But from a marketing standpoint — and we’re in the business of providing consumer intelligence — his point is academic or even wrong. With media channels fragmenting at a staggering pace, the Holy Grail of marketing is the unifying insight. We seek a truth or message that can transcend media, that we can plug into an integrated campaign, from a Facebook fan page to a billboard on the highway.

I chose this topic for our first ARF webinar because I see too many marketers looking to social media  to inform only their social media efforts. Insights from social can drive every aspect of marketing: campaign strategy to product innovation.

To get the whole story, view the webinar here:

Part 1:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=s9oKoBE1veY

Part 2:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lJ_8G9w8pkY

Part 3:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gTgav1bmDhc

Part 4:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y80XV3ZxJHI

ARF members can view it on their site, but we’re pleased to make this freely available to anyone who’s interested. The full description is at bottom of this post. But first, a word on why we recently joined ARF, who co-presented the webinar…

The Advertising Research Foundation is a pillar of the research community. They’ve helped move the industry forward and set standards for the last 74 years. The field of social media analytics is coming of age, and we’re pleased to have a seat at the table to move the industry forward and guide its development alongside the other members of ARF.

The Medium Is NOT the Message: Social Media Analytics Deliver Insights Beyond Social Monitoring
Presented by: Dan Neely, Founder and CEO of Networked Insights

This informative webinar will describe the current state of social media analytics and provide case studies to illustrate real-world applications of analytics for market research. Learn:

• How analytics can deliver insights to provide core marketing research and drive strategy.
• The difference between listening (strategic and proactive) and monitoring (tactical and reactive).
• How analytics contrast with and complement traditional market research.
• How analytics can inform essential marketing use cases, such as campaign strategy, campaign evaluation, advising digital ad spend, and driving innovation.
• How the world has changed since Marshall McLuhan’s proclamation that “the medium is the message.”

If you’re just listening to consumers in social media online to drive social media tactics, you’re missing out on the real value of social media data: the largest focus group that’s ever existed. (And if you’re not yet listening online, learn why you should be.)

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Paul the Octopus
This clairvoyant cephalopod not only predicted the World Cup winner, he correctly called all seven of Germany’s games preceding the final. (His prognostications were interpreted by his choice of a tasty morsel associated with one of two flags from opposing teams.) His engagement saw a sharp spike after he achieved a 5-for-5 record when he correctly predicted Germany over Argentina on July 3. We’ll recommend Paul and his online buzz as a celebrity endorser for a brand in the business of forecasting: Merrill Lynch or the Weather Channel?

Cute & Clairvoyant

And now on to the highly engaged humans…

Lionel Messi of Argentina tops the chart for engagement over the course of the tournament. His raw talent —and fans’ recognition thereof — cannot be dismissed, despite his team’s elimination from the tournament. Has he overtaken Ronaldo for the poster boy of international soccer? They’re very close in age, skill, and appeal…

Sample post… “But the World Cup is about the superstars. And the two biggest superstars this tournament are Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi. These two are the best soccer players.” Read the post…

If a brand were to choose Messi as a spokesperson, what audience would he appeal to? That’s a question we can answer by aggregating the demographics on the sites where he’s most vigorously discussed.

To sum up, Messi’s following is largely male, fairly well educated, and (with 32% making 75k+) has some money to spend.

Landon Donovan “breaks the internet”
Could his stunning 91st-minute goal be the event that captured America’s imagination for good? We know he made an impact in social media (He crashed Twitter—Fail Whale! and he created a huge spike in engagement/positive sentiment.)

Big spike in positive sentiment around Landon Donovan

The against-all-odds, down-to-the-wire goal may have provided a welcome, if temporary, distraction from the BP oil-spill tragedy. The oil spill was and is discussed all over social media — including in our workspace around the World Cup. But the discussion around Donovan’s goal seems to replace conversation around the spill.

Drop off in "BP Oil Spill" discussion

Moving on from the players to other topics…
The most engaged insight overall is “England.” People were extremely let down by their poor performance.

Sample post…“Too many England players looked tired, fed up and as if they didn’t care. Blaming the pressure and exertion of the Premiership for their woes is fine … except that several other countries have players who operate in the EPL (including Australia) and their experiences did not seem to dim their effectiveness at the World Cup.” Read the post…

Vuvuzelas
We talked about the vuvuzela meme and it’s popularity on gamer sites. When we look at the latest meme craze (Paul the Octopus), we see the same game-centric sites popping up. This points to the gamer community as a great place to kick a viral campaign into overdrive.

Vuvuzelas were a hot topic in the early stages of the tournament. Our discussion ranged from its impact on brand image (see: Coke) to the broader public’s opinion, fans and otherwise , on the South African cultural icon and its incessant buzz. If you’re wondering when people learned to tune out the noise, we saw a precipitous drop-off in “Vuvuzela” engagement after June 21. Well, if you can’t beat ‘em, join em…

What’s the NBA doing in the World Cup?
Engagement around the topic of “NBA” was substantial in World Cup discussion. For perspective, the level of buzz about the NBA would place it in roughly the middle of our top-ten buzzing World Cup players. But what are they saying? There’s talk of the NBA draft, LeBron’s drama around choosing a team… and talk about how the NBA can’t match the World Cup in some ways.

The following post was found in the discussion “Is the World Cup upstaging the NBA Finals?”

Sample posts…
“The World Cup is the one sporting event that can upstage the Olympics worldwide. Despite being the second biggest sport in the world, basketball can’t touch the WC even with the NBA’s two flagship teams going at it.” Read the post…

Some noted even Kobe is jumping on the “WC over NBA Finals” bandwagon:
“I’m glad to see that the best player in the NBA recognizes and is in South Africa watching the World Cup. In an interview on ESPN Kobe said that the NBA championship is not a true world championship like the World Cup. Kobe also said that the NBA finals does not compare to the World Cup and that he loves the game of soccer. Great words from a great champion!”

“Kobe’s right. No way does the NBA finals compare to the World Cup.” Read the post…

Lebron Verbatim: “Radio host said to Kobe that Lebron said July 1 2010
will be the biggest day in NBA history. Kobe laughed and
said I am off to South Africa for the World cup.”

We’ll resume this line of reporting in four years at the next World Cup. Social media will change dramatically in that time, while soccer and its culture while continue to evolve. But the world’s post popular game will still engender fierce passion, fans will talk, and whatever the technology that enables digital interaction, we’ll be there to mine the data and deliver insights.

It’s Netherlands vs. Spain!

• So, which team is most engaged?
  Spain: 41.9K
  Netherlands: 21.6K
• And the top engaged players?
  Most buzzed Netherlands player: midfielder Wesley Sneijder, who scored a late-game goal against Uruguay to send them to the World Cup Final.When drilling down into the insight of Wesley Sneijder, striker Arjen Robben comes up a lot in the same conversation. Could these two be seen as the “Dynamic Dutch Duo”? In the game against Uruguay, Sneijder scored in the 70th minute, and Robben scored immediately after in the 73rd minute. The two are dangerously effective when working in tandem!

Sample post...
“Looking at the Oranje’s star players, Gullit was full of praise for the dynamic Dutch midfield duo of Inter Milan’s Wesley Sneijder, who has scored four goals, and Robben.”

We also continue to update our chart tracking overall buzz on top World Cup players.

• Most buzzed about player for Spain: midfielder Cesc Fabregas.
  The two most buzzed about players of each respective team are midfielders, not strikers. Maybe midfielders are now earning more respect than the flashy strikers? To win the World Cup, you need sound teamwork, not just flash and fame…

• The handball heard ’round the world:
  There is a lot of discussion around the decision by Luis Suarez of Uruguay to purposefully block a ball going into the goal with his hand. So, the question is: was he a hero or villain? If he didn’t, they lose; however, because he did, it gave his team a fighting chance (it gave Ghana a penalty kick, which they missed, and Ghana lost.). So, what do the people think?

Sample posts…
“Hero. It’s either 1) let it go through and lose or 2) stop it and still have a shot at winning. Yeah, I’d think everyone goes with 2, even as a reflex.” Read the post…

“But don’t blame Suarez, blame the rules. Such a situation should be red card and goal, not PK.” Read the post…

Could the volume of conversation around the “handball heard (seen) ’round the world” reach fever pitch and have an impact on future FIFA rules? If so, that would be a huge testament to the power of social media.

The insight of “handball” itself has 6.4K engagement… almost as much as our athletes. And guess whose name keeps popping up? You guessed it: Luis Suarez. Has he created a name for himself as “The Dream Thief”?

SocialSense buzz: “bad call.” Fans online (and SocialSense) generally decry the poor officiating of this World Cup.

Watch for our wrap up of World Cup 2010 later this week!

• Is there somebody following you? Social media has affected relationships and radically changed dating. Facebook is perfect for hooking up or breaking up in case you didn’t know.
• If your employer thinks your tweet compromises your credibility, you could lose your job, especially when there’s a political agenda.  An experienced CNN journalist loses her job.
• The “King of Akron” must also be the “King of Procrastination and Reluctance.” Everybody bow before the king as he enters the 21st century. Lebron James joins Twitter.
• To sweeten its bottom line, a Cold Stone turns its focus away from traditional advertising methods to create the Ultimate Ice Cream Experience.
• There may be world peace in the future, but you may not have any friends or meaningful relationships. Social media is making the room smaller, but building a lot of cubicles as well. What will the social world be like in 2020?
• As thousands of barrels of oil spill into the Gulf of Mexico, social media fills up with widespread disgust for  BP’s chief executive.

Once again we’re going to first check in on the buzz around the players before going on to our ever-evolving coverage of the ubiquitous vuvuzela.

General Trends and Analysis

• Currently only 4 out of the top 10 most buzzed about players still remain within the tournament! However during the time that this data was collected, both the American and English teams lost crucial matches that removed them from the tournament. Needless to say, if some of those eliminated players manage to hold more dominance in online conversations then they did on the field, they could be solid choices as future brand endorsers.
• Lionel Messi’s recent birthday contributed to some his buzz this week. Fans proved that they loved him for more than his astounding athleticism as they wished him a happy 23rd birthday.

Sample Post…
“C’mon everyone, wish a Happy Birthday to #ARG footballer Lionel Messi, who turns 23 today.W00t! #worldcup” Read the post…

• The hot online gossip with Landon Donovan at the moment is that an unnamed woman has come forward claiming to have had his “love child.” Clearly instant celebrity status isn’t always fun.

Sample Post…
“Ok, so I’m reading reports that Landon Donovan isn’t officially divorced from his wife and may reconcile?” Read the post…

• Fans are also buzzing about potential future careers for their favorite players with the Premier and Champion’s League clubs.

Sample Posts…

“Oh. Manchester *CITY* not Manchester United is looking at Landon Donovan. This is perhaps the difference between the Lakers & the Clippers.” Read the post…

“@CMcArdle Fabiano is deadly. I would love if United bought him. Above any other player.” Read the post…

• Landon Donovan’s astounding last-minute goal against Algeria resulted in excited fans swarming Twitter, and causing the ‘fail whale’ to appear. As a result fans claimed that Donovan “broke the Internet.” However, as much as Twitter might see itself as the “kingmaker” of social media, it’s not. Because if we were to just base all of our opinions solely on Twitter-based conversation volume and how many times the ‘fail whale’ appears, we’d be missing what’s really happening across the entire spectrum of social media. This is evident in our top 10 list, which ranked Donovan this week in 6th place with over 1,500-related tweets, well below Lionel Messi, who holds 1st place on our list with only some 500+ Tweets; a mere third of what Donovan amassed!

Vuvuzelas have refused to silence…
We’ve followed some of the stories behind vuvuzelas — from angry Coke fans to deep discussions about vuvuzelas’ cultural importance. This week we want to look at why tracing internet memes, such as vuvuzelas, can provide keys to uncovering potential audiences for your own brands.

Memes are important to follow because, though they don’t always add  new content to the conversation (what’s the content in a vuvuzela-referencing comment that just says “BUZZZZZZZ”?) they do add value. This is because memes are excellent at pointing toward where user awareness, engagement, and affinity hide; which is the secret recipe for communities with strong brand loyalty.

The off-topic sites with the most vuvuzela-related conversations were primarily male-dominated spaces around videogames! The top-ranking related site was penny-arcade, a videogame-based webcomic; another top site was twoplustwo, an online poker strategy site. Other listed sites included ign and gamespot (which are both videogame review sites) and steampowered and bungie (which are both videogame producers). Some great examples of attempting to connect with the vuvuzela-buzzing audience can be seen in both the iPhone vuvuzela app, and YouTube adding the ability to dub vuvuzela sounds over popular videos. So vuvuzela lovers aren’t necessarily football fans, Coke consumers, or nationalists; they are also  videogame enthusiasts, and a previously untapped market!

We’ll first check in on the buzz around players, and then continue our unraveling narrative about vuvuzelas.

General Trends and Analysis

• As the final matches of the first round are coming to a close the online buzz is trending away from the players expected to excel, and transferring instead to those who are actually placing the ball in the net. The ESPN best player rankings we quoted last week became nearly irrelevant.
• If your team is underperforming, not even a scandal can save your place in our top 10 list: Franck Ribery, the 7th most buzzed player last week, fell right off the chart this week. We may see him again once he finally gets charged for his role in a prostitution scandal in Paris.
• Wayne Rooney stays atop our chart this week due to his “slagging off” of the English fans for publicly booing his team’s poor performance. And because of his subsequent half-hearted apology for doing so. What can Rooney do next week to maintain his position in our top 10?

Sample post…
“What’s more annoying, that whining noise that Wayne Rooney makes or a Vuvuzela?” Read the post…

Recent buzz around the U.S. team

• This data was collected from just before the U.S. lost against Ghana, so the U.S. was riding high… We find the emergence of the humbling Landon Donovan and our boy from Texas, Clint Dempsey, claiming a foothold in the online buzz.
• Michael Bradley didn’t make our top 10 list, but his last-minute penalty kick to even the score with Slovenia earned him 12th place in our social ranking with a social index of 3.2. That’s only .1 short of Landon Donovan’s current score.
• Landon Donovan is becoming increasingly popular.

Sample posts…
“Landon Donovan is USA’s Chuck Norris” Read the post.

“Landon Donovan doesn’t kick the ball, it rockets toward the goal out of FEAR.” Read the post.

• Fans worry about Clint Dempsey’s temper after he was hit in the face by the Algerian defender.

Sample posts…
”Clint Dempsey just gave millions of fans heart attacks across America just now.” Read the post.

“DEMPSEY WTF are you doing? Relax for god sakes please!” Read the post.

And finally returning back to our continued coverage of the ‘buzzing’ Vuvuzelas…
Last week we discovered a group on Coke’s Facebook page advocating a boycott of Coke in hopes that it would help ban vuvuzelas (Coke is suffering some guilt by association because they had incorporated vuvuzelas into their World Cup advertising well before the instrument started annoying some fans). But this week, digging deeper, we’re actually finding rich positive sentiment for vuvuzelas that is outweighing the negative.

Many posting online see vuvuzela bashing as a kind of cultural imperialism, an attempt to impose Western football/soccer traditions on South African fans, who don’t want to be told what should and shouldn’t be included within the definition of the sport they all love. In fact according to the online conversations, banning vuvuzelas would be the equivalent of outlawing English chanting, or songs, during a match. Vuvuzela defenders note that the instrument has played an important role throughout the entire spectacle of this World Cup — from the vuvuzela day celebration in honor of the first World Cup to ever be held in Africa, to the vuvuzelas’ appearance at the newly reconstructed stadium in Soweto during the recent anniversary of the anti-apartheid uprising in Soweto 36 years ago.

Vuvuzelas are one of the top trending topics on Twitter (and has so early on established itself as the foremost Internet meme of the 2010 World Cup). We do have a new angle on this well-known irritant, but first we’ll block out the noise to focus on the players. We measured the relative online buzz for the top players and also noted their ESPN skill ranking. See the “Top 10 World Cup Buzzing Players,” below.

General Trends and Analysis

• Skill and popularity don’t always go hand in hand. Fernando Torres is the leader in Social Rank, but ranked 8th by ESPN in Skill. Chris Dempsey has a Social Rank of 6 but didn’t make ESPN’s Top 25 for Skill.
• There’s a new rooster in the yard: Fernando Torres beats out heartthrob Cristiano Ronaldo in percentage of women buzzing about him. Overall, it’s not surprising that 62% of the online conversation is generated by men. But Torres and Ronaldo both attract more women than men (See chart below, “World Cup Players — Buzz by Gender”).
• The World Cup is so low scoring so far, anyone who scores can become a country’s — and the internet’s — hero. Clint Dempsey ranks primarily because of the one goal he scored in the England vs. USA match.
• The strikers are the most buzzed about players — despite the lull in scoring so far. In fact the only two in our Top 10 list that do not typically play a forward position (Frank Lampard and Dani Alves) are both involved in negatively trending discussions.

Trending Themes Around Top 3 Players
1. Fernando Torres, Spain: Conversation trending POSITIVE
The buzz…

• Torres has been coming off the bench. Fans can’t wait to see him start and increase his playing time. (We’ll watch to see if his already substantial buzz increases as his minutes increase.)
• Including Torres, Spain possesses a bench filled with players that are better than most World Cup teams
• He’s talked about as part of the Spanish dream team, with Xavi, David Villa, David Silva, and Fabregas
• Spain will garner more supporters because Torres is a fan favorite from the Liverpool FC, his regular-season team
• Torres is the hottest/best looking footballer

Sample post…
“I just got an email from a coworker & all it says is “I love Fernando Torres. The End.” Hahahaha”

2. Lionel Messi, Argentina: Conversation trending POSITIVE
The buzz…

• Best player, best moves, best save so far this World Cup (he is ESPN’s #1 ranked player)
• Argentina relies upon him more than Barcelona does.
• He’s been playing great; it’s the team’s fault he’s not scoring more.

Sample post…
“Vamos Messi Vamos Argentina !!!”

3. David Villa, Spain: Conversation trending POSITIVE
The buzz…

• Great for Spain
• 3rd best striker in the world
• Good player

Sample post…
“The hairstyle gods really don’t like Villa today”

We’ve got similar data for the other players in the Top 10 of online buzz. Just contact me and I’m happy to share.

Fans can be fickle and fortunes change with the bounce of a ball. Watch for our weekly updates of the buzz around key players.

And to bring it full circle…
It all comes back to vuvuzelas… Using our discovery-based insights to uncover emerging conversations, we found that Coca-Cola might have “blown it” with their campaign graphics for the World Cup. Last month when Coke’s vuvuzela-inspired designs were released, they were praised for their sleek appropriation of a cultural artifact dear to South African football. However this association became a liability as soon as the first vuvuzela was blown, because frustrated World Cup fans are doing whatever they can to lower the noise level on the pitch. Many fans are publicly protesting on Coke’s Facebook Page to stop purchasing Coke products until Coke helps ban vuvuzelas!

See the discussion topic “Pepsi until vuvuzela is banned” for more.

• You don’t know the power of the Dark (chocolate) Side. Nestle used products grown on illegally deforested lands to create its chocolaty confections, but no longer. Greenpeace gets social to save the planet.
• Wow! That’s a low price! The benefits of being a contradiction: stinginess and impulsive buying. Airline travel deals target the Twitter generation.
• Peaks and valleys. The heights of social-media popularity aren’t being matched by advertising budgets. Razorfish report reveals social ad spend is low.
• On the other hand, maybe “it’s a pretty big deal.”  Ford’s focus on social media seems to have started a movement. The launch of the new Fiesta represents a paradigm shift.
• Let the games begin. ESPN signs a lucrative two-year deal with social gaming company Playdom.
• Changing disposable diapers. Despite the lingering odor from the their Dry Max diaper launch, Pampers steps up its social-media efforts.
• Use it, or lose it. To find the next big thing or for research, promotion, and analysis, venture capitalists get results with social media.

The disparity between shows high in viewership and shows high in engagement is reflected in the fact that more than half the shows in the SocialSenseTV Top 20 don’t appear in Nielsen’s top 20. The Hollywood Reporter covered the report and noted how ratings and fan-base don’t always match up. (digiday:DAILY also wrote about the report and our new SocialSenseTV offering.)

So how does this help a media buyer or a network? What can social engagement tell us that matters to the bottom line of those engaged in this spring rite of traditional media?

This is the time of year when networks, agencies, and brands all try to assess what a TV show is worth — and what it’s likely to be worth months later — so they can buy inventory now, at upfront prices. “Scatters,” or ads bought closer to air date, can cost 20 to 30% more than upfront buys. Shrewd, informed buying now saves agencies and brands a lot of money. Bad, misinformed choices will stick them with ads on shows that are dogs.

Social media provides a rich vein of conversation to mine that can measure engagement and passion around a show, an actor, or any other topic you care to explore. We can listen to the social conversation to discover why a show is popular, which shows are a good match for a brand, and ultimately, where to buy or sell TV inventory.

We can even analyze and “rate” shows that haven’t aired yet, by listening in on the early buzz about new shows and their stars.

Advertisers are seeking highly engaged audiences with the idea that they are more likely to watch live, see commercials, and appreciate the connection of brands to their favorite shows. Social media listening provides the perfect platform to find those engaged audiences and then discover what they are talking about.

For networks, the same dynamics are at play. If a network is cultivating shows with highly engaged fans, they’ll want to measure that and capitalize on it. They can use the data to prove value and legitimately increase the cost of TV ads. They can also find good matches between brands and shows by finding those shows with fans that care about a given product or category. Note (in the chart below) how network ranking changes when measured by social media ranking or Nielsen ranking of shows.

In a time when advertisers are worried about viewers skipping over commercials, branded content is a hot topic. We looked at two instances. It’s well known that Subway rescued “Chuck” from cancellation. And the fans seem grateful. They’re still talking about Subway when they talk about the show.

We also looked at the “Modern Family” iPad brand integration episode. Though iPad brought a lot more equity to the partnership (word is Apple didn’t pay cash for the deal, but their buzz is much higher online than that of the show), they did get a substantial lift: $516K in earned media.

These are just examples of the kind of campaign evaluation that social media analytics can provide. It’s a powerful new way to measure the impact of a campaign or tv event, because it aggregates effects from multiple channels: if you saw it live or delayed, on TV or on Hulu, in a bar or on a plane, the buzz registers the same online.

The full report includes more analysis of the uses of social media in informing upfront buying and selling, and more insights around specific shows. Please download it and let us know what you think. And if you are ready to enlist social media in your media buying or selling, check out SocialSenseTV, our new listening platform and custom reports services tailored to television.

Activities that are more strategic and proactive are best informed by an analytical listening platform like Networked Insights’ SocialSense. We cover the orange section of the chart. Those activities in the gray section are typically associated with monitoring solutions. Sure, there’s some value in the gray area. But with all the interest in quantifying and evaluating ROI from social media, the orange activities are worth noting for their high ROI value.

Being smart and informed early in the process (regarding Market Research, for example) pays greater dividends than being smart later (Crisis Management, for example).

Still, a marketer’s first thought about using social-media data is often found at the bottom left of the chart around PR activities. I hope this chart encourages marketers to think more broadly. As you begin to track patterns over mentions, moving rightward and upward across the landscape of the Analytics chart, you’ll reap greater rewards and realize significant, measurable ROI from your social-media listening efforts.

Where do you fit on the continuum? Are you operating in the orange area? I’d love to hear your feedback. And please share this chart, either by linking here or passing it along.

• Now you’ve gone and done it. Congress isn’t very happy with Google. So much so, in fact, that they’ve called for a Federal Trade Commission investigation into privacy concerns about Google Buzz.
• I like you. You like me. We’re a happy Facebook family. Should brands really expect users to become “fans”?  Maybe Facebook should allow users to simply “like” social-savvy companies?
• And you can take that to the bank… After a  government bailout, Wells Fargo was forced to get creative and think smarter about social media. The financial institution has  invested heavily in its Stagecoach Island trying to connect with customers.
• Apple plants a fresh crop of social-media possibilities with the iPad. How will this transform the  industry?  Bulgaria is already affected by cultural imperialism run amok.
• Conclusive evidence on which social-media ad format is most effective? It depends — there’s no magic formula.  A new study concludes that context wins.
• Marketing 101: social media is not a toy. Lessons abound about the blunders of companies who have botched social media in their marketing strategies.  Business schools are now starting to offer courses on social-media tactics and strategy.
• “No one alive can always be an angel.” Lil Wayne is many things: a celebrity, a musician , a sports fan, a blogger, and now an inmate. Social media lets him connect with fans despite being behind bars.

From our point of view, the situation is an excellent example of how listening to social media is a critical part of a holistic approach to campaign design, helping to fill in the gaps left by traditional methods. The auto industry has long known that, while men purchase more than half of all cars, women exert influence over more than 80% of purchases. Beyond that, the February sales figures show Toyota declining 8% while Ford sales increased 43%!

So while traditional research and metrics let marketers know that they should be focusing on women, they fall short in understanding how to talk to those women. Our data showed that while men seem to be willing to give Toyota a bit more leeway — talking about fixing and loving, women use harsher words like failure and damage. In addition, Ford comes up a lot in these conversations, furthering bolstering the argument about the importance of speaking to women.

So what does this mean for the marketers designing Toyota’s post-recall campaign? Just as Roehm pointed out, they need to talk to women; they should focus on quality and reliability; and they should probably go head-to-head with Ford.

• An oldie, but a goodie. Using time-tested demographic targeting companies are developing successful campaigns in the online, mobile, and gaming platforms. See 11 brands that are doing it right.
• No lifeguard on duty — swim at your own risk! Traditional media continues to doggy paddle its way through the deepening sea of technology. Magazines and newspapers navigate the treacherous waters of new media.
• I can’t get no satisfaction. Get Satisfaction partners with Facebook and proves Mick Jagger wrong.
• Anything you can do, I can do better. Ford has a healthy bottom line and a firm grasp on social media. GM has government assistance and an nascent social-media plan.  GM tries to catch up by partnering  with Gowalla for a location-based amazing race at SXSW.
• I like SPAM. I hate spam. The abuse of electronic messaging systems and websites by some mainstream media outlets is causing a great deal of controversy. Is this a growing trend for traditional media?
• Music to our ears. Musicians, both mainstream and indie, have plugged into social media. See how bands are connecting with fans and reaping the rewards.
• Shame, shame I know your name. After being awarded patents for location-based and news-feed technologies, Google and Facebook may have thought they were on the brink of world domination. Not so fast. Both companies are being sued by Winksite for patent infringement.
• Champagne wishes and caviar dreams. Bollywood early adopters have India going wild for a touch of the bubbly. Bubble Motion releases Bubbly, a voice-based Twitter.

The 2010 Winter Olympics were a laboratory for testing how events and advertising play on the second screen. Most of the “experiments,” the way we interpret social media data, were focused on how consumers behave in social media. But what we can learn from 300 million people interacting online should inform all aspects of marketing.

Networked Insights conducted a study to help agencies and brands find the best athletes to sign celebrity endorsement deals. We measured online engagement around particular athletes and combined those results with demographic data from the sites where the posts appeared to find out not only who is most popular — but with whom.

The study was picked up by Adweek, Wired, and Digiday.

The full results are included. Here are a few items of note:

• Sidney Crosby is the hands-down winner in engagement. At his level, he’s still pulling in more women than any other athlete, even though his audience is predominantly male. He’s clearly a good candidate for sponsorship for many types of campaigns.

• For a company wanting to get women’s attention, Apolo Anton Ohno is a great pick. The former Dancing with the Stars champ is particularly appealing to women ages 25 to 44.

• To capture the coveted 18 to 24 market, consider Bode Miller.

• For high-end products, Evan Lysacek brings home the gold with the $100K+ income crowd. Not surprisingly, these wealthier fans skew slightly older with a big group at 35 to 54. There are slightly more males in the audience.

This data can fuel insights to solve a real marketing problem: Whom should we choose to be a celebrity endorser for our product? Like any important decision around marketing strategy or tactics, it should be compared with other data and expertise. Agencies and brands will certainly consider the nature of the product and the celebrity personality, for instance.

This Networked Insights study combines engagement metrics with demographic data, which was averaged from sites with highest engagement for specific athletes.

• Patents are going like hotcakes. A week after Facebook received a patent for “a method for displaying a news feed in a social network environment,” Google is awarded its own patent for location-based mobile-advertisement technology.
• Fighting an epidemic. In an attempt to raise awareness about the spread of HIV/AIDS, the CDC begins a five-year $45 million social-media campaign.
• I’m too old for this sort of thing. Apparently this statement doesn’t apply in all cases, as Baby Boomers begin to experiment with social media.  It’s a seismic shift as the older generation emerges as mavens of new media.
• The Pareto Principal for Social Media? In five years, nearly 20% of marketing dollars will go to social-media budgets. Will this result in 80% of returns as the 80/20 rule suggests? We’ll have to wait and see.
• Getting back to the fundamentals. In creating a remarkable customer experience, the tools and landscape can change, but the essentials are the same. Businesses need to get back to the basics before adopting the latest fads.
• The balance sheet of on-line and real-world conduct. How are companies and individuals investing in the social economy? Contributions to social capital will be rewarded with ROI in the form of new opportunities and lucrative relationships.

• Turn left, left again, and repeat about 300 times. Inside the garage and out on the track, NASCAR embraces the digital age as drivers relate to fans via Twitter.
• Remember when the Internet was supposed to kill off television? TV execs now think “the Internet is our friend, not our enemy.”  Television is experiencing a ratings revival with the help of social media.
• Marines will  now be able to enjoy Facebook and YouTube just like the rest of us. The Department of Defense has issued new policy guidelines regulating the military’s use of social networking.
• State of the internet: 1.73 billion users worldwide can’t be wrong. The internet continues to grow, and we found an amazing infographic video to prove it.
• Where the wild things are. Whether it’s being where your customers are already active or creating an opportunity for them to engage, businesses have to be flexible and committed to a strategy with the right mix.
• Patent no longer pending. Almost four years after they applied, Facebook has secured a patent for News Feed. What does this mean for the future of the of the social media giant?
• He’s back and more popular than ever. Well, at least twice as popular as the man who replaced him. Conan O’Brien interviews a squirrel and 458,768 people want to hear all about it. The former late night host joins Twitter and there’s nothing Mr. Leno or NBC can do about it.

The New York Times picked up on part of our report. Here’s the rest.

This was Networked Insights’ second year reporting on the buzz around Super Bowl ads. The analysis from our SocialSense listening platform reports on engagement, a measure beyond frequency of posts. It factors in other post consumption (eg, reads) and influence of the poster. Like last year, we’re also calculating Social ROI — what a company spent on ads in relation to the lift they did or didn’t get.

Teleflora gets an “Insighty” for winning two years in a row. Volkswagen and Focus on the Family also sparked high engagement for dollars spent, placing second and third.

The data shows Motorola bringing up the rear. And there were other players, like the e-Trade baby ads, whose online buzz didn’t measure up to the pre-game hype.

Both Coke and Pepsi (the latter who famously didn’t buy an ad this year) were in the middle of the pack. But, comparing the spend on Coke’s two ads to Pepsi’s social media spend, we rate Coke at a Social Media ROI of +26 (160% increase in interactions) and Pepsi at virtually flat ROI (+10% interactions).  So, though Pepsi’s campaign certainly had merit and created buzz in the weeks before the game, they might have done better to top it all off with a traditional TV ad.

See the chart below for the big winners and losers.

• “Madame speaker, Vice President Biden, members of Congress, distinguished guests, and fellow Americans. Our constitution declares that from time to time, the president shall give to Congress information on the state of our union.” President Obama streams State of the Union live to 1.3 million people.
• Act globally, think locally. Twittter releases new feature called “local trends,” but what will its affect be? Some good, some bad.
• How do you like them apples? Well, turns out some people aren’t big fans of the fruit. Apple’s latest creation, the iPad is released to mixed reviews.
• Just the tip of the iceberg. 90 trillion emails sent, 1.73 billion internet users, 350 million users on Facebook, and more. A look back at 2009 in numbers.
• And the award for “Best Incorporation of Social Media into an Award Show Reticent to Change’” goes to… The Grammy’s embrace social media with “We’re All Fans” campaign.
• Everyday is a struggle, even for successful companies. With exponential growth in consumer adoption and usage, top brands struggle to incorporate mobile into their marketing plans.
• Its been a long time since we talked; too long. Baby boomers get caught up on old times by renewing personal connections online with social networks.

• Like dancing with two left feet.  The top 10 awkward moments in social media in 2009.
• The Super Bowl Shuffle redux. Super Bowl XLIV advertisers look to incorporate social media and mobile marketing into their marketing lineups.
• The secret of my success. Proven strategies in digital branding that will lead to the success of digital campaigns. iMedia sat down with Anne Murray of Southwest Airlines to discuss the essential strategy components needed to achieve the desired outcome.
• Patent pending. Microsoft files for a patent on a “user generated advertising” product in an effort to provide contextual targeting in social network advertisements.
• There’s an app for that… and that… and that. Mobile apps sales continue to rise and are anticipated to reach nearly $30 million in the next three years.
• When we were young, experts recommended 11 hours of sleep. We wonder what the recommended daily use of entertainment media is? A Kaiser Family Foundation study reveals dramatic increase in media consumption.
• Social-media socialism. Apparently, the revolution is over, but what’s changed?  A theory on why new media will never be the same.

• The ruling class: AOL, Yahoo, Google and Microsoft are the authority in the ad network business.
• The theory of social-media evolution. The 10 stages of integration of social media into businesses.
• Text HAITI to 90999 to donate $10 to @RedCross relief. Mobile donations surge in the aftermath of the earthquake in Haiti.
• Google stands on the sidelines of social-media monitoring, but for how long? 5 reasons to expect a Google monitoring tool in 2010.
• Smart companies need to talk on smartphones. Mobile web access will surpass PCs by 2013 according to a Gartner study.
• Security! Escort this social-marketing campaign from the premises. Pepsi Refresh campaign is released, but so is personal information of project’s applicants.
• Proliferation, collaboration, innovation, with a lack of organizational action. Study reveals the necessity for governance and IT involvement with the increased adoption of social-networking tools and technologies.
• Changed for the better? A decade of social media has revolutionized the way we live and the world we live in.