Connecting Brands to the Social Web

rebeccabenham — Wed, 17 Jun 2009 02:38:48 +0000

The social web has changed the way we now discover, consume and share information and experiences online. And when it comes to social media and conversational marketing, most business owners are scratching their heads trying to figure out what it is, and how they can use it to build brand awareness, engage their online audience, and ultimately generate revenue.

Social media is about people sharing content and experiences with other like-minded others on the social web. Social media / conversational marketing involves using social destination sites, applications, and tools in an integrated way to empower customers to promote and share a brand’s message with their friends. It could be anything from consumer generated videos that consumers pass along to friends, to having a page on a social network site where your audience can become a “fan” of your company and encourage their friends to connect as well.

An example of consumer engagement around a brand on Facebook

To better understand how companies can harness the power of social media, I’ve provided a link to Absolut Vodka’s ‘In An Absolut World‘ commercial for your viewing pleasure. I’ve also included a screenshot of the conversations that took place around the commercial on my Facebook profile page.

Within a few hours of posting the commercial to Facebook, Absolut vodka had a number of my friends engaging around their content – watching the commercial, rating it, and leaving comments to share their thoughts/feedback. And each time they engaged, their conversations and activities were broadcast to friends through the Facebook newsfeed feature. Talk about brand ‘buzz’!

So what did we learn? First, online audiences are interested in engaging with fun, interesting or educational content. Second, it’s best if the audience doesn’t ‘feel’ the brand’s presence when they consume content. The brand’s message / product can be ‘baked-in’, but not staring you in the face. (That’s no fun!) And lastly, it shouldn’t feel as if the brand is selling the audience something. Having customers spend 3 minutes of their precious online time watching branded entertainment content is valuable in and of itself. Oh, and let’s not forget one very important thing about brands, social media, and the social web – brands are mere participants in the conversation, yet not in complete control of the conversation.

Poptology

rebeccabenham — Wed, 20 May 2009 17:18:05 +0000

Kurt Collins reviews NaJe’s Cinephoniq. Thanks Poptology!

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When I think Indie music and bands, I generally think of the alternative Indie bands. And as I’m sure you know, there are more than enough of those out there. The alternative Indie bands sure have done agreat job of branding Indie music as an alternative music thing. Well let’s see if we can start to dispel that myth.

This week, I’m going to focus on getting some Indies a little bit of exposure (a real little bit, because let’s be honest, no one really knows about Poptology yet). As such, you’re going to see something you’ve never seen before on Poptology: links to buy. If you happen to like the music, go ahead and buy it. These guys do it for the love of the game, not for the money.

And with that over and done with, I’ll kick off the week with an introduction to NaJe. I’ll put this disclaimer out there: the singer happens to be a close friend of mine. However, I’m not being biased when I say she’s got some serious talent. She’s an Indie vocalist coming out of San Francisco. This track, Desidere, is off her most recent album: Cinephoniq Volume 2.

What do I like about it? It’s simple: Jazz. Her style really brings me back to that smokey jazz lounge vibe that I believe all Jazz heads yearn for. And that’s not an easy style to pull off. This song has all of the classic themes in it. You’ve got everlasting love, undeniable longing, transcontinental adventure coupled with a chill, almost trip-hop vibe of ultimate chill. And the thing that ties it all together is the deep (and clearly evident) Jazz roots.

I want to see her in a dark room with a soft spotlight on her and nothing else. I want to hear the band, feel their presence, but not see the band as they play bars beneath her smokey voice. I want to hear the soft whispers of the audience as the ladies whisper to their lover. I want to sip on on a glass of Hennessey, close my eyes and just breathe… as I listen to this this song.

I’ve got nothing more to say. Listen to it… and just breathe.

- Kurt Collins, Poptology

Revision3′s Diggnation Facebook Application

rebeccabenham — Tue, 19 May 2009 23:03:51 +0000

Revision3: Diggnation's Facebook Application

Revision3′s Diggnation application delivers the latest Diggnation episodes directly to fans on Facebook. The app was built in less than a day, engaged tens of thousands of loyal fans on Facebook, and within two months of the launch increased the number of fans on Diggnation’s fan page eightfold.

TV.com: American Idol Social Poll & Badges

rebeccabenham — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 21:07:32 +0000

TV.com: American Idol Social Poll

Tv.com’s American Idol poll was embedded on TV.com’s website where millions of fans voted for their favorite idol and took fan badges to place on their Facebook or MySpace profiles.

Island Def Jam: Ludacris Mixer

rebeccabenham — Tue, 03 Feb 2009 18:14:29 +0000

Ludacris Fans customize their own widget and playlist to share with friends

Fans create and customize widgets and playlists to share with friends.

It’s no secret – loyal fans are an artist’s most valuable marketing and promotion channel. With this in mind, we stayed true to what we already knew and set out to harness the power of loyal Ludacris fans and inspire fan to fan engagement to raise awareness around the ‘Theatre of the Mind’ album release.

We felt confident that if we engaged loyal Luda fans in a fun, innovative way, and inspired them to customize and share their Ludacris playlist and widget with friends, the campaign would be a success.

Using a simple and fun drag and drop interface and toolset, Luda fans were able to use Ludacris images, videos and more to create their own rich media social applications (widgets) they could display on their social profile pages. Their friends, in turn, could then ‘Remix’ their friend’s widgets to create their own, thereby increasing viral distribution and promotion within the social web.

Fans were also able to submit their entries to our contest to win a meet and greet with Ludacris himself – the prize awarded to the most creative submission. What we did find interesting was that fans typically spent upwards of ten minutes online interacting with Luda photos, music and videos as they built their own Ludacris-branded widget or playlist to share with friends. Success!

LAVA.com: 3D Interactive Music Video Authoring Platform

rebeccabenham — Mon, 20 Oct 2008 07:17:21 +0000

Creative Labs’ revolutionary 3D Interactive Video content creation platform

Back in 1999 when MP3s became all the rage, LAVA.com, an internet start-up funded by Creative Labs, came out with the LAVA! Producer, one of the very first user-generated content authoring platforms offering a unique and compelling digital music packaging and promotion solution to labels and early digital music pioneers.

This revolutionary platform not only brought a new form of on-line entertainment to the digital music space, it also presented labels with a cost-effective internet video & advertising solution to monetize Mp3 content. With the LAVA! Producer, labels and artists could easily create a custom visual wrapper (LAVA! MusicVideos or ‘MV3s’) for their Mp3 catalog without hiring programmers or designers. The animated scenes consisted of 3D objects, textures, images, colors and messages that dynamically evolved, morphed and danced in sync with the music frequency – providing a digital wrapper for Mp3 content. And with an advertising push-engine on the backend, labels for the first time were presented with a viable way to monetize MP3 content. The LAVA! Producer was way ahead of it’s time and brilliant!!!

Check out LAVA! on CNN Financial:

Mashable: SF Mixer

rebeccabenham — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:39:15 +0000

Rooly Elizierov – Gigya, Rebecca Benham – Sprout
Mashable Monthly

Originally uploaded by najemusic

Bravo Opera Party

rebeccabenham — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:27:09 +0000

Rebecca Benham and Neal Margulis

Bravo Opera Party

opera-2297.jpg

Originally uploaded by najemusic

Mashable: SF

rebeccabenham — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:26:32 +0000

Mashable Monthly

Originally uploaded by najemusic

Rooly Elizierov, Gigya

Rebecca Benham, Sprout

Mashable Mixer

rebeccabenham — Tue, 26 Aug 2008 04:25:51 +0000

Mashable Monthly

Originally uploaded by najemusic
Rooly Eliezerov – Gigya, Rebecca Benham – Sprout, Pete Cashmore – Mashable