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Dallas 5.8.12 Social media:
Five trends & what they mean to your portfolio
companies
Amy Lanigan
VP of Client Strategy
Fluid
amy@fluid.com
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FLUID VISION
WE COMBINE BIG IDEAS, INSIGHTFUL CREATIVE AND INNOVATIVE
TECHNOLOGY TO CONNECT CONSUMERS + BRANDS.
WEB CUSTOM SOCIAL MOBILE
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FLUID CLIENTS
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What is social media? Simply put:
It’s an idea worth talking about. And it’s a mindset.
Technology means great ideas spread, and get fueled, faster.
Social media is not:
- A budget bucket
- A stand alone pursuit
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What is social commerce? Simply put:
The recognition that consumer actions are
currency.
The exchange rate is constantly being defined.
The goal? To turn conversion into conversation.
And conversation into conversion.
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Social Commerce
Klout put a value on social status. Brands liked Spotify
used it to their advantage.

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Social Commerce
Interactions become a trade. The more you tweet the
lower the cost – in a controlled environment for Uniqlo.

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Social Commerce
Amazon’s sharing functionality on their confirmation
page is a great example of turning conversion into
conversation.
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Social media trend 1 of 5:
The shift from verbal to visual
“Yelp posts are extreme – they review if they love something or hate it.
There’s very little in-between. Visual and tagging
help give a voice to the silent majority.”
- A Fluid client
[Instagram, Pinterest, FB Timeline]
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The shift from verbal to visual
Pinterest served up 2.3B page impressions to 4M unique
visitors in March 2012. In 25 months it’s become the 3rd
largest social network. People shop across brand
(Polyvore, Gap).
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The shift from verbal to visual
Copycats abound. And visual design of websites has
been changed dramatically – in a way that also happens
to work well on mobile.
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The shift from verbal to visual
VW’s Rock-n-Scroll site takes cues from Facebook’s
timeline. Engagement per brand post up 46%. Fan
engagement rate up 14% (annualized). The fold is dead.
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The shift from verbal to visual
National Geographic and The North Face use Instagram
to document Everest summit.
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The shift from verbal to visual.
NetFlix introduced visual navigation to make it easier for
kids to find their favorites (which reeks havoc on their
recommendation engine).
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The shift from verbal to visual
Microsoft acquired VideoSurf for $100M in 11/11. Visual
has big implications for search – this provides a solution
for video.
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What “The shift from verbal to visual” means for your portfolio companies:
There are new ways to “listen” to their
consumers.
A lot of feedback exists out there – but it hasn’t been sent directly to you.
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Social media trend 2 of 5:
Me-commerce
“NikeID was created in 1999. Why is this a trend in 2012?”
– Me playing devil’s advocate
Custom product can be 20-40% above mass production price.
- Pedrazzoli et al
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Me-commerce
Achieved Master or Epic level in EA’s Madden NFL? Get
your own superbowl ring to prove it (and you have to
have the code to prove it too).
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Me-commerce
Reebok has seen such success with their custom shoes
that they gave it it’s own store – displaying every user
created shoe as inventory. Inventory on demand.
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Me-commerce
Timbuk2 starts customization with choice colors – not
an overwhelming blank slate. Bike messengers deliver
same day if you live in San Francisco.
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Me-commerce
The #1 customized boot sold by Timberland? Their
base boot with initials.
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What “Me-commerce” means for your portfolio companies:
An opportunity for margin (minus
manufacturing costs) OR a way to market that
resonates.
Increasing sharing occurs when consumers
feel they got something “just for me.”
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Social media trend 3 of 5:
Kill campaigns. Launch projects.
“Think ideas born to love, not built to die.”
- Contagious Magazine
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Kill campaigns. Launch projects.
Patagonia encouraged consumers to not buy on the
biggest sales weekend of the year. It generated PR (&
debates) for their Common Threads Initiative.
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Kill campaigns. Launch projects.
Foot Locker created a visual wiki of every sneaker ever
made – well any sneaker consumers uploaded.
Sneakheads went wild – Foot Locker gained cred.
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Kill campaigns. Launch projects.
Sprint focused on what you can do with their
phones vs. the phones themselves. The result just
felt good.

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Kill campaigns. Launch projects.
AmEx positioned themselves as the credit card for small
businesses – giving kick back when the cards are used
at registered local shops.
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What “Kill campaigns. Launch projects.” means for your portfolio
companies:
Think of marketing budgets as opportunities to
start something.
The best investments live on beyond cyclical spending.
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Social media trend 4 of 5:
Everyone is an entrepreneur
“You should be investing in 3-year-olds if they know what they are doing.”
- Seth Priebatsch, CEO, SCVNGR
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Everyone is an entrepreneur
Stella & Dot modernized the tupperware / Avon lady
model – and empowers women in the process. Digital
extends stylist business.
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Everyone is an entrepreneur
KickStarter is VC funding without the expectation of pay
out. It started with art and has exploded in video games
and products (usually Apple related products).
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Kill campaigns. Launch projects.
Mix and match your own album, design and cover then
promote it. You get a cut of any of “your albums” sold.

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Everyone is an entrepreneur
Converse is using a Facebook app to find testers who
want to customize shoes and then sell them in their
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What “Everyone is an entrepreneur” means for your portfolio companies:
The market is more open to reveal what’s
resonating.
It also, potentially, means more competition to get in early.
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Social media trend 5 of 5:
Divine data
Full disclosure: Data is some form or another has
been in every one of my trend decks since 1996.
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Divine Data
Facebook paid $28.57 35M times to acquire Instagram.
The per user cost put it in perspective.
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Divine Data
Twitter usage during real-time TV shows is causing
people to actually watch in prime-time vs. time-shifting
and recording.
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Divine Data
Khan Academy bring gaming to education. Experiences
change based on where you are in the testing tree –
and how you perform.
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• TNF- Virtual fit guide
Divine Data
The North Face is using virtual measuring techniques to
solve the issue of fit for consumers – and decrease
returns.
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What “Divine data” means for your portfolio companies:
Everything. (except your intuition)
Mine what exists to inform your next steps.
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Five social media trends:
1. The shift from verbal to visual
2. Me-commerce
3. Kill campaigns. Launch projects.
4. Everyone is an entrepreneur
5. Divine data
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1 of 2 extra social media trends:
Sell something that already exists.
“I thought the idea was crazy. Are people really going to do this? I would
never do this.”
- Y Combinator co-founder Paul Graham re: Airbnb
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Sell something that already exists
ColaLife uses existing delivery routes of cola
companies like Coke to distribute medicine and
health supplies in developing countries.
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2 of 2 extra social media trends:
Recurring payments
“57% of people who join gyms don’t go – and they don’t cancel their
membership.”
- I made this up but I bet it’s true
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Recurring payments
Quidsi makes reordering my standard household
items extremely easy.
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THANK YOU
amy@fluid.com 48