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icrossing + HEarst
BRAND
BRAND
MEDIA
AUDIENCE
MEDIA
AUDIENCE
BEFORE
NOW
People are now their own publishers of opinions, experiences and preferences. They share those sentiments with each other in social spaces. By working together, audiences have commandeered many of the functions of marketers, driving product awareness and influencing purchase decisions. They are telling both brands and each other just what they think and they are doing it publicly, for others to find and see. Media properties are also learning to evolve as technology continues to
give rise to the voice of the customer. Magazine articles and news stories no longer end when the writer or journalist finishes the piece. Media companies are now playing host to serious conversations, with readers functioning as active contributors to the story. Media innovators are learning to harness that user-generated content, responding to it, building on it, and using it to inform further editorial direction. They are listening to their audiences, and actively engaging with them. They are evolving into real-time curators of unique audiences, each with their own robust communities.
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Brands are expected to share back. As audiences increasingly talk directly to brands, brands are realizing that audiences are demanding more of them than simply shouting about their products and services. Audiences want to hear what brands have to say. Every day, millions of them are actively reaching out to connect with brands through digital channels. Nearly 15 million people like the Skittles Facebook page opting in to daily messages from the candy brand. Zappos and Whole Foods each have nearly 2 million people following them on Twitter. Shoppers even pay for the content brands provide: witness the $.99 that iPhone users pay to download Krafts iFood Assistant app. Content moves through networks at lightning speeds at a pace marketers
struggle to match. To complicate matters, one form of content can create another form of content, and another, and another moving through a constant cycle of replication. Comments, re-mixes, mash-ups, parodies, derivatives it seemingly never stops. And as the content replicates, it spreads through networks exposing hundreds or thousands of unique connections to audiences, creating public, visible histories of interaction. Conquering this rapid cycle, a significant aspect of the content ecosystem, can prove difficult.
The Takeaways:
As these three forces brand, media and audience blur together, the roles and expectations of each continue to change. Most importantly, for brands there are two key takeaways:
A new approach is required for brands that wish to leverage the strengths of earned and owned media, and adopt meaningful customer engagement as keys to marketing success.
Agile. Brands need to adapt quickly and precisely to shifting audience attitudes, interests and behaviors. Whats required? New processes for creating and distributing content on a frequent and reactive basis. Active. Brands need to play an active role in the digital ecosystem by reaching out to audiences for interactive, two-way conversations. Those that dont will either cease to be relevant with online audiences or relinquish control of their brand image to the whims of the masses.
Brands that mobilize around these themes, focusing on content and community, moving at the speed of the net, and integrating their programs not just across traditional and digital channels, but across the entire bought, earned and owned media landscapes, will define themselves as connected brands, and will win in the marketplace.
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But content alone does not create a connected brand. Content may be the currency, but active engagement is how a brand comes to life: content is shared, discussed, re-formed and amplified. This is a new breed of communications strategy, where connected brands participate in live, active dialogue with their audiences. Comcast, Jetblue and Best Buy provide customer service experiences through Twitter. Skechers and bebe partner with Kim Kardashian (armed with her 5M Twitter followers and 4M Facebook fans) to cultivate conversations with their audiences. Ally Bank doesnt just listen to what its customers are saying in social spaces and on their blog, they use those conversations to inform new products and services. In all of these examples, its the synergy between content creation, sharing and community engagement that yields success.
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LISTEN
MEASURE
CREATE
ENGAGE
The Connected Brand System Listening uses both comprehensive research studies coupled with real-time monitoring to ensure that a brands insights about their audiences are not only deep, but current as well. Those findings drive the creation and distribution of the appropriate forms of content. A varied mix of content ranging from high-production branded content to the harnessing of audience-generated content then flows across an ecosystem of publishing systems. As that content flows, audience managers guide it to the right venues, motivate audiences to engage and participate in continuing dialogue. As this engagement happens, metrics determine what content, and which actions are successful. Ongoing optimization ensures that the appropriate mix and speed is used to keep the audience engaged. Finally, all of this information feeds back into the listening process to enhance overall insights and inform the content that will be created going forward.
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To guide our clients through the essential activities for building successful and sustainable real-time marketing programs, weve developed The Connected Marketing Playbook. These activities center around the four key areas described on the previous page: listening, creating content, engaging audiences and measurement.
Together, iCrossing and Hearst can help marketers form a detailed and accurate picture of a brands target audiences and ensure that its always up-to-date.
are saying about our clients and their competitors. And with our proprietary linguistic profiling methods, we mine search data to identify what people need and want. We find exact language so our clients can connect with audiences using the audiences own vernacular. Leveraging insights from Hearsts media properties (magazines, websites, newspapers and more) we are also able to keep attuned to changes in the aspirations, attitudes and emotional needs of the audience groups that brands want. With a rich subscriber database, ongoing custom research programs, and active reader panels, Hearst provides insights and informed opinions into what inspires and intrigues audiences right now. Hearsts expertise ranges from broad categories like teens, women, and men, to specific interest areas like beauty, green living and retail shopping trends.
DEMOGRAP HICS
CU ST O
DIGITAL ETHNOGRAPHY
UP
ASE TAB DA
O ST CU
This combination of traditional research efforts, Hearst media insights and iCrossing digital audience knowledge provides brands with the needed intelligence to develop powerful and effective programs. Programs that are authentic, intimate and connected to desired audiences.
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Cohesive across touch points. Content creation must be diverse to meet audience needs, but it also must tell a larger brand story. Content generated by a brand should align thematically across all touch points, ensuring that the subject matter aligns with audience expectations and allows them to accept, or give permission, for the brand to engage on the topic. Designed to foster engagement. While not all content created will generate massive amounts of interaction, brands should strive to achieve that interactivity as often as possible. One significant tactic to creating engaging content is listening. The brand audience provides ample information about what is interesting, exciting, and useful for them; all the brand has to do is observe their behaviors and listen to the words they say. Built into a robust content plan, this feedback can be invaluable to keeping people engaged. Sourced from the appropriate creator. Most marketers cringe at the thought of generating the volumes of content required to maintain an engaged audience. But marketers need to remember that they dont have to generate the content alone. Brand content can come from within the company, from agency and media partners, aggregated from third parties, and developed in conjunction with the brands audiences (see Figure 5: Content Continuum) Adaptive to modification by all parties. Brands no longer have full control of the content created about them. Content can be owned by the brand, influenced by the brand, or merely observed (see Figure 6: Degrees of Content Control). Any content, regardless of source, belongs to all other participants in the dialogue. This means it can be repurposed or recreated in newer and more meaningful ways. The connected brands role is to design for, allow, encourage and facilitate these modifications. Once the content created by a brand becomes the ownership of the audience, its more valuable and it brings that audience closer to the brand because its a co-creation.
Figure 5: content continuum
BRAND
Pre-existing or newly created content by the brands staff
COMMISSIONED
PARTNERED
AGGREGATED
Pre-existing content created by third-parties
CONVERSATIONAL
AUDIENCE GENERATED
Personal content frequently created by the audience, about the brand or tangentially related to the brand
New, custom con- Pre-existing content requested by tent created by the brand partners
Short, rapid interactions between audiences and between the audience and brand
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These content sources can be classified into three primary categories: 1) Ownedfully in the control by the brand, 2) Influencedrequested by the brand but not necessarily controlled, and 3) Observedoutside the control of the brand, but still usable (and critical) to a connected brands content strategy.
Figure 6: degrees oF content control
COMMISSIONED OWNED
PARTNERED
AGGREGATED INFLUENCED
CONVERSATIONAL
Connected Brands Share Content at the Appropriate Velocity Content that is created for the appropriate situation and activated by audience management must be distributed at the necessary speed to remain relevant since content exists in many forms and it takes varying amounts of time to prepare. Sometimes weeks or months of research are required to answer a complex question, other times its a rapid and instantaneous dialogue and any type of content can inspire or instigate the creation of a different type. Its this robust cycle of content creation that demonstrates the need for content that can be shared in a manner that: Allows for the proper preparation time. Some content may require extensive research or preparation, from investigative editorial article to a long-form video, these types of content dont happen overnight. Additionally, some content is instantaneous, from comments on a blog to @replies on Twitter, a brand need to be prepared and have a plan to respond. Content plans and the appropriate staff are critical components to bringing these disparate forms of content to life in the same ecosystem. Transforms when appropriate, spanning long-term to real-time. Any piece of content can instigate a flurry of responses by an audience, derivative content that can spread like wildfire. Additionally, some content should be designed for change, allowing the audience to transform it into something completely different. Perhaps a longform, in-depth article motivates a days-long discussion about the implications. Or perhaps the advice of an expert inspires the audience to test the advice and capture it on video. Any piece of content must be designed to consider multiple forms of derivative output. Achieves the necessary velocity of distribution. Each form of content within the Content Continuum has a different pace for development. As content moves from Owned to Influenced to Observed, the pace becomes evermore explosive. As a result, different content development strategies are employed given the preparation times involved. In fact, there are different types of people employed along the way, but they all must work in a tight knit, integrated fashion to ensure a fluid process.
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VELOCITY
CONTENT SOURCES
BRAND OWNED
COMMISSIONED
PARTNERED
AGGREGATED INFLUENCED
CONVERSATIONAL
Presents an appropriate amount of information to the audience. Distributing these types of content in the right channels and at the right pace will play a significant role in the level of audience engagement. Too fast, and they get overwhelmed. Too slow boring. A highly-astute staff must monitor the pace of content generation and distribution (both internally and externally) to ensure the proper flow. Promotes dialogue, not just consumption. Content must be shared in a way that it facilitates a conversation. Long gone are the days of consumption, media control, and push-only messages. As the authors of The Cluetrain Manifesto observed, markets are conversations. Connected brands contribute content and perspective to these conversations, but the dialogue belongs to the audience as well. This means that content must be shared in a venue that is optimized for the desired method of response perhaps YouTube for video responses, or Facebook for polling.
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MEDIA PLATFORMS
.com
Brand Blog
Partner Site
YouTube Twitter
Flickr
CONTENT TYPES
AUDIENCE MANAGEMENT
BRAND
COMMISSIONED OWNED
PARTNERED
AGGREGATED INFLUENCED
CONVERSATIONAL
By continually keeping the community engaged, we encourage audiences to create an enormous amount of additional branded content in the form of tweets, comments, status updates, and likes. This audience-generated content magnifies both the volume and speed of branded messages throughout the network and it does so in an extremely cost-effective manner. Because were always in the loop on what audiences are talking about, were able to constantly feed new ideas into the content strategy and master content plan. Connected Brands Embrace The Art & Science of Audience Engagement While content is the critical ingredient, and sharing the essential frequency, community is the process that activates that content and defines the pace. The network effect of a published piece of content can result in hundreds or thousands of unique connections to audiences, creating public, visible histories of interaction. For brands to be relevant today, they need to entrench themselves where people already spend time, across the fluid ecosystem of digital channels. Managing this ecosystem is a full-time job. It must leverage the expertise and skills of talented individuals who understand the engagement landscape, the power of smart content, and who think and function as strategists, communications designers, and user experience experts. Architecting and managing activities embedded within this ecosystem requires an audience manager who can: Be the steward and voice. A connected brand exists and participates in many places. Some are owned, like the website or microsites. Some are semi-owned, such as social spaces like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube. Others are not owned, like forums and blogs. Regardless of the venue, the brand needs audience manager(s) who can speak on behalf of the brand in a unified and consistent voice. Many of these individuals become quasicelebrities as stewards of the brand, so marketers need to find a person (or people) with not only the right skill, but also with the personality that aligns with the brand and is inviting to audiences. Encourage an active dialogue. The audience manager has to be both a good listener and a social butterfly. Much like a conductor, they must orchestrate many different topics and ensure that the audience stays engaged. Their tactics span from issuing requests for content, to soliciting stories to sharing new content. Its a never-ending process of monitoring, encouraging, activating and conversing. Enhance the visibility of content. But audience managers dont just engage in conversations with the audience, they also promote and distribute content. Some of that content is contributed by the brand (Owned or Influenced content) and made available through various digital channels. Additionally, sometimes that content is created by the audience themselves. Either way, the audience manager acts as the hub making sure anyone who might be interested knows the content exists. Lastly, iCrossings audience managers access search and social data, to ensure the visibility of content in search engines and relevant social spaces. Drive buzz and word-of-mouth. Getting the word out is not only the job of the audience manager. The audience itself plays a crucial role in exposing the brand and the conversation to new people. The audience manager must ensure that the community has all of the tools, motivation, and interest they need to spread the work. Audience managers use techniques like contests, promotions, and audience generated content initiatives.
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Create and inspire derivative content. Just like spreading the word is a role for the audience, so is the creation of content. An effective audience manager actively encourages the audience to create new content or enhance and modify content contributed by the brand. Its a process of co-creating that furthers engagement and brings people closer to the brand. Build relationships with influencers. Some audience members are of significant importance because they are key influencers they also inspire the audience. The audience manager constantly seeks out and identifies these influencers and engages in relationships with them to help promote both the brand, and the influencer themselves. This mutual benefit helps motivate these influencers to amplify brand messages. Contribute to an enhanced audience experience. In many ways, the audience manager becomes an extension of the brands products or services. The engaging interactions they inspire contribute directly to the overall brand and audience experience. Connected brands differentiate themselves from the competition by using audience management and robust content strategies to enhance the experience.
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Brands can leverage the authenticity and authority associated with brands like Good Housekeeping, Esquire, Popular Mechanics and Seventeen by tapping Hearsts vast editorial network and its archive of evergreen articles and images. Hearst offers premium content in the following areas such as Luxury, Beauty, Family, Men, Moms, Food & Home, Technology and Young Women.
LUXURY
MEN
MOMS
YOUNG WOMEN
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By combining our respective talents, iCrossing and Hearst help marketers connect with audiences through real-time marketing programs. Here are a few examples of how we make this work: Hearst insights are used to advise brands on topics that might be of particular interest to certain communities. iCrossing taps into Hearst archives and commissions new content from Hearsts network to create branded content for sites, Facebook pages, microsites, blogs, Twitter, YouTube, and many others. iCrossing curates relevant text, images, video, etc. from Hearst archives to create branded service or entertainment-focused display ads that can be displayed on Hearst and/or third-party properties. iCrossing leverages its robust technology platform to monitor, track and distribute content throughout the ecosystem, providing a technological platform to support a connected brand.
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