Comments from the Social Media Panel
Four panelists gave some specific advice and particular examples for winning the engagement of people through social media, keeping it, measuring it and messaging with it...
Emily Riley (Jupiter Research)
In social media the consumer adoption rate has exploded, and the advertising side of it has exploded as well.
Some interesting consumer based details on social media:
•1/5 adults have a page in a social networks site
•1/10 users create blogs
•1/10 users post comments on forums and review sites
•All are early adopters and newbies
Rick Marroquin (CMO, Batanga)
Advertising in both instant messaging and emails has thrived and contextual is getting even better.
Social media is about the user, but to make it profitable it has to be created in an environment where both publishers and advertisers feel safe and comfortable. This is accomplished only through thorough oversight.
You need to understand this media's target, who has the time and energy to create this kind of content.
The segment within the Hispanic community that is using social media is younger, still cultural ties remain important. They can and will communicate in both English and Spanish, but most of all their culture will be the predominant issue, trumping language as what defines Latino social media. For an example, go to YouTube and type in "chongalicious."
Publishers of user generated content are smarter than the average person and they know it! Publishers and consumers of user generated content are ridiculously savvy - they will see right through an advertiser in less than a second.
The goal for sites like Batanga is to make it easy for visitors to become publishers - Batanga has launched MyRadio, where subscribers are able to choose music from their artist of choice. 80% of current stations have both English and Spanish music.... Coming to show that it's the culture!!!
To be a player in this market you have to always find ways to innovate. An example is Batanga's Mashup Masters where a visitor takes two different songs, from the same of different genre combining them to create a brand new song that they can control. To keep it safe and enticing with advertisers, Batanga carefully selects the kind of music available for "mashup".
Bottom line, say Marroquin, the most important thing is to provide a real benefit for consumers; "If you have one, they will come"
Demian Bellumio (President & Founder, Hoodiny Entertainment Group)
Hoodiny is a digital entertainment company which produces and licenses web content for their sites and their partners. There content is artist generated - from labels of all sizes - so advertisers are very comfortable to put up their ads with them. Hoodiny creates micro sites for these artists in partnership with the record labels.
A social media property must possess competitive differentiators to survive: proprietary and innovative technology. Not only that, but they should seamlessly integrate with all other current technology. As an example, they have recreated the iTunes experience online for their users.
Also important are the customization capabilities they have to offer (widgets, dynamic pages, cool profile designs)
Bellumio equates social media to granular targeting. You get to data mine all the activities that go on and use them in many ways. You can determine, based on cultural variables, what people prefer to listen to as well as what ads they will be more receptive to.
Hoodiny will soon launch a Mobile initiative that will seamlessly integrate online and mobile content. The will also be partnering with record companies to begin offering ringtones.
A recent project they are working on is the creation of Mexican pop star Pilar Montenegro's new album, after a not so successful last release. They have come up with a contest where people are voting the songs they want on her new album. The winner will get the opportunity to be present during the actual recording of the album.
Antonio Otalvaro (CCO & Producer, Barrio 305)
Content Development has been their major focus so far, being a broadband video destination/social network. 1/5th of Barrios 305 is streamed through their own site, the rest is streamed through syndicated players on the web.
They have done short form branded entertainment segments/microchannels:
www.Barrio305.com/illegaltender.htm
www.Barrio305.com/jeep
www.Barrio305.com/nbaespn.htm
Which they promote through advertising on other Barrio 305 pages.
All presenters insisted that consumer engagement was the key limiting factor for advertisers; they must keep that interest before they can message.
