Brandstreams - The Next Generation Social Media Tool for Companies to Reach Their Audience.

June 20, 2008

Collaborative online users, your consumers, are driving today's online marketing environment. According to Universal McCann, content consumption off websites jumped 153% in the last 9 months. With 53% of online users consuming content outside of a publisher's site, through widgets, RSS readers, social networks and mobile devices; traditional ad networks can no longer effectively nor efficiently reach their audiences through display ads on websites.

So - as a company - how do you market yourself when you are no longer driving your own communications? Marketers and brand champions have to look for new and innovative vehicles to reach audiences with relevant content that is meaningful to the consumer, where they are consuming media. This is where Brandstreaming comes into play.

A Brandstream is a consistent flow of content created by a brand. This information is used to engage a consumer or prospect typically within news feeds. A Brandstream includes (but is not limited to) blogs, podcasts, videos, press releases, product reviews, pictures of the company picnic, whitepapers and customer feedback vehicles. Consumers receive a company's Brandstream via an RSS News Feed. However, Brandstreaming is not simply pushing information out to consumers however. A Brandstream shares and communicates a company's ideas, beliefs, passions, thoughts, and values - it defines the company - while it communicates the brand and engages.

Social Media is providing brands a new way to connect to their audience and to define their brand. And, just as Social Media and RSS News Feeds are changing the way people connect with one another and how media is consumed it is also changing how people connect with companies. Lifestreaming is driving services such as FriendFeed that support this constant flow of content coming from the Social Web and in turn, companies are leveraging Brandstreaming to connect with these consumers. In turn, Brandstreaming is evolving as the next generation Social Media tool for companies to reach their audience.

A brand is a living-breathing organism. Brandstreaming is the life of a brand. It is the people within an organization and their communications out to - and with - their consumers (and prospects) online. By providing a new online medium for people to interact, engage and meet with a brand, in real-time - Brandstreaming is changing the face of communications between companies and consumers. Brandstreaming is creating new ways to engage social connections and information sharing between companies and their consumers. But be careful, Brandstreaming is not simply building and delivering a portal of information about a company.

Brandstreaming is organic - it offers the ability to hold a discussion with the consumer, to engage and to exchange information. This discussion, the constant exchange of information between the company and consumer builds trust - a relationship. Brandstreaming shares and communicates a company's ideas, beliefs, passions, thoughts, and values. But to truly take advantage of Brandstreaming, a company must maintain a constant exchange of information with the consumer.

An example of a company who is executing Brandstreaming is Cisco. Cisco was searching for a strategy that would enable them to engage in one to one discourse with their consumers and to promote their brand. The Cisco Brandstream was designed as an integrated Social Media ad network campaign with the goals of driving 1) traffic, 2) newsletter sign-ups, and 3) RSS subscriptions.

Effectively, Cisco's Brandstream strategy is built on content across multiple online distribution channels. This content - Cisco's brand life - powers the Brandstream. It shares and communicates Cisco's ideas, beliefs, passions, thoughts, and values - that defines who Cisco is. But how did Cisco engage in discussion with their consumer? Cisco accomplished this by leveraging their consumers' Lifestreams as a lead nurturing technique via content advertisements in RSS News Feeds. For more about Cisco's strategy and results, you can find the case study here

As companies design and build out their Brandstreams they are connecting with their consumer's Lifestream via content ads in RSS News Feeds that access the Lifestreams. For a company to participate in their consumers' Lifestreams is critical to becoming a part of their inner circle, to enter into a discussion. And - Lifestreaming is growing as evidenced by the rise of RSS usage alone. According to the Avenue A | Razorfish Digital Consumer Behavior Study, fifty-six percent (56%) of online consumers now use RSS News Feeds. Smart marketers and brand champions are leveraging RSS News Feeds to engage, interact and exchange information between a consumer and a company.

Cisco's Brandstream includes video, press releases, customer stories and product updates all delivered to their consumers and prospects through their Lifestreams via RSS News Feeds. Throughout the strategy, design and execution of its Brandstream, Cisco stayed true to their mantra "sell the offer, not the product." This is critical to success when invited into a Lifestream - the Lifestream user is pre-disposed to relevant content - aren't we all? And, to ensure their success, Cisco's agency worked closely with Pheedo to build and deliver Cisco's Brandstream within Pheedo's network of News Feeds.

Why is this so critical for a company looking to reach and engage consumers and prospects alike? RSS News Feeds and the resulting explosion of Lifestreams are dramatically on the rise. RSS News Feed use is growing faster than all other Social Media platforms, including social networking and video sharing as evidenced by the 153% increase in RSS users in less than a year. (Universal McCann Study, March 2007 - June 2008) Tapping this key communication and information exchange vehicle, Cisco designed an RSS feed strategy tailored by channels (ex: IT Professionals, Consumer Technology) and specific feeds (ex: Wired, Dr. Dobbs) that were most relevant to their target audience, offer and product category. Cisco's RSS ads and content powers their Brandstream strategy while gaining them access to their consumer base's Lifestreams.

A practical example of how to do this is by placing advertisements in News Feeds that reach the Facebook audience. But it is more powerful and further reaching than Facebook. News Feeds are consumed via Twitter, FriendFeed, Google Reader, Bloglines, Netvibes and more. Mike Rich, senior vice president of AOL Entertainment states:

AOL, has embraced a "distributed content" model: It can no longer rely on consumers coming to it as a destination, but now must distribute its content, pushing it to online users wherever they happen to be spending their time.

Through Brandstreaming specific audiences can be targeted wherever and whenever they are consuming content. But more importantly, Brandstreams communicate directly with consumers already interested in a company's services. One to one marketing achieved.

Brandstreaming fosters interaction between people and companies. Feedback is immediate - encouraging discussion between companies and consumers that in the past relied on traditional market research methodologies - lengthy, expensive, dated results. Valuable feedback can now be heard, collected and acted upon in real-time. The consumer has the power to influence messaging, products and communications. Companies can truly engage with their consumers who will be heard and as a result will feel heard - the opportunity for a real conversation unfolds.

While Brandstreaming provides the opportunity to reach and hear from people in new and engaging ways it also comes with high stakes. Leveraging the right platforms, tools and messages is critical to success. Brandstreaming is uniquely positioned to alter the world of media. Actually - it is already happening.

However, the true power of Brandstreaming will only be realized when marketers and brand champions design integrated online strategies across Social media outlets to speak with, engage, listen to and respond to their consumers - in real-time.

Posted on June 20, 2008 9:54 AM
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Lifestreaming Will Change How Advertisers Approach Media - Part 1

June 16, 2008

There is a lot of buzz and activity around social networking. One of the most interesting opportunities emerging out of this phenomenon is Lifestreaming. When people hang out with friends online they talk about music, review movies, share travel stories, exchange photos, discuss videogames, recommend books and chat about life. Lifestreaming offers the ability to store and broadcast this information exchange. People now have the ability to create, aggregate and publish their interests and activities. By leveraging feeds to publish information - people are creating content that reflects their life. This is Lifestreaming - this time-ordered flow of information (akin to a living diary) about a person's life.

A Lifestream is only limited by the content and sources each person defines. People typically choose a few online services that track their activities such as Flickr (photos they take), Last.fm (music they like), and Del.icio.us (bookmarking). These online services provide RSS feeds of a person's activities - these feeds are enabling Lifestreaming. Lifestreaming is the aggregation and merging of multiple RSS feeds into a single point of entry. Once the feeds are setup, the data is added automatically to a Lifestream. The output is a concentrated unique stream of information comprised of a person's ideas, beliefs, passions, thoughts, and interests - that defines who they are.

Thanks to the popularity of sites like LinkedIn, Facebook, Myspace and FriendFeed, the act of Lifestreaming offers a new way to keep people informed - whether for business, friendship or family. As a result, each Lifestream has its followers, the audience. Lifestreams make recommendations and keep followers updated and informed. People now have the ability to self promote and re-broadcast content and online media services via a single point of access, which they control, out to their followers. And - critical to the value of a Lifestream, is the ability to leverage this content for search, discovery, and networking. As a result, Lifestreams become human powered recommendation engines.

With Lifestreaming, people now have the ability to subscribe to people they trust who have already chosen and filtered content for them. Followers of Lifestreams are by default, leveraging a human filter to access information. By selectively following Lifestreams people are changing how they access information - people vs. technology - acting as the filter and search engine mechanism. Lifestreaming can be understood as the ultimate human filter.

So, what does this mean to publishers, advertisers, and brands? Lifestreaming is causing a paradigm shift. Just as RSS feeds have changed how users consume their online information, Lifestreaming is evolving as the next generation of media consumption and social networking. The major shift going forward - people (their Lifestreams) acting as the online information filter. Why is this? Because people will subscribe to people (to Lifestreams) to access information - information that has already been filtered. As a result, publishers have a key opportunity to leverage Lifestreams as a new traffic driver. Advertisers have the potential to communicate with this new channel - talking to a captive and trusting audience. And brands have a new model to leverage when defining themselves.

RSS feeds are one of the critical building blocks of Lifestreaming. Brands who have an understanding of what is RSS and how to effectively use it are positioned to best leverage this new channel. Analytics are the key to understanding the Lifestream audiences and needed to target appropriate effective messaging. This is also why it is critical that content pushed through this channel informs, educates, and entertains if the messages are to find success being seen and heard. This is one of the first times; publishers and advertisers alike are being invited into their audiences' personal and private online conversations.

Think of a Lifestream as an interactive digital diary. Then you will understand why Lifestreaming is gaining momentum within the social networking community and changing social media advertising. People are very excited about aggregating all of their information in one place. With all the different sites available - this just makes sense. Whether advertisers and publishers will learn quickly enough how to leverage this captive audience who is choosing them, choosing their content and influencing their followers - well - only time will tell.

Posted on June 16, 2008 2:18 PM
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)

Gawker Media Taps the Revenue Potential of RSS

May 19, 2008

There is no doubt that RSS powers a lot of content moving through social networks, widgets, lifestreams and mobile devices. It has been the forgotten technology as the industry has turned their attention to widgets and social networks.

RSS growth surprises many when the hear the numbers. It is used by over 50% of online users according to AvenueA/Razorfish. RSS has been growing under the radar for some time. According to a 2008 study from Universal McCann, RSS use is exploding, growing faster than all other key social media platforms, including social networking and video sharing. According to the study, the number of RSS users jumped 153% between June 2007 and March 2008. Publishers today recognize that their content is increasingly consumed away from their website by their most loyal, dedicated readers. For many top publishers, their page views consumed outside their domain are greater than their website page views.

The growth is not going unnoticed as a source of revenue for many of the top online publishers including Gawker Media. Inline with the growth in RSS usage, Gawker Media has seen their RSS revenue grow nearly 300 percent in the first quarter of 2008 using Pheedo.

"Gawker Media has always made full content feeds available from the beginning, believing that the RSS channel was a valuable and under-levered distribution channel for marketing our content," stated Christopher P. Batty, Vice President of Sales of Gawker Media. "As such, we're highly committed to helping our marketing partners reach our readers thusly."

We have been pioneering RSS advertising since 2003 and were extremely happy to be the source of Gawker's tremendous growth in Q1.

"Outsourcing the RSS feed monetization scheme made more sense than having our sales people focus on it," said Erin Pettigrew, Ad Operations and Research Manager at Gawker. "In the first quarter we saw tremendous growth after the Pheedo implementation. Pheedo was the best solution when we needed it the most."

So hats off to Gawker Media for proving the business model for RSS and syndicated content.

Continue reading "Gawker Media Taps the Revenue Potential of RSS" »

Posted on May 19, 2008 9:51 AM
Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBack (0)