MAKING HOCKEY MORE INTERACTIVE: TICKETMASTER AND THE NEW YORK ISLANDERS MOBILE INITIATIVE

Ticketmaster is sponsoring the in-venue mobile initiatives of the National Hockey League’s New York Islanders.  They are using SMS to elicit fan interaction with mobile calls-to-action displayed on the video board in the New York Islanders’ Nassau Veterans Memorial Coliseum in Uniondale, NY.

This brings real-time mobile and interactivity to Islanders fans throughout the current NHL season. The partnership will let fans at home games send pictures and text messages to the arena video board to be displayed.  They also participate in real-time polls and trivia contests via their mobile phones--- AT THE GAME!  The “Have Your Say” feature lets Islanders fans text the keyword “SAY” and think message to short code 88222 to get their thoughts broadcasted on the video screen and the digital ticker tape encircling the arena.  How cool is that?

Strategy

The strategy behind the launch of the New York Islanders’ mobile initiatives is to primarily help sell tickets and get consumers to opt in so they can send out SMS blasts before and after every game and score alerts for fans to get a text message saying who won and what the score was.  The secondary strategy was just to make the Islanders games more “interactive” and “participatory” for Fans.  For example, Islander fans are asked to email their pictures to islanders@txtstation.com.

Real-time Polling,Trivia, and games

Islander’s fans are also sent messages throughout the game ranging from trivia to polls testing fans knowledge of the Islanders and asking their opinion on various topics.  A Zamboni Race feature even lets fans give a boost to their favorite on-screen Zamboni simply by texting in.  Also, once fans text-in to participate in any of the mobile initiatives, they are asked to opt in to receive future alerts and promotions via SMS from the New York Islanders. 

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‘JERSEY BOYS’ LEVERAGE MOBILE + SOCIAL MEDIA

Jersey Boys is a documentary-style musical based on the lives of one of the most successful 1960s rock‘n’roll groups, the Four Seasons.  The musical opened on Broadway in 2005 and won four 2006 Tony Awards. The show has had a North American National tour, along with productions in various U.S. cities including Las Vegas, the West End in London and Melbourne, Australia.

Jersey Boys marketing activities targeted visitors to Las Vegas, Nevada—specifically people who were in Las Vegas, but had a home town outside of the Las Vegas area. They were given a special offer to encourage them to buy tickets to the show. Redemption rates for the promotion exceeded two percent.

“Jersey Boys wanted to target visitors to Las Vegas to invite them to watch the show,” Mr. Linner said. “The campaign ran across SMS, mobile Web and in-app ad units.

“The campaign was focused on delivering real-world interactions, rather than interactions on the mobile handset,” he said.

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CHEVY GETS SOCIAL

Chevrolet, also known as Chevy, is a brand of automobile produced by General Motors Co. It is also General Motors' highest-selling brand. In North America, the Chevrolet brand offers a full range of automobiles, from subcompact cars to medium-duty commercial trucks.

Chevrolet targeted ads to people within three miles of a dealership on Saturday or Sunday afternoons. Chevrolet saw response rates between one percent and two percent based on the number of people who visited the dealership.

“Chevrolet wanted to drive people into its dealerships,” Mr. Linner said. “We have run different campaigns offering various incentives—free oil changes, a $25 gift card when you take a test drive, etcetera.

“The Campaign ran across mobile Web, SMS and in-app,” he said. “Each campaign was geotargeted to dealerships and time targeted to the most relevant day-parts.”

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Social Media | Q&A

What are the most common mistakes brands make when it comes to social media?

Many Marketers suffer from the "me too" syndrome. If a competitor is doing something special, they feel the pressure to do the same -- even if it is out of sync with their brand or their customers. This pressure comes from the marketer's bosses, the social media specialists, the analysts, the advertising agencies and the media.  It is therefore extremely important to recognize that as a brand, you can only participate successfully when you have permission to do so with your customers (or have a way to create that permission). Along those lines, it's important to start with strategy and do something that makes sense for your brand, is in alignment with your business objectives and resonates with your customers.

What's the key difference between Social Media marketing online and via mobile?

Social media marketing can take place on any digital platform or device.   Digital is digital.  However, mobile as a specific platform has the added benefit of increasingly being location-aware.  This allows information to be served to the user with more relevance and context.  On the flip side, mobile platforms don't allow for experiences as rich as others, but it doesn't mean they still can't be immersive and incredibly social avenues.

 Bottom line is that you’ll need to start with a social strategy and then examine how it translates to different platforms and devices -- whether that be your company Web site, a platform like Facebook, or a device like an iPhone or Blackberry. 

Are Facebook and Twitter the only properties that really matter for social media marketing?

Absolutely not! Facebook and Twitter are both certainly the tip of the spear, but I've seen many companies have significant success with the other social platforms, their own community sites and even mobile-specific social solutions. It all depends on your specific business objectives, what your competitors are doing, where your customers are spending their time and how you want to differentiate yourself with what ideas. The blogosphere, for example, cannot be ignored. Bottom line though is that you’ll need to evaluate the various social platforms and select based upon those best positioned to help you achieve your business and marketing objectives.

Is "earned" media more important than paid media in the social realm?

Building authentic relationships that provide meaningful value exchanges with customers, (and especially those customers that influence others), is most important. That can happen in a variety of ways, whether through paid or earned media, or with those efforts working collaboratively. In the social realm, there's nothing better than true engagement between customers and brands.  That said, earned media is more important, although it is hard to always earn the attention, (and that's where paid and even owned media help jump start any engagement.)

Goodbuzz™ encourages you to submit all of your questions.

SOCIAL RELEVANCE MEETS SOCIAL NETWORKING | FINDING THE INFLUENCER

When most of us think “social media marketing” we initially jump to notables like Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and MySpace. This stems to reason given their mass appeal and broad user-bases.  However, deciding where to invest your time and energy depends entirely on your objectives.  As demonstrated by the Hitwise data, there are a number of other communities that you may be overlooking. 

A recent article with Scott Monty (who runs social media efforts for the Ford Motor Company,) identified that they (Ford) use social media essentially because a.) That’s where discussions are taking place that are relevant to them, and b.) Ford need to be a part of these conversations “in a way that humanizes the company at every turn.”  To ensure they remain relevant, the Ford Motor Company uses Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, YouTube, Scribd, and Delicious (amongst other social properties), and constantly monitors new emerging platforms and user-communities to see where people are going and the latest trends online. 

Have you considered sites like Tagged or Yahoo Profiles/Groups to find your influencers? Are you considering forums (and other segmented groups) that specifically pertain to your niche? Forums and focused communities can in some cases prove to be more valuable tools than much larger user-groups like Facebook or Twitter.  This is because you’re extending the right message to the right person at the right time.  Over and over again it's been proven - - in this new media landscape one needs to be thinking more sniper-rifle and less shotgun. ;)

NOTE: This [September 2009] Hitwise data from which MarketingCharts compiled the above graph is based on US market share of visits - -as defined by the IAB, which is the percentage of online traffic to the domain or category, from Hitwise's sample of 10 million US Internet users. 

CREATING SYNERGIES ACROSS MULTIPLE SOCIAL PLATFORMS

Almost daily we get asked for advice about Social Media and creating synergies across multiple social platforms.   That said, our strategist has decided to extend some helpful “Tips and Tricks” every once in a while and here’s the first pass.

1.  You are not omnipotent and cannot be everywhere online. Social media is too broad  - - and just when you think you’ve got a broad swath of your target covered, a new ‘Tween’ community will pop up in Eastern Europe with seven million users.  Look at it like the soft drink market; every country may have there own Cola, but there’s only one Coke.   Start with the social ‘notables’ for your demographic and psychographic target and recognize that you have to be in fewer places, but need do more with those places you commit to – hence the need for cross-media synergies.
2. Activate and energize your followers (or “fans”), as they are not simply to be collected like Hockey cards.  Engage them to generate content (comments, reviews, etc.) and always strive to ensure the relationship is symmetrical and participatory, with a clear value-exchange.
3. Acknowledge the world is changing and the future of the Web is distributed.  It’s a push world now, not a pull world and the days of corporate monologues are dead.  Take the best 2-5% of your existing (most active and participatory) website content and extend it into the social places where your fans and prospects are spending their time (i.e. Fish where the fish are.)
4.  The most successful social media initiatives today marry offline activities with online.  Why? Simply because virtual is still virtual.  The highest levels of activity and engagement are achieved when online activities are used collaboratively (synergistically) with offline activities to promote, amplify, and energize the base.
5. Social media is not meant to replace or offset your ongoing online marketing activities.  It’s supposed to be complementary.   The real secret is to combine the two by using social forwarding tools to extend and evolve the conversation.  Extend social media as another brand touch-point to grow email distribution and segmented ‘opt-in’ lists.
6.  Use the right bait.  Extend the right social media and message based upon your target demographic and psychographic profile.  Forrester™ has an online tool that can assist at http://www.forrester.com/Groundswell/ladder.html