The Business of Behavior

Companies increasingly recognize that if societies falter, their business can’t succeed. Accordingly, many enterprises acknowledge that it is a business imperative to get people to change individual behaviors around such issues as driving safely, eating healthier, taking medications regularly, staying out of debt  and others.

Through corporate responsibility commitments, sustainability initiatives, philanthropic contributions, and more, companies are changing the way they do business and driving awareness of important social issues. But too many efforts stop there, and much more can be done. What’s often missing is the engagement of stakeholder audiences in changing their behaviors… to move people beyond awareness toward actions that make an impact.

This new frontier is discussed in the latest edition of Ogilvy & Mather’s Red Paper Series – From Cause to Change: The business of behavior.  It explores the ways in which companies across a broad range of industries can become agents of behavior change and contribute even more so to the well-being of individuals and society while improving business performance.  For companies, this can translate into market expansion opportunities, reduced costs, strengthened brand positioning, and an enhanced reputation and leadership profile.

Leveraging the science of behavior change is at the heart of social marketing, the application of marketing and communications to the promotion of ideas, issues, and practices that support personal and public health and safety, community benefits, and social change.  In effect, it’s to spark positive behavior change. Social marketing traditionally has had a rich and successful legacy in the public sector, something that our agency has been acquainted with for nearly three decades. We know how social marketing gets people to buckle up, get screened for colon cancer, purchase flood insurance, and more.  These are significant impacts and the results cannot be discounted.

What is OgilvyEngage?

OgilvyEngage is Ogilvy Public Relations’ new global behavioral science practice that helps companies drive socially-beneficial behavior change among consumers, employees, and other stakeholders to improve business performance while contributing to the well-being of individuals and society.  We use proven behavior change models, theories, tools, and techniques to help clients assess opportunities; better understand the motivations of their audiences; and design results-oriented messages, strategies, and programs.

This expertise is born out of our global social marketing practice.  For nearly 30 years, we have been a global leader in helping clients change minds, shift attitudes, redefine norms, and support sustained individual and community behavior change.  We design research-based and theory-informed integrated solutions that combine disciplines such as paid, earned, and owned media; partnership development and coalition building; special events; advertising; and direct marketing to help clients around the world make a difference in healthcare, wellness, safety, education, personal finance, and more.

At the heart of this specialty is our agency’s proprietary Dynamics of Change model, a tool designed to identify the specific change a company should invest in to bring about maximized outcomes for its business, individuals, and society, as well as to define the strategy and processes for implementing a change program.

The Benefit for Business

Global changes to the economy, to our environment, and to our social welfare are mandating new approaches to how we live.  Adding behavior change leadership from the private sector to that of government and public interest organizations will create a multi-faceted approach with exponential benefits.  For example, companies can:

• Reap meaningful and measurable business performance and return on investment, ranging from market expansion opportunities and reduced costs to strengthened brand positioning and an enhanced reputation and leadership profile.
• Advance and evolve their engagement in public good and expand the impact of many of their corporate responsibility initiatives.
• Strengthen the increasingly important – and necessary – relationship among a thriving business enterprise, the well-being of stakeholders, and social change.

Examples in Action

On April 19, we hosted a panel discussion at Ogilvy Washington – Socially Responsible Behavior Change as a Business Imperative –  to share how some companies are already embracing the opportunity to build their business while fostering socially-responsible behavior change.   For example :

• Opower works with utilities to help them meet their efficiency goals by getting their customers to use less energy.
• Starbucks promotes composting by providing coffee grounds to consumers to take home for their composts.
• Energizer prompts consumers to change their smoke detector batteries twice a year when they change their clocks for daylight savings time.
• Allstate asks teens to pledge not to text and drive.
• Clorox encourages consumers to regularly disinfect phones and other items in the home that are touched often to reduce the incidence of flu.

These companies are early adopters of what we see as a growing trend and a business imperative.  We are absolutely convinced that businesses that engage consumers and other stakeholders in socially-beneficial behavior change stand to enjoy meaningful benefits to their bottom lines.  And we believe that the engagement of the private sector is critical to helping individuals and societies across the globe tackle the many complex and difficult problems that we face – issues like obesity, water conservation, disease prevention, and financial literacy – that will only be addressed successfully by the cooperation and involvement of all sectors.

Download the Red Paper

We invite you to join the discussion and we welcome your reactions and responses to our Red Paper.  And I invite you to connect with me directly:

Jennifer.Wayman@ogilvy.com
@JenniferWayman

Navigating government social media guidelines can be tricky since there are so many different components to consider, so I wanted to share 5 links that help me advise my clients and comply with the guidelines.

1. Apps.gov- Apps.gov lists all the approved social media sites and tools that have Terms of Service agreements with the government.  This is a great place to start when looking to solve a communication problem with a social media tool since the site needs to have an approved TOS agreement in order for your client/agency to use it.   While you can use this site as a resource you still need to check with your clients/agency leadership as every agency has more specific guidance that may limit this list further.

2.Web2Access.org.uk-  This site has tested many of the most popular Web 2.0 sites for accessibility for those with disabilities.  You can use it to evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of a particular site in relation to 508 compliance.  They even give each site a score based on different types of disabilities.

3. Archives.gov Memo on FOIA Archiving- I get many questions about how and what to archive from government clients, but most of the advice on agency sites is vague and recommends talking with your agency’s FOIA officer or checking with archives.gov (which is still a good course of action).  However, a direct link to this archiving guidance is hard to find, so I dug it up on the archives.gov website.  The memo clearly outlines what needs to be archived in Social media and how you might go about doing that.

4. OMB Guidance on Information Collected through Social Media- As a best practice, we recommend our clients engage in social media by asking questions and involving their audience in a two-way dialogue.  However, there is always confusion about what government agencies are allowed to ask and what types of information they can collect from the public without OMB approval.  Luckily, OMB has guidance on this very issue online and available to the public in case you ever need a refresher.  As a little preview, open ended questions are OK, but surveys and polls are not without OMB clearance.  Read the memo for guidance on contests, e-mail address collection, rankings/ratings/votes and more.

5. HHS Center for New Media- Most of my clients fall under the HHS umbrella so this site is exceedingly helpful to me when I need to research a social media guidelines question.  It’s got a great section on Standards and Policies for HHS that is inclusive of everything you need to think about before embarking on a social media campaign for a HHS agency.   There are also many many resources and tools that can help you educate yourself and learn where to go for more information.

What links do you rely on to help you comply with government social media guidelines?  This is definitely not a comprehensive list, so please leave a few of your favorite resources in the comments.

A lot of data has been spilled to reveal what type of content draws the most user engagement in Facebook. Every Community Manager on our global team knows what works best for their community. Followers and fans for brands like IBM, American Express, Ikea all learn what their community responds to beyond the obvious (pictures and video). The nuanced skills of a great community manager are too often overlooked. Brands often devolve into just broadcasting content or in publishing simply by the numbers. You can read a view of why quality matters in Facebook communities in my blog post here.

Molly and I put together a simple list of 7 Types of Content for Facebook to remind us all of the variety of ways we want to build productive relationships (long term value + short term advocacy and action) with fans. This is hardly exhaustive. Think of it as a checklist or guide.

What would you say are the 8th and 9th types of content?

As a preteen in the 80s, my demands for Guess jeans and Z Cavaricci shorts were met repeatedly with the same wise—but at the time, annoying—words from my mom: “It’s not what you wear. It’s what’s on the inside that counts.”

Even though she was doing it more in the “we’re not buying you those ridiculously expensive designer clothes” kind of way, the point was not lost on me.  We’d all like to think that what we wear doesn’t really impact how people perceive us – that people will be able to tell how smart or talented or kind we are by what we say and how we act.  But what about how we perceive ourselves?

We know that there are times when we want to “dress to impress,” whether for a job interview or to meet your boyfriend’s parents.  We know that people do pay attention to what we are wearing, whether consciously or not.  Studies have shown that women wearing masculine clothing in a job interview are more likely to be hired, and teaching assistants wearing more formal clothes are thought to be smarter.  Plus, maybe more importantly, what we wear can impact how we feel about ourselves.  I think many of us feel differently when we dress up for a special event or wear a suit to an important meeting.

But could what we wear actually influence our cognitive abilities?  Turns out the answer might be yes, and that wearing clothing that you associate with being smart can make you act smarter.  The New York Times recently reported on a study led by Northwestern University’s Kellogg School of Management (read study abstract) that showed that wearing a white coat that you believe to be a doctor’s coat—as opposed to a painter’s coat—will increase your ability to pay attention.  This is a phenomenon the authors call “enclothed cognition,” which posits that the clothing you wear systematically affects your psychological processes.  If you know the symbolic meaning of a piece of clothing (i.e., a doctor’s white coat), you may take on the traits you associate with it (i.e., being careful, rigorous) when you wear it.  It’s a play on “embodied cognition,” a growing scientific field focused on the interplay of how our physical experiences (e.g., position, posture) impact our psychological processes (e.g., make us feel more powerful).

Image from Mercy Hospital

The goal of the study was to determine if your clothes could affect how you approach and interact with the world.  Research participants who wore a white “doctor’s coat” performed better on a test of sustained attention than those wearing a white “painter’s coat,” a generic white coat, or street clothes.

The idea that what you wear could have a real impact on how you think or perform in the world is fascinating, bringing new meaning to the expression “dressing for success.”  What else could make us act smarter?  Wearing glasses?  Carrying a briefcase?

As a public health professional, the study results make me think: how can we use enclothed cognition to improve people’s health?  Is there something we can wear to help us make better/healthier choices?  Will putting on our exercise clothes really motivate us to go for that run or get to that exercise class?  And how can we facilitate access to these types of clothes for everyone, not just those who can afford them?  Beyond exercise, how can this effect be used to help us stick to our health resolutions or follow through on those behaviors that we know are better for us?

With just a few days remaining before Facebook’s IPO, it’s clear that Mark Zuckerberg and his team in Menlo Park have built a substantial business opportunity around the world’s social graphs.  And, based on Facebook’s recent data showing a 45% year-over-year quarterly revenue growth, they’re monetizing at a respectable pace.

Is there a similar opportunity for Twitter?

The platform has been nothing short of a world phenomenon, popular in countries around the world, an undisputed factor in significant political change and a star for customer service. It continues to grow rapidly, with a recent eMarketer study projecting that Twitter’s growth will be up to 4x higher than Facebook (on a lower base) in 2014. And, there are many of us who greatly value the discovery and connections we achieve through Twitter.

Our own research suggests exposure to social content has a significant impact on brand perception and sales impact (2-7x increased probability of purchase lift based on a restaurant study).  So, the general outlook for social content is bright.

The Problem

Yet, even with its success in some high- visibility areas and its fantastic growth, it just doesn’t seem like Twitter has quite hit its stride yet.  It has been overshadowed by Facebook and, at least for now, new entrants, like Pinterest.

• Active user base lags Facebook. It’s the number-two social network, based on visits, but its current total user active base is still significantly lower than Facebook’s (about 1/6 of Facebook in the US, according to eMarketer*).

• Time spent is remarkably low. Monthly average time spent on Twitter (36 minutes) is 91% lower than time on Facebook (6 hours, 33 min) and 54% lower than Pinterest (1 hour, 17 min), according to Mediabistro/Statista.

• Brand revenue growth has been slow. Partially as a result of the above factors, monetization has lagged, with Twitter’s estimated 2011 revenues at $139.5 million (eMarketer), or about 1/25th of Facebook’s $3.71 billion actual 2011 revenues (S-1 filing).

It seems that these issues are among those threatening Twitter’s ability to increase its momentum with brands and organizations.

The Way Forward

Based on the data above, some of our own research, and some thinking based on work with brands, it appears that there are three steps that could make a dramatic difference for Twitter:

• Provide more business impact data and allow paid targeting around more business impact factors.  With their focus on engagement, Twitter’s analytics don’t demonstrate business value for brands (both for paid and earned engagement).  Facebook has built a useful brand lift analysis partnership with Nielsen (although that focuses on paid) and their newer ad products provide some additional ad targeting capabilities.  It would be very useful to see more Paid/Owned/Earned analytics around the core business impact areas of Reach, Positioning, Preference and Action/Sales.

• Create improved Twitter.com experiences around interests.  The platform’s focus on a real-time stream of short data chunks has made it well-suited for lighter engagement, as reflected in the time-spent stats.  It’s great for checking out what’s trending, or shooting a quick @reply to someone, or Tweeting a customer service issue.  What about creating more of an experience around interests? From kayaking to cloud computing, it seems that there must be a better user experience for conversation and discovery around interests. And, make it a core experience element, not one provided by a third party. There’s unique value for brands and organizations if this happens.

• Improve the visibility of relevant Tweets.  In our study, we saw a ratio of brand-related Tweet exposure that was significantly below that reported for Facebook brand-related stories, even when adjusted for the relative sizes of the active user bases. Some options for improving the visibility of Tweets from people one follows include word clouds, a squareified tree map, or just an optional Important Tweets view, drawing on signals like RTs and frequency.  Hopefully, some of those relevant Tweets would include brand or organization Tweets.

In summary, there are some important analytics improvements that would be great to see.  Additionally, it seems like discovery and engagement around interests are key underleveraged benefits of Twitter.

Much like Facebook has built an experience around social graphs, Twitter can and should build a better experience around interest graphs.

 

*Internet users who access their Twitter or Facebook accounts at least once a month, eMarketer March 2012

North Carolina Tar Heels are super passionate about their college basketball team.  (Case and point: the season is over and I’m still talking about it.)  So when North Carolina point guard Kendall Marshall–the nation’s leading assist man–announced he had a fractured wrist shortly after his team’s advancement to the Sweet 16, many ardent fans–myself included–felt their championship dreams crushed, much like Marshall’s wrist.  But instead of wallowing in despair, one student decided to bring Carolina fans together and hold out hope for Marshall’s tournament return.  Turns out, it proved to be more than a gesture among friends as the idea quickly transformed into a movement.

The idea was simple: draw the number five on your right wrist, representing Marshall’s jersey number and the location of his fracture.  The creators—who have chosen to remain anonymous—coined it “PassFir5t,” citing Marshall’s pass-first basketball mentality.  They casually created a Twitter account and a Facebook page, and shared it with a few friends.

It didn’t take long for the Carolina community to catch on.  Within hours, hundreds of people had posted pictures of “5″ wrists on their Facebook accounts and Twitter handles, showing silent solidarity for the injured guard.  Ten days later, there were more than 3,200 members on the PassFir5t Facebook page. Articles were written by ESPN.com, the News & Observer, and several blogs.  Even Kendall Marshall took notice.

With the growing momentum, the creators began to ask themselves: what do you do with the attention of thousands of passionate people?  How can we make this about more than basketball?  Their answer: use the platform and its message to exemplify how people should live their lives—by putting others before themselves (or in Marshall’s case: pass first).   The creators wanted to inspire people to do good within their own community.   Leading by example, they set up a meeting with Basebald–a local organization dedicated to raising money for childhood cancer research–and established their first partnership.  News of the partnership spread quickly over their social media network and within 24 hours, PassFir5t and its supporters had raised $2,000 for Basebald.

The Tar Heels rallied past the University of Ohio in the Sweet 16 game before falling to the University of Kansas in the Elite Eight.  Kendall Marshall did not play in either game.  Wrists were washed, but the PassFir5t spirit lived on as the number of supporters grew and new partnerships formed with other organizations, including local chapters of Fighting Cancer Below the Belt and Uhuru Child.  As of April 12, 2012, PassFir5t had raised almost $4,000 for various charities.  The creators have stressed that PassFir5t is more than simply raising money.  It’s about sharing the message of selflessness with others and taking a more active role in the community through volunteerism or supporting local organizations.

As an early supporter of the PassFir5t movement, it’s been amazing to see how quickly an idea can spread over social media, how it evolves over time, and how one person’s passion can inspire an entire community to act.  This year, Carolina fans proved that their passion extends beyond the basketball court and into communities where their actions truly make a difference.  And that makes me proud to be a Tar Heel.

For more information about PassFir5t, visit:

Website: http://www.passfir5t.org/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/#!/PassFir5t
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/PassFir5tCarolina

Since its launch in February 2012, Social@Ogilvy has ignited buzz surrounding the growing need for social initiatives within integrated campaigns, enhanced collaboration among the different Ogilvy groups and delivered business solutions for clients across all marketing, PR and advertising disciplines. But how did it all begin?  How do the different Ogilvy practices work together to develop business strategy?  What results will Social@Ogilvy bring to clients?  What has been the reaction from internal and external audiences?  And finally, what are Social@Ogilvy’s long term goals?

Ogilvy PR’s Global CEO Christopher Graves answers these questions and more in a candid discussion with PRWeek’s Frank Washkuch.  Watch the interview to learn how Ogilvy PR’s original 360° Digital Influence practice evolved into the groundbreaking Social@Ogilvy and how this transformative new offering is bridging silos and setting precedents in disciplines from social shopping to CRM to satisfy clients like never before.

PRWeek's Frank Washkuch speaks with Chris Graves, global CEO of Ogilvy Public Relations, about the strategy behind Social@Ogilvy.

 

 

 

“I was brave enough to say it.” Maybe this is how we all want to see ourselves. But when Shelly Lazarus, Chairman of Ogilvy & Mather, said this at the finale of the Ogilvy’s Women’s Leadership Panels Friday morning, the courage and confidence she shared with the audience were tangible. She was sharing how she was able to balance her roles as an Ogilvy executive and mother of three; she was brave enough to set her boundaries with her team and clients. If a meeting conflicted with an important family event, she simply said no.

“There is no work-life balance; you triangulate priorities with the possible outcomes,” says Lazarus. It seems the same attitude that made Shelly successful and indispensable at Ogilvy also made her a loving mother. It is in her character to attack projects (at work and home) with passion, to be decisive, and stay true to herself. These qualities are obvious in the role of a senior executive or dedicated parent, but these are the same qualities that have allowed her to change with the times, innovate, and move up the ranks to be a respected CEO and celebrated leader. She’s excited about the growth and utility of social media, and sees it as one of the next BIG creative movements for advertising.

Shelly looks at the changes and shifts in the advertising world as thrilling aspects of a business to which she has dedicated her career. “Find something you love,” she says, that way it never feels like you’re sacrificing. That is if you consistently act on your priorities and embrace your strengths and let go, let go of your weaknesses. “You’ll never get better at your weaknesses,” claims Lazarus.

What was so refreshing about Shelly’s talk was her honesty and candor regarding one of the most pressing issues women face in the work place, especially in new fields where there is so much potential for growth and leadership positions. “How can we do it all?” Shelly’s take on embracing strengths, letting go of your weaknesses on the job relates to the private sphere: attend field days and birthdays, but you may not be able to have the cleanest house or host a Wednesday dinner party. She describes working late on a Thursday evening, but never attending a conference on a Sunday evening.

Maybe there is no ‘balance,’ but we can learn from Shelly’s confidence and self-respect, and apply her enthusiasm for advertising and life outside the office to our daily routines: “Don’t be so hard on yourself. It’s not the outside world imposing these standards; it’s internal. You’re not going to be perfect at anything.” As we close Women’s History Month, let’s take a little bit of that to heart – and practice.

I leave you with the three thoughts from our March Motivator:

1. “I didn’t ask for promotions, but I asked for credit.”
2. “I just did my job, I never had a career plan. I did my job full throttle.”
3. “Put a team together and release them to win for themselves.”

For the past few weeks I’ve been following the ongoing feature published in The Washington Post called Black Women in America, which stems from a new nation-wide survey by the Post and the Kaiser Family Foundation that paints an interesting portrait of the lives of Black women. The survey includes interviews with more than 800 women and covers topics such as body image, personal finance, discrimination and overall happiness.  Last week’s article, “Breast cancer toll among black women fed in part by fear, silence” really stopped me in my tracks.

According to the article, Black women are less likely than women of other ethnicities to get breast cancer, but are more likely to die from it.  Death rates are 41 percent higher among African American women than among white women.

A separate study published last Wednesday in the International Journal of Cancer Epidemiology, Detection and Prevention compared mortality rates of black and white women in the nation’s 25 largest cities. The study found nearly five black women die per day from breast cancer.

The article provides the following factors that may contribute to these alarming rates:

Black women are getting their diagnoses at later stages

Black women are more susceptible to aggressive tumors

Lack of information about the importance of breast screening

Lack of access to high quality care

A sense of hopelessness and fear

As a communicator, I have to ask myself with so much information available on breast cancer why are so many Black women dying from it, and how can we turn this around?

One solution the article identified is the power of word of mouth marketing – in other words, simply hearing stories from other Black women who have had breast cancer would make the difference.

Many Black women interviewed said after they were diagnosed and shared their experience other women began revealing their experiences with the disease. The energy and collective strength that empowers women to boldly participate in breast cancer events, such as Susan G. Komen Race for the Cure, is not being translated into the Black community.  Messages about early detection and images of other women, who look like them, who had the disease and survived, are not being shared.

Black women are suffering in silence.  And their silence is deadly.

Eight months ago, I gave birth to my third child, a baby girl named Caroline Olivia. After a wonderful five month maternity leave, it was time for me to go back to work and time for my husband and I to determine how we were going to manage three children and two careers.

After careful thought and a lot of discussion, we decided that my husband, a small business owner, would scale down his work schedule to be home two days a week with our children and that I would return to work full time. This was not an easy decision as my husband’s business has been successfully growing despite a poor economy and he has worked hard to make that happen. However, for our family, this is what works right now.

Needless to say it was perfect timing when the March 26 issue of TIME magazine arrived last week. The cover story, “The Richer Sex,” is centered around the fact that women are overtaking men as America’s breadwinners and men are playing a stronger role in the home. According to the article, married men have almost tripled their weekly household contributions since 1965 and are more involved in the child rearing than ever before. Research shows this is a positive thing for a number of reasons:

• Studies show that the paternal style of child rearing is beneficial for a child’s physical, cognitive, emotional and behavioral development. For instance, mothers reassure toddlers when they become frustrated while fathers encourage them to manage their frustration. This helps the children learn to deal with stress and frustration.

• A long-term study proved that a father’s active involvement with his children, from birth to adolescence, promotes greater emotional balance, stronger curiosity and self-assurance in the child.

•While the stay-at-home mom often feels unappreciated, working women tend to go out of their way to ensure their stay-at-home husbands get the message that their contribution is noticed and valued, which makes for a better relationship.

One would think this shift in roles would result in a change in how we market products to families. Does the traditional focus on mom as the “CEO of the household” need to change? According to the research, probably not.

A Pew Research Study found that in households where the husband brings home more income, the buying decisions are made equally. However, in households where the wife earns more, mom is typically making twice as many buying decisions as the man. At the end of the day, dad is more of a target than ever before, but mom is still educating herself on the options and deciding what products are best for her family.

Regardless of who is making these decisions, we as a society are evolving to a place where roles in the family are based on the individual needs of that family rather than gender and that is a good thing for everyone.

It’s an exciting day for us. This morning we announced the launch of Social@Ogilvy, a worldwide practice connecting all of Ogilvy & Mather’s social media experts to deliver solutions across all areas of business.

Born as a specialty practice within Ogilvy Public Relations in 2004, 360° Digital Influence is now a part of a much larger business – Social@Ogilvy. The 360° Digital Influence brand has been retired, and the team members are now part of Social@Ogilvy.

Why Social@Ogilvy?

We know there’s a new customer and stakeholder journey defined by the increasing impact our networks have on purchase decision, opinion and our behaviors. We design integrated social solutions that combine deep disciplines – like CRM, advertising, public relations and shopper marketing and are rooted in what drives behavior.

This shift in the journey is happening in one way or another all over the world. That’s why we have grown the world’s largest global team to deliver social solutions that are relevant in each local market.  We are a true global network with a common approach. And more than just marketing we design social business solutions that use the collaboration and advocacy strengths of social media to drive value internally and in customer relationships while at the same time managing risk.

The development of this new, expanded practice across our network is another proof point for how we have mobilized world-class digital and social expertise and integrated that expertise into all agency sectors.

Simply put, as of today you can learn all about us, read our new and improved blog, join our social networks and subscribe to our global feeds at https://social.ogilvy.com. We look forward to connecting with you there.

In case you haven’t heard, last night TechCrunch announced that Pinterest hit 11.7 million UMVs, becoming the fastest standalone site ever to surpass 10 million monthly uniques. This presents a huge opportunity for brands, as you might have already read about here.

The #1 driver of consumer purchases is word of mouth recommendations from friends, and Pinterest holds the power to drive authentic “word of eye” recommendations in a way that is changing the landscape of social commerce.

How? The landing page for Pinterest is an endless visual stream of subtle product recommendations from the very people who influence your purchasing decisions - friends and strangers with good taste. This means that there is an endless opportunity for your brand and its products to be seen by Pinterest’s 11.7 million unique monthly users as endorsements from friends in the form of repins.

Currently available stats show the average Pinterest user spends 98 minutes per month on the site, compared to 2.5 hours on Tumblr, and 7 hours on Facebook. Pinterest is most popular in North Eastern states, among females (estimates range from 58% to 70% female), and with people ages 25-44 (59% of visitors).

How it Works

In case you haven’t already joined the millions of others pinning products, here’s a quick overview of how Pinterest works: Pinterest enables users to “pin” images found around the Web into categorized collections, or boards. Think of it like an interactive, shareable scrapbook. Or as I like to say, it’s your virtual high school locker. Pinterest can capture the brand essence, personality, inspiration for product design, or company culture through visual boards. It could also be used to organically grow your brand’s reach through an influencer re-pinning strategy, to further engage with fans through themed boards, and to inspire consumers to action, perhaps through a “best board” or a “most pins” contest.

Why People Love It

“It’s lovely from a visual perspective,” says my colleague (and Pinterest addict) Sophia Aladenoye. Apart from Pinterest’s tactile and user-friendly experience, it helps people make visual mental notes of a life they aspire to, like a vision board. “Pinterest is personally helping me with my 2012 vision board exercises… helping me to more easily remember the images that represent my goals, wants or benchmarks for 2012,” say Sophia. Others claim that the site is helping them to “de-stress,” to plan their wedding, or help redecorate their home. And some say they honestly just like the fact that is invite-only and feels exclusive (or perhaps felt exclusive before its recent boost). Men are also jumping on the Pinterest bandwagon - my friend and colleague Maury posts vintage cars, and Grassroots Modern blogger Creede Fitch posts photos of modern furniture designs he finds inspiring.

How Brands Can Leverage Pinterest

1) Create a new social commerce touch point

With 11.7 million UMVs and counting, Pinterest presents an opportunity for brands to expand their audiences by going where the masses are. Consumers are always a step ahead of brands and its important for brands to follow behavior rather than dictate it. Your brand’s presence on Pinterest will create another consumer touch point and a way to be discovered by new people. The visual Pinterest boards would help invite new people into the fabric of your brand by setting a mood or encapsulating a lifestyle, helping users to imagine how your brand’s products, services or culture fit their lives.

2) Grow influencer networks

Brands can leverage Pinterest to find influencers with whom to engage. You can expand your influencer networks by following influential Pinterest users and boards, and repinning items to our own Pinterest boards, giving credit to the influencer. Brands may also choose to engage with influential bloggers and have them curate a board on their Pinterest page.

3) Identify and engage super fans

Pinterest may also be a way to identify natural brand advocates or “super fans.” You can search for your brand’s products and discover who is most frequently pinning about your products and engage with those people. Surprise and delight super fans by rewarding them with products they pin to their boards. Eventually you may create a fan-curated board that allows super fans to add their pins.

4) Increase brand loyalty by sharing your brand’s culture

Pinterest is a fun, inspirational and highly visual atmosphere and your brand has an opportunity to engage fans in new and creative ways. Consider creating boards that align with product or service themes, for example, West Elm categorizes its boards by colors from its design palette, such as “Aquamarine.” Or create a board that reflects your company’s dedication to a CSR initiative. Or, compile pictures of everyday fans and influencers engaging with your brand, such as a board that features pins of people across the globe wearing a retail brand’s clothing.

5) Host contests for further engagement

Perhaps you can host a contest for fans to create the best Pinterest board with your products, and reward the winning fan with items from her board. Or, invite other users to co-create boards on your page around certain themes, and reward the winning team with product or a brand experience. For example, a travel brand can ask Pinners to create mood boards that reflect a destination like the French Riviera, and then reward the winning board with a trip.

7) Inspire repins (and purchases) through bold visuals

As mentioned earlier, the #1 driver of consumer purchases is word of mouth recommendations from friends, and Pinterest holds the power to drive authentic “word of eye” recommendations through a repin endorsement. To accomplish this, you’ll want to make sure that you have high resolution, professional quality, close-up photos to leverage. Photos of products should be taken in a way that enables the viewer to imagine herself wearing the product, engaging with an item, or taking part in the setting. Photos should taken in a way that makes them stand out in the visual stream that is Pinterest. For example, a bold-colored photo or a gray-scale photo might set itself apart from the photo stream.

Promote your culture first, products and services second

The trick with Pinterest is to leverage the “soft sell” and promote your brand culture over the products or services themselves. Pinterest is committed to maintaining a non-promotional atmosphere, and the hard sell could get you kicked off the platform. So to create the right atmosphere, think about what your brand has to offer and what the images say to people and what you want to ask, for example:

• A tech brand: “Do you like innovation? We’re innovative too, and here’s a photo of our developers making our first-ever app for iPhone.”

• A fashion brand: “Do you like bold, basic colors? We love everything bright and bold, and this painting by Matisse captures our upcoming line’s color scheme.”

• A home furnishings brand: “Do you enjoy a clutter-free living space? So do we, and here are three books we love that talk about a clutter-free home.”

• A credit card company or bank: “Do you imagine yourself living a lifestyle of luxury? Here’s a picture from the beach in the Virgin Islands where you could be right now.”

Through play and inspiration, Pinterest might just empower you to become the architect of your brand’s culture.

What do you think about Pinterest for brands? Do you think users will stay engaged once brands join?

Special thanks to Chris Heydt and Sophia Aladenoye of Ogilvy for their contributions.

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As retailers find their feet in social marketing, it would be interesting to know why they started down the road in the first place. All too often the answer is, “Because my customers expect me to be on Facebook.” Often “So I can push promotions” tops the list. But isn’t it great when the answer is, “I wanted to learn more about a few of my biggest fans, and leverage their influence to generate repeat visits at end of the purchase funnel?” This we don’t hear often.

Social-savvy retailers understand that their platforms aren’t just another outlet for brand messaging and promotions. They are often great listening posts and active drivers of business value. A few thought-starters (and relevant posts) on the subject:

1. Look into curated collections. Search for your brand on curated platforms like Pinterest. When you find someone who is in love with your product, they’ll often have past collections that reflect shared interests, and you’ll be able to discern whether they have ‘tastemaker’ status or not. After a careful identification process, these curators can be invited to broadcast their perspective on your brand.

2. Remember the valuable minority. A few of your most valuable influencers (often less than 10% of your total) can drive significant business value. Irfan Kamal’s great post thoroughly illustrates the point.

3. Turn your fans into advocates. Build a network of endorsers. Or, as our own Gemma Craven put it in her terrific post, turn your attention to “looking at the empowered customer as the new powerhouse that must be considered and included in any advocacy program.”

We’ve been watching social media chatter around the “big game” intensify over the past week – especially if you live in Indianapolis. But since Volkswagen first teased its teaser ad with the barking dogs (and garnered over 11 million views along with way), the ad community has slowly followed suit and rolled out their wares.

Consumers that wanted to gain clout (and Klout) passed it along as quickly as possible. But will two weeks of conversation or two minutes of 1.5 million tweets (like those amassed around Tim Tebow’s heroics this season) sway opinion, increase favorability or drive sales? Or are brands just trying to be “part of the conversation”? The answer to both is yes.

Sometimes we overlook the power of social media to actually drive business. We spend time counting tweets, status update comments and blog posts instead of sales. But with #SuperBowl being a promoted trend on Twitter all day and the social media command center created by the Host Committee in Indianapolis, this Sunday’s investments in more than just television airtime surely sound like a ringing endorsement from CMOs across the country that social media isn’t a nice to have, but a need to have.

That’s because social media makes the viewing party and the water cooler the next day exponentially larger. As we all look down to our phones rather than up to our neighbor to share our instant opinion of that play or that ad or that tweet, social media allows messages and implied endorsements travel much farther than Neilsen ratings on TV. Based on ever-increasing platform usage, consumers have told us that the size of our circles matter. And that’s why every star uses Twitter (and why the NFL has invested in a player’s application so they can own the content instead of Twitter).

Since I don’t really have a favorite in today’s game, I’ll be watching to see if Twitter crashes. And then I’ll see how long it takes for this giant conversation to fade. According to Google Trends, although the search volume peaks the week of the event and then subsides into the ether until the next year, the overall conversation volume continues to climb year over year. The goal of social media is for brands to take advantage of those event peaks to increase their baseline of online conversation. Intuitively, that should work better for those with lower brand recognition, rather than the behemoths that can afford to pay. We look forward to finding out how long the proverbially tail can actually be not just in the social media conversation, but also for sales, awareness and preference.

(Part 2? Yeah, check out Part 1.)

In case you missed it, Ron Paul supporters, ASU students, and VFX artists were among those that joined the fray since my last post. The variations continue to proliferate further down the tail, satirizing - and entertaining - more niche audiences. What does this add up to? Segmentation.

While I easily enjoy Sh*t ASU Students Say even though I’m not a Sun Devil - and haven’t even been to the campus - the video resonates better with those who were. Beyond that, the video’s arc is more relatable to students who enrolled in the past 5-10 years and drink socially - perhaps even deeper for students who were in the Greek system and enjoy campus takeout.

The point is, there’s a clear difference in the type of viewer who’s going to watch the video halfway through for a chuckle and a viewer who’s going to share across social networks. Those pearls of info are demographic, psychographic, and behavioristic qualities - in some ways digital has obscured their importance.

As segmented as some brands' social media programs get these days.

On-platform segmentation

On Facebook you can get granular with ads - age, gender, interest, etc. - but what’s the deepest a brand can go with a non-paid Wall post? Zip code - better than nothing, but hardly ideal. What’s the most specific you can get with a non-promoted tweet? Well, there isn’t any targeting at all. A brand can use hashtags, but hardly a guarantee it reaches the right followers and non-followers. The list goes on.

When considering the lack of earned and owned targeting, should we have been so shocked by the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute’s recent study showing 1.3% of users who Like a Page also engage with it? There are a host of reasons - and it’s not panic time - but a lack of targeted relevance is likely a large factor.

Is there hope? You probably saw the Pinterest infographic shared far and wide yesterday. The standout points are a 429% traffic increase since September and a higher referral rate than Google+. The larger question is how we account for the platform’s explosion - my takeaway is self-segmentation. Users can very specifically choose what content they consume from brands. For example, a user may be more interested in HGTV’s Design Happens Blog board than its Party Planner board - and the user can choose.

Of course, we can’t always expect audiences to do all the work - that’s kind of our job - but content segmentation is likely a contributor to the platform’s growing popularity. This is also why diligent brands should use Google+ to group users and serve-up relevance by the Circle-full.

What are the lessons?

Segment your influencers - While mega-buckets like green and lifestyle are easy defaults, your influencers should be as refined as your audiences - and pitched with the same specificity. This involves additional research, but is worthwhile in the long-run. This principle is emphasized in our and freshly-updated Ogilvy Social Media Engagement Code. We will always work hard to have good reason to connect our brand or program with a particular influencer or fan.

Diligent application of paid - Sometimes paid feels like a dirty word in our idyllic world of social media and word-of-mouth comms, but it’s a huge value-add when used properly. If a brand has a strong, relevant message it feels will resonate with ASU students or VFX artists, paid could be invaluable in getting the value exchange to a receptive audience.

Be targeted in your research - Broad statistics about social media won’t get you far. You may see large trends, but it doesn’t say much about your audiences. Believe it or not, MySpace is still relevant to stand-up comedians and forums are strong in industries like health care. Research + expertise for insight. As quickly as the digital world changes, intelligence must also be refreshed regularly - and with rigor.

As we continue to hear what sh*t all kinds of people say, more lessons about marketing in a digital world will come to the surface. Including when a campaign has run its course. Exhibit A @ 1:29. (It’s still hilarious.)

Are there other lessons you took away from this meme? What niche do you think is underserved in social media?

Facebook report from: http://www.marketingscience.info/.*Image credit: Despair.com. +Inspiration credit: @AlexisPond.