FreshNetworks Blog

Virtual gifts are big business. Even in its earlier days, many people on Facebook were paying money to give their friends virtual flowers, and Farmville makes a great success out of selling trees and sheep to people to gift to others as part of the game. What we have learned is that people are willing to pay money for virtual objects, and even more so when they are gifts to other people. Seeing this trend, many people are tying to explore ways to integrate virtual gifts into their social media strategy as a way to make money. Few are doing this successfully but as with many examples of successful social media there is much we can learn by looking at how it is being used in the not-for-profit sector.

Imagine that rather than spending £2 to buy your friend a bunch of virtual flowers, you could spend £2 on a virtual badge for your charity of choice. It would post that charity’s branding and logo on your friend’s Facebook page (and thus in the newsfeeds of all their friends) and the £2 would actually be a donation to that charity. This is the simple, but effective, idea that is JustGiving gifts. This app lets you show your support for a particular charity by buying a virtual badge for a friend. So, for example, if you wanted to show your support for Breast Cancer Care you can send your friend (or indeed yourself) a branded badge and a message about the charity and the work that they do. And when you buy the badge you pay a £2 donation through JustGiving for the virtual gift and are given the option if you choose at that point to set up more regular giving to this charity.

Its a simple idea but a really effective one that builds on the behaviour we are seeing in Facebook and in social media more broadly:

1. Users like badges as ways of showing their allegiances – in recent user testing work we did at FreshNetworks we explored why people ‘Like’ things on Facebook. One reason that was popular with many is that it was a way to get a badge on their profile showing their interests and what support. If you are a fan of Arsenal Football Club, for example, one reason to ‘Like’ them on Facebook is that it will put an Arsenal badge on your Facebook profile showing your allegiance to this cause. The virtual badges given by the JustGiving gifts app do just this – they are a way of friends showcasing what they care about and displaying their allegiances on their profile
2. Badges offer a way of highlighting particular updates - in the same testing we found that users like adding things to updates and messages on Facebook as a way of making theirs stand out or to add extra value to it. On a birthday, for example, they might add in links or photos in their ‘Happy Birthday’ Facebook wall posting. This is a great opportunity for this charity gifting as adding in a virtual gift adds the extra value to such birthday or other updates that users are looking for.
3. This virtual badges capitalise upon the connections in Facebook – these virtual gifts are a great example of using the connections between people in Social Networks – when I send my friend a Breast Cancer Care badge it will not only tell her all about the work that they do, but also my friends and her friends. It is a good way of sharing and spreading the message about the charity and makes good use of the social network features of Facebook.

Perhaps what I love most about the JustGiving gifts app is that it is a simple solution that really works with the trends we are seeing in how people are using social networks and virtual gifts. They have not just seen that people are spending money on these kind of gifts but really explored why and how. It’s only by exploring and really understanding how users are interacting in social media that you can start to develop a social media strategy that will really bring you value.

One of my favourite podcasts is Listen to Lucy from the FT’s Lucy Kellaway and this week she has a great piece addressing how brands are responding on Twitter. Specifically how Starbucks responds to some Tweets about the brand. The piece is, like all her podcasts, humourous but with a serious message. And in this case I think its a message many brand would benefit from taking on board – how to respond to people on Twitter, or indeed how not to.

The case she discusses is of UK satirist, Armando Iannucci and a Tweet he made about Starbucks and the hygiene of their stores. She remarks on how the Starbucks UK MD is responding to this and similar Tweets about the brand and the regularity at which he is doing this.

Whilst I think that there is a real benefit of engaging with customers online in this way and it is important for brands to put in place a clear and thorough process for reacting and responding to mentions of their brand online. But, as we spend much of our time telling clients, the key is not to feel that every mention needs to be responded to. In fact in most cases mentions of your brand online do not merit a response.

Kellaway makes this point succinctly. The Starbuck UK MD, she says, should have other things to worry about than one message about the hygiene of his stores. Indeed, as she says, he should probably be more worried about the fact that he only finds out about this from a Tweet and not from his own staff.

There is a real danger with social media. Because it is easy to find mentions of your brand online there is a temptation to think that you need to respond to them. Kellaway’s point, and one that brands should take into account when planning their social media strategies, is that overall business strategy should not be driven by what is said on Twitter. In fact you should not build a process of reacting and responding that treat messages in social media in a different way from through other mediums.

The best approaches to customer service are not to have a special social media route to get your problems dealt with, but to feed social media into your existing channels. If you have a customer care team, it is they who should deal with mentions in social media (where they need to be dealt with). Social media mentions should not be elevated to a special level that received particular attention over and above how you deal with your other customers and their issues, comments and suggestions. You should integrate social media into your business not treat it as a special case.

You can Listen to Lucy on here

If you’re based in London you probably know the disruption and frustration caused when there is a strike on the Tube – especially more so as the strikes are often timed to cause maximum impact on journeys to and from work. If you are based out of London you probably care less. But for all people the current strike that started today is a good example of how broadcasters are using social media both as an information source but also as a broadcast medium.

BBC London News (@BBCLondonNews) has been using Twitter for some time as a source information, comment and research for pieces. Most notably through certain reporters such as Matt Cooke (@MattCooke_UK) who have built a presence on Twitter. This is a common use of social media among news organisations, and we wrote last year about the benefits (and challenges) of user-generated news. But with this Tube Strike, BBC London News are doing some things different and truly experimenting with social media.

The are of course doing the basics – they are using and promoting the #TubeStrike hashtag, and reporters such as Cooke are sharing information, photos and retweeting other comments about the strike. They are sourcing photos through social media and sourcing stories and information about the strikes and the impact on commuters the same way.

Perhaps more exciting, however, is how they are then presenting this information back to people and how they are using social media to broadcast information and news about the strike.

The BBC is experimenting with social media to map and report on the tube strike and the impact it is having: the London Tube Strike Map. As with other such maps, they are plotting information shared on Twitter using the #TubeStrike hashtag, and they are also including audioboos with the same tag. But where they are leveraging the reach and power of the BBC is to combine these social media sources with more traditional sources – you can submit information by text, email and by filling in a form on the site too.

This is a simple tool but can be an effective one and its use will become more obvious as we enter the second day of the strikes and more content is added. What BBC London is doing is experimenting with different ways of both sourcing and then presenting information and news. It is using social media in the way that many of its viewers are doing and providing them a real service. We already know that many people will be using Twitter as a search engine to find out information about how their journey to work is being affected by the strike. BBC London is bringing this information together in one place and, perhaps critically, combining it with information it sources from other places.

Organisations like the BBC should be experimenting with social media where there is a clear benefit for their audience of doing this. If it works and attracts a sizeable and relevant audience then they can develop these tools and experiments to enhance the news and travel coverage they currently provide. With the London Tube Strike Map they are moving beyond sourcing information and research through social media, to using it as an integral part of their reporting and information provision. If the experiment works it could provide a model for how news organisations can provide such information in the future.

View the London Tube Strike Map

As a social media agency, FreshNetworks aims to bring you the best posts in social media, online communities, marketing and customer engagement online. In case you missed them, find below our top five posts in August.

1. Learn from Abercrombie & Fitch: Embed social media in every customer touchpoint

When you pay at Abercrombie & Fitch in London, you are asked the same question: “Have you checked us out on Facebook?”. Rather than being just a phatic expression, this is a sign that Abercrombie & Fitch is taking its social media strategy seriously. And a great example of just how to embed social media across your customer touchpoints and with all your staff.

If you want to grow and engage more customers in social media the best way is to embed it into your existing processes. You currently have many customer touchpoints so make the most of them. And let social media complement what you already do rather than sitting on its own.

2. Social media case study: Cadbury spots v stripes campaign

Cadbury Spots v Stripes campaign is a great case study of how to use social media and shows just why social media doesn’t just take place online. The campaign integrates online and offline touchpoints, and rewards people for things they do in social media and offline. What is interesting to see is that Cadbury has recognised that offline is converging with online – something that all digital marketers need to be aware of.

3. 5 ways marketers could use Facebook Places

Facebook Places launched in the US in August. It allows users to share their location with their friends, find out who is near them and to discover new places nearby. This add another geolocation tool into the market alongside the likes of Foursquare and Gowalla and the reach of Facebook will put geolocation tools in the hands of lots of people.

In this post we suggest five ways that marketers can use Facebook Places – from discounts to data.

4. 5 reasons why people follow brands on Twitter

Every wondered why people follow brands on Twitter? We’ve already written about why people follow the UK’s top brand on Twitter, and a recent report from ExactTarget builds on this analysis  further by revealing why people follow companies on the popular microblogging site.

In this post we look at the top five reasons for following a brand on Twitter, from displaying loyalty to getting discounts.

5. How social media is changing the way we travel

Social media is changing the way we travel. The way we plan, the way we book, the way we act when we are travelling and the way we report on it (in real-time and after the event). We are using review sites to book hotels and events. We are using Twitter and Flickr to find out what people really think of places we are going to or things we are going to do. We are using these same tools to report, often in real time, on what we are experiencing.

In this environment those in the travel industry need to take social media seriously, and find ways to make it work hard for them and their brand.

Last week a few members of the FreshNetworks development team went over to Copenhagen to find out about the latest developments in the Drupal world at DrupalCon 2010.

Drupal is the open source content management system that we use here at FreshNetworks to develop our online community sites.

Drupal has various advantages over other content management systems (as described in our post on why Drupal is a great social media platform (in layman’s terms)) and has grown rapidly in use over the last seven years or so.

Paul Oram and James Andres, both experienced “Drupalistas” and  members of our tech team,  attended the conference this year to speak  find out more about the latest Drupal developments.

In the video below Paul explains these developments and what we can expect from Drupal in the next release and what developments it is taking over the next few years.