story is when the brand pays money to Facebook to get that story spread into the user network, this is were Facebook makes some of its money from.

Starbucks Contiuned

http://www.facebook.com/Starbucks

Accessed on the 15th November

 Here are screen grabs from facebook and more specify Starbucks Fan Page. On the 15th November when I collected these images facebook had 32.7million facebook likes from sperate users across the global. Which is the size of a country let which shows the reach these huge brands have. They also had 297,190 talking about this which means people mentioning the company in a personal status or comment on a users profile. Showing the word of mouth created but these 297,190 comments/status will reach more people than just that because it will appear on feeds and facebook walls for all their friends to see. This enable for other businesses to see how important social networking is to businesses to spread the word about their products. This seems to make a more lasting imprint on a person than a television advert as people are actively engaging with friends about these items rather than inactively watching a television commercial. Plus 6.3million checked in to Starbucks which is basically the same as comment and status as it posts to your facebook maps on the users profile.

I have highlighted on the right hand side to show they have back dated their history/posts back to when the business was created in 1982. Showing Starbucks has really took on board what Mark Zuckerberg stated "tell the whole story of your life on a single page"

The cover image (large image at the top of the profile) is the first thing you see on the page when you log then the display picture which is Starbucks corporate logo. The image has been produced in Instagram which is owned by facebook and it allows users to place fliters onto their pictures that make them look like they have been taken by a film/lomography/instragraphic cameras, this software is only available upon phones and tablet and gives a dream like quality to the image with its blured and faded and burnt colours. Instagram is a hugely popular with over 100million users (september 2012 http://mashable.com/2012/09/11/instagram-100-million/ ) and is the trendy way to publish your images onto the internet, giving them that more personalised/unique image?
The content of the image is interesting to as it has a users name on it, this is because of when you physically go into a Starbucks they write your name onto your drink (so they donot get lost or taken by another person) however this gives the sense of a highly personalised service. As it feels like they want to know your name than other shopping experience, giving the feeling that you matter to them. So they have translated this onto their facebook. This and the quality of the image gives a warmth of homeliness to the audience?

Starbucks uploads lot of images relating to their products like this one of which looks like it is out of their development kitchen or a tasting panel. Do these images display the lifestyle that people inspire to? Through the sense of city lifestyle, professional life and a taste for the better things in life? What is for sure they use more informal tone of voice to their facebook fans, "For coffee lovers only." Does this give a sense of community of using the idea of us and then them, us being the coffee lovers. Plus I have noticed that all of their status are short and too the point. They do not rant onto the consumer about what they offer they let the images talk for them and then the users to comment to create more content to go along side the content displayed?

Here is a good example of how the timeline profile is adaptable for the user by highlighting a story by spreading it across the whole screen with Toms New years resolution image. Aswell you can see how Starbucks publishs links to its website onto its timeline to drive users back to their website where more content all about Starbucks culture and products is at.
A great demonstration of how businesses can update their audiences of changing and important issues is displayed in the botton right of this screen grab. With Starbucks updating their audience that their is a Scam occurring so they do not negative views from their audience they have been scammed as they have spread the word through a site were most of Starbucks fans are already at.

 Another great example of Starbucks use of image updates via the medium of Instagram. The two images on the right give a sense Starbucks is always there for you. With the top image the cup is by his side as he waits to meet his girlfriend? Giving the sense that the cup will always be there for him giving him that reassuring warmth from the coffee inside. Then the image below of the fair ground give the sign of the importance of the cup in "Alison's" life as the instagram allowed the user to blur out the rest out and focus in on the cup. Plus the title being "One more round." gives the sense that the audience should just indulge themselves in the another coffee (similar to the reassuring sense given in the man with the flowers.)

 The following screen grabs are from the so called"back dating" of the timeline to give the user the full history of the company. This manner of displaying the information gives a bite size history for users to understand where a company has truly come from. Bite size in the sense of an image (when available) and small one or two sentence description allows anyone with a small interest to see the path (which might not be unlike some of the users who maybe classed in know where).

The timeline gives a great opportunity for Starbucks to show its narrative/journey to everyone and to allow they to add and engage with that history.

Starbucks

http://www.grandsocialcentral.com/hustler-marketers/brand-managers/starbucks-brand-managers/starbucks-use-of-social-media-keeps-customers-coming-back
Accessed on the 16th November
http://www.jungletorch.com/blog/2010/12/14/starbucks-effective-use-of-social-media/
accessed on the 17th November

This article gives example of what Starbucks did in 2009 to get people interacting with the brand from offline sources. 

In May 2009, in an attempt to get Starbucks lovers involved, Starbucks launched an online/offline campaign.  They noticed that daily people are on Facebook or Twitter posting pictures and chatting with friends about what they have been doing during the day.  Taking that into consideration, Starbucks placed pictures in major cities of the US. They then challenged fans to be the first to post those pictures on Facebook and tweet about them.  They used common knowledge of what people do daily and turned it into a game. Great way of using the fan base you already have to your advantage by getting them active and spreading the word by word of mouth.

Another interesting thing Starbucks does is actively asks for peoples opinions for suggestion and improvements to the services they use. This seems to be a kind of ownership for the consumers over the brands. 

This source states that Starbucks has gained over $67.8million worth of social media impact through their facebook site. I have tried to follow the source given of "General Sentiment" who took out the survey only has links to other news stories about it on their website. The article does state like others I have referenced in this blog that Starbucks is the leading company on facebook making the most of Facebooks brand page.

Tone of Voice?

http://wallblog.co.uk/2012/11/15/why-cant-we-carry-brand-tone-of-voice-into-social-spaces/
accessed on the 15th November 2012

The article explores how some brands find it hard to adopt to facebook through the tone they carry with the audience. It says about how they used their more traditional voices that are set out by guidelines. But these guidelines are created for a media where the consumers cannot answer back with questions and statements about your company. Alex King the journalist says that the person in charge of social media "Community Manger" should have basic training so they are ready for the nature of facebook and the tone of voice they should be using but also allowing them to decide on their companies own personalised voice. But this is half the battle, the other half is that the content needs to me interesting and engaging No one is going to want a fun and engaged voice and poorly constructed and designed content.

Controversial Timeline?

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-2093811/Facebooks-controversial-timeline-feature-supported-just-users.html
Accessed 15th November 2012

Facebook timeline exposes a person and companies full history for everyone to see. (if your privacy's allow). "tell the whole story of your life on a single page" Mark Zuckerberg. The survey used in by Daily Mail was carried out by internet security firm "Sophos" and surveyed 4000 facebook users. 8% of them said they liked it however 51% were worried by the new layout. Is this just because people are scared of change? Whats with the wrong with the old layout?

With the large cover image at the top, this is the first thing the viewer sees. Allowing for whoever the user is to set the scene of their life company from the first look at the site. 

But my question is, did facebook design itself for brands/companies use?

The article continues on about Timeline Apps, for example the spotify apps will post what song you listen too, one by one and so will sites like netflixs and other online services. Is this just allowing facebook to build a more in-depth pictures of the users to sell to the companies wanted to target them with advertising?

What is a brand?

http://www.brickmarketing.com/define-branding.htm
accessed on the 15th November
http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/brand?s=t
accessed on the 15th November

I noticed I had not look into what a brand actually was. "A brand is the idea or image of a specific product or service that consumers connect with, by identifying the name, logo, slogan, or design of the comp any who owns the idea of image." Taken from Brick marketing who is an marketing company in Boston, MA USA. So facebook fan page is the public product or service that the customer identifies as that.

Body Form Study Continued.

http://www.facebook.com/Bodyform
accessed on the 15th November 2012
http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/maxipad-brand-goes-blood-brilliant-reply-facebook-rant-144500#1
accessed on the 15th November 2012
http://www.rubberrepublic.com/
accessed on the 15th November 2012
http://www.carat.co.uk/blog/carat-the-force-behind-that-bodyform-video/
accessed on the 15th November 2012

Here is the Body Forms facebook page using the new timeline layout (forced use since august 2012). Here you can see the large cover photo with a new cover of the the anti myth of period campaign which was created from Richard Neills rant on this wall. I was interested to find out if this was made in house or approach to a specialist agency?

The above screen shot of body forms facebook page shows the launch of the video but also Richard Neills respond. In this case Richard is not a super fan but a joker who wanted to make a point however like the article from Venturebeat.com (below posting) says "Most successful brands today are not only pushing content but also pulling content directly from fans and influencers that help them tell the whole story" David Dowd. The article also talks about rewarding the super fans and here it states them will reward his actions and here it states that they will. Which will encourage other people to try to think of clever and twitty things to get noticed and to get responses. 

 This article posted on AdFreaks gives an over view of the story. It is interesting Richards Neill point of trying to make Bodyform responsable for their "missing leading" advertising. Is this the consumer making the brands more accountable? Is facebook opened up the true avenue for clear and simple communication between the consumer and brand? It is great form of social capital theory with Bodyform exploring the shared value aspect of that they were telling a myth, but was the truth to hard to handle. With over 84,000 likes of when this article was written show it has hit a clear online audience. The video itself is a humourness and light hearted joke with a more personalised and focus towards the actually person who bought up the issue. Which is a great as it could make the consumer feel like they are actually important?

Taken off the front page of Rubber Republic website (Online advertising network/viral ad network) who helped to produce and create the idea of this video. For a start it shows there is business to be hard for an agency to specialise in work like this. It all states leading publications like the Huffington Post and Jezebel have featured the story showing how clever interaction with consumers can really create a story that spreads around the world and gets people interested and engaged within a brand.

Carat is a Media planning and buying specialist and leading play in digital and non-traditional media solutions. In their blog they talk about similar things to as Rubber Republic.
"Carat has created an original and uniquely personalised response, allowing Bodyform to quickly engage in consumer conversations in a meaningful way" Body form
I thought this quote was really interesting as this seems to be the way forward for brands to make consumers feel their interactions are meaningful to everyone involved and not just more background noise to a company or audience. The posting also talks about the video expands on Bodyforms rich and long history by referencing itself throughout the advert from a range of its campaigns across its corporate life.

Has this "response" opened the doors for what is possible all brands looking to benefit from social media.

Beyond the like?

http://venturebeat.com/2012/06/17/for-brands-on-facebook-6-ways-to-push-beyond-the-like/
Accessed on the 13th November 2012

The article talks about the content created by brands having a limited shelf life. So meaning that the content will only appear on someones facebook feed at the top until something else is posted by another user or brand which knocks it down. So this article explores how to get people still using your facebook page even when your content isnt at the top of the feed.

"Think about the value exchange between your brands and yourself"

Not just content for content sake, why would a brand invest in something that will not bring a return from audience interactions/attention. The content you create for the brand needs to have a call to action to push the interaction more.

David Dowd talks about re using the content you create to other networks so the brand spreads the net wider with the same content. Hoping that this will result into a call to arms the second time you see it or whether it will remember the user to share it. 

Another important aspect of this article is how brands should use super fans and top content commenters to their advantage. Could the brand use these people to spread the world or listen to their opinions. When doing this does true social capital occur to make the authentic relationships between brands and people?

Facebook: Brand Building Video

As John Naughton says in his book From Gutenberg to Zuckerberg, this video from facebook says the same. "Facebook is an essential part of their daily life." With the term 'their' refereeing to the facebook community. I thought the comment about the user "Contuinely finding content is meaningful to them and sharing it" as are they really sharing the data or is it facebooks inbuilt sponsored link function sharing it for the user. To spread the word within their network without a choice?

The comment about being able to target people, who you think want your product. Is this the right way to go around it? Does this slow down the free will of the user to find content they want not what Facebook thinks they want. 

How to Humanise

http://mashable.com/2012/03/29/humanize-brand-social-media/
Accessed 7th November 2012
"Humanising a brand simply means trying to interact with each customer on a personal Level"

"I recently asked Alfredo Tan, Senior Director of Facebook Canada, if the company distinguishes between business and consumer brand pages. 'we don't draw a distinction between your mom and a bar or soap,"
This statement suggests that facebook believes that brands are as much human as we are and the audience is as much a brand as a tub of ice cream. So when the framework is set up this way there is no way of stopping the interaction between the continue and allows a more deep and interactive debate/convo.

Another point of interest from this website article was that a brand cannot just display themselves as being humanised through social media. The brand really needs to be taking steps towards being a humanised structure of operation so the consumer is able to understand what they are buying into.

Humanising of brands

http://www.marketingmag.com.au/news/brands-must-personalise-humanise-become-seamless-16434/#.UJzIBaVM8u9
Accessed on the 9th November 2012

"Brands no longer have a captive audience in traditional media channels"
Why is this so? Is it because people not engaged due to having something else to do. Like multi-tasking with mobile technology. Or is it because people do not want to to listen if they cannot interact? Are people getting used to reacting instantly to anything through mediums like text, email, tweeting and facebook.

"Stop Marketing. Stop Selling. Start Educating, entertaining and informing in ways that captivate the people you want to reach."
Allowing people to engage, to gain something from the interaction instead of an one side experience alone. This method seems to be fostering an relationship with the audience. Is this a good thing for the audience though? So we get a more personalised service but does that make it easier for them to force things apron us due to our trust for them?

Social Brands from the inside

Marketing Magazine, 7/11/2012

 Starbucks Social Brand
"We see social media as an extension of the personal conversations that customers have with us instore"
"We believe that customers want genuine and authentic interactions with the brands they choose to engage with online."
The aim to continue the physical relationship created onto the virtual platform keeps the brand values in mind with the customer. Enabling that strong sense of personality of the brand. But as she says the customers are part of the skateholders who have a voice how the business should evolve and improve as well senior management.

Xbox Social Brand
"Boyd says social media offers' good old-fashioned amplification, but with the added credibility of peer recommendation"
Interactions with the brand adds a layer of information and data which enhances what the brand is communicating and can reforce its values but also adds a new angle the brand might not have thought about. Does this interaction make us more special as consumers? As we feel that our favorite brands are listening and so are others?

Manchester Football Club
"Social Media provides the fans with a constant stream of freely accessible information and content, and assist in building and strengthening the relationship between fans and the club."
Keeping active within peoples lives like on the facebook feed or twitter live stream allows them to be more engaged with whats going on and keeps an interest.