Power of personal media networks

Networks used to require enormous infrastructure. Building out distribution was expensive and hard. Now it's just hard. That's meant we're seeing the development of business models based on access to their personal networks. To be clear, this is unattainable for 99 percent of people. I'm not referring to the networks that we all have, but media networks.

It's interesting when brands start to realize that a different kind of media buy is paying for access to personal networks. This is definitely a way advertisers will get into the stream. I have a story in Adweek about an interesting campaign run by Carl's Jr. to promote its new burger. It has nine YouTube creators with some of its most popular channels making videos about how to eat a burger. While these will live on a brand channel at YouTube and some ad units, the real power of this campaign is it's tapping the personal networks these creators have built -- and letting the creators talk in their own voices to their followers. These networks are substantial. NigaHiga has over 1 million subscribers to his channel. IJustine has 580,000 Twitter followers. These are different sort of networks, more personal and direct. They're more powerful than the old networks built off expensive infrastructure and scarce distribution. Brands will need to figure out ways to access the new personal media networks -- and, of course, it will involve giving up some measure of control by giving the stewards of the networks freedom.

This isn't just something for YouTube. Think of what AmEx is doing with Federated Media. It has some top bloggers creating content for an AmEx site, OPEN Forum. What someone like Guy Kawasaki brings to the OPEN site is only partly about content. He bring a readymade network, including 125,000 Twitter followers, which gets alerted to his AmEx work.

There's a risk that buying into their networks will backfire for brands. It will probably work so long as it's not done too often. Most understand that creators need to eat. So long as the brand give them leeway to create messages in their way, people probably won't mind much.

Comments

[Michael Maurillo (@mikemookie)]

I really like this approach by Carl and AMEX. Smart stuff and good for them for tapping into these networks early. I emphasize *early* because I agree this strategy will have a relatively short shelf life.

How long until the iJustines and NigaHiga fans start yelling "sell-out" and begin deleting their RSS feeds? Like you said, it will only last if it's not done "too often", but when has this industry ever been known for not running a good thing (or bad thing) into the ground?

The fate might actually fall into the hands of the creators themselves, than the brands or agencies. The creators are the ones that will have to say NO to very real cash if (IF) they recognize they needto retain the authenticity of their community. Not an easy decision to make, especially when you have to think the reason most of these creators actually started "creating" in the first place was to make money.

For a moment, though, lets assume the creators don't need to make a living, the agencies don't beat this horse until it's dead and the fans are all cool with it b/c it's done "right", who then ends up getting the short end of the stick? I've never been a believer that UGC is/was gonna kill the advertising star (sorry, that was pretty bad), but does the "semi-professional generated content (with large/passionate built in audience)" have a chance? I think they might have the ability to make a decent sized dent. For someone like Carl's JR., if the ROI plays out why would they need an expensive director and copy writer to produce video, web OR tv, for them ever again? High production value is no longer a requirement, plus when was the last time you heard of a consumer giving a shit about the opinion of someone that directs tv commercials?

[Stuart Foster]

This is an interesting conundrum that brands are going to have to deal with in the coming years. How do you leverage personal communities without corrupting their user base and essentially make them worthless. We have to tread careful or risk being deemed as selling out.

[Armando Duran]

I totally agree with Michael that "The fate might actually fall into the hands of the creators" and most importantly that creators do recognize the need to "retain the authenticity".

We can easily recognize that when there is a way to have the attention of the masses, there is always the temptation to monetize from it, even if it's a bad product or something that does not benefit people but just a brand or company.

I have the hope that all humanity recognizes a pattern in order not to do the same old mistakes of the past when that temptation for money and power comes and it blinds the reasons for turning the back to them with all kind of justifications.

It doesn't really matter the tools (tv, twitter, facebook, etc.) What matters is: what progress do we make (as humans) as a result of genuine interactions as oposed to be yet another victim of mass broadcast forced upon us by marketers for the benefit of just a few.

[Ben Kunz]

Re "this is unattainable for 99 percent of people..."

Yes. Do you ever notice the irony of social media is it follows the same power laws as traditional resources? A tiny portion of personal networks have huge followings, just as a handful of newspapers or cable news stations have mass audiences, while millions of other people have tiny followings. The distinction between "personal" networks and "media" networks don't matter much, since the media follow the same Pareto concentration patterns. (For a classic example, see recent reports on fall-offs in iPhone app usage, where only a handful are used consistently and the rest die as niche toythings.)

In simple English, this means social media is much like mass media. Top bloggers attain huge audiences, just as top cable networks do, not because of personal skill necessarily but because in human preferences, someone always has to win the masses.

Marketers end up with the same thing: A few major doorways to get to the masses.