We were doing some research for a food client this afternoon. They want everyone to buy their product (it’s a fruit) but can’t afford to spend a gazillion dollars raising awareness above the line. If I had my way I’d get them to pay a bunch of celebrities to start spruiking  the ‘insert fruit name here’ diet on Rove and Sunrise, but sadly (and for the greater good of humankind) that’s not going to happen. Luckily they don’t need to do that anyway. With five years of search data setting a rock-solid precedent the spike in ‘recipe’ searches on Google caused by MasterChef is impossible to ignore. The strategy is obvious. Gosh I love digital.

Crazy isn’t it!

Nathan Bush has some analysis here…

And here’s what we sent the press:

Hey Hey It’s Saturday’s reunion show steamrolled the debut of Celebrity Masterchef Australia in an online ratings whitewash last night, reaching a peak of almost 7,000 Twitter conversations an hour versus 1,600 for Masterchef.

The data, collected by Brisbane-based social media monitoring company Dialogix (http://www.dialogix.com.au) showed that Twitter users mentioned the words “Hey Hey It’s Saturday” and tagged conversations with the hashtag #HeyHey more than 22,000 times while the show screened.

Celebrity Masterchef Australia generated 2,740 Twitter conversations, or less than 15% of Hey Hey It’s Saturday’s total.

The influx of tweets made Hey Hey it’s Saturday the number one trending topic on Twitter, which attracted global attention from the social network’s 19 million followers*.

The #HeyHey tag then became popular with American users throughout the night who noticed the trend and began using the words #HeyHey in unrelated conversations.

Dialogix Director Matt Granfield said Hey Hey It’s Saturday’s Twitter success was given a boost early on in the day when host Daryl Sommers (http://twitter.com/darylsomers) joined the network. His first tweet was “make sure you tweet about Hey Hey tonight, using the hashtag #heyhey”.

“Traditional TV ratings give you the number of people who watched a program, but if you measure people who spoke about a show on Twitter you get a better analysis of who actually ENGAGED with the show,” Mr Granfield Said.

“The show had more than 200,000 Facebook fans on the day it went to air and messages were posted on that network alerting people to the fact that host Daryl Somers had just joined Twitter. Within 24 hours Daryl had 1,383 followers.”

Twitter is the fastest-growing social network in Australia with around 800,000 unique Australian users each month.

According to a client’s legal team, it is.

We’re handling the social media marketing for a fairly large event for 14-17 year olds. We’d planned on using our monitoring tools to find people who mentioned the client’s brand and the bands playing at the event and then adding them as friends on MySpace and Facebook and following them on Twitter. It’s what lots of people do, it’s what brands have done to me. But, according to the legal team, that counted as spam.

In fact, the exact words from the client were:

“The lawyer and I were of the opinion that all these suggestions are in contravention of the Spam and Privacy Acts, but she (the lawyer) checked with a contact who is a specialist in the Spam Act to see if there are any loop holes.  There aren’t.”

Have you ever been be-friended by a company that was reasonably relevant to you? How did you feel about it? Has anyone checked their inbox lately and seen that a large corporation has added them? I’m keen to know so I can build a case study for my client. I’m of the opinion that if you’re adding people who have mentioned your brand, or are clearly talking about directly related topics than it’s fine - they can always just say no. What do you think?

This is, as close as I can figure, the top 50 most used web forums in Australia. Anyone got any additions or a better list?

1. artforum.com.au
2. atheistfoundation.org.au/forums
3. au.reachout.com/connect/forums
4. aussiebloggers.com.au/forum
5. aussiemuslims.com
6. aussiestockforums.com
7. australianartforum.com
8. balitravelforum.com
9. beadingforum.com.au
10. bigfooty.com
11. caddit.net/forum
12. chesschat.org
13. deafnessforum.org.au
14. dolforums.com.au
15. dtvforum.info
16. fordaustraliaforums.com
17. fordforums.com.au
18. forum.auswine.com.au
19. forum.onlineopinion.com.au
20. forum.sportal.com.au
21. forums.homeless.org.au
22. forums.leagueunlimited.com
23. forums.mactalk.com.au
24. forums.matrix.squiz.net
25. forums.overclockers.com.au
26. forums.pcpowerplay.com.au
27. forums.permaculture.org.au
28. forums.port80.asn.au
29. forums.pulpfaction.net
30. forums.vogue.com.au
31. forums.whirlpool.net.au
32. frankie.com.au/forum
33. hotcopper.com.au
34. http://akff.net/
35. http://developmentgateway.com.au/forums/
36. http://flyingsolo.com.au/forums/
37. inthemix.com.au/forum
38. kawariders.com.au
39. ls1.com.au
40. muslimvillage.com/forums
41. nationalforum.com.au
42. parksforum.org
43. photoforum.com.au
44. pomsinoz.com
45. ski.com.au/forum
46. woodworkforums.com
47. ziova.com/forum

And yes, I know there’s only 47 on the list.

Kraft went to the trouble of asking people to name it’s new product and they received 43,000 responses. Tick.

They then decided not to ask people what they thought the best name was, launched their choice of iSnack 2.0 and are now drowning in a deluge of social media hate mail.

They began the naming process by engaging. They finished it by ignoring us. Typical.

#vegefail

Microsoft have announced they’re running out a social media monitoring tool called ‘looking glass’. They made the announcement at a conferece and posted about it on their blog. Here’s what they said:

“LookingGlass is part of a broader shift under way within the platform strategy group. For the past two years, the group has been driving strategy around how to move marketing and advertising into the software-plus-services arena. “The proof-of-concept we wanted to build was to connect business data with advertising data and bring social media into the equation,” Tisdale told us. That way you can mine social media sites for information and then use that information to act. “If you do that, it settles a hot topic and makes things actionable that weren’t actionable before.”

The first step in making social media data useable is listening to the conversation. LookingGlass, which is built on a number of Microsoft technologies, lets users track customer sentiment across an array of social media sites. For example, the Zune HD marketing team could use LookingGlass to see what users are saying about the product in real time on Twitter, Flickr, or YouTube. Using technology from Microsoft Research, LookingGlass automatically rates each posting as positive or negative, so the Zune HD team could rank comments according to sentiment and see how customers are responding to the product and the campaign to sell it.”

It’s no secret that I’m behind a successful Australian social media monitoring tool called Dialogix. You’d think I’d be worried about Microsoft encroaching my space, but I’m not. They’re going to spend money educating the marketplace about the need for social media monitoring. Then they’ll bundle it in with their other products so you need Outlook or something more obscure to use it. They’ll claim they can rate sentiment accurately and they’ll stuff it up. I couldn’t be happier. Good on them though

Cos Luccitti, the award-winning Copywriter, Creative Director and eventual CEO of De Pasquale is having his last day at work today. A kinder, more talented colleague and friend could most probably not be found. Good luck Cos, we’ll miss you!

1. Start a Twitter account and give people incentives to follow you. The more topical the better - it keeps people interested and they’ll stay tuned. Like this:

2. Use Google’s keyword tool to find whatever keywords related to your business are being search for the most. Blog about them and Make videos about them. Make them entertaining. Watch your web traffic go through the roof. Like this:

3. Become an expert, start a blog and use your knowledge for good. Industry secrets don’t exist anymore. If you try and keep them to yourself someone else will trump you. We’re operating in a knowledge-based economy. Be the fountain of knowledge, be prolific and people will turn to you, and when they turn to you, you can start relationships with them (you know what I mean, don’t be rude). If you can’t write, podcast it. If you can’t talk, make videos out of it. Make claymation. Do something, don’t just sit there hoping people will come to you because you know so much. Publish. It’s free.

4. Start a Facebook group that people will want to join and subtly sponsor it. Don’t just start a fan page for your business, create a community that people want to be involved in. If you sell surfboards, create a fan page for six foot waves. If you sell wedding photography create a page for people who hooked up with a bridesmaid and are proud of it. If you sell candles start a Facebook group for people who are afraid of the dark. Like this:

5. Figure out whoever the key influencers are for whatever it is you’re selling. Read their blogs and leave comments on them regularly. Proper ones. Ones that make them feel loved. They’ll get to know who you are and then when you want to sell something you won’t have to make a bunch of new friends. Never forget thatthe purpose of a conversation with a new friend is not to sell something. It’s to have another conversation. Seth Godin told me that. It doesn’t matter what industry you’re in, or what you’re selling.

Step One: Make the blogosphere part of your morning commute: turn up to work 20 minutes before everyone else and read blogs for 19 minutes.

Step Two: Turn up to work 40 minutes before everyone else and write a blog for 20 minutes.

Step Three: Wear glasses

You’ll be amazed at what you can achieve.

According to data released by ComScore this month, 800,000 Australians visited the Twitter website in June. Most of them had less than 10 followers and many had no followers at all, but regardless, 800,000 is a big number. It’s about 4% of our population, which makes it a critical mass. Twitter is here. It’s going to stay. It’s not a fad any more and, as of three months ago, its popularity was growing at a rate of 6000% per annum. Look at the chart of Twitter growth compared to Facebook growth and you’ll get the picture:

But just how popular are Facebook and Twitter going to get?

Twitter’s growth-rate of 6000% is, of course, completely unsustainable. If the site kept growing at that rate the entire population of Australia would be on the site by Christmas. That isn’t going to happen. Twitter is currently in the middle of the biggest growth spurt it’s ever going to have and basing predictions on the current rate would be pointless.

What we do know is that 6 million Australians now use (or at least spy on their grandkids using) Facebook and that figure is about double what it was last year. Twitter will never be as popular with the general population as Facebook because it’s nowhere near as handy for stalking potential bed-fellows, spying on your teenage children or organising parties. For that reason, Facebook seems likely to remain the social network of choice for those interested in, well, socially networking. Which is pretty much everyone.

MySpace, let’s face it, is like a virtual shopping mall where awkward teenagers congregate after the movie has finished and before they’ve found someone to pash. MySpace should have used its momentum, when it had some, to become an entertainment network. It could have rivalled YouTube, but it was being run by old media folks who were too scared of being sued, too worried about pissing off advertisers, and didn’t understand that everything is now free. Watch those same old-media folks push News Corp into the grave by charging for online content.

For that reason, Facebook, in my humble opinion, will continue to dominate. And when an organisation dominates online, when a website becomes the market leader, all the other players fall by the wayside. Look at Google — Microsoft can’t even claw 5% market share and they own the fricking operating system AND the most popular web browser. Amazon is killing the competition, Seek.com.au rules jobs, eBay stands alone (except in New Zealand, where TradeMe stands alone). Facebook is in exactly the same position. Facebook will continue to grow because its market share is now so great it will be too inconvenient for people to go elsewhere. At least for the next few years. Look at the following Google Trends chart if you don’t believe me. The blue line is MySpace, the red one is Facebook. The blue line is actually going down pretty steeply, it’s just not going up as steeply as the red one:

Google Trends: MySpace vs. Facebook

My prediction is that Facebook will peak in 2010, by which time it will have around half the Australian population as regular visitors: 10,000,000 unique visitors a month. It will level out from there and most likely decline if the next big thing comes along. And keep in mind, that may not happen. There has, so far, been no ‘next’ Google. Fads replace fads, but useful tools just stick around. (Remember when people thought the Internet was a fad?)

Geocities was ‘the next big thing’. MySpace was ‘the next big thing’. Blogs were ‘the next big thing for business.’ But they all fell by the wayside because something better came along. MySpace replaced personal website building tools like Geocities because it was easier and it connected people. Facebook replaced MySpace because it had better tools, did a much better job of connecting people and was so simple even your parents could use it (damnit). Twitter replaced blogs for business because blogs were hard work. Blogs took time, effort, and they’re long. Twitter is quick, easy and short. Any business owner with a computer can setup a Twitter account and even an illiterate monkey can keep it updated.

People will soon get sick of Tweeting among their friends because it’s too limiting. It’s no secret that I’m not a big Twitter fan and I prefer Tumblr, but for businesses, Twitter is the ultimate communication channel. Dell have made $3 million from retail offers on Twitter and Starbucks use it as an EDM solution. It’s a complete no-brainer. Every business should be on Twitter right now. Even if they just use it as a news feed.

Where will Twitter go from here? It’s hard to say. The model is flawed, all they’re doing is providing an easy-to-use news feed. They have zero competitive advantage and no real USP. All they have is a brand; a cute little blue bird; but the brand has the equity of an eagle. My prediction is that within two years 70% of Australian businesses with a website will also be on Twitter. There’ll be around 3 million account holders, but more importantly, I think Twitter is going to have more unique visitors than Facebook, just. By 2011 you won’t be able to interact with an Australian business without coming into contact with their Twitter feed. I’m calling it 10,000,001 unique users a month.

What do you think?