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“The Importance of Social Media and Web Analytics” Please respond to the following: From the case study, assess the degree to which Salina Siu effectively used YouTube to develop customer loyalty. Appraise the success potential of at least two (2) other social media methods that Salina could use to promote her business. Justify your response. * From the scenario, prioritize the most significant components of a social media campaign according to the level of influence each could have on the new product launch. Examine both the social media tools that will provide the highest return on investment (ROI), and two (2) key performance indicators (KPIs) that one could use to measure success. Provide a rationale for your response. Welcome Student | Help | Sign Out Library CoursePack Contents Font Search this article Edit Notes Edit Settings Actions SALINABEAR: MONETIZING A YOUTUBE PROFILE Karen Robson prepared this case study under the supervision of Professors Michael Parent and Anjali Bal solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmission without its written permission. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail [email protected]. As the eight millionth view started on her YouTube channel, Salina Siu put her scissors down and reflected on the amazing events of the past year. It was September 2012, and what had begun as a hobby a little over two years earlier had grown into a successful small business. Siu had started a YouTube channel, joined YouTube’s partner program, graduated from university and obtained an internship in social media in her hometown of Vancouver, Canada. All this from tutorials on how to creatively cut T-shirts! Siu’s YouTube channel, SalinaBear (http://www.youtube.com/salinabear), provided instructional videos on how to transform plain T-shirts into fashionable garments by carefully cutting them using only scissors — an apparently popular practice among teenage women. The high number of views led to Siu being accepted into YouTube’s Partner Program, whereby ads were placed next to her videos, and Siu shared in revenues resulting from either exposure to these ads or click-throughs on these ads. Siu was making good money, but not enough to replace a full-time job. Siu picked up her scissors and continued carefully cutting the neck seam on her latest project — transforming a man’s extra-large T-shirt into a trim woman’s tank top. As the blades moved effortlessly through the fabric, she thought about her options to transform the site into a bigger business that would provide enough income to warrant full-time employment. BACKGROUND Salina Siu Salina Siu, 23 years old, was part of a creative, artistic family. Her father, who enjoyed photography as a hobby, had first piqued her interested in drawing. Her mother had been a seamstress her whole life and sewed clothes part-time at home. When Siu was a young girl, her mother would ask her what new outfit she’d like her to make for her. At an early age, Siu had already started thinking like a fashion designer. She had also developed a taste for unique and custom garments. By her own admission, she had always been interested in arts and crafts: drawing, painting, photography and graphic design. Siu also pursued these interests professionally. She graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2012 from the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, with concentrations in entrepreneurship and innovation and in marketing and a minor in publishing. Throughout her coursework, she also took electives from Simon Fraser’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology, including digital image design, graphic design and drawing as inquiry. In May 2010, she bought a T-shirt at the local mall that had been cut up in the back. It was the first time she had ever seen such a thing, and she was enthralled. She immediately tried to figure out how it had been done, even searching on YouTube for videos that might show her. She commented: The videos were OK, but they really didn’t show it clearly. The production quality was poor, and the instructions were incomplete and confusing. I felt frustrated, and never really got a clear understanding of how to cut T-shirts into these neat patterns. So, I just decided to do it myself. Through trial-and-error, and with some help from my Mom, I got the hang of it really fast! It’s actually pretty easy and straightforward once you get it! This epiphany motivated her to want to make better videos than the ones currently on YouTube. She saw an opportunity to help others, while also developing valuable video-creation and -editing skills and learning about YouTube — a fast-growing medium for her generation. As a marketing graduate, she also knew the value of research, so she started watching a large number of craft tutorial videos, not only for T-shirt cutting but for all sorts of arts and crafts. Siu said: I was especially inspired by Erica Domesek and her website “P.S. I Made This” (http://psimadethis.com). Erica created a blog that taught people how to reproduce brand-name styles. She went on to publish her own book and made numerous television appearances on shows like Martha Stewart’s. She had been featured in magazines like Teen Vogue, Glamour, Lucky and InStyle, and had partnered with big brands to style and design campaigns for the likes of Coke, Ford and Roxy. She had even hosted events with big brands like Kate Spade and Gap. She was a real inspiration to me, and I sought to reproduce her success in my own way. This research led Siu to conclude that clear, accessible content was the most critical success factor for tutorial videos. Specifically, she felt that an effective instructional video should include the following: • Clearly numbered steps throughout the video so that viewers could fast-forward and rewind easily • Showing of the end product at the beginning of the video so viewers can decide right away whether the tutorial is what they’re looking for. • Clear and appropriate camera angles that show the work being performed, as it was being performed (in other words, providing an overhead view of the cutting without using cutaways that revealed a miraculously perfect product) • Proper lighting • Clear and concise instructions • Showing of all the steps • A playful, fun atmosphere that made the task look easy and approachable Siu also decided that she would not only demonstrate but also act as the model in her videos (see Salina’s website at http://www.youtube.com/salinabear for examples of her videos). She believed doing so was important to establish her credibility and provided an opportunity to showcase her personality. As far as the name for her channel, she said: I chose SalinaBear for a few reasons. First of all, I wanted the channel to have my name in it so that viewers would know who I am, and how to spell my name, as it has an unusual spelling, with an a in the first syllable, not the usual e. I also wanted to create a brand that would be unique, easy to find on the Internet, playful and fun. Finally, the thought of a cute bear in the logo appealed to me, and I thought it’d appeal to other young women. Siu uploaded her first video to YouTube in June 2010. It showed viewers how to cut strips into a “V” shape on the back of a T-shirt using only scissors — no sewing or taping required (you can view the video on her website at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbhC7hPFaLA&list=UUCYATxMpYZ4ayXG5NPxqQw&index=23). The 4-minute, 45-second video took her four hours to film and another four hours to edit before it was ready for posting. To promote the video, she shared it on craft and do-it-yourself (DIY) websites. A major boost in viewership occurred after one of these sites, CutOutAndKeep (http://ift.tt/MXhDtU) featured her video on its landing page. In fact, it remained on the landing page for one week and eventually was moved to CutOutAndKeep’s featured products page. It became SalinaBear’s most popular video, at more than 2.2 million views. In addition, some organizations and clubs gave Siu branded T-shirts for her to cut up in return for mentions in her videos. These organizations, in turn, promoted her work by distributing these videos to their networks. YouTube Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, all former employees of PayPal, founded YouTube in 2005. The site went live in Beta in May 2005, before the full-featured site was launched online later that year, in December. YouTube’s vision is “to give everyone a voice, to evolve video, and to make our partners and advertisers successful.”1 In October 2006, Google acquired YouTube for US$1.65 billion2. By January 2008, 10 hours of video were being uploaded to YouTube every minute; in October 2009, this rate increased to 15 hours of video per minute, and in March 2010, the rate had increased to 24 hours of video per minute. In 2012, YouTube was the world’s largest online video site, with roughly 72 hours of video being uploaded every minute, of which three hours per minute were being uploaded from mobile devices. YouTube began its Partner Program in December 2007. YouTube partners were content creators, and many of them were large media companies, such as Sony or Universal. Partners were able to upload videos of any length (i.e., they were not limited to 15 minutes) and were able to monetize their videos through ads or by making their videos available for rent. Partners were also offered more analytical tools to manage their sites. YouTube gave partners about 50 per cent of the revenue generated by ads on their sites, based on either cost per impressions (CPM) or cost per clicks (CPC), depending on the advertiser’s choice. Ads were placed in numerous spots on the partner’s website, at the top of the video, on the bottom of the video window or at the side. Up to three ads appeared on any one page. To become a partner, the site owners first needed to create an original video suitable for online streaming, and they needed to either own or have permission to use and monetize the video and audio content. Potential partners also needed to apply to YouTube to join the partnership program. YouTube considered how often videos were uploaded, how big their audience was and how many videos were in the potential partner’s library. YouTube had more than one million partners, with top-performing partners reputed to be making well over $100,000 per year. YouTube’s partnership agreement included a clause prohibiting partners from disclosing how much they actually earned from the partnership program, owing to the variety of factors that went into calculating compensation. However, an oft-cited estimate was $2 in earnings for every 1,000 views and $0.05 for every subscriber.3 HOW TO GET MORE THAN EIGHT MILLION VIEWS AND 47,000 SUBSCRIBERS As of September 2012, SalinaBear had 47,753 subscribers and 8,234,081 video views (an average of 10,000 unique views daily). Siu had created and posted 24 videos, and her work had received more than 5,000 comments, 28,000 likes and 1,300 dislikes. The website Social Blade tracked YouTube metrics, including those for Salina’s site (see http://ift.tt/2xqJEtA). Siu posted her first video on June 5, 2010, and she applied to be a YouTube Partner on June 15, 2010. As of June 28, she had 100 subscribers, and on June 29, YouTube approved her partnership application (see Exhibit 1). She received her first royalty cheque on November 24, 2010 (YouTube sent cheques when an account had amassed more than $100). Siu’s videos became increasingly sophisticated, while continuing to retain a light, whimsical tone. Siu also became more adept and efficient at creating the videos. They now took her about three hours to film and another three hours to edit. The videos all began with the SalinaBear logo. They then moved on to the tutorial. Some videos depicted very basic steps (e.g., how to cut a neck), while others were more complex. In some videos, she referred to earlier videos depicting these basic steps. Siu felt that three keys had led to her success: quality content, the building and nurturing of an audience and findability. Quality Content It was important for Siu to avoid mistakes that other videos had made, which is why she wanted to number the steps and explain and illustrate them clearly, using good lighting and a top view. She also believed it was important to show the finished product at the beginning of the video to give viewers an idea of what they were working toward. Finally, she believed she established her credibility by acting as both the model and creator in the videos. The response from viewers was enthusiastically positive, as attested to by the following comment, one of many on the website: oh my god. i’ve seen a ton of tutorials on weaving and this is by far the best i’ve ever seen lol. usually you can’t see what the hell the people are doing with what strings because they like to pick a black shirt or the camera is a weird angle or too far away. but i love how clean and simple your drawings are :). every step is shown and explained thoroughly :D. thank you so much! – MikoSubaru (February, 2012) Building and Nurturing an Audience “I feel a great deal of loyalty to my viewers,” Siu maintained. “They got me to where I am today, and their ongoing support has been crucial to SalinaBear’s success.” Siu kept close tabs on her viewership using YouTube’s extensive analytics (see Exhibit 2 for sample viewership data). It came as no surprise to her that the majority of the site’s views were from young women (90.2 per cent of her overall views were from women), mainly in the United States. However, it surprised her that a considerable number of views were from Mexico, the United Kingdom and the Philippines. During the first four months, she felt it was important to reply to all comments on the channel. However, it became too repetitive to thank everyone, so she limited her replies to more complicated questions. She also created an FAQ (frequently asked questions) video addressing popular topics. In April 2011, after hitting one million views, she created a special “thank you” video for her fans and followers. The growth in the site’s views was, at first, mainly organic, with very little effort on Siu’s part. In addition to having posted the videos on DIY sites, Siu had also posted them to her personal Facebook profile. She used the biography of her Twitter account (@salinasiu) to refer to SalinaBear. She created a Flickr account that displayed her T-shirts and encouraged fans to subscribe to her YouTube channel (http://ift.tt/2gWYXiH). She also used Pinterest (http://ift.tt/2xqfmHg). Out of her 20 boards on Pinterest, the board that had attracted the most engagement showed photos of her own designs and YouTube videos and T-shirts that others had cut up. Including designs by others on her Pinterest boards reflected Siu’s underlying belief that reciprocity was a big part of success in social media marketing efforts. She was also pleased that every time she logged into Pinterest, her recent repins and likes were mostly from strangers who had discovered her “Cut T-Shirt” pinboard. Findability Siu devoted considerable attention and energy to ensuring that interested viewers could find her site: she knew that it was not enough to have an interesting topic and well-made videos. After all, many good videos on the Internet were never discovered. Luckily for Siu, when she started her channel, only a handful of users were making T-shirt-cutting tutorials. Siu considered this topic to have little competition. Siu believed the other key findability factor was search engine optimization (SEO), which was improved through the use of keywords. She used targeted keywords in the videos’ titles. She used Google AdWords’ Keyword Tool to determine which keywords were most popular. The title of the video was especially important: Siu strived for a balance between being descriptive and enticing viewers. By responding to Comments, she created buzz around her videos, thus increasing the videos’ rating on the search results. CHALLENGES Imitation, far from being the sincerest form of flattery, was endemic on the web, especially on YouTube. Paradoxically, by helping people, Siu was also empowering them. Nothing prevented anyone else from either imitating or even bettering her. As such, her competition was essentially unbounded. Moreover, she believed that viewers expected instructional and informational videos to be free. After all, she herself had turned to YouTube after buying her first cut T-shirt! Consumers’ reluctance to pay for content constrained her options for the future of the site. In some ways, Siu wanted to transform SalinaBear into a full-time job and career. However, she felt she needed at least a tenfold increase in revenues to do so. She did have several options worth pursuing: she could charge for her videos via another platform; charge rent on her videos on YouTube; sell DIY kits; create a physical shop, and conduct in-person group or individual tutorials; and/or expand her brand, in much the way Erica Domesek had done, by developing a new line of tutorials focusing on nail art, jewellery or other crafts. Charging for Videos In early 2010, YouTube began experimenting with paid content — that is, having users pay for access to certain content; in this case, YouTube offered some select films from the Sundance Film Festival.4 This experiment eventually morphed into a product YouTube called YouTube Rentals,5 in Beta form, as of September 2012. More traditional sites, such as Blockbuster, Redbox and Netflix, also rented movies and television shows, as did Apple’s iTunes. However, these sites did not host instructional videos. Instructional video sites, such as TeacherTube, EduTube and Mylearningtube, hosted similar videos, but they were more school-focused, not hobby-focused. Finally, numerous arts and crafts sites, such as Martha Stewart’s and SimpleKidsCrafts, hosted DIY videos, but they were not paying sites. If Siu chose this path, she faced the challenge of either finding a suitable paying distribution channel for her videos or the daunting task of creating a pay channel of her own. DIY Kits Siu had also considered creating and selling DIY (do-it-yourself) kits. She pictured these kits to contain scissors, a ruler and a couple of T-shirts with dotted lines printed on them to instruct people where to cut. These kits would pair well with her existing videos, and promoting them on her videos would be easy, but she wondered whether people would buy them. One option was to sell them online, perhaps via Amazon.com, although yet another option was to develop a relationship with an existing retail chain. Such kits were popular with arts and crafts retailers, including the arts and crafts retail giant Michaels. She could also develop a tutorial book or a book of patterns, which she could sell in addition to or packaged with the DIY kits. Physical Shop Many viewers had asked Siu whether she gave in-person workshops or tutorials. So far, she had demurred. If these workshops and tutorials weren’t free, she felt that not enough people would be interested to make this option financially viable. She would also face the challenge of scaling the operation. However, she realized that could open a physical retail store, where she could both conduct tutorials and sell some of her creations. She’d been inspired by Hamburger Disco, a brand run by two of her friends, which had only sold products online until opening a pop-up store in Vancouver. Her friends had asked Siu to cut one of their T-shirts to promote their pop-up store; in return, Hamburger Disco cross-promoted the video she had created. Based on their experience, and on advice from others, she believed she’d need at least $10,000 to open a small store, buy inventory and run it for six months without a profit. Aside from the time and energy needed to establish a retail presence, she knew that the majority of her viewers and fans were located in the United States, and she wondered whether marketing her brand in her hometown would work. In addition, Siu also realized that running a physical retail store was vastly different from maintaining the online presence she had created. The skills required to run a store were not the skills she had developed as a video producer and on-air personality. Although the store option didn’t play to current her skills, interests and competencies, she acknowledged that it could be a necessary step in growing her brand. Brand Extension The last option was to branch out into other types of crafts, such as nail art or jewellery. Siu believed that she had created a strong brand presence on YouTube. Moreover, the SalinaBear brand name was sufficiently vague to allow for many other types of products, not just crafts. Siu wondered whether she could start small by choosing one or two categories to pursue, produce a few videos and then load them onto the SalinaBear site, or whether she should, instead, segment her products through separate YouTube channels (e.g., SalinaBear T’s for T-shirts and SalinaBear Jewels for jewellery. She wondered whether her audience would follow her and whether her personality was appealing enough to distinguish her from all the others on YouTube. Next Steps As her latest creation took shape, Siu reflected on her future and on her options. Life had suddenly become very busy, and she’d found herself posting a video apologizing to her subscribers for being away so long. She wondered whether SalinaBear was more than just a short-term experiment, and whether devoting her energy to growing the business would be a wise and profitable long-term move. Exhibit 1 TIMELINE TO FIRST YOUTUBE ROYALTY CHEQUE AND VIEWERSHIP NUMBERS Source: Salina Siu Exhibit 2 SELECTED YOUTUBE ANALYTICS DATA FOR SALINABEAR (JULY 2012) Source: Salina Siu 1 YouTube, “Frequently Asked Questions,” http://www.youtube.com/t/faq, accessed July 1, 2012. 2 All currency amounts shown are in U.S. dollars unless specified otherwise. 3 http://ift.tt/2gWP7xp, accessed July 1, 2012. 4 Jolie O’Dell,” YouTube Will Start Charging for Some Videos,” ReadWrite, January 20, 2010, http://ift.tt/2xqfoim, accessed July 1, 2012. 5 YouTube, “YouTube Rentals Beta,” http://www.youtube.com/t/youtube_rentals, accessed July 1, 2012. Copyright © 2012, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation Version: 2012-12-19 Scroll down for the next article • Copy • Highlighting Toolbar Settings… • CoursePack Contents Page • Back (to article beginning) • Next Article • Last Article • Back • Forward • Reload • Stop MKT 500 Week 8 Scenario: Developing Social Media Campaigns for the New Product Launch Slide # Scene # Narration Slide 1 Scene 1 [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] Ed and Samantha meet in the morning to discuss the next steps in the tablet PC launch. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-1: Good morning, Ed. How are you doing today? MKT500_8_1_Ed-1: Good morning, I’m doing quite well. What about yourself? MKT500_8_1_Samantha-2: Good, thanks. I’m really proud of the progress we’ve been making with our tablet launch, and I’m excited for the next steps. MKT500_8_1_Ed-2: I love your enthusiasm, Samantha! I spoke with Carl earlier. He said now that we have selected our advertising media and budget, we need to take a deeper look into social media. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-3: Yes, the enormity of today’s media choices—the Internet alone—makes it a wonderful time to be alive. Social media is at the cutting edge of this trend. MKT500_8_1_Ed-3: As we discussed, we can use social media as one of our main media outlets for advertising the new tablets. However, mobile marketing is growing because our cell phones are particularly convenient; they contain our identities and those of the people we talk to frequently. They are our portals to email, social media and networking sites, which are many people’s primary means of sharing information and entertainment. Interestingly enough, at the same time that electronic and information technologies are becoming more accessible and pervasive, traditional media are experiencing their own changes. Slide 2 Interaction Hover your mouse over each media to discover more information about the changes they are undergoing. Newspaper Newspaper circulations are declining, and while optimists continue to launch new magazines every year, their overall sales and circulations are down as well. Radio The number of radio stations has grown, boosted by satellite servers, but listeners are tuned in for less time each day than just a few years ago. TV Television channels also continue to grow. The bad news about this fragmentation is that with more TV channels, the audience for any given show is typically smaller. The good news is that targeting is a facilitated when the segments of viewers are somewhat more homogeneous. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4: Hover your mouse over each type of media to discover more information about the changes they are undergoing. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4_Tab A: Newspaper circulations are declining, and while optimists continue to launch new magazines every year, their overall sales and circulations are down as well. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4_Tab B: The number of radio stations has grown, boosted by satellite servers, but listeners are tuned in for less time each day than just a few years ago. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4_Tab C: Television channels also continue to grow. The bad news about this fragmentation is that with more TV channels, the audience for any given show is typically smaller. The good news is that targeting is facilitated when the segments of viewers are somewhat more homogeneous. Slide 3 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] (Display social media graphic) MKT500_8_1_Samantha-3: Very interesting, Ed. I hadn’t realized the effects of social media on more traditional media types. MKT500_8_1_Ed-5: The other part of the “social media” story is its social, or human, element. Belonging to different communities and interacting with different people in our social roles is part of our identity. The most fundamental means of interaction is dialogue. In social media, customers have become participants in a dialogue with marketers or brands. Traditionally, customers had been mere recipients of one-way messages that had been shot out by marketers, but now customers have a means of talking back. For example, customers post positive endorsements about brands, and they also use the web to vent. I often vent on Facebook about restaurants where I have had a bad experience. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-4: (pointing to graphic of different types of social media) This is very true. Are there certain types of social media that you had in mind for our tablet launch? I have a Facebook account and use Twitter and Pinterest frequently, but I feel that using all of these might be overkill for our new tablet launch. MKT500_8_1_Ed-6: Well, there are a few sites that I believe will provide Golds Reling with very strong exposure during our initial launch. Let me show you this short video that discusses the advantages of using social media in our marketing campaign. Slide 4 Social Media Marketing in 3 Minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gza8dvN8Hkc Slide 5 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-5: Thanks for sharing that video, Ed. I understand better how social media helps connect companies to customers, and helps customers get to know, like, and trust companies better. MKT500_8_1_Ed-7: Yes. The key to a successful social media campaign is selecting a social media that creates good W.O.M. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-6: What is W.O.M.? MKT500_8_1_Ed-8: W.O.M. is Word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth works on inherently exciting products like Golds Reling’s new tablet, and it also works where the notion of buzz marketing makes sense. Yet creative brand managers have launched clever ad campaigns that get talked about even for pretty mundane products, too; the key being that the product and the message are meaningful to the customer. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-7: Okay. You know, I learned in my classes at Strayer University that different social media combined create social networks. In social networks, there are some members that are more connected and influential than others. We need to leverage these interpersonal group dynamics, ideally locating the highly connected influential members, to induce their trial of our tablet, in turn initiating and propelling the diffusion process. MKT500_8_1_Ed-9: You’re right. To locate these influential members and get the word out about our tablet, we need to study how these potential consumers, or actors, are embedded in these networks to locate those that are relatively central. Centrality indices are computed for each actor in the network to describe the position of that actor relative to others in the network. The easiest and most common way to compute centrality is to count the number of connections each actor has with the others in the network. An index of degree centrality is derived for each actor—those with many links are said to be relatively central, and those with fewer links are more peripheral. In order to determine the degree of centrality for these consumers, we need to create several different accounts on various social media forums for Golds Reling. Strong centrality will be useful in creating buzz for our new tablets. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-8: Okay. We can start working on this right away. MKT500_8_1_Ed-10: First, though, let’s begin with answering the return of investments, or ROI, issues. As you know, Carl is always focused on the bottom line. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-9: What should we focus on in terms of ROI? MKT500_8_1_Ed-11: As with traditional media, we can begin to answer return on investment questions only if we know the goal that the marketing action was initially intended to achieve. Based on our goals, selecting the media and ROI measures are rather straightforward. When estimating ROI, which is really the efficiency of investments, the primary expenditures might not be media buys or explicit budgetary contributions so much as salary equivalents of people’s time allocations. We also need to consider KPIs. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-10: I know that KPIs are key performance indicators, but how do we identify KPIs for social media? MKT500_8_1_Ed-12: KPI’s for social media are analogous to traditional measures for advertising effectiveness. Specifically, marketers are always interested in quantifying reach, frequency, monetary value of customers, customers’ behaviors, attitudes, and memory, including recall and recognition. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-11: So, how can we determine the ROI and KPIs for our tablet? MKT500_8_1_Ed-13: I’m glad you asked this question, Samantha. A common way to determine ROI for social media is through conversation rate. This term refers to the true engagement for conversations in your social media communities. Conversations will be different depending on the network. For example, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs are focused on comments; however, Twitter is measured with mentions and hashtags. We, therefore, calculate the figures for each network, and calculate how many conversations took place about our company and products per post, tweet, or video submission. Another method we can use is viewability rate. This metric is a little harder to find on Twitter. However, for other networks and mediums such as Facebook, YouTube, and our blog, it is the total number of views or impressions per post. This is not as important as the conversation rate, but it is always satisfying to see how often your content is being looked at, and if no one is seeing it, then you better find a way to get users to view it! MKT500_8_1_Samantha-12: I see. Thank you for that explanation. Before we move on, let me check to make sure I understand what you are saying about KPIs. Slide 6 Check Your Understanding KPIs for social media are _________ traditional measures for advertising effectiveness. A) very different from B) analogous to C) opposite of D) inconsistent with Feedback: Incorrect A – very different from: KPI’s are very similar to traditional media. Correct B – analogous: KPI’s are very similar to traditional media. Incorrect C – opposite of: KPI’s are very similar to traditional media. Incorrect D – inconsistent with: KPI’s are very consistent with traditional media measurements. Slide 7 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-13: Great information, Ed, but can we go back to the word-of-mouth concept? How do we know consumers are talking about our new tablets on social media? How can we capture this and make it work for Golds Reling? MKT500_8_1_Ed-14: Word-of-mouth conversations and other customer-to-customer information flows have become a rich new source of consumer insights. There are two main categories for the ways in which consumers receive information about companies and their products: passive listening and active intervention. Slide 8 Interaction Click the tabs to learn more about passive listening in marketing. Passive Listening Research shows that a lot is learned from lurking, or web crawling, and scraping, all of which are examples of passive listening: Tab A – Tweets, blogs, and discussion forums are monitored to make predictions about new product launches more accurate. Tab B – Companies use text analyses on Facebook to get a read on customer opinions about their brands. Tab C – Beyond the brand itself, content analysis has been useful in detecting developing consumer trends. Tab D – Brand managers check websites for misinformation to try to nip bad, grassroots PR in the bud. MKT500_8_1_Ed-15: Click the tabs to learn more about passive listening in marketing. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16: Passive Listening Research shows that a lot is learned from lurking, web crawling, and scraping, all of which are examples of passive listening: MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab A: Tweets, blogs, and discussion forums are monitored to make predictions about new product launches more accurate. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab B: Companies use text analyses on Facebook to get a read on customer opinions about their brands. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16¬_Tab C: Beyond the brand itself, content analysis has been useful in detecting developing consumer trends. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab D: Brand managers check websites for misinformation to try to nip bad, grassroots PR in the bud. Slide 9 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-14: Great information, Ed. What can you tell me about active interventions? Slide 10 Interaction Click the tabs to learn more about active interventions. Active Interventions Tab A – Marketers enter online communities and ask for paid volunteers to be user groups to test beta products and offer feedback. Tab B – Marketers conduct experiments. In the so-called A / B split tests, one group is exposed to one ad, new product description, or whatever element of the marketing mix the marketer is testing. The other group is either a control group, or they see a different version of an ad, new product description, etc. The marketer then compares brand attitudes or subsequent sales in test markets to detect some lift due to the marketing intervention. Tab C – A company may wish to measure comparative click-through rates, member sign-up rates, or purchase valuation, as a function of whether the ad appeal is more rational or emotional, whether video or script endorsements are featured, which price is posted and whether a discount is available. Tab D – GPS data function much like live cookies, storing information for your convenience upon return while still protecting your privacy. The purpose of GPS units in phones was originally consumer service for mapping. GPS units are becoming geo-retailing units, and they will soon offer extremely timely opportunities for marketers, though some may consider this more intrusive than timely. A motivated company will know where its customers are at all times. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17: Click the tabs to learn more about active interventions. Active Interventions MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab A: Marketers enter online communities and ask for paid volunteers to be user groups to test beta products and offer feedback. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab B: Marketers conduct experiments. In the so-called A / B split tests, one group is exposed to one ad, new product description, or whatever element of the marketing mix the marketer is testing. The other group is either a control group, or they see a different version of an ad, featuring a new product description. The marketer then compares brand attitudes or subsequent sales in test markets to detect some lift due to the marketing intervention. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab C: A company may wish to measure comparative click-through rates, member sign-up rates, or purchase valuation as a function of whether the ad appeal is more rational or emotional, whether video or script endorsements are featured, which price is posted and whether a discount is available. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab D: GPS data function much like live cookies, storing information for your convenience upon return while still protecting your privacy. The purpose of GPS units in phones was originally consumer service for mapping. GPS units are becoming geo-retailing units, and they will soon offer extremely timely opportunities for marketers, though some may consider this more intrusive than timely. A motivated company will know where its customers are at all times. Slide 11 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Ed-18: In general, social media pundits advise that any corporate postings or representations have to start by being interesting – otherwise, consumers won’t even read them! The content needs to be honest, not defensive, and not too “corporate”. There needs to be transparency to customers, employees, and stakeholders. Being transparent usually means being honest, building trust, and creating the opportunity for two-way dialog. Social media have sufficient variety and prevalence that they can be a tremendous marketing tool—if we can offer something that provides value to those customers, and reaches them in a way that matters to them. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-15: You’ve given me a lot of valuable information about social media, Ed. MKT500_8_1_Ed-19: I’m glad that you feel that way. Next, we can start by creating Golds Reling accounts for each of these social media applications. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-16: Well, since we already have a Facebook account, I can create a Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest account for Golds Reling. MKT500_8_1_Ed-20: Excellent. Let’s break for now, and then we can organize our information for Carl. Slide 12 Scene 2 [Ed, Samantha, Carl – Conference Room] Ed, Samantha, and Carl meet in the conference room to discuss the social media aspects of the product launch. MKT500_8_2_Carl-1: Good afternoon, Ed and Samantha. I saw you both looking very busy in Ed’s office earlier. I’m looking forward to hearing the information that you two have put together concerning social media marketing for our new tablets. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-1: Yes, Ed and I have been very busy. We have analyzed and concluded some basic concepts. MKT500_8_2_Carl-2: And what would these be? MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-2: Social media are an abundant opportunity for Golds Reling. Social media provides a web-based means for customers to interact with friends and strangers by posting opinions, pictures, and videos. Social networks are the structures of interconnections among customers that propagate word-of-mouth. Networks can be drawn and analyzed, and the actors measured on indices of centrality to assist Golds Reling in finding opinion leaders and influential consumers. Our campaign would identify these actors within two months of launch and create great buzz for our new tablets. A great feature of social media is the measurement methods; these are ROI and KPIs, and they can be computed with the help of online analytics, as for any marketing effort. MKT500_8_2_Carl-3: Good points! Why do you believe that investing in advertising through social media would be the right decision for Golds Reling and our new tablet? MKT500_8_2_ Ed-1: Social media is a great way to generate repeat business and to attract new customers. Furthermore, the target market we have selected are big users of social media. Golds Reling already has a Facebook account, but we believe that creating accounts for Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest will really help boost the conversation rate, and, thereby, the word-of-mouth, for both our company as a whole as well as our new tablet. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-3: Carl, by utilizing social media, we feel that Golds Reling is spending our advertising money wisely. MKT500_8_2_Carl-4: Ok, sounds like a good investment. Explain how we are going to measure this investment. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-4: The key is to communicate the different features of our new tablet and to have consistency in the message we choose for social media. Measuring effectiveness will occur through KPI’s, recall, attitudes, click rates, and conversation and viewability rates from social media communications. MKT500_8_2_Carl-5: Excellent. I like what I’m hearing. Social media sounds perfect for generating buzz and word-of-mouth about our new tablet. I agree that Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest accounts for Golds Reling will be excellent additions to our existing Facebook account. Very nice work, both of you. Slide 13 Check Your Understanding What social media term refers to a set of actors (or nodes) and the relational ties that link them? A) Team B) Group C) Network D) Forum Incorrect A – Team: This is not the terminology used to describe relationships in social media. Incorrect B – Group: Although a group includes two or more people, this is not a part of the relational ties. Correct C – Social Network: A network is defined as the set of actors (or nodes) and the relational ties that link them. Actors may be customers, firms, brands, concepts, countries, etc. The connections between the actors are relational ties (or links). Ties can be symmetric or directional, and they can be binary or vary in strength. Incorrect D – Forum: Although this is a close description, it doesn’t explain the interaction experienced in social media. Slide 14 Scene 3 [Ed, Samantha – Hallway] MKT500_8_3_Samantha-1: Today was a highly informative day. Using social media for marketing can help us generate word-of-mouth about our tablet, especially if we are able to connect with the most influential members of social networks. MKT500_8_3_Ed-1: Absolutely. It will also help customers identify Golds Reling as a company they know, like and trust. Don’t forget to complete the e-Activity and particip

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#analytics #following:#importance #media #please #respond #social

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artsvark · 7 years

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Sell-out musical RENT comes to Johannesburg

After sell-out shows in Cape Town, the award-winning Rock Musical, RENT, is coming to Johannesburg in a vibrant 20th anniversary production at Joburg Theatre from 28 April – 07 May. The original rock musical, composed by Jonathan Larson in 1996, was a Pulitzer Prize and Tony-Award winning masterpiece that changed the landscape of musical theatre. Previously featuring well-known actors such as Neil Patrick Harris, Rosario Dawson and Taye Diggs in various Broadway adaptations, including the 2005 feature film, the show has enjoyed on-going success with diehard fans being dubbed ‘RENT-heads.’ Inspired by Puccini’s classic opera La bohème, RENT tackles issues of homelessness, homosexuality, drug addiction and HIV and Aids.

RENT

Directed by Byron Bure Choreography by Shona Brabant

CAST LIST:

MARK COHEN (Played by Dean de Klerk- 21): A filmmaker. Left behind his affluent Jewish upbringing to pursue his craft. Narrator: would rather tell the story than be the story. Hides behind his camera.

ROGER DAVIS (Played by Nicky Rossouw ): Former frontman for a rock band. Discovers he has AIDS in a note his girlfriend left when she committed suicide. Tortured artist – brooding and aggressive with a gentle side. Recovering drug addict. Searches for meaning through his song writing.

TOM COLLINS (Played by Arlin Bantam- 21): Philosopher, professor and AIDS activist. Former roommate of Mark, Roger, and Benny. Angel’s lover. The patriarch. Strong, yet warm presence.

BENNY COFFIN III (Played by Matthew Kriel): Went to college with Mark. Lived with Roger, Collins, Maureen and Mark. Married into a wealthy family. Hopes to fulfil dream of building an arts studio for his friends, while making money for his father-in-law.

ANGEL SCHUNARD (Played by Anzio September- 23): Drag Queen. Living with AIDS. Warm, lovable, nurturing, and honest. The mother hen of the group.

MIMI MARQUEZ (Played by Nadine Suliaman- 22): Fragile drug addict. HIV/AIDS positive. Puerto-Rican descent. Exotic dancer at the cat scratch club. Sexy, sassy and street smart.

MAUREEN JOHNSON (Played by Emily Adair- 21): A performance artist. Not as good as she leads on. Lover of Joanne, Mark’s ex-girlfriend. Young, spunky, quirky and fun. Selfish and enjoys the drama of life.

JOANNE JEFFERSON (Played by Namisa Mdlalose- 22): Harvard grad, lawyer. Affluent upbringing. Comfortable with her artistic liberal way of life and conservative upbringing. Insecure in her relationship with Maureen. Politically connected. Dry wit.

FEMALE ENSEMBLE:

Bonolo Makhele

Jessica Kohler

Maya Spector

Robyn Ivey

Tammy de Klerk

Tara Macpherson

MALE ENSEMBLE:

Jaydon Farao

Keegan van Zyl

Leagen Phillips-Laws

Director, Byron Bure, highlights the significance of these issues, particularly in a South African context, as they are still very relevant today “Every day we see the divisive effects of nativism and intolerance which ends up in violent conflict between different communities. The story of RENT may be specific to the artists in New York`s Bohemian East Village in the early 1990s, but the theme of a community in crises and how they struggle to deal with it still resonates today.” Bure stresses the importance of addressing these issues through art and performance wherever possible. “As South-Africans we often see the impulse to turn against one another when threatened by these external forces. RENT challenges us to turn towards one another to weather a storm and to choose love and respect. In our fractured society, this is a message that desperately needs to be heard.”

While setting the bohemian scene, much like in the original, Bure’s production focuses on the group dynamics of the characters. “We spent a great deal of time analysing the characters and their needs within the piece, which informed how we were going to construct a production that best serves Jonathan Larson’s vision. We set about finding actors that could embody the characters both physically and vocally.”

Having played to full houses in Cape Town and receiving rave reviews, RENT producer, Stephan Fourie, who is making his debut with The Stephan Fourie Theatre Company, believes the success of the first run is due to the vibrancy and relevance of the production. “The feedback we received from Cape Town audiences was incredible. We had tons of comments on the energy of the cast, the fantastic choreography, the set, and significance of the shows themes. I am particularly excited to bring this sell-out sensation to a Johannesburg stage as the story holds its relevance today more than ever. RENT brings on a unified sense of community, making difficult themes and conversations more palatable, and we are now working hard to bring an even more spectacular production to Johannesburg this April. “

The cast members include award-winning theatre and performance artists from around the country, technically trained across musical theatre, acting, singing, dance and choreography. Anzio September (23), who plays drag-queen ‘Angel’ has not only the challenge of performing dynamic dance moves in 4-inch platforms, but to also bring to life the true essence of one of the show’s most complex and lovable characters. “The role of Angel has made me realise that fear is the only thing that keeps us alive in this life. We are caged by normative thinking and what is deemed ‘socially acceptable’. If love and respect was at the core of humanity, peace would prevail and wars would be an unknown entity. One has to be true to themselves even if the world says no.”

Classical and contemporary singer and recipient of an invitation to audition for Juilliard Performing Arts School in 2012, Namisa Mdlalose (22) who plays the role of the brooding ‘Joanne’ echoes September’s sentiments. “RENT tells a story of a community of broken people begging to be loved, to be forgiven, to be seen, to be healed. Ultimately, we find, love wins.”

The Ultimate Rock Opera Taking on the task of the music itself is no small feat. RENT set the bar for rock musicals 20 years ago, quickly becoming the best-selling cast album of the decade. The musical score is technically a challenging one since it is a completely sung-through production. Rooted in rebellion and protest, the show is a blend of soulful gospel, grungy rock and pop. Bure explains that the music is well- written but that it’s the place of the lyrics in the narrative that imbues them with relevance. He describes the real magic of the show as the hybrid of 80’s and 90’s rock combined with the unique sounds of contemporary musical theatre.

“My hope for this production is that audiences will leave with a sense of compassion for the characters, and a broader view of different communities. Without the support of fellow beings, issues that should be easily resolved, are made incredibly difficult to overcome. We need to approach differences with love and understanding to create a consciousness for change, and that’s what RENT is all about” says Bure.

Bookings through Webtickets or visit http://www.joburgtheatre.com/rent/

Follow The Stephan Fourie Theatre Company Facebook page for show updates @stephanfourietheatreco

Sell-out musical RENT comes to Johannesburg was originally published on Artsvark

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nocturnalsworldreadaloud-blog · 8 years

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Recommended Resources from Tracey Hecht for Middle-Grade Read Aloud

The benefits of reading aloud to children who are well past the age when they can independently read, include, but are not limited to, educational, emotional and social growth. Below are supportive resources.

1. Kids and Family Reading report by Scholastic: 6th Edition: http://www.scholastic.com/readingreport/reading-aloud.htm

This comprehensive study found that 51% of kids ages 6-11 said the reason they like be read aloud to is so they can enjoy books that may be too difficult for them to read on their own. It also found that 78% of kids say school librarians are the top people in the lives who encourage them to read books for fun.

2. The Core Knowledge Blog entry, Why Is There So Much Listening in the Core Knowledge’s Reading Program? explains that “Thomas Sticht discovered the important fact that reading does not catch up with listening until late middle school or early high school. (Hirsch, Jr., E. D. Blog. Core Knowledge, 2013. http://blog.coreknowledge.org.)

3. Lettie K. Albright and Mary Ariail: “A Survey of Teachers' Read-Aloud Practices in Middle Schools.”

Two university researchers conducted a survey of middle school teachers' read aloud practices at a large state conference for middle-level educators. Results of this survey provide a beginning step toward evaluating the ways in which middle school teachers use read-alouds in the classroom. This paper shares the results of the survey and offers insight into the extent and nature of teacher read-aloud practices in middle grades.

(Albright, Lettie K. and Ariail, Mary. “Middle School Teachers' Read-Aloud Practices 69.” Reading Research and Instruction, Volume 45, No. 2 * Winter 2006)

4. Gay Ivey “Reading and Writing in the Content Areas”

Reading aloud, like other teacher demonstrations with text, helps student comprehension. Language arts teachers across the grade levels commonly read aloud, but content-area teachers have not fully explored the value of this practice. When teachers read aloud to students, they give a voice and meaning to text that students often cannot give to the reading themselves, most often because they lack knowledge about the subject.

(Ivey, Gay. “Reading and Writing in the Content Areas.” Educational Leadership, Gay Ivey 60, no. 3 (2002): 20-23.)

5. Why Listening and Learning is Critical

Acquisition of both language and knowledge will also be enhanced if, following each read-aloud, children participate in rich, structured conversations with an adult in response to the written text that has been read aloud. In this way, they can begin to orally practice comparing, analyzing, and synthesizing ideas in written text in much the same way as they will be expected to do as independent readers in the later grades.

(Core Knowledge Foundation, 2013, coreknowledge.org )

6. Jim Trelease, The Read-Aloud Handbook

Recommended by, The New York Times and The Washington Post, for three decades, millions of parents and educators have turned to Jim Trelease's classic to help countless children become avid readers through awakening their imaginations and improving their language skills. This edition of The Read-Aloud Handbook imparts the benefits, rewards, and importance of reading aloud to children of a new generation. Supported by anecdotes as well as the latest research, The Read-Aloud Handbook offers proven techniques and strategies—and the reasoning behind them—for helping children discover the pleasures of reading and setting them on the road to becoming lifelong readers.

(Trelease, Jim. The Read-Aloud Handbook: Sixth Edition. New York: Penguin Books, 2007.)

Why Read Aloud? From the Editors at Fabled Films Press

Reading aloud promotes reading skills as well as memory, comprehension, vocabulary, writing skills, and language fluency. But did you know it also builds confidence? According to the American Library Association, the security children experience when a parent reads aloud with them increases their self-esteem.

So, how can you create read aloud sessions that foster all of these benefits, and still make it fun for kids?

To begin, let kids pick out what they want to read. Even if they can’t understand the words, (we’ll cover that below), allow them to steer the experience. They’re more likely to develop their love of reading if it’s an activity that speaks to their interests, rather than having their reading material prescribed to them. And, keep different levels of books on hand in your classroom or home.Children can still extract meaning while looking at pictures, or working with the words they know. When choosing a book, what do kids look most for? According to Scholastic, 60% of kids surveyed in the U.S. want to read something funny!

Next, a read-aloud session should include children being read to, as well as children reading aloud themselves. Both methods offer different kinds of benefits, but many of the techniques can be applied when either you or the child is reading.

One of the benefits of reading to children is that they can understand something read to them at a higher language level than they can read by themselves. Being read to exposes them to more complex language than they would choose to read on their own. Words and sentence structures in written language also are more complex than what we hear on a daily basis, and this helps increase vocabulary.

When you’re ready for a break, have the child read a few pages aloud. Reading aloud forces children to slow their pace and spend time on words and concepts with which they aren’t familiar. Otherwise, they tend to zip past words they may not know if they are reading to themselves silently. By reading aloud and slowing down, this not only helps children pay attention to the words they don’t know, but also helps them break the word down verbally. Sounding it out enables them to pick out the letters and sounds they recognize, and learn the ones that they don’t.

When they do pause over a word, offer a brief explanation. Given in the context of the reading, this brief explanation can be enough for children to make the connection between new words and their meanings. Repeated readings of the same text improve vocabulary as words go from never seen before, to recognized, to understood as they’ve seen the word several times along with context.

One of the great things read alouds do that passive reading can’t develop communication skills. When you invite discussion of the text, you’re stimulating language development and at the same time increasing vocabulary. They use expressive language to respond to questions about the story they’re reading. Expressive language is important for children to be able to describe their wants and needs and convey their thoughts. Their ability to relay what’s happening in the story taps into this kind of language.

Reading also improves memory! Memory pathways in the brain are created by seeing and hearing the words, as when you’re reading to a child who is following along with the text. But, when children say the words themselves, they create additional memory pathways by forming auditory links to what is being read. When a child reads aloud, they are using three ways to remember what they’ve read: seeing it, hearing it, and saying it.

Math skills probably aren’t the first thing you associate with reading aloud, but reading builds those, too! Structuring a read aloud in a way that models problem-solving shows children how to approach new texts the same way experienced readers do, and builds analytical habits. Asking questions facilitate problem-solving as they read, and helps children get into the habit of applying these skills as part of their reading experience.

By pausing, asking questions, and encouraging readers to connect with the text by telling their own related stories, they actively interact with literature. Take their lead – when they ask a question, allow for the interruption and use the pause as an opportunity to invite their own problem solving. Ask the group to answer the question. Build on the student responses and create a conversation between yourself, the young readers, and the text itself.

Start by setting aside just a few minutes each day to read together. Let your young readers pick their own reading material (help them choose something funny!), and they’ll be having so much fun they won’t even realize how many skills they’re developing! Finally, don’t stop reading aloud with them just because they can read themselves: Scholastic’s Kids and Family Reading Report showed that most parents stop reading to children after age 6, but 40% of kids in the U.S. still want to read aloud to up to age 11 because they value the special time with their parents.

Why Read Aloud? From the Editors at Fabled Films Press, Works Cited:

http://www.ala.org/aasl/parents/reading

http://www.educationworld.com/a_curr/curr213.shtml

http://www.scholastic.com/readingreport/KFRR-GetKidsReading.pdf

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/vocabulary-development-during-read-alouds-primary-practices

http://www.readingrockets.org/article/reading-aloud-build-comprehension

http://www.teach-nology.com/themes/lang_arts/reading/aloud.html

https://www.communication.northwestern.edu/clinics/speech_language/expressive_language

https://www.brainscape.com/blog/2011/10/reading-out-loud-remember/

http://www.scholastic.com/readingreport/KFRR-GetKidsReading.pdf

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mrs-hollandstan · 5 years

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Make Me Love You || Frat Boy!Tom [twelve]

Warnings: Smut (18+), male & female receiving oral, Valentine’s Day sex ya know, I guess minor bdsm??, tying up, dom!Tom themes, blindfolding, toy use, alcohol & its use ;) , talk of sex with the roomies, teasing of Harrison & Cole if you blink, language, minor mentions of family issues, more fantasizing of family life

Word Count: 5,977

Author’s Note: Happy Valentine’s Day!! I hope you enjoy. Just let me say that the next few parts may or may not hurt, but I ask you to stay with me cause it is needed haha. Lemme know what you think though. :)

Series Masterlist || Add yourself to one of my taglists here

"Happy Valentine's Day to my absolute favorite women." Phoebe remarks, setting different colored sparkly heart shaped baskets in front of you, Ivey, and Scarlett at the kitchen table. Ivey gasps as you smile and Scarlett coos,

"Aww Phoebs these are so cute." Scarlett remarks. You nod, glancing up at her,

"They are, they're really adorable." You tell her. She smiles,

"Only the best for my loves." She remarks, leaning against your chair with a shrug. You smile, leaning into her. She sighs,

"Any idea what the boys got you girls?" She asks in general to the group. There's a collective shake of the head as you, Ivey, and Scarlett look between each other to see if anyone knows. You smile,

"Tom did demand I buy him new roses if anything ‘cause his died."

"You should try buying him carnations. Those last a lot longer." Ivey pipes up. You shrug, looking over the contents of Phoebe's basket,

"Any idea what we're all doing tonight?" Phoebe poses instead. Scarlett hums,

"Cole's making dinner and dessert and then we're gonna watch cheesy rom coms and make fun of them." She says with a smile. You giggle, looking to Ivey who shrugs,

"The only thing I know is Harrison and I are going to dinner." She remarks. The three of you nod before all eyes land on you. Your cheeks burn, eyes downcast,

"Uhm, I- Tom didn't really... give me much. He just told me to wear... something nice." You mutter,

"He'll probably just take you to dinner-"

"No not... not that kind of nice, uhm, he told me to wear a nice bra and panty set." You add. There's a silent a gasp,

"Ooh shit." Phoebe mumbles. Scarlett snorts,

"Look at you exploring that fuckin typical sex fiend Tom. How has it been?" She asks. You shrug,

"I don't really have much to base him off of. I was with like one guy before him and we were both in high school." You admit, picking at a string on your sweater. She hums,

"But... can he make you cum without touching you? Like, just sex, no clit rubbing?" You nod,

"Yeah, depends on what position he puts me in. He's really good in doggystyle."

"Must be nice. Sometimes Harrison just... forgets." Ivey speaks up. You smile, listening to Scarlett scoff and jokingly brush her hair over her shoulder,

"That's what you get for dating a boy Ivey. At least mine's a man." She boasts. You snort,

"Yeah, your man wore Spongebob boxers until he was nineteen." You tell her. The room breaks out into laughter, Scarlett leaning back in her chair,

"Hey, there's nothing wrong with liking Spongebob into your twenties. That's when you understand most of the jokes anyways." She defends. You giggle as she purses her lips, trying to contain her laughter,

"Besides, he is so fucking good. God that boy is so fucking sexy. His voice afterwards when he knows I still can't breathe-"

"Ew, ew, ew, that's alright, we don't have to. I'm related to that and I do not need to know." You tell her, shivering and moving your hands between you. She laughs, eyes casting up to Phoebe who holds her fingers out at a measurable distance. Scarlett reads her, holding her fingers up with a little added length,

"Balls too."

"Scarlett!" You squeal, your friends bursting out into laughter again. She holds her hands up,

"What?! How is that fair that you can talk your sex life but I can't talk mine?"

"Because yours happens to occur with my older brother and I do not need grimy details about an idiot I grew up with." You screech over the laughter. Once the laughing subsides, Scarlett sighs,

"He is good though." She mutters. You roll your eyes as a knock on the door sounds through the room. You silently thank the gods for whoever is on the other side, face brightening further when the three boys in question walk through the door. Tom rounds the corner in sweats and a tee, hat on backwards as he beelines straight for you, hands shoved in his pockets. You smile, laying your head back against his stomach as he leans in to kiss your cheek,

"Happy first Valentine's babe." He whispers to you. You smile, kissing his cheek back,

"Happy Valentine's Day love." You mutter. He glances up, watching his best friend and Cole retreat to their respective girlfriends. Phoebe drapes her arms around his shoulders,

"So I heard you requested that our sweet Y/N wear her best undies." She tells Tom who smiles, glancing down at you,

"Good thing I don't tell you my secrets darling." He jokes. You giggle and shrug,

"We're a family here. I tell them everything." You tell him. He hums, looking back up to Phoebe,

"Yeah, I got somethin good planned for her. Should be great." Is all he comes up with. Laying your head back against his arm, he nods at her. She nods in return as he purses his lips,

"But uhh, what are you doin?" He asks her. She shrugs,

"Probably sitting around here. Maybe I'll look for a hookup, who knows." She says with a shrug. You giggle as Tom smiles at her,

"Well shit, when you put it like that, there's room on my bed for the both of you." You gasp, reaching up to swat at his chest,

"Tom!" You screech. He chuckles,

"What? She's gonna spend Valentine's Day alone looking for a hookup. I could take you both on." He remarks. You pout as he stares down at you with a cheesy smile. He clicks his tongue,

"I'm kidding love. Damn I thought you'd put up more of a fight." He jokes. Phoebe smiles down at you,

"It's fine Y/N, wouldn't wanna steal your picture perfect moment." She remarks. Tom wraps his arms around you, lifting you and sitting in your spot. He pulls you into his lap, his arms wrapped tight around your waist. He sighs, leaning into your ear,

"Just for that though, you'll have to be punished." He jokes. You smile, leaning your back against his chest, hands placed over his arms.

---

Each of your steps are accentuated by the clicks of the heels you wear as Tom walks you up the stairs to the frat house,

"Ya know, I really, really want our own place so we can do whatever we want." He reminds you. You smile and nod, holding his hand tight,

"Well it's not like I'm quiet if there's people around. At your friend's house back in London I was pretty loud and Cole's friend definitely has neighbors and I wasn't exactly quiet." You remind. He gives a cocky smirk as he glances back at you,

“I like that about you. You don’t hide it like some girls try to.” He tells you. You hum, releasing his hand as he shoulders the front door open. It’s nearly empty, just a few of the boys standing spread through the house. Some greet you, others continue what they’re doing like you aren’t there. Tom leads you through the kitchen first, grabbing some alcohol before he leads you up the stairs and into his room. He sighs as he closes the door and you settle on the bed, laying back and kicking your heels off. You cross your hands over your stomach, watching as Tom walks forward to run the tip of his finger over the hill of one of your breasts,

“I like this dress. It shows off your goodies perfectly.” You smile,

“Thought you just cared what was underneath tonight.” He hums, not answering you at first as he pours some of the bourbon he’d brought into a glass and handing it to you. You sip from it, cringing softly. Tom smiles,

“Well I do, but ‘m just sayin, you’re pretty fuckin sexy in this little dress.” He remarks. You nod, allowing him to crawl over you. You hum as he brushes your hands up above your head, leaning in to kiss your throat,

“You know what though, I think it’ll look better on my floor.” He whispers, reaching up to slide the strap of your dress down your arm, repeating the process with the other as he slides it down your body. When your bra is exposed to him, he lets out another hum, continuing the trail down past your underwear which he blinks down at, dropping your dress on the floor beside him,

"Damn..."

"This set was just bought for this occasion." You tell him with a smile. He eyes the frilly red lace set,

"Its beautiful baby girl. You really know how to spoil me then huh?" He teases. You giggle and nod, eyes following his hand as he reaches for the bottle of bourbon, turning it upside down to drizzle some down the valley of your breasts, quickly leaning in to lap it up as it begins to run. You smile, watching him stand, kicking his shoes off and shimmying from his socks. He sheds his top and pants, watching as you sit up and lean in to kiss across his abdomen. He reaches up to run his fingers through your hair. He gives a sharp tug after a moment, bringing a choked whimper from your throat. He smiled down at you,

"I've got something for you. But you have to be a good girl for me to see it." He purrs. You smile up at him, body coursing in excitement at his tone. He wants to be domineering and you'll let him. You nod, chewing your bottom lip. He gives one curt nod, releasing your hair and walking to his closet. He pulls out a shoebox, placing it on the bed beside you and opening it. Your eyes widen at the contents: silk ties, handcuffs, a few varieties of dildos and vibrators, and nipple clamps,

"The craziest thing in this box is the clamps. But most of it's pretty mild. I just figured I mentioned toys and you didn't say no so maybe I could've bought some and then I had a little extra money. So I kinda went all out. We can try all of them in time but... I only got like three dildos cause I don't really want to use them on you when I've got a perfectly good dick in my pants but... figured maybe we'd see. But if you'd like, we could sample out a vibrator of your choice. And these are definitely being used." He rambles, dragging the ties out. You meet eyes and he gives you a cocky smirk. You cock your head and click your tongue,

"See that's not fair. I wore this for you to dominate me?" You pose, gesturing to the lingerie set you wear. Tom shrugs, looking you over, but he strokes the ties smooth as he does so,

"You did date night a few weeks ago. It's my turn to actually spoil you."

"But I wanna be on top. You always do the work." You pout, shoulders slouching. Tom presses his lips together, staring up at you without blinking for a moment,

"Fine. But I've got conditions. You're to let me tie you up to eat you out and when I'm done I'll let you do the same. But we need to establish a safe word. We aren't gonna be too crazy but," he grabs your hips and leans in to kiss your stomach, "I want us to be safe. If something doesn't feel right, we can use it and we'll stop." You nod, hands rested on his shoulders,

"What about... ooh, what about curtain call?" You pose. One of his eyebrows arches and you purse your lips,

"Ya know... at the end of a performance. Y-you were talking about stage directions the other day. I do listen." You murmur, seeming somewhat embarrassed. Tom chuckles,

"I know you do, I'm just... surprised. Yeah, curtain call is good." He tells you through a chuckle, squeezing your hips. You nod, letting him guide you back to lay on the bed, dragging you up to have you hold the posts of his headboard before he binds a silk tie around your wrists and the post. You watch, leaning up to kiss his stomach again, which moves as he laughs,

"Gonna be a good girl for me darling?" He purrs again, leaning in to kiss along your jaw. You nod,

"Yes sir."

"Now that's just wrong. You don't want me to dominate you, but you're gonna call me sir. Naughty girl." You giggle as he lifts your bottom half from the bed, pulling your panties down and swatting your butt in one sitting. You press your eyes closed for a moment, opening them as he spread your thighs to kneel between. He drags another piece of silk from the nightstand, showing it to you before leaning in to fasten it around your eyes. You gasp,

"Oh come on. That's not fair."

"You blindfolded me the other night. It's my turn. Besides... your orgasm'll be better if you're compromised." He mutters, kissing down your body. He disappears from the bed, his weight around you nonexistent anymore as he toys with your remaining senses. You gasp again, tugging at your restraints when something brushes over your stomach. Tom cackles,

"Those were my boxers by the way. And your body liked that." He purrs once more, leaning in to kiss around your belly button which draws a guttural whine from your throat,

"Tommy... please do something." You cry out. He chuckles again, humming to himself as he rounds the end of the bed, running his hands up your legs from ankle to thigh to spread them,

"What do we say pretty girl? Repeat it."

"Please." You pant, holding the wooden headboard post,

"Good girl." He gently mumbles. Closing your eyes tight, you give a shaky breath, feeling his breath across your hips before he leans in, instantly sucking your clit into his mouth. You cry out arching your back as his hands find purchase on your thighs, holding them apart while he works on you. He hums, your toes curling and you're on the verge of tears with how good it feels. Tom always makes it feel good. Sex is always the best, but the way he uses his mouth- which he hasn't since the night at the club because all of your sex has been too rushed for foreplay- is exceptional. You grasp the restraints, moaning and whimpering as you focus on the tingling and straight pleasure Tom provides, tracing his tongue around your clit and lapping at you in figure eights. You whine as he pulls up,

"Tommy... Tommy, please..." He chuckles,

"Tell me what you want baby girl." He demands. You arch your back,

"Please just don't stop. Want your tongue." You whine. He chuckles again,

"Good thing I hadn't intended on stopping then huh?" He poses, your senses dialed to eleven as he leans in, sucking your clit into his mouth and pumping his fingers inside of you once he slips them inside. Your nails claw at the bedpost, eyes squeezed shut tight beneath your blindfold,

"Fuck Tom." You gasp. He chuckles darkly,

"You like that pretty girl. So wet for me." He mutters, kissing your thigh. You can feel him shift, but think nothing of it as you focus on getting to your first high of the night. Your body craves it, wanting to feel that molten lava take over your body. You hum, gasping and shuddering as a strong vibrating sound rings through the air and cool metal is pressed to your clit. Your body lurches, tugging against the restraints at the new, overwhelming, foreign feeling and the milliseconds of uncertainty as to what it is nearly has you calling out your safe word.. He chuckles again,

"You like that darling?" You nod, panting as you seek out more pleasure from not only his fingers pumping in and out of you, but the bullet vibrator pressed firmly to your clit. You move your hips down into him, letting him slip his fingers out of you and replace it with his tongue. Your back arches again, head buried in the pillows,

"Fuck me Tommy. That feels so good." You moan, feeling your high build further and further,

"Can tell... you're soaked darling." He mutters back. You grasp the ties, toes curling and eyes squeezing shut,

"Fuck, fuck, fuck I'm gonna cum." You squeal. Tom hums, his tongue leaving you before he takes hold of your hips and flips you over onto your knees, twisting your wrists in the ties snugly, but not uncomfortably. He presses his fingers back inside of you, thrusting them quickly as he holds the overpowering vibrator firm to your clit. You whine, leaning down to bury your face in his sultry smelling pillow as he fights to bring you to climax,

"Come on love, cum for me." He directs into your ear. You let out a moan, back arching into his chest as he leans over you, stiff cock jabbing you in the side. Your body convulses after a few more seconds and you squeal, toes curled as you cum finally. You let out a whimper as he works your through it, turning the vibrator off as he draws his fingers out and licks them clean. You hold the post above you tight in your hands,

"Are you... are you gonna untie me?" You ask. He chuckles,

"Eager are we? I don't think I will just yet love. I like you like this." You whimper again as he lays you on your back, pulling the tie on your blindfold lose and tossing it aside,

"I will do that though. You look beautiful all flushed like this." He says with a smile. You return it, leaning your head up to kiss him, tasting yourself on his tongue as he slides it into your mouth. You hum,

"I do quite like the dominating stature you take. It's pretty sexy." He smiles, running his hands up the inside of your thighs,

"That's good. That's kinda... my style of stuff. I like dominating my girls." He admits. You crane your head to watch him sort through the things in front of him. His smile widens,

"You sure liked that vibrator." He remarks. You click your tongue,

"That's like telling me that starving me will result in me wanting to eat. No shit Sherlock." You chide. He chuckles,

"Didn't you though? I mean obviously your body involuntarily likes it but... it's good huh?" You nod, relaxing back against the bed,

"It was good. Intense. I've never used toys before." You admit. He returns your nod, reaching for a condom as he removes the lube in the box and walks to the closet to deposit it back. He hums as he returns, standing beside you with his hands on his hips,

"I'm not ready to untie you love." He remarks. You lick your lips, raising your head,

"Come closer then loser." You bite, watching him walk forward before you lean in to take his cock into your mouth. He hums. You smile around him, shifting until you're laying on your side, bobbing your head softly. You hum as he reaches up to untie you, pulling your legs off the bed and putting you on your knees,

"Hands behind your back darling." You do as you're told, letting him tie your hands behind your back, gathering your hair in his hand,

"You're beautiful baby girl." He purrs. You glance up at him through your lashes, his lips pressing in a tight line as he stares down at you. You hum, moving forward until you're gagging. Tom curses under his breath, holding you far too lightly. You pull back,

"Tommy..."

"What?" He asks, eyes softening at your whine. You pout,

"We established a safe word and we aren't even gonna get our worth out of it." His eyes twinkle as he stares down at you,

"I don't follow darling." He remarks with a lopsided smirk. You click your tongue,

"You wanna be dominating, you gotta gag me." His smile widens as he comes to the realization,

"You want my cock down your throat darling?" He poses softly. You smile and nod, winking up at him,

"You've got me all tied up, why not play with me?" You purr. He chuckles darkly,

"Oh darling, you don't know what you're getting yourself into." He mutters as you take him back into your mouth. He hums, watching you and running his fingers up the side of your face before he gives a solid tug on your neck and you gag. He hisses,

"Fuck darling. You're very good with that pretty little mouth." You hollow your cheeks as he speaks, giggling around him as his knees threaten to give out. He tugs on you harder, hand wrapping in your hair again before he presses, gagging you effectively over and over again. After another moment, he tugs you off of him, breathing hard,

"Alright... fuck... that's enough." He pants, bringing you to your feet and turning you around. Pressing a hand to your back, he bends you over the bed, swatting at your bottom. You squeal, giggling after as he picks at the knots at your back, untying the ties and letting you lay back on the bed, rolling onto your back. He stands between your knees,

"Wanna tie me up now?" He poses. You smile and nod, taking the tie from him and sitting up. He lays back on the bed, letting you move his hands until they're grasping the same post you were. He watches you clamber over him to tie the silk around his wrists, leaning up to kiss your tummy. He hums as you crawl back down, sitting just above his bobbing cock,

"You ever not used a condom with a girl?" You ask him, raising an eyebrow. He smiles, shrugging,

"Maybe one or two." He admits. You click your tongue,

"Such a whore you are Mr. Holland." He chuckles as you lean in to kiss across his chest, rolling your tongue around his nipples. He closes his eyes, grasping at his restraints as you creep down his body. Crouching between his legs, you find the condom and lube amongst the sheets. He sighs as he waits for you to add lube to the tip of the condom after you've opened it and slide it down over him,

"I actually can't wait for the day you let me not use a condom." He remarks. You smile,

"Shoulda said something before I put it on." He raises his head, staring up at you,

"Well fuck then, take it off, what’s one condom?" He practically squeals. You giggle, shaking your head at him,

"Too late." Climbing over him, he watches you turn the lube upside down and drip it over him, setting the bottle aside and settle above him. You reach down, guiding him with two fingers to your entrance before you slide down onto him. He hums, holding the ties in his hands,

"Fuck... that's good." He mutters, eyes closing again as you settle yourself above him, hands on his chest. He presses his lips in a line, raising his head to glance down where you're connected. He sighs,

"Fuck you're good." He adds. You smile, rubbing your hands across his chest before slowly raising your hips and dropping them down again. He hums, holding the restraints around his wrists in a bruising grip. You slowly bounce on top of him, trying to stretch yourself out as he licks his lips and curses under his breath. He watches you reach down once you start to pick up speed, stroking your clit in quick circles, your body quivering from the previous orgasm you'd had. Tom gives a somewhat feminine whine,

"Fuck darling." He tugs at the restraints around his wrist. You tut,

"Don't tell me I'm gonna have to blindfold you for being a bad boy." You tease. He stares up at you with wide, lust blown eyes, laying his head back against his pillow with his eyes never leaving you,

"You're mean." He mutters. You smile down at him, back arching softly as you rub yourself, bursts of pleasure bursting throughout you. You hum, coming down harder around him. After another moment of dull pleasure from Tom, you press a foot to his bed, leaning back on his thighs to bounce softly. He watches, eyes widening again,

"Baby, untie me." He desperately begs. You giggle, pausing as you stare down at him,

"You're such a pussy. I was tied up for like five minutes and you can't even last two." He groans,

"But this is different. I can give you more, come on, untie me." You shake your head, continuing to bounce atop him,

"No way. You stay tied up until I can make you cum." He rotates his wrist in a circle,

"Then c'mon. Hurry it along then darling, I can feel it." He rushes, laying his head back against the pillow below him with a small grunt as you pick up speed. His toes curl, eyes closing as his back arches,

"Fuck..." He groans, holding his ties, focusing on you instead of the bed creaking. He desperately wants to bring his knees up to give him some leverage to thrust up into you, but he can't. You're leaning back on his legs so he just has to enjoy the ride for now. One of your hands comes down between your own legs, rubbing your clit and releasing quiet but high pitched moans. Tom chews his lip, watching you as he chases his high, loving the way your body looks. He whines, tugging at his restraints and he wants nothing more than to reach up and play with your perfect, full, beautiful breasts. His eyes are locked on them, he's captivated by your sheer beauty as your head falls back,

"Fuck Tom... that feels so good." You moan, digging your nails into his thigh. He chuckles,

"Gonna cum before me?" You hum,

"You're hitting the right spot perfectly." You tell him, heart pounding from your chest. Your head falls back again, lips pressed in a tight line as you process the pleasure coursing through your veins. Its molten lava, burning your body. You bite your lip, Tom's eyes wandering up your body. He's nearly there,

"Fuck babe. God I'm so close." He growls. A thought strikes you, a wicked smirk which Tom doesn't catch crossing your face, his eyes closed. But they pop open and he gasps as he feels your hand that's drifted down between his legs to fondle his balls. You laugh wickedly as the headboard jolts and Tom tugs his restraints,

"Babe... ah fuck darling." He spits out, starting to squirm after a moment,

"Fuck, fuck, fuck." He curses, his hips involuntarily bucking up into yours as he struggles to contain himself. He lets out a loud groan as he cums, wrists red and burning as he tugs against his confines,

"Fuck." He grunts, giving one more thrust before he relaxes. You giggle, leaning over him and kissing him softly,

"Good baby?" He nods rather tiredly, glancing up as he feels you picking at the knots in his ties,

"No changing position." You demand. He nods, hands instantly rising to press over your breasts. You lean up just a little, finding the perfect spot to work back against. His hands slide down to your hips and then one slides down between them, pressing on your clit. You gasp, back arching as he circles the bud,

"That's it baby. Cum for me." He mutters, wrapping his free arm around your shoulders as you lay chest to chest against him, goosebumps erupting across your skin as the new angle allows him to press into that pleasure button. As you pick up speed, his fingers circle your clit faster, pushing you closer and closer to your high.

Each move of your hips draws a dull cry from your lips pressed to Tom's shoulder before he presses his feet to the bed, thrusting up into you. You squeal, biting into his shoulder which draws a growl from his own lips. He kisses your cheek, coaxing you along until you shudder, nuzzling your face in his chest and give a lighthearted scream as you cum for the second time. You pause, kissing his chest as his arms bind around you, legs sliding like butter down amongst the sheets as he struggles to breath below you. You hum as you rise slowly, brain clouded in a blissful haze, Tom's hands resting on your thighs as he waits for you to climb from him. You're panting as you do so, collapsing at his side, draping yourself over his arm. You pull the comforter up across your body, holding it in the crooks of your arms while Tom, just as out of breath, peels the condom from himself and tosses it into the bin beside his bed. He hums, placing his hand over your arm as he drapes the blanket across his waist, turning his head to look at you,

"Well shit." He pants out with a cheesy smile. You nod, letting out a small, breathless laugh, snuggling up into him. He runs his fingertips up your arm, tucking his other arm behind his head. You sigh, placing your hand over his chest,

"I think that was our best yet." You in part joke. He nods,

"I feel that." He mutters. Reaching up, he closed his eyes as you brush through his slightly sweat dampened hair. You lean in to kiss the corner of his mouth as his hand rests on your back, smiling and leaning in to kiss him farther after a moment. Your eyes drift to the top of his dresser where half dead roses lie,

“Wow, you weren’t kidding about your roses.” He glances up and chuckles,

“What, you think I’d lie to you about something so serious?” He jokes. You share a giggle as you lay your head against his shoulder, staring up at them for a moment longer. You raise your head again to look down into his face, heart fluttering,

"I love you. You're my everything." You tell him. He smiles, not opening his eyes for a moment. When he does open them, you watch the brown swirl, a golden speck dancing in them,

"I love you too. You're more than anything. I dunno where I'd be without you." He admits. Tracing his collarbone, he twirls a strand of your hair around his finger. Leaning back, you lay across his arm,

"Let's fantasize more. About our future. About us." You request. He hums, staring up at the ceiling as he thinks. You watch his lashes flutter,

"'Right, I want our house to be like... like warm but not like heater or natural heat warm. I want like... oven warm and I want it to smell like baked goods. And I'm," he looks at you then, eyes widening gently in worry, "I'm not like... saying I want you to sit at home and bake. I just want it to smell like baked goods just in general." You nod, staring up at him. He nods in return, glancing up at the ceiling. You hum,

"I always revert back to you with kids. I’ve always wanted to be a mom." He glances down at you again,

"You'd be a real good one, I know that much." He remarks. You smile up at him,

"Is it creepy that I always imagine you as the father of my kids? We've been together like... six months and I’ve already like… planned out their names and thought about what they’ll look like." You tell him. He chuckles and shrugs,

"I don't find it creepy, I think it's cute. You're like the only girl I've ever actually wanted to fantasize about it with." He admits. You hum, rubbing his chest,

"Fine, then I'll tell you what I think of. I think of you coming home from work and being bombarded with like... well I don't know how many but I see you being bombarded by our babies and then you sit at the table with the boys and help them with their homework as your daughter is questioning me about every little thing associated with dinner and helping me do that. She's too young to go to school of course so... she has to be distracted somehow." He nods with a smile,

"And then you teach them how to clean. Like how to do laundry and dishes and vacuum. But our baby girl will be scared of the vacuum for a few years and everytime you're trying to teach them you have to hold her." You add. He chuckles as your eyes sting in unshed tears,

“Very active imagination. That’s cute, I like it.” He remarks, unaware for a moment until he glances down. After another moment, he glances down,

"Hey. What's the matter?" He asks at the look of you, worriedly moving to brush your tears away. You shake your head and sniffle a little,

"Nothing I just... I just didn't get that growing up. I don't want what I had for our kids. This whole split family shit that I went through. I want more for them." You admit. He hums,

"And you'll get there. You're gonna be an amazing mum and hopefully I'm the dad to watch you be that. You're perfect and I couldn't ask for anything better. Our kids are going to be so fucking loved because the love I have for their mum is unreal." He rambles. You smile and nod, pressing your hand over his on your cheek,

"I know. I just... I feel like my parents said the same thing and then they fell out of love and shit. I just don't wanna go through any of that." You mutter. He nods, letting you lay your head over his shoulder,

"What do you dream about when it comes to kids?" You ask, trying to change the subject. He hums,

"Dunno. Uhm, how many kids are we talkin here?" He poses. You shrug,

"I guess if we're being serious, like... three or four." You tell him. He nods,

"I like the idea of being bombarded by little babies. I dunno if I could hold all of them though. But... I like the idea of you being pregnant and giving birth to babies that have your eyes." He jokes, leaning in to poke your nose. You smile,

"I like your eyes though." You murmur. He hums again,

"Well we'll see who our kids side with on that one." You click your tongue,

"Guess so. I like the idea of having little boys that look like me and little girls that look like you though." He purses his lips,

"Little mumma's boys and little daddy's girls. I could fuck with that." He mumbles. You smile, relaxing against him. He runs his fingers up along your spine, your brain going fuzzy as you close your eyes. You sigh, binding your arms around him. He returns the sigh,

"Why don't you get some sleep and dream some more fantasies up for me." You smile, snuggling down into his side,

"I love you." You tell him. He runs his fingers through your hair,

"Love you too darling. Get some rest." With his fingers in your hair and across your back, it isn't hard to fall asleep, your chest pressed to his. Tom glances down at you when he hears your breathing shallow, smiling down at you and pressing a kiss to your forehead,

"And happy first Valentine's my love." He whispers, kissing your temple before his own eyes close and like always with you around, he falls asleep faster than ever. Peacefully.

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"The Importance of Social Media and Web Analytics" Please respond to the following: From the case study, assess the degree to which Salina Siu effectively used YouTube to develop customer loyalty. Appraise the success potential of at least two (2) other social media methods that Salina could use to promote her business. Justify your response. * From the scenario, prioritize the most significant components of a social media campaign according to the level of influence each could have on the new product launch. Examine both the social media tools that will provide the highest return on investment (ROI), and two (2) key performance indicators (KPIs) that one could use to measure success. Provide a rationale for your response. Welcome Student | Help | Sign Out Library CoursePack Contents Font Search this article Edit Notes Edit Settings Actions SALINABEAR: MONETIZING A YOUTUBE PROFILE Karen Robson prepared this case study under the supervision of Professors Michael Parent and Anjali Bal solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmission without its written permission. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail [email protected]. As the eight millionth view started on her YouTube channel, Salina Siu put her scissors down and reflected on the amazing events of the past year. It was September 2012, and what had begun as a hobby a little over two years earlier had grown into a successful small business. Siu had started a YouTube channel, joined YouTube’s partner program, graduated from university and obtained an internship in social media in her hometown of Vancouver, Canada. All this from tutorials on how to creatively cut T-shirts! Siu’s YouTube channel, SalinaBear (http://www.youtube.com/salinabear), provided instructional videos on how to transform plain T-shirts into fashionable garments by carefully cutting them using only scissors — an apparently popular practice among teenage women. The high number of views led to Siu being accepted into YouTube’s Partner Program, whereby ads were placed next to her videos, and Siu shared in revenues resulting from either exposure to these ads or click-throughs on these ads. Siu was making good money, but not enough to replace a full-time job. Siu picked up her scissors and continued carefully cutting the neck seam on her latest project — transforming a man’s extra-large T-shirt into a trim woman’s tank top. As the blades moved effortlessly through the fabric, she thought about her options to transform the site into a bigger business that would provide enough income to warrant full-time employment. BACKGROUND Salina Siu Salina Siu, 23 years old, was part of a creative, artistic family. Her father, who enjoyed photography as a hobby, had first piqued her interested in drawing. Her mother had been a seamstress her whole life and sewed clothes part-time at home. When Siu was a young girl, her mother would ask her what new outfit she’d like her to make for her. At an early age, Siu had already started thinking like a fashion designer. She had also developed a taste for unique and custom garments. By her own admission, she had always been interested in arts and crafts: drawing, painting, photography and graphic design. Siu also pursued these interests professionally. She graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2012 from the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, with concentrations in entrepreneurship and innovation and in marketing and a minor in publishing. Throughout her coursework, she also took electives from Simon Fraser’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology, including digital image design, graphic design and drawing as inquiry. In May 2010, she bought a T-shirt at the local mall that had been cut up in the back. It was the first time she had ever seen such a thing, and she was enthralled. She immediately tried to figure out how it had been done, even searching on YouTube for videos that might show her. She commented: The videos were OK, but they really didn’t show it clearly. The production quality was poor, and the instructions were incomplete and confusing. I felt frustrated, and never really got a clear understanding of how to cut T-shirts into these neat patterns. So, I just decided to do it myself. Through trial-and-error, and with some help from my Mom, I got the hang of it really fast! It’s actually pretty easy and straightforward once you get it! This epiphany motivated her to want to make better videos than the ones currently on YouTube. She saw an opportunity to help others, while also developing valuable video-creation and -editing skills and learning about YouTube — a fast-growing medium for her generation. As a marketing graduate, she also knew the value of research, so she started watching a large number of craft tutorial videos, not only for T-shirt cutting but for all sorts of arts and crafts. Siu said: I was especially inspired by Erica Domesek and her website “P.S. I Made This” (http://psimadethis.com). Erica created a blog that taught people how to reproduce brand-name styles. She went on to publish her own book and made numerous television appearances on shows like Martha Stewart’s. She had been featured in magazines like Teen Vogue, Glamour, Lucky and InStyle, and had partnered with big brands to style and design campaigns for the likes of Coke, Ford and Roxy. She had even hosted events with big brands like Kate Spade and Gap. She was a real inspiration to me, and I sought to reproduce her success in my own way. This research led Siu to conclude that clear, accessible content was the most critical success factor for tutorial videos. Specifically, she felt that an effective instructional video should include the following: • Clearly numbered steps throughout the video so that viewers could fast-forward and rewind easily • Showing of the end product at the beginning of the video so viewers can decide right away whether the tutorial is what they’re looking for. • Clear and appropriate camera angles that show the work being performed, as it was being performed (in other words, providing an overhead view of the cutting without using cutaways that revealed a miraculously perfect product) • Proper lighting • Clear and concise instructions • Showing of all the steps • A playful, fun atmosphere that made the task look easy and approachable Siu also decided that she would not only demonstrate but also act as the model in her videos (see Salina’s website at http://www.youtube.com/salinabear for examples of her videos). She believed doing so was important to establish her credibility and provided an opportunity to showcase her personality. As far as the name for her channel, she said: I chose SalinaBear for a few reasons. First of all, I wanted the channel to have my name in it so that viewers would know who I am, and how to spell my name, as it has an unusual spelling, with an a in the first syllable, not the usual e. I also wanted to create a brand that would be unique, easy to find on the Internet, playful and fun. Finally, the thought of a cute bear in the logo appealed to me, and I thought it’d appeal to other young women. Siu uploaded her first video to YouTube in June 2010. It showed viewers how to cut strips into a “V” shape on the back of a T-shirt using only scissors — no sewing or taping required (you can view the video on her website at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbhC7hPFaLA&list=UUCYATxMpYZ4ayXG5NPxqQw&index=23). The 4-minute, 45-second video took her four hours to film and another four hours to edit before it was ready for posting. To promote the video, she shared it on craft and do-it-yourself (DIY) websites. A major boost in viewership occurred after one of these sites, CutOutAndKeep (http://ift.tt/MXhDtU) featured her video on its landing page. In fact, it remained on the landing page for one week and eventually was moved to CutOutAndKeep’s featured products page. It became SalinaBear’s most popular video, at more than 2.2 million views. In addition, some organizations and clubs gave Siu branded T-shirts for her to cut up in return for mentions in her videos. These organizations, in turn, promoted her work by distributing these videos to their networks. YouTube Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, all former employees of PayPal, founded YouTube in 2005. The site went live in Beta in May 2005, before the full-featured site was launched online later that year, in December. YouTube’s vision is “to give everyone a voice, to evolve video, and to make our partners and advertisers successful.”1 In October 2006, Google acquired YouTube for US$1.65 billion2. By January 2008, 10 hours of video were being uploaded to YouTube every minute; in October 2009, this rate increased to 15 hours of video per minute, and in March 2010, the rate had increased to 24 hours of video per minute. In 2012, YouTube was the world’s largest online video site, with roughly 72 hours of video being uploaded every minute, of which three hours per minute were being uploaded from mobile devices. YouTube began its Partner Program in December 2007. YouTube partners were content creators, and many of them were large media companies, such as Sony or Universal. Partners were able to upload videos of any length (i.e., they were not limited to 15 minutes) and were able to monetize their videos through ads or by making their videos available for rent. Partners were also offered more analytical tools to manage their sites. YouTube gave partners about 50 per cent of the revenue generated by ads on their sites, based on either cost per impressions (CPM) or cost per clicks (CPC), depending on the advertiser’s choice. Ads were placed in numerous spots on the partner’s website, at the top of the video, on the bottom of the video window or at the side. Up to three ads appeared on any one page. To become a partner, the site owners first needed to create an original video suitable for online streaming, and they needed to either own or have permission to use and monetize the video and audio content. Potential partners also needed to apply to YouTube to join the partnership program. YouTube considered how often videos were uploaded, how big their audience was and how many videos were in the potential partner’s library. YouTube had more than one million partners, with top-performing partners reputed to be making well over $100,000 per year. YouTube’s partnership agreement included a clause prohibiting partners from disclosing how much they actually earned from the partnership program, owing to the variety of factors that went into calculating compensation. However, an oft-cited estimate was $2 in earnings for every 1,000 views and $0.05 for every subscriber.3 HOW TO GET MORE THAN EIGHT MILLION VIEWS AND 47,000 SUBSCRIBERS As of September 2012, SalinaBear had 47,753 subscribers and 8,234,081 video views (an average of 10,000 unique views daily). Siu had created and posted 24 videos, and her work had received more than 5,000 comments, 28,000 likes and 1,300 dislikes. The website Social Blade tracked YouTube metrics, including those for Salina’s site (see http://ift.tt/2xqJEtA). Siu posted her first video on June 5, 2010, and she applied to be a YouTube Partner on June 15, 2010. As of June 28, she had 100 subscribers, and on June 29, YouTube approved her partnership application (see Exhibit 1). She received her first royalty cheque on November 24, 2010 (YouTube sent cheques when an account had amassed more than $100). Siu’s videos became increasingly sophisticated, while continuing to retain a light, whimsical tone. Siu also became more adept and efficient at creating the videos. They now took her about three hours to film and another three hours to edit. The videos all began with the SalinaBear logo. They then moved on to the tutorial. Some videos depicted very basic steps (e.g., how to cut a neck), while others were more complex. In some videos, she referred to earlier videos depicting these basic steps. Siu felt that three keys had led to her success: quality content, the building and nurturing of an audience and findability. Quality Content It was important for Siu to avoid mistakes that other videos had made, which is why she wanted to number the steps and explain and illustrate them clearly, using good lighting and a top view. She also believed it was important to show the finished product at the beginning of the video to give viewers an idea of what they were working toward. Finally, she believed she established her credibility by acting as both the model and creator in the videos. The response from viewers was enthusiastically positive, as attested to by the following comment, one of many on the website: oh my god. i’ve seen a ton of tutorials on weaving and this is by far the best i’ve ever seen lol. usually you can’t see what the hell the people are doing with what strings because they like to pick a black shirt or the camera is a weird angle or too far away. but i love how clean and simple your drawings are :). every step is shown and explained thoroughly :D. thank you so much! – MikoSubaru (February, 2012) Building and Nurturing an Audience “I feel a great deal of loyalty to my viewers,” Siu maintained. “They got me to where I am today, and their ongoing support has been crucial to SalinaBear’s success.” Siu kept close tabs on her viewership using YouTube’s extensive analytics (see Exhibit 2 for sample viewership data). It came as no surprise to her that the majority of the site’s views were from young women (90.2 per cent of her overall views were from women), mainly in the United States. However, it surprised her that a considerable number of views were from Mexico, the United Kingdom and the Philippines. During the first four months, she felt it was important to reply to all comments on the channel. However, it became too repetitive to thank everyone, so she limited her replies to more complicated questions. She also created an FAQ (frequently asked questions) video addressing popular topics. In April 2011, after hitting one million views, she created a special “thank you” video for her fans and followers. The growth in the site’s views was, at first, mainly organic, with very little effort on Siu’s part. In addition to having posted the videos on DIY sites, Siu had also posted them to her personal Facebook profile. She used the biography of her Twitter account (@salinasiu) to refer to SalinaBear. She created a Flickr account that displayed her T-shirts and encouraged fans to subscribe to her YouTube channel (http://ift.tt/2gWYXiH). She also used Pinterest (http://ift.tt/2xqfmHg). Out of her 20 boards on Pinterest, the board that had attracted the most engagement showed photos of her own designs and YouTube videos and T-shirts that others had cut up. Including designs by others on her Pinterest boards reflected Siu’s underlying belief that reciprocity was a big part of success in social media marketing efforts. She was also pleased that every time she logged into Pinterest, her recent repins and likes were mostly from strangers who had discovered her “Cut T-Shirt” pinboard. Findability Siu devoted considerable attention and energy to ensuring that interested viewers could find her site: she knew that it was not enough to have an interesting topic and well-made videos. After all, many good videos on the Internet were never discovered. Luckily for Siu, when she started her channel, only a handful of users were making T-shirt-cutting tutorials. Siu considered this topic to have little competition. Siu believed the other key findability factor was search engine optimization (SEO), which was improved through the use of keywords. She used targeted keywords in the videos’ titles. She used Google AdWords’ Keyword Tool to determine which keywords were most popular. The title of the video was especially important: Siu strived for a balance between being descriptive and enticing viewers. By responding to Comments, she created buzz around her videos, thus increasing the videos’ rating on the search results. CHALLENGES Imitation, far from being the sincerest form of flattery, was endemic on the web, especially on YouTube. Paradoxically, by helping people, Siu was also empowering them. Nothing prevented anyone else from either imitating or even bettering her. As such, her competition was essentially unbounded. Moreover, she believed that viewers expected instructional and informational videos to be free. After all, she herself had turned to YouTube after buying her first cut T-shirt! Consumers’ reluctance to pay for content constrained her options for the future of the site. In some ways, Siu wanted to transform SalinaBear into a full-time job and career. However, she felt she needed at least a tenfold increase in revenues to do so. She did have several options worth pursuing: she could charge for her videos via another platform; charge rent on her videos on YouTube; sell DIY kits; create a physical shop, and conduct in-person group or individual tutorials; and/or expand her brand, in much the way Erica Domesek had done, by developing a new line of tutorials focusing on nail art, jewellery or other crafts. Charging for Videos In early 2010, YouTube began experimenting with paid content — that is, having users pay for access to certain content; in this case, YouTube offered some select films from the Sundance Film Festival.4 This experiment eventually morphed into a product YouTube called YouTube Rentals,5 in Beta form, as of September 2012. More traditional sites, such as Blockbuster, Redbox and Netflix, also rented movies and television shows, as did Apple’s iTunes. However, these sites did not host instructional videos. Instructional video sites, such as TeacherTube, EduTube and Mylearningtube, hosted similar videos, but they were more school-focused, not hobby-focused. Finally, numerous arts and crafts sites, such as Martha Stewart’s and SimpleKidsCrafts, hosted DIY videos, but they were not paying sites. If Siu chose this path, she faced the challenge of either finding a suitable paying distribution channel for her videos or the daunting task of creating a pay channel of her own. DIY Kits Siu had also considered creating and selling DIY (do-it-yourself) kits. She pictured these kits to contain scissors, a ruler and a couple of T-shirts with dotted lines printed on them to instruct people where to cut. These kits would pair well with her existing videos, and promoting them on her videos would be easy, but she wondered whether people would buy them. One option was to sell them online, perhaps via Amazon.com, although yet another option was to develop a relationship with an existing retail chain. Such kits were popular with arts and crafts retailers, including the arts and crafts retail giant Michaels. She could also develop a tutorial book or a book of patterns, which she could sell in addition to or packaged with the DIY kits. Physical Shop Many viewers had asked Siu whether she gave in-person workshops or tutorials. So far, she had demurred. If these workshops and tutorials weren’t free, she felt that not enough people would be interested to make this option financially viable. She would also face the challenge of scaling the operation. However, she realized that could open a physical retail store, where she could both conduct tutorials and sell some of her creations. She’d been inspired by Hamburger Disco, a brand run by two of her friends, which had only sold products online until opening a pop-up store in Vancouver. Her friends had asked Siu to cut one of their T-shirts to promote their pop-up store; in return, Hamburger Disco cross-promoted the video she had created. Based on their experience, and on advice from others, she believed she’d need at least $10,000 to open a small store, buy inventory and run it for six months without a profit. Aside from the time and energy needed to establish a retail presence, she knew that the majority of her viewers and fans were located in the United States, and she wondered whether marketing her brand in her hometown would work. In addition, Siu also realized that running a physical retail store was vastly different from maintaining the online presence she had created. The skills required to run a store were not the skills she had developed as a video producer and on-air personality. Although the store option didn’t play to current her skills, interests and competencies, she acknowledged that it could be a necessary step in growing her brand. Brand Extension The last option was to branch out into other types of crafts, such as nail art or jewellery. Siu believed that she had created a strong brand presence on YouTube. Moreover, the SalinaBear brand name was sufficiently vague to allow for many other types of products, not just crafts. Siu wondered whether she could start small by choosing one or two categories to pursue, produce a few videos and then load them onto the SalinaBear site, or whether she should, instead, segment her products through separate YouTube channels (e.g., SalinaBear T’s for T-shirts and SalinaBear Jewels for jewellery. She wondered whether her audience would follow her and whether her personality was appealing enough to distinguish her from all the others on YouTube. Next Steps As her latest creation took shape, Siu reflected on her future and on her options. Life had suddenly become very busy, and she’d found herself posting a video apologizing to her subscribers for being away so long. She wondered whether SalinaBear was more than just a short-term experiment, and whether devoting her energy to growing the business would be a wise and profitable long-term move. Exhibit 1 TIMELINE TO FIRST YOUTUBE ROYALTY CHEQUE AND VIEWERSHIP NUMBERS Source: Salina Siu Exhibit 2 SELECTED YOUTUBE ANALYTICS DATA FOR SALINABEAR (JULY 2012) Source: Salina Siu 1 YouTube, “Frequently Asked Questions,” http://www.youtube.com/t/faq, accessed July 1, 2012. 2 All currency amounts shown are in U.S. dollars unless specified otherwise. 3 http://ift.tt/2gWP7xp, accessed July 1, 2012. 4 Jolie O’Dell,” YouTube Will Start Charging for Some Videos,” ReadWrite, January 20, 2010, http://ift.tt/2xqfoim, accessed July 1, 2012. 5 YouTube, “YouTube Rentals Beta,” http://www.youtube.com/t/youtube_rentals, accessed July 1, 2012. Copyright © 2012, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation Version: 2012-12-19 Scroll down for the next article • Copy • Highlighting Toolbar Settings... • CoursePack Contents Page • Back (to article beginning) • Next Article • Last Article • Back • Forward • Reload • Stop MKT 500 Week 8 Scenario: Developing Social Media Campaigns for the New Product Launch Slide # Scene # Narration Slide 1 Scene 1 [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] Ed and Samantha meet in the morning to discuss the next steps in the tablet PC launch. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-1: Good morning, Ed. How are you doing today? MKT500_8_1_Ed-1: Good morning, I’m doing quite well. What about yourself? MKT500_8_1_Samantha-2: Good, thanks. I’m really proud of the progress we’ve been making with our tablet launch, and I’m excited for the next steps. MKT500_8_1_Ed-2: I love your enthusiasm, Samantha! I spoke with Carl earlier. He said now that we have selected our advertising media and budget, we need to take a deeper look into social media. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-3: Yes, the enormity of today’s media choices—the Internet alone—makes it a wonderful time to be alive. Social media is at the cutting edge of this trend. MKT500_8_1_Ed-3: As we discussed, we can use social media as one of our main media outlets for advertising the new tablets. However, mobile marketing is growing because our cell phones are particularly convenient; they contain our identities and those of the people we talk to frequently. They are our portals to email, social media and networking sites, which are many people’s primary means of sharing information and entertainment. Interestingly enough, at the same time that electronic and information technologies are becoming more accessible and pervasive, traditional media are experiencing their own changes. Slide 2 Interaction Hover your mouse over each media to discover more information about the changes they are undergoing. Newspaper Newspaper circulations are declining, and while optimists continue to launch new magazines every year, their overall sales and circulations are down as well. Radio The number of radio stations has grown, boosted by satellite servers, but listeners are tuned in for less time each day than just a few years ago. TV Television channels also continue to grow. The bad news about this fragmentation is that with more TV channels, the audience for any given show is typically smaller. The good news is that targeting is a facilitated when the segments of viewers are somewhat more homogeneous. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4: Hover your mouse over each type of media to discover more information about the changes they are undergoing. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4_Tab A: Newspaper circulations are declining, and while optimists continue to launch new magazines every year, their overall sales and circulations are down as well. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4_Tab B: The number of radio stations has grown, boosted by satellite servers, but listeners are tuned in for less time each day than just a few years ago. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4_Tab C: Television channels also continue to grow. The bad news about this fragmentation is that with more TV channels, the audience for any given show is typically smaller. The good news is that targeting is facilitated when the segments of viewers are somewhat more homogeneous. Slide 3 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] (Display social media graphic) MKT500_8_1_Samantha-3: Very interesting, Ed. I hadn’t realized the effects of social media on more traditional media types. MKT500_8_1_Ed-5: The other part of the “social media” story is its social, or human, element. Belonging to different communities and interacting with different people in our social roles is part of our identity. The most fundamental means of interaction is dialogue. In social media, customers have become participants in a dialogue with marketers or brands. Traditionally, customers had been mere recipients of one-way messages that had been shot out by marketers, but now customers have a means of talking back. For example, customers post positive endorsements about brands, and they also use the web to vent. I often vent on Facebook about restaurants where I have had a bad experience. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-4: (pointing to graphic of different types of social media) This is very true. Are there certain types of social media that you had in mind for our tablet launch? I have a Facebook account and use Twitter and Pinterest frequently, but I feel that using all of these might be overkill for our new tablet launch. MKT500_8_1_Ed-6: Well, there are a few sites that I believe will provide Golds Reling with very strong exposure during our initial launch. Let me show you this short video that discusses the advantages of using social media in our marketing campaign. Slide 4 Social Media Marketing in 3 Minutes Slide 5 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-5: Thanks for sharing that video, Ed. I understand better how social media helps connect companies to customers, and helps customers get to know, like, and trust companies better. MKT500_8_1_Ed-7: Yes. The key to a successful social media campaign is selecting a social media that creates good W.O.M. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-6: What is W.O.M.? MKT500_8_1_Ed-8: W.O.M. is Word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth works on inherently exciting products like Golds Reling’s new tablet, and it also works where the notion of buzz marketing makes sense. Yet creative brand managers have launched clever ad campaigns that get talked about even for pretty mundane products, too; the key being that the product and the message are meaningful to the customer. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-7: Okay. You know, I learned in my classes at Strayer University that different social media combined create social networks. In social networks, there are some members that are more connected and influential than others. We need to leverage these interpersonal group dynamics, ideally locating the highly connected influential members, to induce their trial of our tablet, in turn initiating and propelling the diffusion process. MKT500_8_1_Ed-9: You’re right. To locate these influential members and get the word out about our tablet, we need to study how these potential consumers, or actors, are embedded in these networks to locate those that are relatively central. Centrality indices are computed for each actor in the network to describe the position of that actor relative to others in the network. The easiest and most common way to compute centrality is to count the number of connections each actor has with the others in the network. An index of degree centrality is derived for each actor—those with many links are said to be relatively central, and those with fewer links are more peripheral. In order to determine the degree of centrality for these consumers, we need to create several different accounts on various social media forums for Golds Reling. Strong centrality will be useful in creating buzz for our new tablets. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-8: Okay. We can start working on this right away. MKT500_8_1_Ed-10: First, though, let’s begin with answering the return of investments, or ROI, issues. As you know, Carl is always focused on the bottom line. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-9: What should we focus on in terms of ROI? MKT500_8_1_Ed-11: As with traditional media, we can begin to answer return on investment questions only if we know the goal that the marketing action was initially intended to achieve. Based on our goals, selecting the media and ROI measures are rather straightforward. When estimating ROI, which is really the efficiency of investments, the primary expenditures might not be media buys or explicit budgetary contributions so much as salary equivalents of people’s time allocations. We also need to consider KPIs. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-10: I know that KPIs are key performance indicators, but how do we identify KPIs for social media? MKT500_8_1_Ed-12: KPI’s for social media are analogous to traditional measures for advertising effectiveness. Specifically, marketers are always interested in quantifying reach, frequency, monetary value of customers, customers’ behaviors, attitudes, and memory, including recall and recognition. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-11: So, how can we determine the ROI and KPIs for our tablet? MKT500_8_1_Ed-13: I’m glad you asked this question, Samantha. A common way to determine ROI for social media is through conversation rate. This term refers to the true engagement for conversations in your social media communities. Conversations will be different depending on the network. For example, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs are focused on comments; however, Twitter is measured with mentions and hashtags. We, therefore, calculate the figures for each network, and calculate how many conversations took place about our company and products per post, tweet, or video submission. Another method we can use is viewability rate. This metric is a little harder to find on Twitter. However, for other networks and mediums such as Facebook, YouTube, and our blog, it is the total number of views or impressions per post. This is not as important as the conversation rate, but it is always satisfying to see how often your content is being looked at, and if no one is seeing it, then you better find a way to get users to view it! MKT500_8_1_Samantha-12: I see. Thank you for that explanation. Before we move on, let me check to make sure I understand what you are saying about KPIs. Slide 6 Check Your Understanding KPIs for social media are _________ traditional measures for advertising effectiveness. A) very different from B) analogous to C) opposite of D) inconsistent with Feedback: Incorrect A – very different from: KPI’s are very similar to traditional media. Correct B – analogous: KPI’s are very similar to traditional media. Incorrect C – opposite of: KPI’s are very similar to traditional media. Incorrect D – inconsistent with: KPI’s are very consistent with traditional media measurements. Slide 7 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-13: Great information, Ed, but can we go back to the word-of-mouth concept? How do we know consumers are talking about our new tablets on social media? How can we capture this and make it work for Golds Reling? MKT500_8_1_Ed-14: Word-of-mouth conversations and other customer-to-customer information flows have become a rich new source of consumer insights. There are two main categories for the ways in which consumers receive information about companies and their products: passive listening and active intervention. Slide 8 Interaction Click the tabs to learn more about passive listening in marketing. Passive Listening Research shows that a lot is learned from lurking, or web crawling, and scraping, all of which are examples of passive listening: Tab A - Tweets, blogs, and discussion forums are monitored to make predictions about new product launches more accurate. Tab B - Companies use text analyses on Facebook to get a read on customer opinions about their brands. Tab C - Beyond the brand itself, content analysis has been useful in detecting developing consumer trends. Tab D - Brand managers check websites for misinformation to try to nip bad, grassroots PR in the bud. MKT500_8_1_Ed-15: Click the tabs to learn more about passive listening in marketing. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16: Passive Listening Research shows that a lot is learned from lurking, web crawling, and scraping, all of which are examples of passive listening: MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab A: Tweets, blogs, and discussion forums are monitored to make predictions about new product launches more accurate. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab B: Companies use text analyses on Facebook to get a read on customer opinions about their brands. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16¬_Tab C: Beyond the brand itself, content analysis has been useful in detecting developing consumer trends. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab D: Brand managers check websites for misinformation to try to nip bad, grassroots PR in the bud. Slide 9 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-14: Great information, Ed. What can you tell me about active interventions? Slide 10 Interaction Click the tabs to learn more about active interventions. Active Interventions Tab A - Marketers enter online communities and ask for paid volunteers to be user groups to test beta products and offer feedback. Tab B - Marketers conduct experiments. In the so-called A / B split tests, one group is exposed to one ad, new product description, or whatever element of the marketing mix the marketer is testing. The other group is either a control group, or they see a different version of an ad, new product description, etc. The marketer then compares brand attitudes or subsequent sales in test markets to detect some lift due to the marketing intervention. Tab C - A company may wish to measure comparative click-through rates, member sign-up rates, or purchase valuation, as a function of whether the ad appeal is more rational or emotional, whether video or script endorsements are featured, which price is posted and whether a discount is available. Tab D - GPS data function much like live cookies, storing information for your convenience upon return while still protecting your privacy. The purpose of GPS units in phones was originally consumer service for mapping. GPS units are becoming geo-retailing units, and they will soon offer extremely timely opportunities for marketers, though some may consider this more intrusive than timely. A motivated company will know where its customers are at all times. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17: Click the tabs to learn more about active interventions. Active Interventions MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab A: Marketers enter online communities and ask for paid volunteers to be user groups to test beta products and offer feedback. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab B: Marketers conduct experiments. In the so-called A / B split tests, one group is exposed to one ad, new product description, or whatever element of the marketing mix the marketer is testing. The other group is either a control group, or they see a different version of an ad, featuring a new product description. The marketer then compares brand attitudes or subsequent sales in test markets to detect some lift due to the marketing intervention. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab C: A company may wish to measure comparative click-through rates, member sign-up rates, or purchase valuation as a function of whether the ad appeal is more rational or emotional, whether video or script endorsements are featured, which price is posted and whether a discount is available. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab D: GPS data function much like live cookies, storing information for your convenience upon return while still protecting your privacy. The purpose of GPS units in phones was originally consumer service for mapping. GPS units are becoming geo-retailing units, and they will soon offer extremely timely opportunities for marketers, though some may consider this more intrusive than timely. A motivated company will know where its customers are at all times. Slide 11 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Ed-18: In general, social media pundits advise that any corporate postings or representations have to start by being interesting – otherwise, consumers won’t even read them! The content needs to be honest, not defensive, and not too “corporate”. There needs to be transparency to customers, employees, and stakeholders. Being transparent usually means being honest, building trust, and creating the opportunity for two-way dialog. Social media have sufficient variety and prevalence that they can be a tremendous marketing tool—if we can offer something that provides value to those customers, and reaches them in a way that matters to them. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-15: You’ve given me a lot of valuable information about social media, Ed. MKT500_8_1_Ed-19: I’m glad that you feel that way. Next, we can start by creating Golds Reling accounts for each of these social media applications. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-16: Well, since we already have a Facebook account, I can create a Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest account for Golds Reling. MKT500_8_1_Ed-20: Excellent. Let’s break for now, and then we can organize our information for Carl. Slide 12 Scene 2 [Ed, Samantha, Carl – Conference Room] Ed, Samantha, and Carl meet in the conference room to discuss the social media aspects of the product launch. MKT500_8_2_Carl-1: Good afternoon, Ed and Samantha. I saw you both looking very busy in Ed’s office earlier. I’m looking forward to hearing the information that you two have put together concerning social media marketing for our new tablets. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-1: Yes, Ed and I have been very busy. We have analyzed and concluded some basic concepts. MKT500_8_2_Carl-2: And what would these be? MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-2: Social media are an abundant opportunity for Golds Reling. Social media provides a web-based means for customers to interact with friends and strangers by posting opinions, pictures, and videos. Social networks are the structures of interconnections among customers that propagate word-of-mouth. Networks can be drawn and analyzed, and the actors measured on indices of centrality to assist Golds Reling in finding opinion leaders and influential consumers. Our campaign would identify these actors within two months of launch and create great buzz for our new tablets. A great feature of social media is the measurement methods; these are ROI and KPIs, and they can be computed with the help of online analytics, as for any marketing effort. MKT500_8_2_Carl-3: Good points! Why do you believe that investing in advertising through social media would be the right decision for Golds Reling and our new tablet? MKT500_8_2_ Ed-1: Social media is a great way to generate repeat business and to attract new customers. Furthermore, the target market we have selected are big users of social media. Golds Reling already has a Facebook account, but we believe that creating accounts for Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest will really help boost the conversation rate, and, thereby, the word-of-mouth, for both our company as a whole as well as our new tablet. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-3: Carl, by utilizing social media, we feel that Golds Reling is spending our advertising money wisely. MKT500_8_2_Carl-4: Ok, sounds like a good investment. Explain how we are going to measure this investment. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-4: The key is to communicate the different features of our new tablet and to have consistency in the message we choose for social media. Measuring effectiveness will occur through KPI’s, recall, attitudes, click rates, and conversation and viewability rates from social media communications. MKT500_8_2_Carl-5: Excellent. I like what I’m hearing. Social media sounds perfect for generating buzz and word-of-mouth about our new tablet. I agree that Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest accounts for Golds Reling will be excellent additions to our existing Facebook account. Very nice work, both of you. Slide 13 Check Your Understanding What social media term refers to a set of actors (or nodes) and the relational ties that link them? A) Team B) Group C) Network D) Forum Incorrect A – Team: This is not the terminology used to describe relationships in social media. Incorrect B – Group: Although a group includes two or more people, this is not a part of the relational ties. Correct C – Social Network: A network is defined as the set of actors (or nodes) and the relational ties that link them. Actors may be customers, firms, brands, concepts, countries, etc. The connections between the actors are relational ties (or links). Ties can be symmetric or directional, and they can be binary or vary in strength. Incorrect D – Forum: Although this is a close description, it doesn’t explain the interaction experienced in social media. Slide 14 Scene 3 [Ed, Samantha – Hallway] MKT500_8_3_Samantha-1: Today was a highly informative day. Using social media for marketing can help us generate word-of-mouth about our tablet, especially if we are able to connect with the most influential members of social networks. MKT500_8_3_Ed-1: Absolutely. It will also help customers identify Golds Reling as a company they know, like and trust. Don’t forget to complete the e-Activity and particip

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The post “The Importance of Social Media and Web Analytics” Please respond to the following: From the case study, assess the degree to which Salina Siu effectively used YouTube to develop customer loyalty. Appraise the success potential of at least two (2) other social media methods that Salina could use to promote her business. Justify your response. * From the scenario, prioritize the most significant components of a social media campaign according to the level of influence each could have on the new product launch. Examine both the social media tools that will provide the highest return on investment (ROI), and two (2) key performance indicators (KPIs) that one could use to measure success. Provide a rationale for your response. Welcome Student | Help | Sign Out Library CoursePack Contents Font Search this article Edit Notes Edit Settings Actions SALINABEAR: MONETIZING A YOUTUBE PROFILE Karen Robson prepared this case study under the supervision of Professors Michael Parent and Anjali Bal solely to provide material for class discussion. The authors do not intend to illustrate either effective or ineffective handling of a managerial situation. Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation prohibits any form of reproduction, storage or transmission without its written permission. Reproduction of this material is not covered under authorization by any reproduction rights organization. To order copies or request permission to reproduce materials, contact Ivey Publishing, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation, The University of Western Ontario, London, Ontario, Canada, N6A 3K7; phone (519) 661-3208; fax (519) 661-3882; e-mail [email protected]. As the eight millionth view started on her YouTube channel, Salina Siu put her scissors down and reflected on the amazing events of the past year. It was September 2012, and what had begun as a hobby a little over two years earlier had grown into a successful small business. Siu had started a YouTube channel, joined YouTube’s partner program, graduated from university and obtained an internship in social media in her hometown of Vancouver, Canada. All this from tutorials on how to creatively cut T-shirts! Siu’s YouTube channel, SalinaBear (http://www.youtube.com/salinabear), provided instructional videos on how to transform plain T-shirts into fashionable garments by carefully cutting them using only scissors — an apparently popular practice among teenage women. The high number of views led to Siu being accepted into YouTube’s Partner Program, whereby ads were placed next to her videos, and Siu shared in revenues resulting from either exposure to these ads or click-throughs on these ads. Siu was making good money, but not enough to replace a full-time job. Siu picked up her scissors and continued carefully cutting the neck seam on her latest project — transforming a man’s extra-large T-shirt into a trim woman’s tank top. As the blades moved effortlessly through the fabric, she thought about her options to transform the site into a bigger business that would provide enough income to warrant full-time employment. BACKGROUND Salina Siu Salina Siu, 23 years old, was part of a creative, artistic family. Her father, who enjoyed photography as a hobby, had first piqued her interested in drawing. Her mother had been a seamstress her whole life and sewed clothes part-time at home. When Siu was a young girl, her mother would ask her what new outfit she’d like her to make for her. At an early age, Siu had already started thinking like a fashion designer. She had also developed a taste for unique and custom garments. By her own admission, she had always been interested in arts and crafts: drawing, painting, photography and graphic design. Siu also pursued these interests professionally. She graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Business Administration in 2012 from the Beedie School of Business at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada, with concentrations in entrepreneurship and innovation and in marketing and a minor in publishing. Throughout her coursework, she also took electives from Simon Fraser’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology, including digital image design, graphic design and drawing as inquiry. In May 2010, she bought a T-shirt at the local mall that had been cut up in the back. It was the first time she had ever seen such a thing, and she was enthralled. She immediately tried to figure out how it had been done, even searching on YouTube for videos that might show her. She commented: The videos were OK, but they really didn’t show it clearly. The production quality was poor, and the instructions were incomplete and confusing. I felt frustrated, and never really got a clear understanding of how to cut T-shirts into these neat patterns. So, I just decided to do it myself. Through trial-and-error, and with some help from my Mom, I got the hang of it really fast! It’s actually pretty easy and straightforward once you get it! This epiphany motivated her to want to make better videos than the ones currently on YouTube. She saw an opportunity to help others, while also developing valuable video-creation and -editing skills and learning about YouTube — a fast-growing medium for her generation. As a marketing graduate, she also knew the value of research, so she started watching a large number of craft tutorial videos, not only for T-shirt cutting but for all sorts of arts and crafts. Siu said: I was especially inspired by Erica Domesek and her website “P.S. I Made This” (http://psimadethis.com). Erica created a blog that taught people how to reproduce brand-name styles. She went on to publish her own book and made numerous television appearances on shows like Martha Stewart’s. She had been featured in magazines like Teen Vogue, Glamour, Lucky and InStyle, and had partnered with big brands to style and design campaigns for the likes of Coke, Ford and Roxy. She had even hosted events with big brands like Kate Spade and Gap. She was a real inspiration to me, and I sought to reproduce her success in my own way. This research led Siu to conclude that clear, accessible content was the most critical success factor for tutorial videos. Specifically, she felt that an effective instructional video should include the following: • Clearly numbered steps throughout the video so that viewers could fast-forward and rewind easily • Showing of the end product at the beginning of the video so viewers can decide right away whether the tutorial is what they’re looking for. • Clear and appropriate camera angles that show the work being performed, as it was being performed (in other words, providing an overhead view of the cutting without using cutaways that revealed a miraculously perfect product) • Proper lighting • Clear and concise instructions • Showing of all the steps • A playful, fun atmosphere that made the task look easy and approachable Siu also decided that she would not only demonstrate but also act as the model in her videos (see Salina’s website at http://www.youtube.com/salinabear for examples of her videos). She believed doing so was important to establish her credibility and provided an opportunity to showcase her personality. As far as the name for her channel, she said: I chose SalinaBear for a few reasons. First of all, I wanted the channel to have my name in it so that viewers would know who I am, and how to spell my name, as it has an unusual spelling, with an a in the first syllable, not the usual e. I also wanted to create a brand that would be unique, easy to find on the Internet, playful and fun. Finally, the thought of a cute bear in the logo appealed to me, and I thought it’d appeal to other young women. Siu uploaded her first video to YouTube in June 2010. It showed viewers how to cut strips into a “V” shape on the back of a T-shirt using only scissors — no sewing or taping required (you can view the video on her website at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BbhC7hPFaLA&list=UUCYATxMpYZ4ayXG5NPxqQw&index=23). The 4-minute, 45-second video took her four hours to film and another four hours to edit before it was ready for posting. To promote the video, she shared it on craft and do-it-yourself (DIY) websites. A major boost in viewership occurred after one of these sites, CutOutAndKeep (http://ift.tt/MXhDtU) featured her video on its landing page. In fact, it remained on the landing page for one week and eventually was moved to CutOutAndKeep’s featured products page. It became SalinaBear’s most popular video, at more than 2.2 million views. In addition, some organizations and clubs gave Siu branded T-shirts for her to cut up in return for mentions in her videos. These organizations, in turn, promoted her work by distributing these videos to their networks. YouTube Chad Hurley, Steve Chen and Jawed Karim, all former employees of PayPal, founded YouTube in 2005. The site went live in Beta in May 2005, before the full-featured site was launched online later that year, in December. YouTube’s vision is “to give everyone a voice, to evolve video, and to make our partners and advertisers successful.”1 In October 2006, Google acquired YouTube for US$1.65 billion2. By January 2008, 10 hours of video were being uploaded to YouTube every minute; in October 2009, this rate increased to 15 hours of video per minute, and in March 2010, the rate had increased to 24 hours of video per minute. In 2012, YouTube was the world’s largest online video site, with roughly 72 hours of video being uploaded every minute, of which three hours per minute were being uploaded from mobile devices. YouTube began its Partner Program in December 2007. YouTube partners were content creators, and many of them were large media companies, such as Sony or Universal. Partners were able to upload videos of any length (i.e., they were not limited to 15 minutes) and were able to monetize their videos through ads or by making their videos available for rent. Partners were also offered more analytical tools to manage their sites. YouTube gave partners about 50 per cent of the revenue generated by ads on their sites, based on either cost per impressions (CPM) or cost per clicks (CPC), depending on the advertiser’s choice. Ads were placed in numerous spots on the partner’s website, at the top of the video, on the bottom of the video window or at the side. Up to three ads appeared on any one page. To become a partner, the site owners first needed to create an original video suitable for online streaming, and they needed to either own or have permission to use and monetize the video and audio content. Potential partners also needed to apply to YouTube to join the partnership program. YouTube considered how often videos were uploaded, how big their audience was and how many videos were in the potential partner’s library. YouTube had more than one million partners, with top-performing partners reputed to be making well over $100,000 per year. YouTube’s partnership agreement included a clause prohibiting partners from disclosing how much they actually earned from the partnership program, owing to the variety of factors that went into calculating compensation. However, an oft-cited estimate was $2 in earnings for every 1,000 views and $0.05 for every subscriber.3 HOW TO GET MORE THAN EIGHT MILLION VIEWS AND 47,000 SUBSCRIBERS As of September 2012, SalinaBear had 47,753 subscribers and 8,234,081 video views (an average of 10,000 unique views daily). Siu had created and posted 24 videos, and her work had received more than 5,000 comments, 28,000 likes and 1,300 dislikes. The website Social Blade tracked YouTube metrics, including those for Salina’s site (see http://ift.tt/2xqJEtA). Siu posted her first video on June 5, 2010, and she applied to be a YouTube Partner on June 15, 2010. As of June 28, she had 100 subscribers, and on June 29, YouTube approved her partnership application (see Exhibit 1). She received her first royalty cheque on November 24, 2010 (YouTube sent cheques when an account had amassed more than $100). Siu’s videos became increasingly sophisticated, while continuing to retain a light, whimsical tone. Siu also became more adept and efficient at creating the videos. They now took her about three hours to film and another three hours to edit. The videos all began with the SalinaBear logo. They then moved on to the tutorial. Some videos depicted very basic steps (e.g., how to cut a neck), while others were more complex. In some videos, she referred to earlier videos depicting these basic steps. Siu felt that three keys had led to her success: quality content, the building and nurturing of an audience and findability. Quality Content It was important for Siu to avoid mistakes that other videos had made, which is why she wanted to number the steps and explain and illustrate them clearly, using good lighting and a top view. She also believed it was important to show the finished product at the beginning of the video to give viewers an idea of what they were working toward. Finally, she believed she established her credibility by acting as both the model and creator in the videos. The response from viewers was enthusiastically positive, as attested to by the following comment, one of many on the website: oh my god. i’ve seen a ton of tutorials on weaving and this is by far the best i’ve ever seen lol. usually you can’t see what the hell the people are doing with what strings because they like to pick a black shirt or the camera is a weird angle or too far away. but i love how clean and simple your drawings are :). every step is shown and explained thoroughly :D. thank you so much! – MikoSubaru (February, 2012) Building and Nurturing an Audience “I feel a great deal of loyalty to my viewers,” Siu maintained. “They got me to where I am today, and their ongoing support has been crucial to SalinaBear’s success.” Siu kept close tabs on her viewership using YouTube’s extensive analytics (see Exhibit 2 for sample viewership data). It came as no surprise to her that the majority of the site’s views were from young women (90.2 per cent of her overall views were from women), mainly in the United States. However, it surprised her that a considerable number of views were from Mexico, the United Kingdom and the Philippines. During the first four months, she felt it was important to reply to all comments on the channel. However, it became too repetitive to thank everyone, so she limited her replies to more complicated questions. She also created an FAQ (frequently asked questions) video addressing popular topics. In April 2011, after hitting one million views, she created a special “thank you” video for her fans and followers. The growth in the site’s views was, at first, mainly organic, with very little effort on Siu’s part. In addition to having posted the videos on DIY sites, Siu had also posted them to her personal Facebook profile. She used the biography of her Twitter account (@salinasiu) to refer to SalinaBear. She created a Flickr account that displayed her T-shirts and encouraged fans to subscribe to her YouTube channel (http://ift.tt/2gWYXiH). She also used Pinterest (http://ift.tt/2xqfmHg). Out of her 20 boards on Pinterest, the board that had attracted the most engagement showed photos of her own designs and YouTube videos and T-shirts that others had cut up. Including designs by others on her Pinterest boards reflected Siu’s underlying belief that reciprocity was a big part of success in social media marketing efforts. She was also pleased that every time she logged into Pinterest, her recent repins and likes were mostly from strangers who had discovered her “Cut T-Shirt” pinboard. Findability Siu devoted considerable attention and energy to ensuring that interested viewers could find her site: she knew that it was not enough to have an interesting topic and well-made videos. After all, many good videos on the Internet were never discovered. Luckily for Siu, when she started her channel, only a handful of users were making T-shirt-cutting tutorials. Siu considered this topic to have little competition. Siu believed the other key findability factor was search engine optimization (SEO), which was improved through the use of keywords. She used targeted keywords in the videos’ titles. She used Google AdWords’ Keyword Tool to determine which keywords were most popular. The title of the video was especially important: Siu strived for a balance between being descriptive and enticing viewers. By responding to Comments, she created buzz around her videos, thus increasing the videos’ rating on the search results. CHALLENGES Imitation, far from being the sincerest form of flattery, was endemic on the web, especially on YouTube. Paradoxically, by helping people, Siu was also empowering them. Nothing prevented anyone else from either imitating or even bettering her. As such, her competition was essentially unbounded. Moreover, she believed that viewers expected instructional and informational videos to be free. After all, she herself had turned to YouTube after buying her first cut T-shirt! Consumers’ reluctance to pay for content constrained her options for the future of the site. In some ways, Siu wanted to transform SalinaBear into a full-time job and career. However, she felt she needed at least a tenfold increase in revenues to do so. She did have several options worth pursuing: she could charge for her videos via another platform; charge rent on her videos on YouTube; sell DIY kits; create a physical shop, and conduct in-person group or individual tutorials; and/or expand her brand, in much the way Erica Domesek had done, by developing a new line of tutorials focusing on nail art, jewellery or other crafts. Charging for Videos In early 2010, YouTube began experimenting with paid content — that is, having users pay for access to certain content; in this case, YouTube offered some select films from the Sundance Film Festival.4 This experiment eventually morphed into a product YouTube called YouTube Rentals,5 in Beta form, as of September 2012. More traditional sites, such as Blockbuster, Redbox and Netflix, also rented movies and television shows, as did Apple’s iTunes. However, these sites did not host instructional videos. Instructional video sites, such as TeacherTube, EduTube and Mylearningtube, hosted similar videos, but they were more school-focused, not hobby-focused. Finally, numerous arts and crafts sites, such as Martha Stewart’s and SimpleKidsCrafts, hosted DIY videos, but they were not paying sites. If Siu chose this path, she faced the challenge of either finding a suitable paying distribution channel for her videos or the daunting task of creating a pay channel of her own. DIY Kits Siu had also considered creating and selling DIY (do-it-yourself) kits. She pictured these kits to contain scissors, a ruler and a couple of T-shirts with dotted lines printed on them to instruct people where to cut. These kits would pair well with her existing videos, and promoting them on her videos would be easy, but she wondered whether people would buy them. One option was to sell them online, perhaps via Amazon.com, although yet another option was to develop a relationship with an existing retail chain. Such kits were popular with arts and crafts retailers, including the arts and crafts retail giant Michaels. She could also develop a tutorial book or a book of patterns, which she could sell in addition to or packaged with the DIY kits. Physical Shop Many viewers had asked Siu whether she gave in-person workshops or tutorials. So far, she had demurred. If these workshops and tutorials weren’t free, she felt that not enough people would be interested to make this option financially viable. She would also face the challenge of scaling the operation. However, she realized that could open a physical retail store, where she could both conduct tutorials and sell some of her creations. She’d been inspired by Hamburger Disco, a brand run by two of her friends, which had only sold products online until opening a pop-up store in Vancouver. Her friends had asked Siu to cut one of their T-shirts to promote their pop-up store; in return, Hamburger Disco cross-promoted the video she had created. Based on their experience, and on advice from others, she believed she’d need at least $10,000 to open a small store, buy inventory and run it for six months without a profit. Aside from the time and energy needed to establish a retail presence, she knew that the majority of her viewers and fans were located in the United States, and she wondered whether marketing her brand in her hometown would work. In addition, Siu also realized that running a physical retail store was vastly different from maintaining the online presence she had created. The skills required to run a store were not the skills she had developed as a video producer and on-air personality. Although the store option didn’t play to current her skills, interests and competencies, she acknowledged that it could be a necessary step in growing her brand. Brand Extension The last option was to branch out into other types of crafts, such as nail art or jewellery. Siu believed that she had created a strong brand presence on YouTube. Moreover, the SalinaBear brand name was sufficiently vague to allow for many other types of products, not just crafts. Siu wondered whether she could start small by choosing one or two categories to pursue, produce a few videos and then load them onto the SalinaBear site, or whether she should, instead, segment her products through separate YouTube channels (e.g., SalinaBear T’s for T-shirts and SalinaBear Jewels for jewellery. She wondered whether her audience would follow her and whether her personality was appealing enough to distinguish her from all the others on YouTube. Next Steps As her latest creation took shape, Siu reflected on her future and on her options. Life had suddenly become very busy, and she’d found herself posting a video apologizing to her subscribers for being away so long. She wondered whether SalinaBear was more than just a short-term experiment, and whether devoting her energy to growing the business would be a wise and profitable long-term move. Exhibit 1 TIMELINE TO FIRST YOUTUBE ROYALTY CHEQUE AND VIEWERSHIP NUMBERS Source: Salina Siu Exhibit 2 SELECTED YOUTUBE ANALYTICS DATA FOR SALINABEAR (JULY 2012) Source: Salina Siu 1 YouTube, “Frequently Asked Questions,” http://www.youtube.com/t/faq, accessed July 1, 2012. 2 All currency amounts shown are in U.S. dollars unless specified otherwise. 3 http://ift.tt/2gWP7xp, accessed July 1, 2012. 4 Jolie O’Dell,” YouTube Will Start Charging for Some Videos,” ReadWrite, January 20, 2010, http://ift.tt/2xqfoim, accessed July 1, 2012. 5 YouTube, “YouTube Rentals Beta,” http://www.youtube.com/t/youtube_rentals, accessed July 1, 2012. Copyright © 2012, Richard Ivey School of Business Foundation Version: 2012-12-19 Scroll down for the next article • Copy • Highlighting Toolbar Settings… • CoursePack Contents Page • Back (to article beginning) • Next Article • Last Article • Back • Forward • Reload • Stop MKT 500 Week 8 Scenario: Developing Social Media Campaigns for the New Product Launch Slide # Scene # Narration Slide 1 Scene 1 [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] Ed and Samantha meet in the morning to discuss the next steps in the tablet PC launch. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-1: Good morning, Ed. How are you doing today? MKT500_8_1_Ed-1: Good morning, I’m doing quite well. What about yourself? MKT500_8_1_Samantha-2: Good, thanks. I’m really proud of the progress we’ve been making with our tablet launch, and I’m excited for the next steps. MKT500_8_1_Ed-2: I love your enthusiasm, Samantha! I spoke with Carl earlier. He said now that we have selected our advertising media and budget, we need to take a deeper look into social media. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-3: Yes, the enormity of today’s media choices—the Internet alone—makes it a wonderful time to be alive. Social media is at the cutting edge of this trend. MKT500_8_1_Ed-3: As we discussed, we can use social media as one of our main media outlets for advertising the new tablets. However, mobile marketing is growing because our cell phones are particularly convenient; they contain our identities and those of the people we talk to frequently. They are our portals to email, social media and networking sites, which are many people’s primary means of sharing information and entertainment. Interestingly enough, at the same time that electronic and information technologies are becoming more accessible and pervasive, traditional media are experiencing their own changes. Slide 2 Interaction Hover your mouse over each media to discover more information about the changes they are undergoing. Newspaper Newspaper circulations are declining, and while optimists continue to launch new magazines every year, their overall sales and circulations are down as well. Radio The number of radio stations has grown, boosted by satellite servers, but listeners are tuned in for less time each day than just a few years ago. TV Television channels also continue to grow. The bad news about this fragmentation is that with more TV channels, the audience for any given show is typically smaller. The good news is that targeting is a facilitated when the segments of viewers are somewhat more homogeneous. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4: Hover your mouse over each type of media to discover more information about the changes they are undergoing. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4_Tab A: Newspaper circulations are declining, and while optimists continue to launch new magazines every year, their overall sales and circulations are down as well. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4_Tab B: The number of radio stations has grown, boosted by satellite servers, but listeners are tuned in for less time each day than just a few years ago. MKT500_8_1_Ed-4_Tab C: Television channels also continue to grow. The bad news about this fragmentation is that with more TV channels, the audience for any given show is typically smaller. The good news is that targeting is facilitated when the segments of viewers are somewhat more homogeneous. Slide 3 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] (Display social media graphic) MKT500_8_1_Samantha-3: Very interesting, Ed. I hadn’t realized the effects of social media on more traditional media types. MKT500_8_1_Ed-5: The other part of the “social media” story is its social, or human, element. Belonging to different communities and interacting with different people in our social roles is part of our identity. The most fundamental means of interaction is dialogue. In social media, customers have become participants in a dialogue with marketers or brands. Traditionally, customers had been mere recipients of one-way messages that had been shot out by marketers, but now customers have a means of talking back. For example, customers post positive endorsements about brands, and they also use the web to vent. I often vent on Facebook about restaurants where I have had a bad experience. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-4: (pointing to graphic of different types of social media) This is very true. Are there certain types of social media that you had in mind for our tablet launch? I have a Facebook account and use Twitter and Pinterest frequently, but I feel that using all of these might be overkill for our new tablet launch. MKT500_8_1_Ed-6: Well, there are a few sites that I believe will provide Golds Reling with very strong exposure during our initial launch. Let me show you this short video that discusses the advantages of using social media in our marketing campaign. Slide 4 Social Media Marketing in 3 Minutes http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gza8dvN8Hkc Slide 5 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-5: Thanks for sharing that video, Ed. I understand better how social media helps connect companies to customers, and helps customers get to know, like, and trust companies better. MKT500_8_1_Ed-7: Yes. The key to a successful social media campaign is selecting a social media that creates good W.O.M. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-6: What is W.O.M.? MKT500_8_1_Ed-8: W.O.M. is Word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth works on inherently exciting products like Golds Reling’s new tablet, and it also works where the notion of buzz marketing makes sense. Yet creative brand managers have launched clever ad campaigns that get talked about even for pretty mundane products, too; the key being that the product and the message are meaningful to the customer. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-7: Okay. You know, I learned in my classes at Strayer University that different social media combined create social networks. In social networks, there are some members that are more connected and influential than others. We need to leverage these interpersonal group dynamics, ideally locating the highly connected influential members, to induce their trial of our tablet, in turn initiating and propelling the diffusion process. MKT500_8_1_Ed-9: You’re right. To locate these influential members and get the word out about our tablet, we need to study how these potential consumers, or actors, are embedded in these networks to locate those that are relatively central. Centrality indices are computed for each actor in the network to describe the position of that actor relative to others in the network. The easiest and most common way to compute centrality is to count the number of connections each actor has with the others in the network. An index of degree centrality is derived for each actor—those with many links are said to be relatively central, and those with fewer links are more peripheral. In order to determine the degree of centrality for these consumers, we need to create several different accounts on various social media forums for Golds Reling. Strong centrality will be useful in creating buzz for our new tablets. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-8: Okay. We can start working on this right away. MKT500_8_1_Ed-10: First, though, let’s begin with answering the return of investments, or ROI, issues. As you know, Carl is always focused on the bottom line. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-9: What should we focus on in terms of ROI? MKT500_8_1_Ed-11: As with traditional media, we can begin to answer return on investment questions only if we know the goal that the marketing action was initially intended to achieve. Based on our goals, selecting the media and ROI measures are rather straightforward. When estimating ROI, which is really the efficiency of investments, the primary expenditures might not be media buys or explicit budgetary contributions so much as salary equivalents of people’s time allocations. We also need to consider KPIs. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-10: I know that KPIs are key performance indicators, but how do we identify KPIs for social media? MKT500_8_1_Ed-12: KPI’s for social media are analogous to traditional measures for advertising effectiveness. Specifically, marketers are always interested in quantifying reach, frequency, monetary value of customers, customers’ behaviors, attitudes, and memory, including recall and recognition. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-11: So, how can we determine the ROI and KPIs for our tablet? MKT500_8_1_Ed-13: I’m glad you asked this question, Samantha. A common way to determine ROI for social media is through conversation rate. This term refers to the true engagement for conversations in your social media communities. Conversations will be different depending on the network. For example, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs are focused on comments; however, Twitter is measured with mentions and hashtags. We, therefore, calculate the figures for each network, and calculate how many conversations took place about our company and products per post, tweet, or video submission. Another method we can use is viewability rate. This metric is a little harder to find on Twitter. However, for other networks and mediums such as Facebook, YouTube, and our blog, it is the total number of views or impressions per post. This is not as important as the conversation rate, but it is always satisfying to see how often your content is being looked at, and if no one is seeing it, then you better find a way to get users to view it! MKT500_8_1_Samantha-12: I see. Thank you for that explanation. Before we move on, let me check to make sure I understand what you are saying about KPIs. Slide 6 Check Your Understanding KPIs for social media are _________ traditional measures for advertising effectiveness. A) very different from B) analogous to C) opposite of D) inconsistent with Feedback: Incorrect A – very different from: KPI’s are very similar to traditional media. Correct B – analogous: KPI’s are very similar to traditional media. Incorrect C – opposite of: KPI’s are very similar to traditional media. Incorrect D – inconsistent with: KPI’s are very consistent with traditional media measurements. Slide 7 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-13: Great information, Ed, but can we go back to the word-of-mouth concept? How do we know consumers are talking about our new tablets on social media? How can we capture this and make it work for Golds Reling? MKT500_8_1_Ed-14: Word-of-mouth conversations and other customer-to-customer information flows have become a rich new source of consumer insights. There are two main categories for the ways in which consumers receive information about companies and their products: passive listening and active intervention. Slide 8 Interaction Click the tabs to learn more about passive listening in marketing. Passive Listening Research shows that a lot is learned from lurking, or web crawling, and scraping, all of which are examples of passive listening: Tab A – Tweets, blogs, and discussion forums are monitored to make predictions about new product launches more accurate. Tab B – Companies use text analyses on Facebook to get a read on customer opinions about their brands. Tab C – Beyond the brand itself, content analysis has been useful in detecting developing consumer trends. Tab D – Brand managers check websites for misinformation to try to nip bad, grassroots PR in the bud. MKT500_8_1_Ed-15: Click the tabs to learn more about passive listening in marketing. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16: Passive Listening Research shows that a lot is learned from lurking, web crawling, and scraping, all of which are examples of passive listening: MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab A: Tweets, blogs, and discussion forums are monitored to make predictions about new product launches more accurate. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab B: Companies use text analyses on Facebook to get a read on customer opinions about their brands. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16¬_Tab C: Beyond the brand itself, content analysis has been useful in detecting developing consumer trends. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab D: Brand managers check websites for misinformation to try to nip bad, grassroots PR in the bud. Slide 9 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-14: Great information, Ed. What can you tell me about active interventions? Slide 10 Interaction Click the tabs to learn more about active interventions. Active Interventions Tab A – Marketers enter online communities and ask for paid volunteers to be user groups to test beta products and offer feedback. Tab B – Marketers conduct experiments. In the so-called A / B split tests, one group is exposed to one ad, new product description, or whatever element of the marketing mix the marketer is testing. The other group is either a control group, or they see a different version of an ad, new product description, etc. The marketer then compares brand attitudes or subsequent sales in test markets to detect some lift due to the marketing intervention. Tab C – A company may wish to measure comparative click-through rates, member sign-up rates, or purchase valuation, as a function of whether the ad appeal is more rational or emotional, whether video or script endorsements are featured, which price is posted and whether a discount is available. Tab D – GPS data function much like live cookies, storing information for your convenience upon return while still protecting your privacy. The purpose of GPS units in phones was originally consumer service for mapping. GPS units are becoming geo-retailing units, and they will soon offer extremely timely opportunities for marketers, though some may consider this more intrusive than timely. A motivated company will know where its customers are at all times. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17: Click the tabs to learn more about active interventions. Active Interventions MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab A: Marketers enter online communities and ask for paid volunteers to be user groups to test beta products and offer feedback. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab B: Marketers conduct experiments. In the so-called A / B split tests, one group is exposed to one ad, new product description, or whatever element of the marketing mix the marketer is testing. The other group is either a control group, or they see a different version of an ad, featuring a new product description. The marketer then compares brand attitudes or subsequent sales in test markets to detect some lift due to the marketing intervention. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab C: A company may wish to measure comparative click-through rates, member sign-up rates, or purchase valuation as a function of whether the ad appeal is more rational or emotional, whether video or script endorsements are featured, which price is posted and whether a discount is available. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab D: GPS data function much like live cookies, storing information for your convenience upon return while still protecting your privacy. The purpose of GPS units in phones was originally consumer service for mapping. GPS units are becoming geo-retailing units, and they will soon offer extremely timely opportunities for marketers, though some may consider this more intrusive than timely. A motivated company will know where its customers are at all times. Slide 11 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Ed-18: In general, social media pundits advise that any corporate postings or representations have to start by being interesting – otherwise, consumers won’t even read them! The content needs to be honest, not defensive, and not too “corporate”. There needs to be transparency to customers, employees, and stakeholders. Being transparent usually means being honest, building trust, and creating the opportunity for two-way dialog. Social media have sufficient variety and prevalence that they can be a tremendous marketing tool—if we can offer something that provides value to those customers, and reaches them in a way that matters to them. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-15: You’ve given me a lot of valuable information about social media, Ed. MKT500_8_1_Ed-19: I’m glad that you feel that way. Next, we can start by creating Golds Reling accounts for each of these social media applications. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-16: Well, since we already have a Facebook account, I can create a Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest account for Golds Reling. MKT500_8_1_Ed-20: Excellent. Let’s break for now, and then we can organize our information for Carl. Slide 12 Scene 2 [Ed, Samantha, Carl – Conference Room] Ed, Samantha, and Carl meet in the conference room to discuss the social media aspects of the product launch. MKT500_8_2_Carl-1: Good afternoon, Ed and Samantha. I saw you both looking very busy in Ed’s office earlier. I’m looking forward to hearing the information that you two have put together concerning social media marketing for our new tablets. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-1: Yes, Ed and I have been very busy. We have analyzed and concluded some basic concepts. MKT500_8_2_Carl-2: And what would these be? MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-2: Social media are an abundant opportunity for Golds Reling. Social media provides a web-based means for customers to interact with friends and strangers by posting opinions, pictures, and videos. Social networks are the structures of interconnections among customers that propagate word-of-mouth. Networks can be drawn and analyzed, and the actors measured on indices of centrality to assist Golds Reling in finding opinion leaders and influential consumers. Our campaign would identify these actors within two months of launch and create great buzz for our new tablets. A great feature of social media is the measurement methods; these are ROI and KPIs, and they can be computed with the help of online analytics, as for any marketing effort. MKT500_8_2_Carl-3: Good points! Why do you believe that investing in advertising through social media would be the right decision for Golds Reling and our new tablet? MKT500_8_2_ Ed-1: Social media is a great way to generate repeat business and to attract new customers. Furthermore, the target market we have selected are big users of social media. Golds Reling already has a Facebook account, but we believe that creating accounts for Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest will really help boost the conversation rate, and, thereby, the word-of-mouth, for both our company as a whole as well as our new tablet. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-3: Carl, by utilizing social media, we feel that Golds Reling is spending our advertising money wisely. MKT500_8_2_Carl-4: Ok, sounds like a good investment. Explain how we are going to measure this investment. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-4: The key is to communicate the different features of our new tablet and to have consistency in the message we choose for social media. Measuring effectiveness will occur through KPI’s, recall, attitudes, click rates, and conversation and viewability rates from social media communications. MKT500_8_2_Carl-5: Excellent. I like what I’m hearing. Social media sounds perfect for generating buzz and word-of-mouth about our new tablet. I agree that Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest accounts for Golds Reling will be excellent additions to our existing Facebook account. Very nice work, both of you. Slide 13 Check Your Understanding What social media term refers to a set of actors (or nodes) and the relational ties that link them? A) Team B) Group C) Network D) Forum Incorrect A – Team: This is not the terminology used to describe relationships in social media. Incorrect B – Group: Although a group includes two or more people, this is not a part of the relational ties. Correct C – Social Network: A network is defined as the set of actors (or nodes) and the relational ties that link them. Actors may be customers, firms, brands, concepts, countries, etc. The connections between the actors are relational ties (or links). Ties can be symmetric or directional, and they can be binary or vary in strength. Incorrect D – Forum: Although this is a close description, it doesn’t explain the interaction experienced in social media. Slide 14 Scene 3 [Ed, Samantha – Hallway] MKT500_8_3_Samantha-1: Today was a highly informative day. Using social media for marketing can help us generate word-of-mouth about our tablet, especially if we are able to connect with the most influential members of social networks. MKT500_8_3_Ed-1: Absolutely. It will also help customers identify Golds Reling as a company they know, like and trust. Don’t forget to complete the e-Activity and particip appeared first on Academic Writers BAy.

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Slide 5 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-5: Thanks for sharing that video, Ed. I understand better how social media helps connect companies to customers, and helps customers get to know, like, and trust companies better. MKT500_8_1_Ed-7: Yes. The key to a successful social media campaign is selecting a social media that creates good W.O.M. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-6: What is W.O.M.? MKT500_8_1_Ed-8: W.O.M. is Word-of-mouth. Word-of-mouth works on inherently exciting products like Golds Reling’s new tablet, and it also works where the notion of buzz marketing makes sense. Yet creative brand managers have launched clever ad campaigns that get talked about even for pretty mundane products, too; the key being that the product and the message are meaningful to the customer. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-7: Okay. You know, I learned in my classes at Strayer University that different social media combined create social networks. In social networks, there are some members that are more connected and influential than others. We need to leverage these interpersonal group dynamics, ideally locating the highly connected influential members, to induce their trial of our tablet, in turn initiating and propelling the diffusion process. MKT500_8_1_Ed-9: You’re right. To locate these influential members and get the word out about our tablet, we need to study how these potential consumers, or actors, are embedded in these networks to locate those that are relatively central. Centrality indices are computed for each actor in the network to describe the position of that actor relative to others in the network. The easiest and most common way to compute centrality is to count the number of connections each actor has with the others in the network. An index of degree centrality is derived for each actor—those with many links are said to be relatively central, and those with fewer links are more peripheral. In order to determine the degree of centrality for these consumers, we need to create several different accounts on various social media forums for Golds Reling. Strong centrality will be useful in creating buzz for our new tablets. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-8: Okay. We can start working on this right away. MKT500_8_1_Ed-10: First, though, let’s begin with answering the return of investments, or ROI, issues. As you know, Carl is always focused on the bottom line. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-9: What should we focus on in terms of ROI? MKT500_8_1_Ed-11: As with traditional media, we can begin to answer return on investment questions only if we know the goal that the marketing action was initially intended to achieve. Based on our goals, selecting the media and ROI measures are rather straightforward. When estimating ROI, which is really the efficiency of investments, the primary expenditures might not be media buys or explicit budgetary contributions so much as salary equivalents of people’s time allocations. We also need to consider KPIs. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-10: I know that KPIs are key performance indicators, but how do we identify KPIs for social media? MKT500_8_1_Ed-12: KPI’s for social media are analogous to traditional measures for advertising effectiveness. Specifically, marketers are always interested in quantifying reach, frequency, monetary value of customers, customers’ behaviors, attitudes, and memory, including recall and recognition. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-11: So, how can we determine the ROI and KPIs for our tablet? MKT500_8_1_Ed-13: I’m glad you asked this question, Samantha. A common way to determine ROI for social media is through conversation rate. This term refers to the true engagement for conversations in your social media communities. Conversations will be different depending on the network. For example, Facebook, YouTube, and blogs are focused on comments; however, Twitter is measured with mentions and hashtags. We, therefore, calculate the figures for each network, and calculate how many conversations took place about our company and products per post, tweet, or video submission. Another method we can use is viewability rate. This metric is a little harder to find on Twitter. However, for other networks and mediums such as Facebook, YouTube, and our blog, it is the total number of views or impressions per post. This is not as important as the conversation rate, but it is always satisfying to see how often your content is being looked at, and if no one is seeing it, then you better find a way to get users to view it! MKT500_8_1_Samantha-12: I see. Thank you for that explanation. Before we move on, let me check to make sure I understand what you are saying about KPIs. Slide 6 Check Your Understanding KPIs for social media are _________ traditional measures for advertising effectiveness. A) very different from B) analogous to C) opposite of D) inconsistent with Feedback: Incorrect A – very different from: KPI’s are very similar to traditional media. Correct B – analogous: KPI’s are very similar to traditional media. Incorrect C – opposite of: KPI’s are very similar to traditional media. Incorrect D – inconsistent with: KPI’s are very consistent with traditional media measurements. Slide 7 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-13: Great information, Ed, but can we go back to the word-of-mouth concept? How do we know consumers are talking about our new tablets on social media? How can we capture this and make it work for Golds Reling? MKT500_8_1_Ed-14: Word-of-mouth conversations and other customer-to-customer information flows have become a rich new source of consumer insights. There are two main categories for the ways in which consumers receive information about companies and their products: passive listening and active intervention. Slide 8 Interaction Click the tabs to learn more about passive listening in marketing. Passive Listening Research shows that a lot is learned from lurking, or web crawling, and scraping, all of which are examples of passive listening: Tab A - Tweets, blogs, and discussion forums are monitored to make predictions about new product launches more accurate. Tab B - Companies use text analyses on Facebook to get a read on customer opinions about their brands. Tab C - Beyond the brand itself, content analysis has been useful in detecting developing consumer trends. Tab D - Brand managers check websites for misinformation to try to nip bad, grassroots PR in the bud. MKT500_8_1_Ed-15: Click the tabs to learn more about passive listening in marketing. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16: Passive Listening Research shows that a lot is learned from lurking, web crawling, and scraping, all of which are examples of passive listening: MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab A: Tweets, blogs, and discussion forums are monitored to make predictions about new product launches more accurate. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab B: Companies use text analyses on Facebook to get a read on customer opinions about their brands. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16¬_Tab C: Beyond the brand itself, content analysis has been useful in detecting developing consumer trends. MKT500_8_1_Ed-16_Tab D: Brand managers check websites for misinformation to try to nip bad, grassroots PR in the bud. Slide 9 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Samantha-14: Great information, Ed. What can you tell me about active interventions? Slide 10 Interaction Click the tabs to learn more about active interventions. Active Interventions Tab A - Marketers enter online communities and ask for paid volunteers to be user groups to test beta products and offer feedback. Tab B - Marketers conduct experiments. In the so-called A / B split tests, one group is exposed to one ad, new product description, or whatever element of the marketing mix the marketer is testing. The other group is either a control group, or they see a different version of an ad, new product description, etc. The marketer then compares brand attitudes or subsequent sales in test markets to detect some lift due to the marketing intervention. Tab C - A company may wish to measure comparative click-through rates, member sign-up rates, or purchase valuation, as a function of whether the ad appeal is more rational or emotional, whether video or script endorsements are featured, which price is posted and whether a discount is available. Tab D - GPS data function much like live cookies, storing information for your convenience upon return while still protecting your privacy. The purpose of GPS units in phones was originally consumer service for mapping. GPS units are becoming geo-retailing units, and they will soon offer extremely timely opportunities for marketers, though some may consider this more intrusive than timely. A motivated company will know where its customers are at all times. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17: Click the tabs to learn more about active interventions. Active Interventions MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab A: Marketers enter online communities and ask for paid volunteers to be user groups to test beta products and offer feedback. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab B: Marketers conduct experiments. In the so-called A / B split tests, one group is exposed to one ad, new product description, or whatever element of the marketing mix the marketer is testing. The other group is either a control group, or they see a different version of an ad, featuring a new product description. The marketer then compares brand attitudes or subsequent sales in test markets to detect some lift due to the marketing intervention. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab C: A company may wish to measure comparative click-through rates, member sign-up rates, or purchase valuation as a function of whether the ad appeal is more rational or emotional, whether video or script endorsements are featured, which price is posted and whether a discount is available. MKT500_8_1_Ed-17_Tab D: GPS data function much like live cookies, storing information for your convenience upon return while still protecting your privacy. The purpose of GPS units in phones was originally consumer service for mapping. GPS units are becoming geo-retailing units, and they will soon offer extremely timely opportunities for marketers, though some may consider this more intrusive than timely. A motivated company will know where its customers are at all times. Slide 11 Scene 1, cont. [Ed, Samantha – Ed’s Office] MKT500_8_1_Ed-18: In general, social media pundits advise that any corporate postings or representations have to start by being interesting – otherwise, consumers won’t even read them! The content needs to be honest, not defensive, and not too “corporate”. There needs to be transparency to customers, employees, and stakeholders. Being transparent usually means being honest, building trust, and creating the opportunity for two-way dialog. Social media have sufficient variety and prevalence that they can be a tremendous marketing tool—if we can offer something that provides value to those customers, and reaches them in a way that matters to them. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-15: You’ve given me a lot of valuable information about social media, Ed. MKT500_8_1_Ed-19: I’m glad that you feel that way. Next, we can start by creating Golds Reling accounts for each of these social media applications. MKT500_8_1_Samantha-16: Well, since we already have a Facebook account, I can create a Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest account for Golds Reling. MKT500_8_1_Ed-20: Excellent. Let’s break for now, and then we can organize our information for Carl. Slide 12 Scene 2 [Ed, Samantha, Carl – Conference Room] Ed, Samantha, and Carl meet in the conference room to discuss the social media aspects of the product launch. MKT500_8_2_Carl-1: Good afternoon, Ed and Samantha. I saw you both looking very busy in Ed’s office earlier. I’m looking forward to hearing the information that you two have put together concerning social media marketing for our new tablets. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-1: Yes, Ed and I have been very busy. We have analyzed and concluded some basic concepts. MKT500_8_2_Carl-2: And what would these be? MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-2: Social media are an abundant opportunity for Golds Reling. Social media provides a web-based means for customers to interact with friends and strangers by posting opinions, pictures, and videos. Social networks are the structures of interconnections among customers that propagate word-of-mouth. Networks can be drawn and analyzed, and the actors measured on indices of centrality to assist Golds Reling in finding opinion leaders and influential consumers. Our campaign would identify these actors within two months of launch and create great buzz for our new tablets. A great feature of social media is the measurement methods; these are ROI and KPIs, and they can be computed with the help of online analytics, as for any marketing effort. MKT500_8_2_Carl-3: Good points! Why do you believe that investing in advertising through social media would be the right decision for Golds Reling and our new tablet? MKT500_8_2_ Ed-1: Social media is a great way to generate repeat business and to attract new customers. Furthermore, the target market we have selected are big users of social media. Golds Reling already has a Facebook account, but we believe that creating accounts for Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest will really help boost the conversation rate, and, thereby, the word-of-mouth, for both our company as a whole as well as our new tablet. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-3: Carl, by utilizing social media, we feel that Golds Reling is spending our advertising money wisely. MKT500_8_2_Carl-4: Ok, sounds like a good investment. Explain how we are going to measure this investment. MKT500_8_2_ Samantha-4: The key is to communicate the different features of our new tablet and to have consistency in the message we choose for social media. Measuring effectiveness will occur through KPI’s, recall, attitudes, click rates, and conversation and viewability rates from social media communications. MKT500_8_2_Carl-5: Excellent. I like what I’m hearing. Social media sounds perfect for generating buzz and word-of-mouth about our new tablet. I agree that Twitter, Google Plus, and Pinterest accounts for Golds Reling will be excellent additions to our existing Facebook account. Very nice work, both of you. Slide 13 Check Your Understanding What social media term refers to a set of actors (or nodes) and the relational ties that link them? A) Team B) Group C) Network D) Forum Incorrect A – Team: This is not the terminology used to describe relationships in social media. Incorrect B – Group: Although a group includes two or more people, this is not a part of the relational ties. Correct C – Social Network: A network is defined as the set of actors (or nodes) and the relational ties that link them. Actors may be customers, firms, brands, concepts, countries, etc. The connections between the actors are relational ties (or links). Ties can be symmetric or directional, and they can be binary or vary in strength. Incorrect D – Forum: Although this is a close description, it doesn’t explain the interaction experienced in social media. Slide 14 Scene 3 [Ed, Samantha – Hallway] MKT500_8_3_Samantha-1: Today was a highly informative day. Using social media for marketing can help us generate word-of-mouth about our tablet, especially if we are able to connect with the most influential members of social networks. MKT500_8_3_Ed-1: Absolutely. It will also help customers identify Golds Reling as a company they know, like and trust. Don’t forget to complete the e-Activity and particip

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