Archive for the 'word-of-mouth' Category

Miami Dolphins Draft

Published on May 1, 2008 in blogpulse, buzz, digital, marketing, social media, social networks, viral, websites and word-of-mouth. 0 Comments

Saturday was the NFL draft and my favorite team the Miami Dolphins had the top pick. I was naturally curious about the level of discussion in the blogosphere and then something interesting happen. The Dolphins announced early that they had signed Jake Long as the top pick ending months of speculation.

This buzz chart identically follows the way the story broke. His name is first mentioned very sparingly and then on April 10 we see a small spike due to speculation about negotiations beginning. And on April 22 you see the announcement that they had signed him four days ahead of the draft. Then Miami Dolphins buzz spikes again on the actual day of the draft.

Actionable Data for the Miami Dolphins

The Miami Dolphins could use this chart for marketing in a variety of ways. Qualitative and quantitative analysis lies within this study. The Miami Dolphins could make operational decisions such as whether a Jake Long jersey would be a viable choice for the coming year and how many to order. Marketing decisions like promotions and which brands may be interested in using Jake Long are also a viable options.

Deeper qualitative drill downs are also available via clicking through to the points on the chart. For instance, scoring some of the listings from draft day yields valuable PR insights that could overt misinformation. Below is one of the quotes:

  • “Now that the Dolphins have signed their #1 pick, Jake Long, it’s now time for the organization (and the trifecta, to be specific) to move on to other things….And as CBS Sports’ Clark Judge writes, the Dolphins are already working hard on moving Jason Taylor” http://www.thephinsider.com/2008/4/22/2155/03979

Social Media Speeds Up Reaction Times

In the old world sports model a reporter would find out about negotiations and write about it to be published for the next day. Then the team’s official PR department would issue its statement regarding the draft pick. Relationships have changed and the world has become much more social. Media has cut down on its delivery times and PR departments are scrambling to keep up. Measuring social media and listening to your fans is crucial to keep up with changing relationships in an increasingly social world.

How will the Dolphins react to this buzz-touchdown and help further their PR strategy for next year?

My guess is they may have a small team devoted to “listening.” I have not seen many sports teams actively using social media as a viable means of listening and reacting. The Colts (mycolts.net) have a social network but I have not seen much feedback to its success for the team. I would suspect that they have an amazing amount of data and hope they are using it gather valuable insights. Insights that could be quickly gathered and analyzed to facilitate on the fly changes to the marketing and PR strategy.

The Future

Social media is predicted to evolve into a vertical driven space (ie. mycolts.net). Leaving little room for brand invasions to drive consumers to trust them less. Mining your base for crucial insights to help evolve your marketing plan can become social overnight. Will you take advantage?

Pope Benedict & Recession

Published on April 21, 2008 in analytics, blogpulse, buzz, marketing, social media, tools, viral, websites and word-of-mouth. 0 Comments

Yesterday I watched the Papal Mass on television and I started to wonder how much buzz the trip received. Here is a Blogpulse chart, comparing the Pope’s visit to the US, with American Recession.

Here is a link to the actual query.

Pope Benedict

China - Tibet - Olympics Torch Chart

Published on April 10, 2008 in blogpulse, buzz, community, digital, social media, tools, websites and word-of-mouth. 3 Comments

Blogpulse Chart

With all the news about the trial and tribulations of the Olympics torch this week, I thought to run a chart and see the blogosphere’s reaction to the issues. It is interesting to see that the torch is driving much more buzz than the issues. I cannot help but wonder if the events have actually overshadowed the reasons leaving no one to gain.

Protest is patriotic but just make sure your ideas, do not get lost in your methods.

Ancillary Insights in the Blogosphere

Published on March 24, 2008 in analytics, blogpulse, branding, buzz, digital, viral, websites and word-of-mouth. 0 Comments

A whitepaper my company put out last year states that CPG (Consumer Product Goods) product launches can increase buzz by leveraging media spend. That buzz is significantly multiplied by a variety of factors surrounding a product launch. And major public announcements can be amongst the biggest drivers. The above chart shows how Led Zeppelin’s announcement of a charity performance gig sparked major ancillary insights. These secondary branches off of original announcements provide valuable insights, via CGM (Consumer-Generated Media), into your current brand.

What can you mine about your brand from the chatter around the internet?

Project Runway and Flight of the Conchords Buzz is FIERCE…

Published on March 10, 2008 in blogpulse, buzz, engagement, viral, websites and word-of-mouth. 0 Comments

Project Runway had its big season finale last week. The three finalist were Christian Siriano, Jillian Lewis and Rami Kashou. It was great season full of excitement with extraordinary talent this year. Week in and week out, these folks put great clothes down the runway, so congratulations to them for all their hard work.

Now onto the buzz, I pulled two Blogpulse charts today to see if any themes surfaced in the data. The first chart queries the three finalists names. Nothing super exciting here, but we do see that the colorful Christian was the most talked about all season long and he had a huge spike for his winning designs. To quote Christian, he was “fierce” on the runway and also in the blogs.

The next chart shows some recent HBO shows compared with Project Runway. Its interesting to me for a couple reasons. First the season finale’s of each show seem to drive quite a bit of buzz represented in the major spikes on the chart.

The second reason is Project Runway and HBO’s runway hit Flight of the Conchords both shows that have amassed cult type followings in a very short period. One interesting fact, Flight of the Conchords buzz seems to be comparable to both The Wire and Project Runway even though it has not aired a new episode since early September of last year. (FYI - Flight of the Conchord’s season finale aired before this chart’s data)

What leads to the success of Flight of the Conchords and Project Runway in the engagement arena? In a time when strategist are stressing the benefits of social media and diversifying your marketing program, we see that both of these shows have integrated strategies encompassing social media and emerging trends. On the HBO site, you will find a vlog (video blog) and all sorts of social media features. Project Runway similarly has all the bells and whistles of a social media site with mobile fan clubs, widgets and many more interactive features.
Does all this social media drive active engagement in a television show? For now, it definitely seems to be working.