With a new Yaletown agency address came the requirement for new business cards. That got me thinking...I really don't use dead tree cards that much anymore but not enough to cut them out completely.

So when I was cleaning out my office drawer I found an old box of Moo Mini Cards that I used personally. I thought that these could be the solution I was looking for. The response when I handed the little cards out personally was always the same. That of wonderment and affection. Those are emotions that I would love to have associated with the brand. They are also very Web 2.0 like us and as new employees come into the fold we could order them up easy peasy. That said they are so cost effective that even contractors could get a set. Couple that with the cool key chain case and it was a no brainer.

So with that I present to you the new POWERSHiFTER mini cards. [Cool black case sold separately].

In an Adage article by Patrick Sarkissian, he makes the claim that metrics are indeed killing creativity. His point is really about using metrics to make creative decisions exclusively. Metrics have always been in advertising and I suspect have driven the decisions of many clients that are too afraid to take risks in general. Metrics and measurement are always important, but so is the ability to take a chance with a creative campaign that may not have all the numbers and metrics to back it up. ROI and reduced risk for business is always an important thing to consider for campaigns, but so is taking a risk. Not taking risks will get you slow and steady returns with little ,to no loss there is no question. Risks can pay off huge when the creative resonates with the audience and in the end makes for a remarkable campaign that elevates your brand or product to new levels. 

 

Measurement is essential but the human spirit quite often surprises. During the Olympics crowds of hundreds, and sometimes thousands, would spontaneously breakout into the national anthem when they were finished quite often the crowd would do it all over again. I noticed that the anthem was notably missing from most ad campaigns during the Olympics. I am not sure if it was metrics or not but if there had been an anthematic ad campaign it would have resonated without a doubt. My point is that humans are not always predictable and great creativity connects in ways that metrics cannot always predict.

 

Metrics are important sure, but should they drive all creative choices for your campaign? Sure if slow steady returns are what you are looking for. If you want the potential of a "knock it out of the park" campaign you are going to have to take some "calculated" risks to make that happen. 

Last month I had the pleasure of sitting on a "Social Media for Business" panel discussion with Louise Clements, the Director of Sales for Facebook Canada. She shared with me some of the latest data on Canadian Facebook users that I would like to pass on. The most staggering figure that I was presented with was that "16 million Canadians spend no less than 1 hour a day on Facebook". Wow Canada has a population 33,212,696~ [stats Canada July 2008]. That's an amazing 48.48% of Canadians in total. This is why they have been working on making fan pages more useful to business and brands. With that level of Canadians engaged daily on Facebook having a fanpage for your brand is more important than ever.

 

I am just going to post the statistics and will provide some analysis later this week.

• 54% Female
• 46% Male
• Each has an average of 220 friends
  
• They make up 12% of the Facebook population.
• They represent 80% of all online 12 - 17 year olds†

How are they using Facebook?

• 77% use it more than email
• 44% use it more than cell phones
• 40% use it more than any other communication tool
  

13-17 year old Facebook behavior (in the past week):

• 57% add/use an application
• 41% become a fan of a page
• 62% upload/view/share a photo
• 39% RSVP to an event
• 47% share/post/watch a video
• 58% read their news feed
• 13% send a gift [that surprised me!]
  

• 48% Female
• 52% Male
• Each has an average of 247 friends
  
• They make up 29% of the Facebook population.
• They represent 93.8% of all online 18 - 24 year olds†

• 82% use it more than email
• 43% use it more than cell phones
• 45% use it more than any other communication tool

• 52% add/use an application
• 33% become a fan of a page
• 63% upload/view/share a photo
• 56% RSVP to an event
• 47%share/post/watch a video
• 67% read their news feed
• 20% send a gift

†Statistics are  from Comscore July 2009

In a recent Adage article, using data from the research firm Hitwise, t was reported that Facebook now accounts for more referral traffic to some sites than Google. Facebook now has a confirmed number of registered users in the range of 200 million. Social networking has grown a whopping 93 percent since 2006; the amount of time people spend communicating online has increased from 18 to 32 percent of their total online time.[1] The actions performed in Facebook are shifting as well; users spend a good portion of their time on the newly redesigned newsfeed page, where they can quickly scan for status updates and user-recommended videos, products, and  articles. Similar streams in Twitter and FriendFeed are also becoming powerful recommendation engines. Further, the low click-through rate of banners on social media sites is even further below the already shockingly low industry average of .01%-.02%. These low results are primarily due to the highly focused activity performed by users on social media sites, and also explain why media placement companies have bluntly told me, "Social media does not work for online advertising."

The numbers:

• Last fall, it was reported that 40 hours a month are spent online by the average internet user in North America.[2]

• Of those online, 75% are spending time in the social networking and social media space.[3]

• The the industry attributes a .1%-.2% click though rate on most web banners and that number drops further on social networking activity.

• Social networking has grown 93% since 2006.[1]

Now, let's look at some of my anecdotal social media link click-through activity. According to mrtweet.com, a Twitter user recommendation site, I post an average of 42 tweets a day. 28 percent of my posts contain links; that's about 12 links per day. I use Hootsuite to post links, as it enables me to measure the stats of those who actually click on the Hootsuite to post links, as it enables me to measure the stats of those who actually click on the links I post. Last week, I had a total of 1250 clicks[pretty graphs], either directly or through re-tweets[4], on 84 links. That gives me an average click-through rate of 7%. I have approximately 1200 followers, and there are hundreds of thousands of Twitter users with substantially more followers than me. With the growing number of Twitter users alone, recent rumours of the company's acquisition by Google make sense. I post about half the number of links on Facebook as I do on Twitter, but can't measure the click-throughs as Facebook currently lacks the requisite analytical tools. The total number of online social media users across the various platforms-Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon, Del.icio.us., etc.-provide a clear indication of where consumers spend their time, and why it's important for companies and agencies to create content and campaigns that are viral-worthy.

So where does that leave the web banner? Should we abandon the staple that has given hope to so many web start-ups and sustained others? The answer is no; the web banner has its place in delivering brand presence and campaign messaging online. Perhaps if the web advertising industry had not hung its collective hat on CTR, this issue may not have seen so much back-peddling as there is today. The industry was so keen on proving its relevance in the web's early days that it differentiated itself from other mediums through the highly measurable CTR. Unfortunately, what wasn't considered were the lack of novelty and typically bad experiences users often associated with the click.

However, banners are still important in that we can track their impacts by measuring all customer impressions through comprehensive analytic tools. I believe it is all part of the mix, but the final destination of any campaign must be relevant and engaging enough to hold the attention of users, and contain content that will compel them to share it with others. Creative agencies play an important role in orchestrating compelling ad campaigns that customers can relate to, but ultimately, the method of directing viewers to those destinations is shifting from the once almighty banner ad, to the terrain of "the people's media."

[1] This, according to a survey conducted by Netpop, based on the 105 million U.S. broadband users.

[2] Comscore

[3]  PEW Internet research, March 2009

[4]  A re-tweet is when a Twitter user likes your post so much and recommends the link to their followers through the method of  what is called re-tweeting.

I will be joined by top Vancouver social media experts Shane Gibson and Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega for practical advice on expanding your network and increasing sales through social media marketing. The night will consist of networking, presentations and the three panelists answering questions from both the moderator and the audience.
 
Won't you join us the evening of Monday April 13th at the Harrison Gallery. Where we will answer the question. "How can you get social media working for your business?"

 
More information and tickets here>>