Augmenting book products through games and content communities...A look at Harry Potter and Legend

This week I've been ushering at the Melbourne writer's festival and at each presentation, social media has been mentioned as a factor that has changed the writing, reading and marketing of books. So I thought I would explore this concept in this week's post.

 

The challenge with marketing books today

Book are generally more difficult to market than other entertainment products today. Firstly, there is a high level of competition with  more forms of visual entertainment, such as TV shows, films and internet entertainment. Secondly, consumers' preferences are changing due to the development of new technologies and more instantaneous entertainment. Members of the younger generation seek more interaction and involvement with their products. As a result, some think books are less entertaining today....unless you're talking about Facebook...

Augmentation through social media

In order to market books effectively, whether e-books or physical paperback stories, authors and publishers need to create involvement with readers. This should be done not only through the book itself (the actual product) , but through social media.

Social media can help to augment book products. What do we mean by augment? In Marketing Management, Philip Kotler explains that 3 levels of product exist: the core product, the actual product and the augmented product.

The augmented product is the value-added product;  this includes the  services and experiences that enhance a physical good. Social media is a tool that can  help augment books because it provides a way to supply additional content, experiences and services in an interactive and inclusive manner. But what forms of social media are most relevant for adding value to young adult fiction?

Games

According to Gamification expert, Gabe Zichermann, the use of game-based thinking and dynamics in a non-game context can engage individuals. This is particularly true with books, as these products already come with a game element: narrative. Virtual gaming worlds can draw younger audiences into stories by literally placing them within the context of the story and letting them experience the events described.

By using games to market books, publishers co-created value with their young audiences: children and teens can receive a more interactive and involved experience of a book, while publishers can market the book in a  more enticing manner to customers.  Publishers can also find out about their audiences' preferences from games and use this to inform other marketing activities.

Case Study: Harry Potter e-books enhanced through co-creating value with Pottermore

Harry Potter has been a phenomenally successful series, due largely to its imaginative world-building, relatable characters and good writing. However, social media has also helped to augment the series and propel sales.

J.K Rowling recently updated the Harry Potter website into Pottermore, an interactive social gaming and networking site. As well as providing a 'thank you' gift to fans, this was developed to sell Harry Potter e-books directly to readers (bypassing e-retailers such as Amazon).

From a marketing perspective, Pottermore has been a smart way of augmenting the Harry Potter e-books. Without Pottermore, there might have been less appeal for the products as most fans already own several copies of story. Some fans had also drifted away from the series altogether since its completion. However, by creating an interactive game world based on the series, Rowling created a more engaging experience of the story which drew readers back towards the books again. With an exclusive 'first million' entrants limitation into the new gaming world, the site diffused quickly, bringing back many old readers and therefore, consumers.

By placing users of the site at the centre of the story, Pottermore allowed fans to experience the narrative from the first book as a character themselves. This created nostalgia, which was fuelled by interaction between fans within the Pottermore gaming world.

But was this successful for e-book sales? ...Well, e-book sales topped 1 million pounds within 3 days according to The Guardian: Furthermore, it increased the sales of her physical books too. By augmenting the reading experience for her fans through game, Rowling was able to co-create value which led to benefits for her book sales as well.

Content communities

According to Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haelein in  'Users if the world, Unite! The challenges and opportunities of Social Media', content communities allow for the sharing of media between users. Content communities can augment books by offering a platform to  co-create value: by providing fans a space to produce fan-art, authors can gain additional advertising material and learn about what interests their audiences.

  

Case Study: Facebook games, Deviantart, Pinterest and Tumblr to enhance Legend

Legend is a series of dystopian teen novels written by an author called Marie Lu. While Legend does not have a fan base quite as big as Harry Potter, it has become a New York Times Best-seller.

This is may be due to Lu's interesting writing style, but also to her use of social media to augment the book experience for fans. Lu has highly active Twitter and Facebook pages (with an online game where players are characters in the dystopian world of the story). In addition, she also reaches out to fans via content communities. On Pinterest and Deviantart, Lu provides supplementary content to her book series, including ideas that inspired her stories and artworks based on her characters.

  

 Facebook game:

 

Pinterest inspiration folders:

Fans are also able to create fan-art and send it to Lu, who shares it on her Tumblr page (a creative blogging platform) and Deviantart profile (art creation and sharing community). She not only re-blogs these pieces, but also compliments fans on their artwork. These content communities  help co-create value with fans in two ways: They can gain supplementary information to the story from the author. In additional, they can share their own art-work and interact with an artist they value. In turn, Marie Lu gains additional ways to promote her books series and find out what interests fans.

Tumblr page:

  

This brings me to the end of this post. Are you fans of any book series that rely on social media to bring the reading experience to life for you?

Key points to take away from this post:

• Social media can augment products, particularly books, by providing a platform for co-creating value between customers and producers.
• Games and content communities provide interaction for non-interactive products like books.
• Both games and content communities can help to bring stories to life for books. This co-creates value with young generations, who seek a higher level of engagement in their entertainment.

How to be 'social' on social media with Oreo's campaigns and strategies.

Welcome to post #3! I have focused this week's post on Oreo, the famous cookie brand. Why? The first reason is because I'm a foodie...The second reason is because Oreo is a company that has, in recent years, been successful in developing and using social media strategies and campaigns. I'll give a brief introduction of the company before we look at how they've succeeded in using social media to acquire their target customers.

Oreo: The Social Media Powerhouse

Oreo is a popular brand of US chocolate and crème biscuits owned by Kraft in Australia and Nabisco in the US. They have been known for their Twist, Lick and Dunk tagline which has been used in many advertising campaigns throughout the years. In recent times, the company has  also been known for its successful use of social media. For a fast moving consumer good, they have acquired an extremely large fan base across their various social media accounts...

• On Facebook, they have 34 million fans.
• On Twitter, they have over 164,000 followers
• On Youtube, they have over 24,000 subscribers

So how has Oreo done this?

The simple answer is that Oreo is knowledgeable about being 'social' on social media.

How to be 'Social' on social media

According to Andreas Kaplan and Michael Haenlein in their article, 'Users of the World, unite! The Challenges and Opportunities of Social Media,' there are some guidelines that individuals and companies need to consider when they create social media strategies or campaigns. Marketers must be: active, interesting and not overtly professional in their management of social media channels. This has been demonstrated by Oreo in their social media strategies and campaigns. We will now have a closer look at how they have done this...

Being Active

On Facebook and Twitter, Oreo makes a post every 1-4 days, which means that they frequently interact with their followers. In addition to this, they make timely posts relevant to current events that their audiences can relate to. For example, when the lights went out at the Superbowl (the largest sporting event in America), Oreo made a comical tweet about the blackout within 10-15 minutes of the event occurring. This not only surprised fans, but gave them something to laugh at and share while they waited for the lights to be fixed in the stadium. This sort of idea has been referred to by the Wall Street Journal as 'Newjacking' - taking an item of news and turning it into a marketing tool to gain attention from customers as well as the media.

I believe this has been a great move by Oreo because these events were going to create a media buzz anyway; Oreo just took the excitement and channeled it into their products through social media. By  creating a tweet about the event, they showed an understanding of their customers' experiences and moved past the rigid structure of planned advertising, to interact with individuals about an event.

Another timely post that Oreo made was in reply to Kitkat's Twitter challenge. Two days after viewing a fan's tweet that mentioned both Kitkat and Oreo, Kitkat challenged Oreo to a tic-tac-toe game for the twitter fans' affection. Unlike their competitor, Oreo only took a few hours to come up with a clever reply that beat Kitkat at their own game.

By being active and playful, Oreo was able to make their brand appear more personable. Through interacting with customers and competitors in a timely manner, they showed a genuine interest in their fans and the activities they engaged with. This has led to a more effective way of marketing to customers, who are moving further away from direct advertising.



Be Interesting

Aside from being active, Oreo has also developed interesting ways to interact with customers about their products. Rather than post status updates about their cookies being a fun treat, they have demonstrated what it means to be 'fun' through their social media channels. They have done this by paying close attention to their customers and making content relevant to them. For example, YOLO has been a slang term that has developed in recent years on social media channels. Used predominantly by the younger generation, it stands for the phrase 'You Only Live Once'...Oreo, however, used this to create a new phrase: 'You Obviously Love Oreos.' This Facebook post was popular because it was humourous, fun and showed relevance to their younger audiences.

Upon hearing about how some customers preferred cookie to crème, Oreo cleverly turned the conversation into a campaign called 'Cookies v. crème.' They created a mini 4 part Youtube series, showing interesting individuals (physicists, designers, inventors etc.)  using elaborate methods to get rid of the crème in their Oreo cookies. These videos showed creative ways to play with, and eat, Oreos, rather than deliver a direct advertisement for the biscuit. As a result, these videos became popular on Youtube.

In my opinion, this is another reason why Oreo has been successful on social media. They don't dictate the content on their social media pages and expect customers to like it; they create content that speaks to their customers' interests. By listening to their audiences, they have posted content that responds to those topics. Customers like the brand and follow them willingly because they are interested in Oreo's YouTube videos and Facebook graphics. By interacting with customers, rather than advertising directly to them, Oreo has succeeded to gain many followers, and consequently, customers.

Avoiding overt professionalism

Finally, Oreo allows for interaction and feedback from customers. While channels are monitored, memes and other comical (but non-offensive) comments are left up on their Facebook and Twitter pages. This creates a sense of authenticity on their profiles - Oreo doesn't seek total authority and professionalism on their social media channels; instead, they blend in with their users and encourage user-generated content...

This is seen particularly in their latest 'Wonderfilled' campaign, where they have not only recorded an Oreo anthem with various celebrities, they have also encouraged Youtube artists to record covers of the song and featured this on their Youtube channel and website.

By encouraging user-generated content on their social media sites, Oreo have involved their customers with their brand. This is more appealing to customers who desire a higher level of interactivity and personalization in their activities today. So this brings me to the end of my post on how to be 'social' on social media from a business perspective...please look to my key points below for a summary of this post...And please let me know, what else you think Oreo is doing right on social media. Have I missed anything? Leave a comment if you can, thanks!

Key points to take away from this post:

• Being successful on social media isn't just about selecting the right medium, it's also about knowing how to be 'social' on these channels.
• It's important to be active on social media - this means posting consistently and being timely and topical when new events occur. Companies that respond to the environment around them and to their customers are able to appear more spontaneous and personable. This gives them greater potential to attract customers who are moving further away from direct advertising towards interactive co-created content.
• Companies also need to be interesting. It's not enough to just post messages about the brand and their products. They must use social media to show their brand personality. Furthermore, companies must also listen to what their target audiences want and use this to create content. This means companies need to conduct research and a gain a strong understanding of their audiences and how they use social media.
• Finally, companies should avoid being overly professional or controlling. Social media marketing is about connecting with customers, so companies should encourage positive user-generated activities. While they must screen out any potentially offensive materials, they don't need to rectify every unpopular comment they make or every meme that appears on their page...companies should aim for a balance between being professional and interacting with customers on their level.

Co-creation of value in the Game of Thrones Social Media Campaign

Anyone a fan of Games of Thrones? And did you know that social media played a large role in its advertising strategy for season 1? As I mentioned in my introduction, I love pop culture and entertainment. So today's blog post will be looking at how HBO used social media to co-create value with Game of Thrones fans and propel the success of the television show.

An Introduction

Game of Thrones is a TV show based on George RR Martin's high fantasy book series, A Song of Fire and Ice. As with most book to film/TV transitions, there were worries that the Game of Thrones series would be a huge flop - the books' highly enthusiastic followers were either going to love or reject the outcome and the general public might consider it too geeky or cheesy to follow. So HBO needed to reach out to its strong existing fan base and secure the attention of other potential audiences. To do this, they used a social media campaign.

The Social Media Campaign

Co-creation of Value with existing fans

1) HBO began their campaign a year before the show to target loyal fans of the series.

• They rolled out trailers online on: the HBO website and HBO Youtube channels.
• HBO then launched an official production blog 'The Making of Game of Thrones' for fans
• They also launched a twitter profile @gameofthrones, where fans could provide advice, feedback or comments on the production of the series.

In my opinion, HBO's use of social media to integrate fans' opinions about the series was a really smart move because it allowed the show to be co-produced with its consumers. This co-created value between the two parties: HBO was able to develop a more successful adaption of the series through using their audiences' knowledge. They were also able to attract more viewers as fans began spreading word of mouth to others. On the other hand, these social media channels increased value for fans of the series because they were able to shape the entertainment they wanted to watch. If you've ever read any of Vargo and Lusch's articles about Service Dominant Logic, this is the perfect example of co-created value, where both parties benefit from interaction through social media. Now onto the second stage of HBO's campaign...

Creating an experience for fans

2) Prior to the premier, HBO started launching official social media pages on Facebook etc.

• Here, they launched the Maester’s Path, a game that took place both online and offline. Fans collected weekly  Facebook clues to complete challenges in the real world. 
• Clues were linked to food truck stunts. Fans who collected clues would be able to meet at events and taste cuisine from Westeros, the land in which the series takes place.
• At WonderCon 2011, fans could also take pictures with an exact replica of the Iron Throne. These were featured on the official Facebook page in real time and created a media buzz.

I thought this was interesting because they immersed fans in a real-life experience of the world from the TV show, using social media as a platform to do this. If you remember Phillip Kotler's product theory, companies should differentiate products and services by adding value to them and shifting them up the levels from product to experience. I think this would be easy for products and services with retail outlets because companies can create a shopping experience for consumers using music, retail personnel and store presentation...but how would you do this for something like a TV show (as a product)? Social media has played a key role in developing experiences for consumers and more importantly, these experiences are co-created. Companies have instant feedback as to whether or not they are doing a good job, or a poor one! In this case, HBO was definitely not providing a poor experience for viewers

Interaction between audience and TV station

3) After the premiere, HBO engaged fans through a number of social media channels.  Finally, they launched 'The Battle for the Iron Throne' Facebook game to conclude the campaign. The results were pretty strong: The Game of Thrones Facebook page grew to 150K connections even before the show aired and the premiere generated an audience of 2.2MM viewers, which meant the series was immediately renewed for a second season.

Social media has been a great way to connect fans to each other and to HBO, even after this campaign. I remember the second last episode in the most recent season where a traumatic event occurred in the series - my Facebook newsfeed was SPAMMED with people expressing their devastation. There were statuses, memes and photos, which generated more hype as people commented and interacted with one another over their grief. I heard people even wrote on the HBO Facebook profile begging them not to slaughter off anymore people....

So if you're a fan of the series and you know which episode I'm talking about did you take to social media to share your angst? And did you experience any of this social media campaign as it was rolled out? Do you think they could have done anything better, or is this a good campaign by your standards? Leave a comment and let me know! Also, look below for some key points to take away.

Key points to take away from this post:

• Co-creation of value benefits both the company and the consumer in marketing, so it's a good idea for to initiate co-production or creation practices over social media platforms.
• Social media can help create both online and offline experiences, particularly for intangible products, such as TV shows, films, holidays...Worth leveraging in these industries!
• If used strategically, social media can co-create value, shape experiences and generate interaction with consumers, which can lead to more effective marketing and communications.





Social media, blogging and marketing in China

Over the winter break I travelled to China with the Monash Marketing department to tour the country, but also to visit a number of interesting companies including advertising agencies such as DDB and Adsmith. These companies presented some interesting information about Social media in China, which I've shared with you below:

Social Media in China

For those who have never been to China, it might be assumed that the Chinese don't use social media because they have strict censorship laws and can't access Facebook or Twitter. However, this is not true - social media does exist in China, it just takes a different form. They have their own Social media sites including Renren Wang (like Facebook), Sina Weibo (like Twitter) and QQ (instant messaging). In fact, there's a whole social media world out there that we're not familiar with, due largely to the language barriers that exist between us....

So yes, Chinese individuals are heavy social media users!

Why is social media popular with Chinese individuals?

One reason is because it provide a platform for self-expression. This is important to the modern generation of Chinese individuals, who have become more affluent and better educated. They are now seeking self-expression and individuality, which can be found through online spaces such as blogs and profile pages, where individuals are able to post their own opinions, ideas and self-created content, like photos and videos.

Another reason for the popularity of social media, ironically enough, is censorship. For example, blogs provides a platform for communicating opinions that individuals' might otherwise not be able to share in official publications like newspapers or magazines. While these blogs do get 'censored' particularly when important political activity is happening in China (ie. global conferences or summits), there are still ways to get around the great firewall....

The best example I've heard of was a political blogger who pretended to blog about his cat, Mongolia, when really, he was giving voiceovers to videos of his pet talking about issues that the Chinese government were covering up. (This is from a documentary called 'Hi-tech-Low-life'....it's a really insightful and interesting film about the power of blogging in China that I saw as part of the Human Rights Film Festival at work. If anyone is interested, please see the trailer below)

All this talk about individuality in China may sound weird if you've ever studied Hofstede's Cultural dimensions because you'd think China has a collectivist culture! But then again, social media is  connecting individuals together. For the modern Chinese, who are part of the lonely, one-child generation, social media is important in providing a space where they can meet other people and keep in contact with their friends.

So social media plays a role in giving Chinese individuals both individuality and community or connectivity...if you think about it, social media is leading to the rise of Individual Power in China as individuals can use their own opinions to influence others. At Adsmith, they talked about Chinese consumers who used their personal profiles to upload pictures of the new branded handbags they bought, or the funny and clever advertisements they found online. This was shared with peers who would admire, compliment and further engage with their content.

Social Media Marketing in China: The Unilever Lynx Case Study

So we can see that there are two important things that marketers in China can leverage from social media:

• Opinion leaders
• Word of mouth

The Unilever Axe campaign is an example of advertising that spread like wildfire as a result of opinion leaders and word of mouth in China. Because Lynx had a brand image that was risqué, they had difficulty advertising their product when they entered China. Lynx didn't want to alter their big idea, but they faced censorship laws for that sort of content on Chinese TV.

But through conducting research, they found that Chinese consumers were heavy social media users and that social media had fewer restrictions for content, so they decided to create a social media campaign for their products. This was fronted by a celebrity called Edison Chen, who had been in a large scandal involving a collection of raunchy photos taken with a number of Asian celebrities. As he was known for 'his ability to attract women' they created a campaign where he posed as a Love doctor who taught males how to get the girls with lynx deodorant.

They embedded this on Unilever's page, as well as fan pages for the actor and celebrity friends (who were supporting his return from the scandal), on the 4 biggest social media platforms in China. This went viral because heavy users of the brand, celebrities, major fans (opinion leaders) shared the video and embedded it on their own blogs and profile pages (word of mouth advertising). It lead Unilever Axe to gain 300,000 new followers! The body spray also became no.1 within 3 months of launch and shower gel sales increased by 47% (information from Chinese website and Warc.) While I'm not really a fan of lynx commercials, I thought this was a smart way to use social media for advertising. If you are interested in the campaign you can see below for more info:

Another Blog: http://realamber.wordpress.com/2011/08/19/axe-lynx-enters-china-with-a-bang/
Warc: Launching the Lynx Effect in China

So from this post, here are some key points to take away:

• If you want to market to Chinese consumers, social media is a powerful platform. However, research is needed to understand cultural differences between platforms in China and the rest of the world. Research is also needed to understand Chinese consumers' usage patterns.
• Chinese individuals are starting to seek both self-expression and connectivity, which is offered through blogs and profile networks.
• As a result, marketers in China should leverage on opinion leaders and word of mouth to create more cost-effective, interactive and efficient campaigns
• While there is censorship in China, some aspects of this can be overcome through the use of social media.

Thanks for reading this looooong post! I got really excited but I promise not to make the next one as lengthy! Has anyone else been to China and would you agree with what I've mentioned about social media there? And what do you think about the lynx campaign? Let me know!

Intoduction

Welcome to my blog! I've decided to christen it 'The Blog of a Social Media Addict.' Why do I identify as a social media addict? Well, I'm sure everyone here has met someone who:

• Instagrams every brunch dish on the table before anyone can eat it
• Uploads a terrifying number of holiday photos on Facebook
• Connects with everyone at work on LinkedIn
• Continually re-blogs pretty pictures on tumblr
• Has a number of blogs and photo accounts on Blogger, Wordpress, Flickr etc.
• Watches more Youtube than TV

 

This person is me (Apologies to those around me who have to deal with my addiction.) So I'll definitely be looking forward to discussing social media over the course of this semester.

Aside from marketing, I plan to discuss this in relation to my interests which include:

Travel and culture: I enjoy travelling and have recently come back from my third trip overseas this year. This trip was with the Monash Marketing department and I visited a number of interesting companies including advertising agencies such as DDB and Adsmith in China....I plan to use the knowledge I've learnt to analyse social media in the next couple of posts.

Film, Music and entertainment: I work in a related industry and I'm interested in how social media is now being used to promote and film, music and entertainment and to co-create entertainment experiences for consumers.

Photography and crafting: I am interested in instagram, tumblr, facebook, pinterest and etsy  and how they serve as platforms for sharing photos and experiences with others, and how they can be leveraged for marketing

 

Food and Cafes: I confess to being a foodie. Which is a bad combination with my love for photography...everyone sees everything I eat! Anyway, I'm interested in looking at how social media has impacted the café scene in Melbourne....

But I am also interested in other things as well, so I'll be blogging about other interesting topics that I find related to marketing and social media as I discover them. Please keep your eyes peeled for future posts!