Thursday, August 16, 2012

Uniques are Important for Buzz not Total Actions

My friend Gini Dietrich posted today about Social TV. And while there is a mention of Social Media Buzz determining TV programming, I have seen articles showing sometimes buzz on Social did not mean a successful movie or TV show.

How could this be? Easy. You can not use total buzz. It means as Gini would say....Horse Hockey.

YOU MUST GET A UNIQUES NUMBER!

Why? Because that is the important number. Look at the follow screen shot of Skittles:


The BUZZ says 193,464. But that is not a real number. It is not 193,464 people. It is the 7 day total of all mentions, likes, shares and comments on the page. It could be just 1,000 people who each took 193 actions that week as rabid fans. Or it could be 193,464 people who took just 1 action. Facebook doesn't give us Uniques.

So let's look at TV. What if there was 1 million people who mention a TV show in a week. Vs 1,000 who are such hardcore fans they talk nonstop all week adding up to 1 million mentions. Which scenario will mean much more a sign of if the show will be successful or not. Those 1,000 people talking non-stop might expose your program to 1 million but unless they get people to join in we have no idea if there was influence.


In fact while running Twitter for some clients I find people like this all the time. Look at how many tweets and how small a network. How many people is this person really reaching outside that network? I bet not many based on how little content gets retweeted.

I had a conversation not long back with Scott Monty of Ford. He said he would rather have 10,000 hardcore fans on Social than 50 million people pay half attention to Ford's TV spots. Well what if that 10,000 do not influence anyone? What if they do not attract more people to participate because there is only 10,000 rabid fans? I will take the 50 million half watching the TV spots even if they cost more personally.

The point is uniques trump total buzz for insights. And unless those uniques are attracting people to the conversation their impact is negligible. But I will guarantee most marketers would prefer to give total buzz to their Boss, CEO, CFO because it looks better.

9 comments:

  1. Yep. And that is why I laugh at FB like counts and twitter buzz. I get what Ford guy said, the hardcore fan makes one feel good. I also get what @TedOnTV (USA network guy) says, I paraphrase from memory, "Buzz is fine. If the ratings are not there buzz can bring to the table (the "suits") awareness to save a show, but it cannot save the show."; in other words your unique, in this case ratings, wins over the buzz.

    Am I getting 'it' or just walking in a circle? Maybe some of each. So, do you recall Wakoopa?

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    1. Thanks for the added insight. Marketers like to be fluffy like cats 8)

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  2. WTF; I didn't tell you to print my screen up there. Plus, my Klout score is much higher now for some reason.

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    1. Screen? I honestly don't know. As for your Klout score? I don't have enough clout to jack up Klout scores. If you wish to honor me for upping your score anyway -- +Ks work.

      BTW, Twitter killed the internet stars.
      https://plus.google.com/u/0/103576734134514967338/posts/N9b3xQmeTQu

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    2. LOL you follow 46 of my spambot accounts Bill!

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  3. What type Gini? Regular or tropical?

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  4. Excellent point, Howie. Not too many people grasp what you've just shared; Simple, yet Confusing.

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  5. Likewise, a large company may have done this many times to great effect... but what about your budget? People often mistake a Social Media Marketing Campaign for instant sales, when the truth is less easy to pin-down. In fact, many large companies accept that the campaign won't lead to immediate sales.

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