Groundswell in the Twittersphere

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When you find yourself scrolling through your Twitter feed, what types of things make you stop to read them? If your feed is anything like mine, you most likely follow too many people and organizations to be able to touch on every single post. Even less, if like me, you only look at it every few days…or weeks…or months. Honestly, I’ve never been too keen on Twitter but understand certain aspects of its usefulness. Here is a live look at what my feed looks like right now:

Yeah…boring. However, not so boring in the eyes of Li & Bernoff. They state in the book that Twitter was able to catch on quickly because it is simple. They state that “signing up is trivial. Posting an update is a piece of cake” (pg 197). They also go on to state that it interfaces with cellphones and allows for on-the-go updating (pg 197). That is great and all, but can you tell me of any other social media applications that could also fit that description? If you guessed “most of them”, congratulations – you are correct.
There were so many topics that could be touched upon out of chapters 9-12, but I keep coming back to this curious interest in Twitter specifically. Why not Facebook? Does Facebook not harness the same types of principles? Is it not as effective, if not more so? Why would these 140 character snippets draw attention from the authors? The authors list the elements that they believe make Twitter an important and influential tool. They are: Followers, Hashtags and Searches, Mentions and Retweets, Links, Lists, & Apps and Tools (pg 197-199). Can you name one particular tool from this list that is not available on nearly any other popular social media platform today? Yeah, me either.

So I finally grabbed the book to look at the dates and see that the Second edition was published in 2011 and the first was published 2008. Alright, makes sense…at these times, Twitter was the only platform that implemented many of these communication methods. But today, you can see that both Facebook and Instagram also implement these methods as well. If things like hashtags were so unique, but are now commonplace – where exactly does this leave your 140 character statement?
Well, if you are Davey Alba – writer for Wired.com – 2017 is going to be the year that Twitter shapes up or ships out. Alba writes that “tweaks [made to the Twitter application] have had virtually no effect on Twitter’s bigger problem: making itself a mainstream social network able to appeal to a wider public, much less one that’s grown to have the same kind of stature and influence as Facebook” (Alba). So even today, people recognize that Twitter is a niche – but it is a niche with influence.  Li & Bernoff point out that only about 7% of the population actively use Twitter but of that 7%, most users at three times as likely to be a creator. (pg199-200).  Has that changed since 2011? Would a platform such as Instagram, that allows almost anybody to become a creator (in a sense) not fare better than Twitter in this area? I’m not sure, but assuming that it hasn’t changed we can begin to understand how Twitters sphere of influence quickly outpaces platforms such as Facebook.
I still think that it would have been useful to take a few extra chapters to break down other platforms as thoroughly as they did for Twitter, but it really did leave me with a better understanding of how stacked the technographics are in favor of the creators in this instance. Personally, I think this has really made me re-evaluate its usefulness. I’ve always taken a passive interest in the sense that, I can understand that Twitter is important on some level, but still unsure if it is important to ME.
I think that the authors do a good job of really explaining why Twitter is special and how we can all apply the fundamentals of the groundswell to this application. I’ll be really interested in how their perspective has (or has not) changed in an inevitable third edition of this text someday in the future.

Creating the Buzz

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I don’t think that I’m alone in saying that I love free things. We can all identify with the feeling that comes with getting something without tapping into our wallets. But what if you could get things for “free” that would only cost you a few minutes out of your day?

You might remember that our book mentioned a particular website called BzzAgent, which relies on the groundswell in order to create marketing momentum through social media and personal blogs. BzzAgent sends you a product kit, you answer some survey questions about the brand prior to and after you get the product, and with a few suggested hashtags, you post to your social media accounts promoting the item(s) that you have received. Easy enough right?

When a friend told me about this site a few years ago, I blew it off. Nothing in life is free. That holds true here, but in this case the only currency they expect of you time, a bit of effort and an honest opinion. As I previously stated…I’m a sucker for free things…so I signed up.


Fast forward to this past week when after a year-long hiatus, I got a little nudge from BzzAgent asking if I wanted to try a new toothpaste. Since the timing of the invitation was coincidental I decided to reserve my spot in the campaign.

So, how does BzzAgent model their consumer involvement? according to the other diagram below, the concentrate on four key areas:             Targeting & Engaging, Stimulating, Generating, and Reaching & Influencing. Sound familiar? It’s basically the key groundswell strategies that we have all become familiar with.

So, what comes next? You’ve just gotten your brand new tube of toothpaste or bag of coffee. How do you call upon the powers bestowed upon you by the groundswell? Buzz about it. Tell the world.

Everytime you complete a post on social media, you increase your own personal Bzzscore – the number that increases the likelihood that you’ll be called on for more campaigns. I have a bad habit of getting bored with these things. As you can see, I’m was pretty surprised that they recently tried to draw me back into this.
The important thing to reflect on is that the groundswell exists for us to participate in it whether we realize we are or not. You don’t need a fancy number to determine your ability or a free tube of toothpaste to participate. BzzAgent is one example of how you can be rewarded for taking an active roll in the promotion of products, but you’ve probably been doing it for a long time without compensation. Like, literally any time you’ve posted a picture of your dinner at a restaurant, you’ve been playing the type of game that BzzAgent has created a business around.
There is no reason to wait for an invitation – go out and claim a piece of the groundswell for yourself.

Subscribers For Sale

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How many times have you seen a photo on Instagram or a clip on Youtube that has gone viral? Now, how many of those pics or clips were so unimpressive that you have thought to yourself – “well, even I could do that!” I’m not going to doubt you because well, maybe you could – but would you be one of a handful of people whose social media accounts have skyrocketed them to internet fame?

Lucas Cruikshank knows a thing or two about the rise of Youtube stardom. Remember Fred Figglehorn? The obnoxiously-voiced character was created and performed by Cruikshank. The videos that he posted were made in his home, and featured him speaking directly to the camera – no heavy editing, elementary delivery, and over all poor quality. A few years later, he went on to star in his own Nickelodeon produced shows and movies. Fred literally went from this:

                                                                                         
to this

 

The rise of the internet celebrity isn’t a new one, but it has become much more profitable.

Forbes Magazine recently published this article, listing the highest paid online celebrities. For example, PewDiePie, a Swedish video game enthusiast, is currently seated at the #1 spot with $15 million in pretax income. Why you ask? What marvolous and innovative creative ventures does he share with the world that makes him worth 15 million dollars?

He uploads snippets of himself playing video games for 50 million subscribers.

Yeah…that is it.

Toothpaste for Dinner

Okay, I’m not ACTUALLY naive enough to think that it is that easy. In fact, Most YouTube stars have varied revenue streams – but they have all stemmed from their online popularity.  They monetize their videos through “pre-roll advertisements and by integrating sponsors into their content” according to Forbes. They also may tour, sell merchandise and make cameos on traditional forms of media like television. A few have their own products, like the aforementioned PewDiePie who has his own mobile platform video game (complete with in-app purchases). Here are some other examples of regular people who became famous by creating Youtube followings, as compiled by Forbes:

 

It is obvious that with growing technology, the advertising platforms that are available through traditional media are no longer the only option. By tapping into popular social media users, some with MILLIONS of regular subscribers, a company or organization can contract with the user to push their brand sometimes, through apparent advertising or just through product placement.

What is true no matter what, and perhaps the most valuable lesson, is that YOU the creator do not have as much control over your brand as the people WATCHING your videos do. Without the subscribers and without the groundswell, your videos are…well…just lame clips of your cat chasing a laser pointer.

 

I’m currently taking offers. Email me.

Mythical Creatures of the Groundswell

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If you are from Worcester, MA or have spent any significant amount of time here – you are probably familiar with Polar Beverages – purveyors or all things bubbly and good. Upset stomach? Someone has probably offered a Polar Ginger Ale. That cold cup of Coca-Cola that you asked for at your favorite local eatery? Yup – you were probably served a Polar Cola instead. Decided to give up soda completely? Polar seltzers should be your go-to carbonated beverage of choice.

Polar prides itself on being a  ‘fourth generation owned’ company which is fantastic but also implies some archaic attitudes. In my (almost) ten year tenure at Polar, I have developed a number of personal opinions on how they could better market themselves – particularly through social media. Only recently, have I realized that there is a defined ideology behind these social marketing trends and initiatives referred to as the groundswell. As defined in the book by the same name, the groundswell is “a social trend in which people use technologies to get things they need from each other rather than from traditional institutions like corporations” (pg 9).

Polar unexpectedly hit the groundswell jackpot in April of 2016 when the majestic limited edition (only 5,000 cases) Unicorn Kisses “mystery flavor” came out to coincide with April Fool’s Day. As a company that only used social media seemingly out of obligation, the users of these social technologies took matters into their own hands and created a massive buzz both locally and nationwide.

Online users began crowd-sourcing information in order to locate bottles of this elusive flavor. At the time, I was fielding consumer emails and I was overwhelmed by the number of people trying to locate this item. Emails that I sent in response to retail locations were being shared across Twitter. People were tapping into into the groundswell in ways that I am confident, Polar was not expecting. In fact, Polar sold out of all 60,000 bottles in a 72 hour period.


The momentum behind this item as well as the brand as a whole, should have been an opportunity to pursue the groundswell by listening to stakeholders, engaging with the messaging of the brand, getting energized, supporting the customer base, and embracing what the stakeholders had to offer in terms of feedback (pg 68-69). I can offer more in-depth analysis at the conclusion of my social media marketing project, but in short, Polar let this momentum fade quickly by relying solely on the work of their consumers rather than becoming a participant in their experience and actively pursuing the groundswell. What potential harm can come of a company when they ignore the will of the people? How long will they idly sit by and wait for the next great thing? Does the corporation ever REALLY know what is best for the brand if they aren’t paying attention to what people say about it?
 
Even today, nearly a year after their debut, bottles are still being sold on eBay for $25.00 per liter. There is still a demand for a product that we would not recommend consuming based on its “best-by” date. If Polar doesn’t take heed of the groundswell, its bound to be swallowed up when the next best competitor brand comes along.