There is no doubt that the basic premise of licensing is changing: The old methods of distribution, the old pricing systems, the old royalty rate ranges, the old relationships, the old selling and on-shelf periods, the old delivery systems to consumers – everything is in flux. It is also clear that an entirely new network of opportunities, media and trends has arisen.
Currently, for lack of a better phrase, we refer to this network collectively as social media. However, while “social media” is certainly one way to describe what is happening in the marketplace, there actually is a bigger movement afoot: changing social trends and ways of delivering licensed products and concepts to consumers. Whether these entail promoting a product on Facebook or Twitter; or delivering music via Spotify or video through YouTube and promoting a product via one of these services, all of them fall under the general category of social media and changing social trends.
One purpose of this new column is to identify some of these changes and bring them home to the licensing and merchandising community. The second purpose is to give voice to those readers who have an opinion about social media and licensing and to provide a platform where commentary can be heard on these topics.
After many years in licensing, from personal points of view, we are grateful for social media; without them, we’re not sure there would be much of a licensing industry left. With that said, let’s take a look at why social media are important in this first column of our series.
Why Social Media is Important to Licensing – Building Brand Value
Licensing is meaningless if there is no brand value to license. Value springs from social acceptance and social awareness. Why is social media important to licensing? Social media is key in promoting brand awareness in today’s evolving technological society.
Throughout the year, we at the consulting firm CONSOR Intellectual Asset Management will provide a series of columns about how brands and licensees promote and use social media, and about other new consumer venues and trends. Because these new avenues directly affect licensing and how the public perceives brands, the positive and negative influences of social media must be considered. The goal is, of course, to leverage positive influences so that consumers will purchase brand-licensed products. Our columns in this series will touch on the various platforms of social media, some of which likely will challenge your vision of the depth of the social media spectrum.
Let’s Not Get Ahead of Ourselves
Before we examine the ways that social media affect licensing and branding and the ways in which they influence every consumer’s life, we will try to define the social media platform. Immediately, Facebook and Twitter come to mind, but it is important to delve a little deeper. Some people tend to forget that before there was Facebook, there was MySpace, and before MySpace, there was SixDegrees. Therefore, a brief list in provided in Table 1 of social media sources, and brand-delivery services ranging from Hulu TV and Spotify music to Yelp and YouTube, all of which can be categorized under the general heading of Social Media Platforms. A very brief description of what each service and medium provide is included.
What exactly is social media? The answer depends how one defines it, as was pointed out above. Some obvious social media avenues are Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and Foursquare, but what about the unlimited number of bloggers, the numerous downloadable apps, and all the kids (and many adults) playing Xbox Live, talking to their friends while gaming or watching movies through Netflix in virtual movie theatres? These are all types of social media trends, and through continual innovation, additional categories of social media and trends will have been created by the end of our series.
The growth in consumers’ access to information through tablet computers and smartphones plays into the growing demand for instant gratification, anywhere, all the time—a demand illustrated by the fact that the list of 30 sources in Exhibit 1 provides instant gratification through instant knowledge. The concept of having real time information and news now means that brands need to be constantly interacting with their consumers—now!
Now that we have developed a scope of what so-called social media entails, we can go forward with a social media strategy and a strategy that works through a well-thought-out, coordinated platform. Prior to implementing an overall social media platform (which should be part of any new or established company’s initial business plan), brands and licensees need to start off on the right foot. If you are engaged in the practice of branding or licensing, do it, but do it right. Here’s how:
- Be used. Make sure your consumers know that you are communicating on social media. How? Use your own mailing lists, Web sites, and advertising to give consumers an easy way to link to your social media platforms. It’s easy to add links and icons to your e-blasts, Web site, and ads. Social media will not work for you if no one knows you’re out there.
- Be dependable. Post on a regular basis. Depending on your product, brands should probably post several times a day.
- Be funny. Humor always captures people’s attention. There is a vast amount of information out there in the clouds trying to get everyone’s attention, and you need to make sure to catch your consumers’ eyes. People like to read funny things—but make sure that you use humor appropriately.
- Be truthful. Make sure the information that you post is accurate and up-to-date. Verify your facts, and don’t communicate gossip and innuendos.
- Be appropriate. Besides making sure that comments are not offensive, make sure that the content is relevant to your product. Don’t discuss fashion trends if you’re promoting a food brand—unless you are licensing T-shirts with your logo.
- Be creative. Instead of just relaying information about new products or new models, provide information about creative ways to use those products. For instance, promoters of food brands should make recipes available.
- Be inclusive. Engage your audience by not only promoting the brand and licensed products themselves, but also, by asking for feedback and comments, having contests, and sending out surveys. When your consumers feel like they are part of the process, then they have bought into your brand by having built a familial relationship.
- Be consistent. Stay true to your brand and stay on message. Don’t wander off on tangents; otherwise you will soon lose your audience.
If you do it right, you can use social media to sell anything. As an example, we need look no further than the recent Target-Missoni promotion. The pop-up store in Times Square was enormously successful. Why? Because social media was used very effectively. Next month, we’ll take a closer look at that promotion.
Additionally, in future months and columns, we’ll discuss various types of social media in greater depth. For now, we would like to establish an important point: We are establishing this venue to be a form of social media and we need you, the reader, to use this platform to communicate with us by providing your input on licensing, social media, social trends, and how they affect branding, merchandising, promotion, and licensing. Connect with us using your own platforms of social media, or better yet, share your comments on CONSOR’s LinkedIn page, http://www.linkedin.com/company/consor. Let’s start a new form of social media: this column.
Exhibit 1: Social Media Platforms
Platform
Description
Blogger
Blogging platform: Free service through Google, with templates and layouts.
Classmates
Social media network: Connects users through high-school association.
Digg
Social news Web site: Top news is shared depending on user interest and how many times readers “digg” it.
Diigo
Social bookmarking: A knowledge-sharing community in which Web content can be bookmarked and shared with those with similar interests.
Divorce360
Niche social networking: Geared towards people contemplating, going through, or recovering from divorce.
Examiner
Regional Web sites: Draws from a pool of local writers who provide content about local entertainment and activities.
Facebook
Social network: Founded in 2004, Facebook is the platform that most people think about first when describing social media, and with over 800 million “active” users, it’s easy to see why. Facebook became the leader in social networking when it overtook MySpace in April of 2008.
Flickr
Photo and video sharing: Users share videos and photos, and they can create albums and blogs.
Flixster
Niche social networking: Geared toward film buffs.
Foursquare
Location sharing: Started in 2009; users “check-in” at their current locations, such as restaurants and retail stores.
Friendster
Social network: Connects users through gaming and creating avatars, or Internet personalities or screennames. Popular primarily in Southeast Asia.
Google+
Social network and identity service: Founded in 2011 and open to those with Google accounts. Recently started Google Places for companies to use.
Groupon
Group discount buying service: Consumers use leverage power to get deals based on a minimum number of purchasers.
Hulu
Online video service: free and subscription services.
LinkedIn
Professional network: With more than 135 million users worldwide, users can post professional information, connect with others in the same industry, and engage in topical discussions. Users can also post their resumes and find job openings in their industry.
MySpace
Social network: Founded in 2003, aimed at the Generation Y audience, and home of MySpace Music, a catalog of free audio and video content. Currently owned by Specific Media and Justin Timberlake.
NetFlix
Online TV and movie streaming service: A subscription service whereby users can connect through various devices, including Xbox360, Sony PS3, and Nintendo Wii.
Photobucket
Photo and video sharing: Stores, creates and shares photos and videos, which can be linked to Facebook and Twitter accounts.
Renren
Social network: The leading social networking platform in China, with more than 30 million active users.
SixDegrees
Social network: Founded in 1997 and lasted until 2001, SixDegrees is currently being restarted to those who were previous members.
Slideshare
Presentation sharing: Users share presentations, documents, PDFs, videos and Webinars. Primarily for professional and educational use.
Spotify
Music sharing service: Allows users to find and share millions of music tracks.
TripAdvisor
Review and recommendation site: Users share travel advice and recommendations, with links to booking tools, attracting more than 65 million monthly users.
Tumblr
Blogging platform: A free service which lets users share almost anything, including text, photos, links, music and video, with the ability to post on social networks, such as Facebook.
Twitter
Microblogging: A social network whereby users send out “tweets” (140 characters or less) to followers.
WordPress
Blogging platform: Started in 2003, it is one of the largest self-hosted blogging tools.
Xbox Live
Gaming venue: Offers users ability to connect with friends by playing games or watching movies together.
Yelp
Review and recommendation Web site: Users post reviews and recommendations of restaurants, shopping, nightlife, entertainment, and services. Founded in 2004; Yelpers have written more than 22 million local reviews, and recent numbers indicate over 60 million users visit the site every 30 days.
YouTube
Video sharing: Founded in 2005; Users locate videos and can share and connect with other users. YouTube is viewed more than 3 billion times a day.
Zynga
Social gaming network: Portals games through other networks such as Facebook, iPhones and Yahoo! Popular social games include FarmVille, Mafia Wars, and Words with Friends.