Social TV: Ins, Outs and Potential

Hashtags at the bottom of your favorite TV program, contest tie-ins with Facebook and Twitter, enhanced commercials…only a few of the ways TV has evolved into social TV. What are its benefits? Does it work? What’s next for social TV? All that and more after this commercial break……just kidding. Seriously though, before getting into the spirit of things it’s important to know what it’s all about and where it’s headed before you can decide if it’s right for you.

What is social TV? Social TV, also referred to as the “dual-screen” experience is a movement that engages TV viewers beyond the direct TV to viewer link. This involves adding in other elements, such as prompts to follow real-time conversations on Twitter and Facebook, take polls, answer trivia questions, access behind-the scenes experiences and check-in to the experience via location apps like Foursquare. While people are watching shows on TV they are interacting with the shows, and other people watching them, on their mobile phones, iPads or computers.

What are the benefits? According to Simon Dumenco, four benefits of social TV are that it can increase ratings, make TV more interesting, get consumers to engage with shows and brands beyond the broadcast and provide new hooks for marketers
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. First, Dumenco cites Nielson’s analysis that a 9% to 14% rise in buzz volume correlates with a 1% increase in ratings among the 18-34 age group. Ratings are especially subject to social influence around season premieres and finales. His second point, that it can make TV more interesting, is based on a personal experience. While on the road for a conference Demunco engaged with the Oscars via Viggle, an app that rewards loyalty and engagement of TV viewers. Using the Viggle iPhone app he checked into the Oscars and began answering trivia questions asking viewers to guess who wins each award as it’s presented live. Point being? It kept him from turning the channel. Demunco notes it also gets consumers to engage beyond the broadcast, citing Burn Notice’s tablet comic book with Facebook and Twitter connections built into the storyline. Then there’s hooks for marketers, such as Watchwith’s data bubbles that display what the database knows about any given scene (such as a backpack brand from Big Bang Theory).

Who is it reaching? According to a Business Wire press release, an Accenture study found nearly 64% of  US consumers surveyed recalled seeing social media symbols on their TVs and 33% have interacted with social media after seeing them on their TV
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. Frederic Lardinois states the most common action for those who did was liking its Facebook page (20%), searching for a show’s hashtag on Twitter (7%), using Shazam (5%) and scanning a QR code (11%)
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. He also notes the reasons why consumers interact are to get coupons (32%) and enter sweepstakes (26%).

Where is it headed? Obviously social TV will experience audience growth up to a certain saturation point, which is yet to be determined. Along the way it may even have to reinvent itself and get clever about disguising itself as something else. Both of these issues are what commercials faced as DVR grew in popularity. In fact, adding social media elements to TV has helped keep people tuned into commercials. As for its potential? I picture something along the lines of some kind of pay scale for placement of social media ads that differs from the media placement of traditional ads. This could help social media companies find another way to source their income from advertisers, adding to their bottom line.

Before social TV even begins to approach either of these routes, or a different route entirely, it is up to you to decide whether it is right for your brand and your company. Heidi Cohen’s article about the future of social media marketing and criteria for where to focus efforts in 2012, is very applicable here
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. According to her you need to assess your business objectives, determine your target audience, integrate branding, create content that reflects that branding, and measure results. Essentially, like any other social media venture, social TV should be entered into only after you’ve determined your strategy calls for that kind of content. Social TV poses lots of interesting questions and opportunities for our time. Which of them will be answered by you? The future is yours to decide.

Social Media, Welcome to TV

Social media, in many forms, is now a part of TV and TV viewing. Recent examples from my own TV viewing experience include Twitter hashtags at the bottom of my favorite programs, for example #Glee. I’ve also noticed social media’s presence during a commercial that prompted me to interact by using the Shazam app when watching a singing or dance reality show. Another more recent example is when I had a Music Choice station on, where I was shown a QR code with the message to scan it to receive a free song from a certain artist. Basically no one can deny that social media is a part of TV viewing experience anymore, and its entanglement is ongoing. eMarketer specifically states that “live-tweeting supports live viewing” and that “Social Media Brings New Engagement to TV” now. All of these examples have that one thing in common, they encourage live viewing and discourage DVR. As a side note I am a big fan of DVR, but even I have been tempted by some of these live-viewing offers. While I do not think social media’s involvement will completely do away with DVR I do think it will encourage more live viewing. Let’s face it, DVR is a threat to TV. Today’s viewers live in a world that demands more of their time. In a world like that the obvious solution is to put off or cut out other things and that has led to DVR’s popularity. Before DVR it was recording shows on videotape. Some people act like DVR came out of nowhere as a new concept when really it was taking the prior concept of VCR recording and further integrating it with TV. With social media’s involvement, live-viewing is making a comeback. At the beginning of this week the Home Run Derby took advantage of this trend and had players and fans interacting on Twitter throughout the event
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. Another part of social media that is making its way to TV is video chat. Last week I wrote about Facebook vs. Google+ and it seems that the video chat technology launched by both social media platforms is a part of TV and will continue to expand into more areas of TV. One way in which it will work its way in is through TV interviews.

Phandroid has already figured out how to record Google+ hangout sessions and so it’s a given that someone will find a way to record Facebook video chats
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. What does this mean for TV interviewers and entertainment show hosts? A convenient, money-saving way to interview people while looking tech-savvy. It also prompts engagement because interviews are then tied back to social media accounts like Facebook and Google+. While you can only video chat with friends via Facebook so far, not fans, there are ways around it. Interviewers can always have viewers post feedback in response to something with the promise to friend their favorites. This would allow them to video chat or leave a video message and that could appear on the air. Al Jazeera’s show “The Stream” frequently utilizes Skype for interviews so it can be done and it will be done more often. Video chat also allows news personalities to interact with viewers in new ways, such as hosting a chat before newscasts like KOMU-TV has done. There are those that speculate that social media TV platforms and apps will integrate video chat too and that it will become a normal part of TV viewing and interaction. Now that I have discussed what it will do for TV and TV viewers, here’s what it will do for the ad industry. One example is product placement in shows and movies shown on TV. Easily a place for hashtag insertion and if nothing else more people will be watching, because of increased live viewing, so those product placements will not go to waste. Another outcome could very likely be that commercials themselves have hashtags or QR codes that are only active while viewing the commercial. The QR code would open up the Facebook page or website of the brand to prompt further engagement, such as purchasing the product online, making it a direct viewing to sales link. There are so many options and so many wide-ranging effects of social media’s involvement in TV. TV needs social media and social media needs TV. It is a mutually beneficial relationship that has no limit to what it can become. The only limits are your own imagination.

Social Engagement Trends

Web clicks and website traffic used to announce that you had a lot of customers and people involved with your company and its products. These were valued as much as a Facebook user’s thousands of friends and ‘likes’ are now. However, it has since been determined that none of these are an indication of consumer loyalty. Debra Aho Williamson notes that “Likes are not a gauge of consumer involvement with your company or brand. But companies still insist on touting their total just like they touted ‘hits’ back in the early days of the web”
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. Votes of interest like these are merely starting points for consumer interaction and engagement. In other words, social engagement is not that simple. It takes a lot of work, a lot of listening and a lot of conversation and conversion to build loyalty. A few weeks ago I touched extensively on this in my Engagement Matters Most post. This trend is already branching out to mimic this social engagement through other platforms. The CW is working on closing the gap from commercial viewing to point of purchase by rewarding viewers for watching commercials
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. Capitalizing on research that shows viewers always have their cell phone nearby when watching TV, they are utilizing cell phones to offer rewards. It works like this. Viewers download the shopping app Shopkick and let the app listen to CW commercials, much like using the Shazam app to listen to music in order to identify its title and artist. When a Shopkick-enabled commercial airs the viewer receives an “unobtrusive on-screen alert” prompting them to open the app to receive discounts for use inside the advertiser’s stores. By measuring how many people use the coupons they gain insight into how many people purchase their products as a result of watching their commercials.

In addition to being extended to cell phones, Pepsi-Co has extended social engagement to vending machines. With the launch of PepsiCo’s social vending machine prototype comes another platform for social engagement
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. A unique touchscreen allows consumers to buy a drink and gift one to a friend at the same time. Sound familiar? Reminds me of the advent of gifts on Facebook. Consumers can also record a short video message to go along with their gift. Additionally, ‘Random Acts of Refreshment’ allows the consumer to gift a drink to a stranger. An interesting concept indeed. Perhaps that could be an extension to our shopping and gifting someday. Kiosks at grocery stores that allow you to select a gift or gift card, send it, and personalize it with a short video message delivered to the recipient. Regardless, the point is that social engagement is venturing beyond the confines of social networking much like advertising advanced beyond television and print. Another way that we could see social engagement brought to other platforms would be to incorporate the iPad. Before long we may be able to stream television through iPads to have true on-demand viewing wherever we go. If or when that happens we could see deals worked into commercials there with a direct link to the website for engagement purposes. My prediction is that social engagement will become the norm for all types of interaction with consumers at all points of interaction with consumers. If it can happen in these examples, just think of the possibilities that are still untapped. The only limit is your imagination.