How To Create Brand Fans: Be A Squid!
Posted by anastasia on 06-01-2007
I remember when I was at Current TV and we had Bill Joy come in to share his wisdom with the web team about what we were trying to do. The big question was do we invest heavily in the mother ship, i.e. creating a destination and focusing on getting people there or try to come up with as many ways as possible to put our content out into the bigger web universe. Current's viral video player was one of the most successful little apps we built, allowing users to post Current videos anywhere.
I was speaking to a teen magazine veteran the other day about the challenge teen magazine sites face competing with the bigger social networks for teen girls' attention. I think every brand wants to create its own cool website that could possibly explode with traffic and traction. Look at Bud.tv (I know they're 21 & up, but it's an interesting case study) — they spent millions to do this. And now look at what Bud.tv has learned. From the Media Post, reg. required:
"Bud.TV program changes now in planning include a focus on shorter, punchier clips; a greater effort to circulate clips online through partnerships with major content hubs; and new social-networking features."
The teen mag vet told me, if we invest in our presence elsewhere, the fear is that we'll drive our girls away from our own sites. But really it's just the opposite. The teens on MySpace, YouTube and these other sites are probably not spending time on your sites to begin with. And even if you build them a social network, getting them to migrate over en masse is an uphill battle. By creating cool branded content or competitions that run on the big social networks and can be shared and spread everywhere (through video players), you will become like a giant squid. You still have the core brand center (which you should invest some in and make sure its a high quality destination) and many tendrils that reach out and touch potential fans all over the web…and potentially introduce them to your site's offerings.
What if it was a teen magazine that created Prom Queen vs. an independent start up or even a lower production value broadband series (think: LG15)? They could create loads of fun extras on their site and promote them at the end of the video, which will travel virally all over the web. Same with branded competitions on MySpace or YouTube — build in a way for teens to participate on these sites but also to visit your brand's site for some sort of added value experience.
I rarely write these types of marketing posts, but I think the lesson is valuable for anyone hoping to create a community of young people who love what you're doing. You have to rethink the meaning of community and understand that it can be both centralized or decentralized. Don't just invest in building your own fabulous website — you have to invest (maybe even more) in creating branded content, applications and partnerships that reach teens where they already are.
June 1st, 2007 at 12:00 pm
Hey, Anastasia! Oh the giant squid! I think the only precaution to add with this is the community tendril approach with the younger ones. Not that it's wrong– just to REALLY think about what it means to put youth community products on sites that may target a different or various demographic/s. Young people are everywhere– and it's true, they probably have no intention of leaving a site where they get what they want just to "follow the clicking white rabbit".
However, how you link together those tendrils is the point that matters. If you have content on say… YOUTUBE, and you cater mostly to 9 year olds… you might think twice before linking that youtube account to your main website. That's sketchville.
Call me a worrywort, but the control over content REALLY leaves the roost when you break away from your site/community and venture into the bigger conglomerate sites. I have a two-clicks method. If our branded content, meant for kid eyes– provided by us– sits on a site with links provided by others, and within two clicks of those links we find inappropriate content? Yeah, that's a no no. Two clicks, sometimes that's all it takes.
Yikes and double yikes.
I guess, with a target U13 demo, it's really really hard to ride the big squid. Got to make sure you know what kind of ride you wanna take, and where you're planning on going. At least that's my rambling thought.
I wrote on a similar topic about a week ago. Oh the future of the web! :)
:) As always, I bow to your brilliance, Anastasia!
June 1st, 2007 at 12:24 pm
Hi Izzy. Great points. I was definitely thinking teens and young adults 13 + when I wrote the post since many teen mags already have MySpace profiles ;-)
June 1st, 2007 at 12:47 pm
I figured as much. I think I was more or less just respond-i-rambling to the idea of the Squid theory (which is brilliant) and how it will start to age down in marketing. Probably too soon of an ramble to have yet. Sorry.
I chatted with our CMO two days ago and she was talking about how most people (she was at Kidpower) are in the midst of "squid" ploys for teens, planning for tweens, and thinking about kids. Like cell phones & Kajeet, ya know?
Tralala and sigh. :) izzy.