Opening address at the recent Kentico Connect Sydney conference on the growth in user-generated images in social media — how fast is it growing, what drives it, and how should marketers respond in a medium where most of the battle for share of voice is with consumers, not other brands
3. What do I know?
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Tech journalist, media relations
Microsoft product guy
Yahoo! product guy
Bluepulse - Silicon Valley, 3M users, $10M VC
Pollenizer, Startmate, BlackbirdVC
Chromasun, TrainerPlatform, BugHerd, OtherLevels, Script
Rock, Bugcrowd
• The New Agency
12. What did the smartphone achieve?
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‘Good enough’ cameras you’re always carrying
Connected to free photo sharing
Filters and editing
Simple to share
Fun to find new friends
13. How popular is sharing?
• 56% of Internet users identify as either
a content creator or curator
• 32% identify as both creator and curator
Pew Internet Report 2012
15. Why is photo sharing so addictive?
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We’re a herd species
How we express belonging
How we express status
Experiencing self vs remembering self
16. Photo sharing helps us re-experience the every day
“The voyage of discovery is not in seeking new
landscapes but in having new eyes.”
-Marcel Proust
17. As a result
• 47% of adult Americans share photos or videos they’ve
found elsewhere online
– (Up from 41% last year)
• 54% of adult Americans have posted original photos or
videos
– (up from 46% last year).
Source: “Photo and Video Sharing Grow Online,” Pew Internet (Oct. 28, 2013)
19. Snapchat puts Instagram and Facebook to shame
• Founded 2011
• Immediate, temporary images to/from smartphones
• On 9% of US phones (Pew Internet Sep 13)
22. Appeal to the curators
• Curators are more likely to be female, and young adult
Do you take or share images or videos?
Men
9.66%
Women
11.08%
18-29
45.00%
30-49
18.75%
50-64
13.53%
Source: Pew Internet Report 2012
29. Use narratives
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Have a beginning and an end
Engage our emotions and senses
Teach us lessons about the world
Connect the teller and the audience
Engage memory and create retention
30. Always post with an image
• On Facebook and Twitter
– Posts with a picture get more than TWICE the engagement
of a text post
• On Instagram, Snapchat and Pinterest
– The image is the post
34. Conclusions
• Social media and smartphones change audiences into
creators/curators
• Driven by:
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Zero cost of image production and sharing for consumers
Brand advertisers subsidising image hosting and sharing
The ‘best camera’ is in the pockets of millions
If you can’t create, you can always share
• Always use images
35. Train creatives to use the new media
http://www.flickr.com/photos/jeremywilburn/
36. Resources
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Pew Internet “Photos and Videos as Social Currency Online” Sept 2012
– http://bit.ly/199OnYj
Facebook engagement: text, links, photos or videos?
– http://bit.ly/17Vy85r
Creators, curators, Instagram and Snapchat – Pew Internet Report
– http://bit.ly/HKacI7
This is you on smiles – Medium
– http://bit.ly/1hXDfWm
Daniel Kahneman – TED Talks - The riddle of experience vs memory
– http://bit.ly/17gphau
Alan Jones
@bigyahu
http://about.me/alanjones