In the last couple of days I've come across a series of "who knew?" moments and wanted to share them with you as a way of showing you that the distance between doing it old school and doing things in today's environment doesn't need to be light years away. Although, I do realize that sometimes it does feel (and look like) we're talking about lunar landings to get there.
From Finite to Infinite Markets
Who knew that if you bought enough lists you'd soon run out of people to market at? In a conversation with George Dearing on FriendFeed, we concluded that for companies to know what to do with the reams of data they collect, first you need to know what you're trying to accomplish and what constitutes success, then know what you want to measure. Traditional marketers behave the same way with people - they send a message out to as many as possible, then figure out who it is relevant to. Not so effective anymore. The market is many markets.
To go from a finite to an infinite market, you need to change your mindset. What's the difference? Straight from James P. Carse's book Finite and Infinite Games:
- A finite game is played for the purpose of winning; an infinite game for the purpose of continuing the play.
- The rules of the finite game may not change; the rules of the infinite game must change.
- Finite players play within boundaries; infinite players play with boundaries.
- Finite players are serious; infinite games are playful.
- A finite player plays to be powerful; an infinite player generates time.
- The finite player aims for eternal life; the infinite player aims for eternal birth.
From 0 to 60 in 2 hours
It might seem slow until you figure out that I'm not talking about the performance of a car, but the proficiency with a tool. If you sit down with someone who's interested in learning about social media, all you need to do is talk about possibilities. In fact, I usually talk about the person. First I relate to who they are and what they do, then we get to the how it works part.
To go from no mileage to we're well on our way, you need to take a step back and evaluate where you're going. Once you do know that, you can do all sorts of things:
- Listen and observe
- Learn and share information
- Start or join conversations
- Engage with topics and events
- Spread or sneeze things you're passionate about
- Form groups around topics or projects
The list goes on. You'll see the light bulb go off and know that there is a connection to how someone relates and how they will do that using the tool.
From Nutella to Community
All without Ferrero's involvement. In fact, if I were to guess (and I'm told I can be remarkably good at doing that) I'd say that the group's marketing team is probably thinking that TV-style sites and campaigns are working just fine. Tell a friend... Really? Didn't you know that you have a page on Facebook with more than 3 million fans? Maybe we should have a "tell Ferrero" button on that page.
And then there was the conversation we had on Twitter recently - and voila' you have a Twitterface page thanks to Kris Colvin, a couple of videos, and a story collected here by Olivier Blanchard. Want to bring your site to the 21st century?
- Pick the best videos and stories off the fan pages and feature them in your home page. Pardon my language, but who cares about your product? They do!
- Refresh the site, while you're at it. It does take a while to load and flash is not a way to bring static images to life. What good is talking about experience when your fan can do nothing there?
- Bring to life the social initiatives - check this out. That's social, and it's your product they're loving. This is your brand.
- Package the best recipes from your fans and create an eBook for the community. Would you like to bet on which one goes faster - your brochure or the eBook? While you're at it, mesh up the healthy lifestyle nutrition information with it.
- Join the community! Your roots are Italian, you should be all over this like Nutella is over bread... ok, maybe I took this one a little too far on a sugar high.
The point is that perhaps you're thinking that it is your marketing alone that is selling your products. Nothing could be further from the truth. It's the strength of your distribution and the distributed - might I add, excited and enthusiastic - conversations of the community of fans you have.
Kris Colvin said it best:
vs.
“People are having fun with their passionate love of product and spreading the word 24/7/365 days a year… and not just in one country, but GLOBALLY. It doesn’t get any sweeter than that.”
Who knew? Well, now you do. What are you going to do about it?
UPDATE: The Ferrero team came through. Check out the entry on the Nutellaville blog. More news to come, so stay tuned.
Thanks for the further thoughts on Nutella. My Tuesday Beg to DIFFER blog was in a similar vein (but with less depth of SM thought so thanks).
I'm always fascinated by "semi-accidental cults" like this - where the brand manager totally clues out (more TV advertising in Europe - yeah!), but yet, they manage to thrive through the volunteer efforts of fans.
Posted by: Dennis Van Staalduinen | July 24, 2009 at 10:03 AM
Valeria,
Excellent post, your reference to finite and infinite market is comparable to what's happening in traditional media and social media.
The community has always been there for brands, perhaps it's the brands that weren't there wholeheartedly for the fans? Social media is now making a few of them to realize the meaning to connect and the value of engagement.
Posted by: Eric Tsai | July 24, 2009 at 06:12 PM
@Dennis - As I wrote in my post, it's the fans and Ferrero's incredible distribution system. Imagine what they could do if they helped the two connect.
@Eric - hence the "tell Ferrero" button. Well said.
Posted by: Valeria Maltoni | July 25, 2009 at 10:52 PM