Gamification, App’s & Twitter: How PSYCH is awesome in social media and promotion!

I watch a lot (and I mean a LOT) of series and movies, but none of them are so incredibly good in using social media and the internet for promotion as USA Network’s series “Psych”!

Although not so much in the Netherlands, Psych is incredibly popular in the United States. The series has been renewed for a sixth season, to begin in summer 2011. If you want to know what Psych is all about, check out the link at the end of my post.

So, what do they do? Here are the best promotions and social media activities:

Gamification
The most prominent promotion, in my opinion, is “gamification”. Gamification is (check Wikipedia) ‘the use of game play mechanics for non-game application (also known as funware), particularly consumer-oriented web and mobile sites, in order to encourage people to adopt the applications.’ That just means USA Network owns a website were non-games can be played. A ‘hub’ if you will, surrounding the Psych series. Here are two screenshots:

The idea is to reward the Psych-fans by giving them the opportunity to get free Psych-items and to make sure that the minds of people are on Psych at least once a day, even when the show it not airing. Well, it works! Many people participate daily (points can only be earned every 24-hours). To even promote Club Psych, creators of the show occasionally add exclusive Psych items (such as signature ones). One can even compete with other players to become ‘The Ultimate Psych-Fan’… (I’ve actually played myself, got totally addicted because I really wanted the have enough points to order some season dvd box-sets… I have them now ;))

The reason why it works, is because it’s slightly addictive. People want to become that ultimate fan and people want to win free dvd box-sets. In addition, extra features are placed on Club Psych such as behind the scenes and interviews. Here's a video about USA Network's Jesse Redniss who talks about Club Psych:



Campus Wars
Yes, that one was fun. Due to the fact that more younger (between 18 and 34) people started watching Psych, the marketing department thought it wise to capitalize on their fan base. Ten universities across the country were chosen, loosely based on where Psych-fans seems to congregated geographically. What they did was, the stars of the show (James Roday and Dulé Hill) and a host (writer or creator, etc.) visited the ten universities. During this visit there were Psych themed activities, including a sneak peak at the show’s fall season premiere.

In addition to the live visits, USA Network announced the ‘Campus Wars’. Major colleges and universities had the opportunity to get their college/university named in an episode. In combination with Club Psych, people could create profiles an earn points (by playing the non-games) which were credited to their school. Again, this was a huge success! Check out this video were stars James and Dulé comment on the Campus Wars:



Psych App (iPhone & iPad)
This one is even more interesting. It’s called “Psych Vision”. The App provides a connection between the popular social entertainment check-in service GetGlue.

It seamlessly connects fans to social and mobile features, to unlock exclusive Psych content by putting in keywords. These keywords are promoted on the show itself and online. Some other options are to increase the amount of Club Psych points, share their favorite show moments and chat with other fans. The latter by using a new chatter feature. Psych Vision is a social platform.

Twitter & Facebook
Finally, social media. Someone at USA Network manages the Twitter and Facebook account of the series. The interesting thing about their Twitter account is that the manager (let’s just call him/her that) actually answers to people and keep them really up-to-date. In fact, sometimes updates about Club Psych, such as the addition of new prizes, were even posted on Twitter before they were posted on Club Psych! In addition, entries for ‘Psych Fan of the Week’ etc. are tweeted. Then Facebook. It’s not as up-to-date as Twitter but still the manager keeps posting interesting messages. I can even remember a contest last year, where as many people as possible had to exchange their avatar for a pineapple-avatar (watch the show, you’ll get it ;)) to win many prizes. You have no idea how many people did that! Neither do I, but I know there were a lot. Especially since the Facebook page has over a million followers.


As you can see, Psych is really into social media and the internet. While many series/movies do “just” one campaign, sometimes involving social media, Psych has been doing it for some time now. Increasing in popularity, social media is actually working really well for Psych. The marketing department really knows their target group and how to reach them. By connecting all the promotions and social media, people are able to participate in so many activities. I don’t know how it’s going to end, but I must say that the creators of the promotions really are creative. Just keep monitoring it, I’m pretty sure an awesome new campaign will turn up soon!

Links:
About the show: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psych
Club Psych: http://clubpsych.usanetwork.com/
Twitter: http://twitter.com/#!/Psych_USA
Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/psych
Psych App: http://www.usanetwork.com/series/psych/downloads/apps/index.html
About GetGlue: http://www.getglue.com

Verify: Act on data, not intuition

I found this awesome tool, and I thought I should write a blog about it.

The tool I’m talking about is ‘Verify’ and it’s an online tool. You’re probably wondering what it does. Well, Verify is “the fastest way to collect and analyze user feedback on screens and mockups. See where people click, what they remember, or how they feel.” Unfortunately I can’t post screenshots of tests because the designs are (but that’s just a guess ;)) licensed.

Verify goes both ways, you can participate as a guest or actually upload your stuff:

Member
As a member, you can upload your designs and let people judge them. For example, you can upload two versions of a website and ask people which one they like most. Or you could upload two logo’s and do the exact same thing. Or you could ask people to take a look at a design and afterwards ask them what they remember, etc. As you might have guessed, the amount of options are huge! This is particularly interesting for companies who want a quick answers to design issues. In addition, some members ask people to comment on why you chose that design or some demographical information. This can be useful for future developments in the company. For example, information about customers.

Guest
As a guest, you can participate in any of the uploads of members. In this case you are the one that drag & drops items across a page, give feedback on designs, choose designs, etc. Again there are many options! The most fun thing as a guest is that you do not have to register (big plus!) to participate. In addition, some test are just fun! This one, for example:

You take a look at a design an afterwards you state how you felt when you saw the design. Awesome, isn’t it? I mean, I like giving feedback on designs so this is perfect for anyone who like to do that also. In addition, you’re really helping the members who uploaded the designs!

Somehow Verify reminds me of Usabilla. Usabilla is also an online tool where members can upload designs and let people judge them. However, Usabilla is actually focused on the usability of designs so that’s the difference between Verify and Usabilla. So if you’re looking for a quick and easy online tool to measure the usability of your design, go to www.usabillla.com

Finally, I just want to state where to find Verify:
website: verifyapp.com
blog (it’s actually on the website): verifyapp.com/blog
twitter: twitter.com/#!/VerifyApp

3 best free Twitter analyze tools a company (and you!) should know

“Twitter is a microblogging tool which is widely used by companies such as Dell, NYT and Google”.

WOW! I had no idea! I always thought Twitter was this simple online tool on which every person with internet (and an account of course) could post insignificant and, quite frankly, uninteresting posts. Apparently people, this is NOT the case! Last week I learned that. To share my newly gathered knowledge, I will elaborate on the ‘return’ aspect of Twitter for companies.

Analyze Twitter
So, as I stated before many companies use Twitter to communicate. It’s really a direct and easy way to get to know the target group. However, I am really interested in the return aspect of Twitter:

How can companies manage the effects of their Twitter account and things that are begin said about their products/account?

Fortunately, very smart people developed tools for this. I will name some of these tools, which I think are the best and which are free. As another person smartly stated: You probably need to use more than one tool to get a really good insight into your Twitter account. Here it goes:

1. Twitalyzer
(three most popular reports are free)

Slogan:
“Twitalyzer knows who is in your social network and we know where they live, allowing you to be more targeted in your outreach efforts.”

First off, the website looks quite professional and understandable. You can enter your (or a) Twitter username and the website generates an output. Some results are impact score (combination of aspects such as number of followers and relative frequency at which the user posts updates), influencer type (categorization of certain types, such as social butterfly: are very active within their individual networks) and hashtags (most commonly used hashtags). Personally I think that Twitalyzer is a good tool to use as it generated about nearly everything you want to know about your account. Twitalyzer is not necessary for companies. Perhaps that’s why they let people pay since January, because many companies use it. To sum up, very interesting and useful tool!

2. Trendistic
Slogan
“See trends in Twitter”

And that’s exactly what it does. Trendistic lets you fill in a name, word or whatever and generates an output. This output consists of tweets containing the word (or name, etc.), name of the Twitterer (yes, that’s actually a word) and the time of the tweet. Finally, you are able to select a specific time period. Pretty nifty, huh? It’s a very useful tool for a company to check what people say about the company or your product.

3. TweetEffect
Slogan
“Find out which of your Twitter update made people follow or leave you.”

Again, it’s as simple as that. You enter the username of your Twitteracount and the website generates how many updates you had, how many followers you lost, how many new followers you’ve gained, the overall loss and gain and finally your overall loss or gain by comparing your overall loss and gain. Besides that, the frequency of follower changes is shown and finally (very important) which tweets got you losing or gaining followers. This tool is useful for companies because they can orient themselves on what sort of tweets and updates about certain products/services their followers like or dislike.

By using these tools, I think a company is able to efficiently and effectively check what’s revolving around their Twitteraccount and tweets. In addition, they can alter their tweets, language, etc. to their target group. Finally, a company might even alter products or their services to increase the satisfaction of their customers. Oh yeah, it’s cheap too ;)

Me, myself & new media

IT’S FEBRUARY! And what better way to start this hopefully-not-as-freaking-cold-as-january-month with a first blog post! Well actually, I have to. Not that I mind though, I have done far worse assignments (e.g. doing statistical assignments…). Probably only a few of you know what I am talking about and therefore I will explain myself ;) This blog is an assignment for the course “Business Information Technology” which I take at the University of Tilburg. I am supposed to fill this blog with awesome posts about new media stuff. Since I am very interested in new media (otherwise I am definitely in the wrong class) this must work.

So, what I need from you is to follow me. Very simple and very helpful for my career as a business information technologist (if that is in fact an actual career path ;)). Also, please check out my Twitter-account: http://twitter.com/#!/anne_underscore and follow me there.

I have some ideas of topics for my posts which I will post very soon, such as how well-known companies use new media and what the most annoying things about (for example) Twitter are. Sometimes I will ask people to vote or send in their answers. I would appreciate it if you would participate because every answer is very welcome :)

Well, that’s it. One more thing, if you find an awesome video about new media I will be happy to post it and write a comment.