Remember how Ford Motor Company launched its 2011 Explorer on Facebook instead of at the big annual Detroit auto show? Luxury carmaker Lexus recently did something similar when it debuted the new 2014 IS and IS F Sport models using a combination of Facebook ads and a 10-minute video live streamed in fans’ news feeds.
According to AdWeek, 100,000 individuals watched the live video and some 600,000 had viewed it online within a few days.
Lexus utilized Page Post and Sponsored Stories ads along with custom apps developed by social commerce company Moontoast to build buzz in advance of the live event.
I had an opportunity to speak with Moontoast co-founder and CIO Marcus Whitney about the campaign and asked him if he saw it fitting under the category of social commerce or the broader category of social media marketing. His answer: it was both.
“Social commerce is not always about the direct sale, but the entire purchase journey that includes brand consideration, preference, awareness and purchase,” stated Whitney. “At the end of the day, social marketing and social commerce are really one thing.”
Whitney then introduced another term, social activation, which he defined as the process of activating fans on social networks at all points along the customer purchase journey. (Moontoast’s suite of apps is referred to as the “Social Activation Engine.”)
“Brands should be able to engage with consumers on social networks at each point during the purchase journey, but it must lead to a real point of ROI,” remarked Whitney.
“For Lexus, the goal was to create buzz and awareness that was superior to its competition around the reveal of the new models,” he said, adding that the use of Facebook was “much more engaging, viral and memorable in the minds of fans, as opposed to more traditional advertising.”
But engagement via the News Feed and live streaming video was only part of the campaign – collecting consumer data to allow for follow-on marketing was the other. That’s where Moontoast’s app played a major role, grabbing up fan’s names, email addresses and zipcodes.
Whitney summed up the significance of the campaign this way: “Sticky brand impressions, data collection, superior number of views for new product – all of those things are meaningful from an ROI perspective.”
From Whitney’s point of view, social marketing and social commerce are synonymous – “to-may-to,” “to-mah-to” – and give way to his preferred term, social activation, which is something that should occur at all points along the customer journey.
How does that square with your definition of social commerce? Share your thoughts in a comment.
Social activation is a interesting term. When thought about it, commerce is buying and selling, trading this for that. Nowadays, consumers, with so much more noise out there, are trading their time and attention for what a brand can bring them–whether it be entertainment or a solution to make their life easier. Social networks are a conduit for exchange between brand and consumer. It shouldn’t shut off, but stay on throughout the sales funnel (or customer sales journey), which is what Moontoast is hinting at. So, it is “to-may-to,” “to-mah-to”.
Thanks for the input. You are so right. Regarding your reference to consumers trading time and attention for what a brand can bring them, let me mention another term, “social utility.” Part of the social media/commerce/activation dynamic is based on a brand’s willingness to help solve consumer problems and meet needs.
I’m not sure that the Lexus campaign fit that paradigm, but I do find it intriguing that, instead of or along with, more traditional approaches, carmakers are figuring out ways to leverage what Facebook has to offer.
Hi Paul!
Exploring the term ‘Social Activation’ in relation to Blair Heavey’s post that you linked to above, we could probably argue that following on from the Listening Wave, Publishing Wave & Social Activation Wave there is the…
Engagement Wave
Having a fan activated may mean that they’ve entered your contest but that’s a long way from being engaged. Once the contest winner is announced, the non-engaged fan moves on. It’s meaningful engagement over time that brings the real value.
Then again, maybe we’re all guilty of trying to make this whole thing too complicated.
Social Networks really just another communication tool after all, right.
Trent, the trouble with this industry is that it moves so fast, changing from one new thing to the next. I agree that we do tend to make it complicated, but have come to believe that social media/social commerce is finding its place in the overall marketing mix.
Thanks for your insight and comment.
Great post Paul!
What about how to combine consumers commerce behaviour(inside the website) in order to engage with them outside of the website(Facebook,Twitter and so on)?
Don’t you think social commerce means both ways:
Bringing your social graph into the commerce world and bringing the commerce world into the social networks?
Would love to hear your thoughts and again, top A article!