Harris: What are your thoughts on compensating users for their contributions to campaigns? Do you see an upcoming shift in how brands can and should be involving consumers in their media plans, based on concerns of quality and true value?
Schafer: The brands that "get it" will be able to develop strategies and initiatives that reflect their core principles and personality, and don't need to create promotions, sweepstakes or contests to get consumers to generate content. It will happen organically, which means that consumers won't actually be "hired" to create content. They will be otherwise rewarded for this participation by having access to better products and better customer service.
Harris: What social media campaigns have you worked on that you are particularly proud of? Any campaigns in the space that you wish you had been part of?
Schafer: Arguably, the social media initiative I'm most proud of is one that hasn't launched yet. But I can tell you that it's going to be one that raises awareness of some pretty important issues. It's not only social media, but socially responsible. And enhancement and awareness of social responsibility may very well be the greatest legacy of this phase in media's history. There are numerous social media "campaigns" that we were not a part of that I wish we could call a "social media mulligan" on and do over as long term customer relationship management strategies. But we hope to lead by example on that one.
Harris: You recently auctioned off sponsorship of your Twitter profile to the highest bidder. What benefits did this bring, for you, for the winner (Metacafe), or for the digital industry as a whole?
Schafer: I'll be analyzing the results of auctioning my Twitter profile/feed on my blog shortly, but what I hope that auction did was call attention to the need of publishers, advertisers and agencies to work together to innovate creatively and responsibly. This can't just be the realm of engineers. Engineers (as much as I love them) are not marketers by trade. Advertisers and sales professionals need to be innovative too. And the monetization question shouldn't just be the subject of conversations within the venture capital community. It's all of our responsibility to figure out or question how to buy advertising within social media, as it's where almost all media is headed.
Harris: In your mind, will Twitter ever be a marketing force, or has its time come and gone, with no solid business model to entrench it as a viable marketing tool? What do you feel needs to happen to bring it more acceptance from your clients, and to bring it more recognition among the masses?
Schafer: Twitter itself doesn't need to be a marketing "force" -- just an effective communication channel. We sometimes forget that Twitter isn't necessarily a website, it's a technology. But it's a technology with a brand name and personality. It's my bet that ultimately, Twitter's investors will realize their value from a sale to a major media company that benefits from people using the service -- which means a wireless carrier may be a likely suitor, as they can benefit from the increased SMS messages that the service collaterally generates. Twitter has already spawned some revenue-generating ecosystems like software clients and customer service channels for retailers and cable systems that have either directly or indirectly helped their businesses. That makes Twitter important. At least for now. But it's hurtling closer to mainstream adoption every day. If it can sustain itself through its tipping point, it will have serious enough consideration by businesses to allocate resources and budgets to it specifically.
Harris: You are also a vocal advocate of the iPhone, particularly the recent fruits of its open API. So what applications are you using on your iPhone? In light of the increasing penetration of the device, are there any applications you would recommend that marketers take advantage of?
Schafer: The mix of applications on my iPhone range from the silly (Monkey Ball), to the habitual (MLB at Bat), to the practical (UrbanSpoon), to the social (Whrrl) to the sublimely practical (DataCase). Marketers should be taking advantage of the iPhone platform by either looking at advertising opportunities within existing popular applications, or by creating branded applications that have a reason to be downloaded, installed and used. Repeatedly. The iTunes App store has created a somewhat even (albeit closed) playing field, so apps really can compete on quality.
Harris: What else is on your radar for digital creative? Any new trends or technologies you are keeping an eye on?
Schafer: The mobile web is here. It's the future. It's in more and more consumers' pockets every day. And the connections appearing between those devices, personal computers, digital outdoor signage and digital televisions are opening up a world of opportunity to advertisers looking to enhance the experiences that consumers have with their brands and connect them to each other. We're looking at some things specifically in those categories, but if I told you, they would be on everybody's radar now, wouldn't they?
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Jodi Harris is senior editor at iMedia Connection.
