ZackBrandit being located in Belgium, is in the center of a cultural crossroad. The country has 3 official languages as well as Germany, UK, the Netherlands, Luxemburg and France as neighbors - each one with its own language, communication and entrepreneurial culture. Belgium developed Netlog, The Netherlands brought Hyves and the others introduced their own set of social networks and other media.

When Brian Solis, a prominent new media thought leader, introduced the Social Media Prism, most of the brands that were included were from US based start-ups. In the meantime new prisms were created for other countries such as Germany, Japan and China while international start-ups were added to the original one.

In February 2010, Brian Solis wrote a blog post about
the state of social media around the world where he uses a study by TrendStream to explain that although Facebook dominates the market in most countries, social media usage can vary from one place to another.

For a complete analysis I invite you to read Brian’s blogpost. What interests ZackBrandit the most is the evolution of the blogosphere. Projections of the research show us that in most western countries we mainly use social media to upload pictures and manage a social network profile. Only 10% of people who have internet access (average of 50% of the population) write their own blog. On the other hand, if we go to Asia or Latin America we notice that blogging has a predominant position; often much higher than social networking; yet, rates of internet access remains proportionally much lower (except for South Korea and Japan).

Most social media technologies originated in western countries; which also means they mature faster in western societies. Whereas Asian and Latin cultures, where life isn’t as fast-paced, show that online communication is also evolving at a slower speed.

At first glance this may not sound alarming, but we may expect a further decline of blogging in western countries and probably also in the rest of the world on the long run.

Larger and more influential social networks will start looking to expand beyond their virtual borders. It has already started with Facebook Connect, but with time we may anticipate much more interaction between the different existing platforms.

This also means that companies with a business model revolving around social shopping, affiliation and online marketing will start to see local and international shifts in their communication strategies. Thus, can we start talking about glocal online communication?

How does this influence ZackBrandit’s model?

Though we originally developed the Zilhouette and our affiliation model for bloggers, we value being active on different platforms. This of course demands a lot of energy; priorities must be established. When we decided to create ZackBrandit about 5 years ago, we expected to see Europe follow the US lead in social media. With time we realized that cultural and perceptional differences were telling us otherwise. This complexifies ZackBrandit’s model and its goal to push conversation forward.

So, where are we going to? What direction will social media take?
We can only guess, but we expect to see standards and interconnections popping-up.
Language remains a strong barrier; however automatic translation is also improving.
Server costs can be very expensive and partnerships to reduce them are also viable.
3D, virtual and augmented reality will become even more immersive. Today we connect to the internet; tomorrow the internet will connect with us.
Indeed, social media is still in its infancy…

Centuries ago, humanity like we know it today was different, especially from a technological point of view. Technology was at its first steps, influencing the methods of production, as well as the methods of buying and selling. During this period, with almost no competition or similar products in the market, there was no need for selling strategies or master marketing plans like the ones we have today. Moreover, the success of a new product or service was based on simple techniques, like word of mouth, recommendations or logistics.

Viral marketing, word of mouth marketing, creating buzz and social networks… these are the new weapons that marketers use to get closer to their target clientele and confront the threatening competition.

Marketing by word of mouth can be a very powerful tool and is entirely accessible for a medium sized company. In addition, if it’s used well, the message will reach more people than with traditional approaches, resulting in marketing efforts that will be awarded with success and accumulate credibility.

To implement a marketing strategy by viral marketing or word of mouth is not always easy, because it necessitates a quality product or service. But it is also important to identify and motivate the “evangelists” without making them feel exploited, and then understanding what encourages them to talk about a product.

To strive for such results requires a thorough analysis in order to determine the factors that motivate a person to share their opinion of a product or service.

We will identify the factors that transform the customers into “preachers”.

The 4 factors:

1)      Selling a quality product or service
We have a tendency to say that a good product, in part, sells itself. No one will recommend a product that does not correspond to the needs of the customer. Even worse, if the product or service does not compare to the expected worth, the business will have a lot to do in order to reverse negative feelings from dissatisfaction.

2)      Target and find enthusiastic clients
It is not enough to have a good product to start generating buzz about your company. It is also necessary to target and initiate contact with people to interest them in the product start recommending it to others. In general, for a word of mouth marketing strategy to be a success, companies have to:

-          Identifier des réseaux, des groupes d’utilisateurs ou des communautés de personnes qui connaissent leurs produits ou leurs services

-          Identify the networks, user groups or communities of people who are familiar with their products or services

-          Identify the methods of contact with these people via the company’s blog or a team dedicated to the task

-          Supply genuine reasons to people to promote products or services of high quality

3)      Encourage the “Evangelists” to “preach”
Generally, people who accept, from their own free will, to preach for a product, do it for many different reasons, notably to be acknowledged or to help a friend. However, they do it rarely for the money or to be remunerated. One misconception to avoid is buying the customer’s loyalty.

Therefore, it is necessary to supply customers with good reasons to talk about your products or services, as was said above.

      4)     Guarantee “ambassadors” a certain freedom and a role in your business
According to an article written by Microsoft, effective marketing campaigns based on word of mouth present another important advantage: the control is transferred to the self-proclaimed ambassadors of the company. In order to find out how a word of mouth campaign should be implemented, and the essential moment to let it evolve, a plan should be created. At the end of the day, the objective is to initiate a relationship with the users, which plays on their emotions.

An effective example can be found in the same article:

In our next post, we will present ZackBrandit’s strategy through its social shopping platform; the strategy consists of amplifying the word of mouth phenomenon and recommendations in the interests of the client’s brands.

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Jean-Paul

While drifting through my Friendfeed account I discovered a funny little thing that made me realize something big is happening.

I present to you Conan’s sword and by Crom, it’s an impressive one. This sword is the original used in the movie and this picture was shot in the Californian Governor’s office.

So, what’s so unusual about this?

As you all know (or don’t) Governor Schwarzenegger is very active online. The socially savvy Governor has about 1 million followers on Twitter and has just started a new Twitter account called MyIdea4CA.

But what interests us here is where this picture was taken from, namely Twitpic and how people reacted to it.

Here are a few comments you can find on that page:

• Thats so cool Arnold!!
• Make the Conan King movie, show us the last fight of this sword. CROM!!!
• holy shit arnie thats badass!

Have you noticed how “personal” these comments are? Do not forget that they are addressed to a celebrity and one of the most influential political figures in the USA. Even if “Arnie” doesn’t read all these pieces of text, it doesn’t matter. This example shows that social media is starting to have a strange influence on our behavior and the way we perceive proximity.

Normally, when we meet a celebrity in the street we shyly go ask for an autograph, conscious of the fact we may be disturbing this person. But online, all these inhibitions disappear, leaving space for “friendly” relationships.

While just a few years ago people used to hide behind a nickname and a fake picture, today we all become pals whether we’re a student, a CEO, a celebrity or the President of a country. And even if we’re still using a nickname and an avatar, with all the social networks around and the ‘About’ pages on blogs, it’s getting easier to know our interlocutor.

Now the big question: if one feels pride when directly dealing with his favorite celebrity or politician, how does the alter-ego feel? It is nice to see we are connected with people, but do we feel any real connection?

One can have a populist view on the matter saying that quantity is what matters but, as we’ve recently noticed, many social media experts have started cleaning out their “entourage”.

While in the past we used to be amazed when facing his Highness the King, nowadays we call him by a somewhat irreverent diminutive version of his first name. Does this mean that by creating a pretence of proximity, easy and frequent exposure to the Internet actually encourages us to adopt a blasé attitude?

What do you think? Are we losing touch with reality? Or are we changing society by breaking social strata that have no sense anymore?

Twitter this, Facebook that, Friendfeed here - and you know what!?!

We’ve been under the spell of social media for some time now, trying different platforms and every day seeing new websites popping-up. The question is: where would they be without their first users and advocates? More than any other kind of service, social media platforms rely on the personal brand of their members and often require illustrious people joining them and help promote their service.

Where would Friendfeed be without Robert Scoble? Would Twitter be as successful without Ashton Kutcher or Martha Stewart? (just to name a couple of examples)

This reminds us a little about advertising by Hollywood actors, - except that it’s totally free. I wrote some time ago that social media converges with online bartering. People share their fame and in exchange they see it grow even more; eventually achieving a special status.

This then brings us to two questions:

1. Can a new platform become successful without a famous champion?
2. What if this champion decides to leave the platform?

Let’s focus on Robert Scoble to answer the above. Robert is an employee of Rackspace, a prominent blogger and chief troublemaker in the Building43 community of Internet fanatics. In one of his latest posts, Robert explains why he champions Friendfeed and considers it as a great way to communicate with his audience. Many people have joined Friendfeed following Robert’s suggestion, but will they continue if Robert decides to leave and move on to something else. Will people once again follow his lead?

There are hundreds of new web services opening daily to the public and websites such as Killerstartups help us discover them. Yet the press will only be intrigued by platforms that show serious traction and this often happens with the influence of well-connected and trusted agents. 

We at ZackBrandit haven’t yet found our cheerleaders except for Does this mean we’re doomed to fail even if we have a great plan? Or should we be able to become sustainable with a slowly growing set of followers who believe in our project and values?

Robert can be perceived as a Patron.

Keenly in tune with the way things look, taste, smell and feel, Patrons have a strong appreciation for aesthetics and new things. Compelled to stand out, they are always looking for what others do not have and how to help them get it.

Robert’s blog focuses on the relevance and pertinence of the information he can share with us, and provides a good balance between personal thoughts and concrete facts. His blog has many widgets that focus on his network, yet they do not distract the reader from the posts and the many comments contained. Though Robert has many followers, he only moderately interacts in his blog, preferring to do so on other social media.

There are other reasons why Robert could be perceived as a Patron; for a full description, please visit this portrait's forum and don't hesitate to comment and share your feedback.

Of course this particular profile or Zilhouette is only one out of the 16 possible perceptions; based on your personal background, you might perceive him in a totally different way.

Want to know more about our Zilhouettes?Check this link!

As social media evolves, we see more and more companies converge, bringing more or less the same experience to their users. The online environment is very fluid and perhaps only a skilled futurist may know in which direction it is going. This of course does not help our fellow marketers who have  already had a difficult time figuring out how to leverage existing platforms such as blogs, social networks and microblogs.

This brings me to today’s topic: Do people really understand the situation marketers face today?

Click picture to watch the video.