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Tag Archive: Products

Millennials Won’t Be Checking-In With Foursquare Any Time Soon

Written on October 28, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

In a post-Facebook world, just about anything is capable of happening. The unprecedented growth of various social media’s has yielded a great amount of interesting ideas. But more importantly, many of these are being favourably approached by users. And with usage constantly growing, representing hundreds of millions of individuals, it almost seems like a sure bet. The current level of opportunity could quite well make anything possible.

It’s this same notion of opportunity that got me thinking during Evan Cohen’s presentation last week at the Pivot Conference. For those of you who don’t Evan is, he’s the general manager of foursquare. And for those of you who don’t know what foursquare is, in a nutshell, it’s a mobile based application platform that it is integrated with a sense of social media allowing it’s users to “check-in” at different locations, explore cities, stay up-to-date with where there friends are, special offers and much more that can be found here.

foursquare is undeniably an interesting idea. As their about page states, as of August 2010 they have close to 3 million users worldwide. That’s no small feat in itself. The opportunities that potentially exist here are countless and extraordinary. However, at the same time when it seems like an opportunity that shouldn’t be overlooked, we shouldn’t be blinded by it either.

There’s no doubt “place media” has some positive and lucrative potential. And as Evan pointed out during his presentation, foursquare is leading the place media charge. Not only can place media such as foursquare increase business through valuable foot-traffic, amongst other avenues, it allows businesses to leverage consumership to a great extent.

To paraphrase Evan here, foursquare is a great opportunity for companies, brands, products and business alike. I really have no problem with that whatsoever. What I did find highly fascinating though was there was hardly any mention of the end-user. Like I said, I’m in favour of opportunity for business. But what about opportunity for the user?

Yes, the user gets special offers for their participation. And the fortunate few that can become “mayors” of various locations, do incur some special treatment. Though, I don’t think the same opportunity exists for the user as it does for business. In fact, I don’t think the majority of Millennials, myself included, resonate with this and with anything foursquare offers.

There’s a few realities to why this is. Most immediately, our understanding of what foursquare is and what it offers. With mobile phone penetration at the tipping point, chances are we already know where all our friends are, as we text and BBM on an incredible basis. Once you combine that with Facebook and even Twitter, simply on this basis, many Millennials have no need for it. The common sentiment is no one really cares about where you go. Nor do we care to tell everyone where we go. Well, sometimes for bragging purposes. But even then we don’t really care.

The other component foursquare is notably known for is the special offers you receive for checking-in to a location. Whether that be some sort of immediate savings or eventual offering after a series of check-ins at a particular location, amongst the speciality treatment mayors receive, none of this can be translated into something enticing enough for Millennials. Especially, since only as a user would you even know about the offers that exist. While at the same moment everyone is being bombarded by the ever mushrooming variants of loyalty and discounting programs.

At a time when social media has become a facet of everyday life and smart phone growth is ballooning, Millennials have yet to find any need or reason for really wanting to join foursquare. I’m as savvy as they come and I’ve hardly considered it. Even as a niche idea, you can hardly expect your niche users to always and continually support your business. Yes, for business, the opportunity is there. But until that opportunity reflects the customer, until that opportunity represents an user-centric approach, don’t expect the Millennials to be checking-in any time soon.

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The Green Generation

Written on October 4, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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The Millennials, also known as Generation Y, have been referred to as Digital Natives, iGeneration and Generation Me amongst many other classifications that somehow attempt to classify the times of these young people. And though this has become a clichéd experience for the Millennials, since we’re the only generation that has been given an alter-ego every so often, I’m throwing another one into the mix. Mind you, it has some climate and environmental significance.

Over the last decade, the green movement has built-up some considerable momentum. From the introduction of green products to political tactics, legal involvement and the many environmental disasters that have occurred, climate and environmental issues are seemingly here to stay. Especially if the Millennials have anything to say about it.

The Millennials have unknowingly already had a significant impact on the environmental movement themselves. By purchasing cars later in life and not being able to move out, they have positively effected the environment. And though the inclination to be green is tougher than it appears to be, there is a very strong sentiment towards it.

A recent study by LifeWay Research shows that 87% of the Millennials believe “it is up to my generation to clean up the environment.” Something of which 41% strongly agree with. What’s more intriguing is the fact that this sentiment expands into other areas of importance. Fascinatingly, we came up with this thought-process, as opposed to it being forced on to us.

Millennials are amongst the highest supporters of causes, which has significant influence on the products we buy, on the places we choose to work and where we choose to invest. Equally, as the above research study suggests, roughly 66% of the Millennials voting habits will be impacted by a political candidate’s environmental consciousness.

And the numbers only get greener when you get into the dynamics of the auto industry. 64% of the Millennials said they would pay more for a vehicle that was environmentally friendly or one that saves money on energy costs. Further, 73% stated that the environment is an especially significant factor when deciding to purchase a vehicle. And lastly, almost half believe that the vehicle they drive makes a difference in addressing the environmental issue.

I think it’s safe to suggest that the Millennials are concerned about being greener, about the climate and the overall betterment of the environment. Everything reflects that sentiment. And until there are indications that show significant improvements have occurred, green-thinking will only continue to rise. And rightfully so. This is our environment.

So call the them what you like, Climate Gen, Generation Clean-up or the Green-Gen. There can be no denying that the Millennials want a significant green turn around. After all, we do have to live on this beautiful planet for some time still. But I just can’t help but wonder why it’s taken decades to come to this point. I guess you can just add it to our growing list of adversity. Thankfully, us twentysomethings have some time to clean this mess up.

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It’s Not Just About Privacy, Millennials Want Trust

Written on September 2, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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Historically, information has been used to keep records of citizens, patrons, customers, employees and more. As the times evolved, this information was used to maximize opportunity, improve experiences and simply, use the information to gain any advantage possible. But as everything else evolved, methods of gathering information followed suit.

Collecting information seems like a harmless act. We’ve decided to give it to them, so they have the absolute ability and authority to use it. It’s been in the small print since the earliest days of the internet amongst other technological innovations over the last two decades. And we’ve accepted most of it without question. Even disregarding George Orwell’s concerns from 70 years earlier.

Knowingly and unknowingly, we’ve given up privacy over the years simply by surfing the web. What’s fascinating with this is the growth of social networking sites and our understanding that we’re giving up privacy for the sake of it’s use. 85% of Millennials understand that by participating in social media, they’re giving up part of their privacy. Further, 81% said their social profiles are but only a snapshot of who they really are.

Seems like a perfect trade off, doesn’t it? Alright, so we’ve all signed the “deal with the devil”, since we want to use it but we’re not saying everything about ourselves. And many Millennials have accepted this. Even with mass privacy concerns in the social media environment, users have hardly been deterred from it as a result of privacy concerns. And Facebook would be the perfect example of this. How many Millennials, how many of you have stopped using it because of its extreme privacy issues? Not many. Nothing notable to talk about out of it’s 500 million plus users.

Of course we understand, especially with social media, what we put up will be viewed by others, even by those on the back-end. It’s often been said that our lack-of-concern has made many Millennials unwary of the impact our incredible online use can have for each Millennial’s personal image. Trust me, we understand this. Some of us even want to be found.

Millennials are very willing to accept the “terms of use” in everything we sign up for. From the apps on our smart phones to the many sites we frequent, we understand our actions are monitored. Sadly, we accept it for the sake of use. But at the same time, we hope, we trust that the information that is taken from us about us will be used accordingly.

For many of us, the ideas of privacy and trust running synonymously together. However, mistakenly, we often assume one in the same for both ideas. Merriam-Webster defines them as the following:

Privacy (noun): the quality or state of being apart from company or observation. Freedom from unauthorized intrusion.

Trust (noun) – assured reliance on the character, ability, strength, or truth of someone or something. One in which confidence is placed.

There clearly is two defining distinctions. And though the notions of privacy and trust do run hand it hand, Millennials belief in trading a little privacy does not coincide with them trusting the same environments.

Of those aged 18-29 years olds, 79% “never” trust social networking sites or only trust them “some of the time”. And even though Millennials are highest amongst all users who alter their privacy settings to be more private, there’s an unmistakeable want for a sense of trust of their privacy. We want control of what we put online. And we don’t want our permissions to be dragged in to other unknown areas. But then again it’s easier for everyone to be “tricked” into participating in something unknowingly, since many users, customers, people never “opt-out” of anything. Imagine how useless things would be if you had to “opt-in”. No one would.

A distorted understanding of users-based permissions, of which are in the small print, will cause a negative-trend amongst all users. 70% of all consumers who “liked” a Facebook fan page feel they didn’t give that company permission to market to them. Getting permission from Millennials is imperative. The worst thing you can do is spam a Millennial. It’s not only useless, but it gives us something to hold against you. And trust, we’ll remember. And tweet about it. And start a Facebook page about it. It’s not good for company PR. Since 44% of us have used social media to both rant and rave about brands, companies and products. How about giving us something to “rave” about instead.

What’s interesting about all this, it’s having profound effects on Millennials in the offline world. Millennials trust offline marketing pitches 3 to 1 more than those online. Makes you wonder why there is such an emphasis in online and social media marketing if we don’t trust you. Even though we’re willing to give up some of our privacy, we’re not willing to give up our trust.

The result of this has created Facebook spin-offs like CollegeOnly, where only those in actual colleges are allowed to be users on the site. Investors are not even granted user access. Talk about privacy, trust and a Millennial orientated social networking site.

It seems that even though we’ve given up levels of our privacy, any distrust in our relationship will cause Millennials to react. As issues of privacy have become a growing case, especially with the likes of Facebook – pun intended – Millennials will ultimately not trust the online world or even social media for that matter. So what does this mean to you? It means that you shouldn’t betray us. We’ve given you our privacy but we won’t as willingly hand you our trust. That’s something you will have to earn.

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Will the Gen-Y Dream Kill the Product Brand?

Written on August 25, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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I must admit, it’s a pretty outlandish statement. The thought that a single generation of young consumers could halt the wheels of product consumption seems, well, absurd. We’re all about the products. Aren’t we? Having more possessions than we can all truly enjoy. The advertisements are everywhere we look. There’s no getting away from any of it. We want it all. Right?

Well, we do want it all. However, what we want, what Gen-Y wants, has significantly evolved from our consumer notions of the 1990s and 2000s. A recent study, the 2010 MetLife Study of the American Dream, has more than a few interesting tidbits of information regarding this. And it all beings with 95% of Gen-Y believing it’s possible to achieve the American Dream within their lifetime. A number that has grown from 85% in 2006.

Call them young, naïve and inexperienced. They’re a generation that faces the highest unemployment rates, rising debts, and uncertainties created by the recession. Frankly, you could go on and on. Even with all that, their dream grows with wants for “family, children” and “successful careers” leading the way, which are significantly higher than other generations. And though, “financial security” is part of their dream, it’s remarkably lower than that of all other generations. Just another gap in the generational story.

Their unbridled optimism is irrefutable. And this is where the fun begins. What’s extraordinary about Gen-Y’s dream is that it’s not as materialistic as everyone would have you believe. 39% of Gen-Y believe they “already have what they need, and the necessities in life will remain constant.” A notable increase from 26% in 2008.

And like many writers, entertainers, researchers and bloggers, I’ve saved the best for last. One characteristic that is absolutely fascinating but equally holds some serious implications. Not only are those amongst Gen-Y less materialistic, those in Gen-Y who believe that there is a “growing pressure to buy more and better material possessions” has dropped an incredible nineteen percentage points, from 66% in 2006 to 47% 2010.

In a world of increasing competition and unimaginable marketing dollars, a few percentage points means quite literally everything. And when you’re talking about a group as large as Gen-Y, a 19% drop in buying more and better material possessions is undeniably profound. However does this mean that Gen-Y will kill the product brand? Not immediately. But the Gen-Y dream is clearly less ambivalent and concerned about product brands.

Call it what you want. Lack of financial aptitude, growing debt and high-rate of jobless Gen-Y, one thing is clear and that is these trends have grown in their respective directions over the last four years. A couple of years of which were clearly before the recession.

The Gen-Y [American] Dream might not kill the product brand – yet – but it’s clear that Gen-Y is dreaming of a less materialistic future. A future that isn’t interested in product brands. And though it might seem like a cynical viewpoint towards products and their brands, the reality is times are changing and everyone has to adapt to this change. The ones ahead of the curve understand the shift to lifestyle brands and what values Gen-Y has in them.

And maybe you don’t even believe in the American Dream, or in any dreams for that matter. If the numbers suggest anything, they suggest about 95% of Gen-Yers do. The same Gen-Yers who believe in a family, children and successful careers to achieve it. The same Gen-Yers who are dreaming less of materialistic goods year-over-year. If you don’t believe in the Dream, you shouldn’t forget that Gen-Yers do.

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What the Hell Do We Really Know About Social Media?

Written on July 28, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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With the emergence of social media, or is it social networking – there technically is a difference – the world has gone upside down. Well, it seems that way at least. Twitter this. Facebook that. And blog, blog, blog. But to what end? Marketers and advertisers are trying anything. Some are bound to get it right. Products and brands just seem to be there. Ready to sell everything. And the users are just coming along for the ride.

Our Social Media Beliefs

In my mind, there are only two truths we’ve reached. First, social media exists. And second, a serious amount of people use it. With that being said, it has led everyone to believe – especially business, marketers and all those selling something – that a pot of gold awaits us at the end of the rainbow.

The opportunity definitely exists with in this space. But the numbers seem to blind everyone. Getting a small piece of the 500,000,000 Facebook user pie puts big dollar-signs into the eyes of marketers. We see Facebook, Twitter and blog pages everywhere. So what? There is an overarching belief that the slightest and smallest actions will garner some results and ROI.

But, no one has even come close to establishing any viable strategy that can be reproduced on a continuing basis. The success stories seem to have had luck on their side – nothing wrong with a little luck. While others are trying unique and different ideas. The social media world has become a giant trial and error testing ground. And what have we learned?

Forget to Add the “Social” in Social Media?

Traditional marketing and advertising has stayed, well, traditional. This has been reflected throughout the majority of the social media world. And like anything else, there are exceptions to this. Starbucks is increasingly becoming known for its continuing social efforts. While Doritos’ Viralocity and Mountain Dew’s DEWmocracy have turned into successful yearly events. Recent notables like the Old Spice Guy have sent waves throughout the social media universe. And MTV’s Twitter Jockey (TJ) was one of those “first’s” that was somehow going to happen.

Although these examples represent a few of the online success stories, the biggest pitfall is the fact that marketers and advertisers have approached social media in a traditional sense. Where’s the engagement? Where’s the community? Where’s the development of THAT relationship? With all the social networking going on, marketers, advertisers, products and brands have completely forgot about the “social.”

A Glimpse of What and Where Social Media Is

While all this is happening, the social media world itself is changing and expanding. 60% of Twitter users and 74% of Facebook users come from outside the US. Hot trends like location based social networking is taking the forefront. But its biggest player, Foursquare, has only hit a million users as of later April 2010. Something which took Twitter two years to complete. However two years after that, Twitter hit a 100 million users.

And it only gets crazier. The youngest of social media enthusiasts and users, 13-17 year-old teens from the Gen-Y and Millennial generation, are experiencing high levels of social media fatigue. These same teens are also only representing 11% of the US Facebook user population. Does that mean your social media strategy will have to expand beyond the Facebook, Twitter and blog pages? If you can’t answer that, your social media understandings might need more help than you think. The social media universe is enormous. Don’t get lost in it.

So, what do we really know about social media? Well, we do know a thing or two. There are more than a handful of brilliant minds that really understand what’s happening and where it’s heading. But even with all that brilliance, its absolutely fascinating to see the lack of people that are really listening and paying attention. Those are the ones that expect to find the golden egg with no effort. Well, social media requires some serious effort. Effort way-beyond traditional understandings of marketing and advertising. But until then, until we realize that, we will really only know two certainties. First, social media exists. And second, a serious amount of people use it.

As Life Moves Beyond Web 2.0…

Written on June 30, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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Over the last few nights, I started thinking about what the world would look like in 10, 20 and 50 years. And I must say, I came up with some pretty interesting ideas. You can only imagine what’s possible when you look at how the world has changed dramatically in just the last 5 years. Facebook has a population that is only 3^rd to that of China and India. BlackBerry went from corporate to cool. And to go along with this social media and smart phone craze, everyone has experienced the effects of the economic meltdown, continuing environmental concerns and a slew of other issues. The latter half of this decade has been anything short of intriguing.

Where the world is heading seems to be just as intriguing. When taking a glimpse into the future, you begin to hear things like “uncertainty”, “unpredictable”, “unforeseeable” and so on. We’re not mind-readers. And I’m certainly no psychic. I can’t help but think the writing is on the wall. And yet, we just continue to walk by it. There will be a few things that are seemingly obvious. Some a little hidden. And a couple that are the products of my interesting, curious and/or great doing. Get ready…

From Bricks and Mortar to Screens and Mainframes

The success of many businesses has been built on a “locations” framework. From the amount of people traffic to covering a territory, location and multiple locations equalled more business. But as cities become less spacious, buildings costing more to operate and everything still being based on the profit you make, it can’t be a doubt in anyone’s mind that business is slowly moving away from the “bricks and mortar” locations and towards screens and mainframes.

Although many business will still have to rely on physical locations, be prepared for those that have online substitutes to slowly move to those online norms. Anything that is based on information, numbers, audio and video streaming will move right into your living room. And I know that you know this is already happening and it might seem obvious to some, but it’s important to understand. As more can be done with less, businesses will naturally move in this direction.

Multi-Platform Integration

My question to you is will it be the same experience – it wouldn’t take me long to go somewhere else online and find an easier and better experience – and what are the implications of this to the marketplace and workforce? Jobs are increasingly capable of being done at home, as they move into the technological field. Examples like online education and banking are nothing new. Neither is the online growth of traditional media. They’ve been around for a while. With credit cards and PayPal, you could in theory never have to leave your house to get anything. And you can’t forget emerging trends like hulu and Netflix. And the powerhouse trend of online gaming, which is quiet for the billions that it’s worth. The world is moving away from products, as the core business, and towards services.

The resulting effect of this paradigm shift is that we’ll see a strong trend in new and emerging products that have the same functionality. Many of the things we use – the smart phones, pads, Xbox, TVs and laptops to the apps, social media, the web and Xbox Live – not only overlap in functionality but also in purpose and use. And though absolutely everything can’t yet be achieved through one product or service, there is a significant push to create platforms that integrate all our aspects of communication, entertainment and leisure along with encompassing many other characteristics that constitute “everyday life” for us. So get ready cool stuff like doing things across all screens and moving it from one physical screen to the next. Rather than “flipping channels”, we’ll be flipping across platforms to see “what’s on”.

Reality… Virtually…

The effect of the virtual world on our beliefs of reality is a uniquely controversial conversation. It’s another tale in the on-going story of the ways-of-old versus those of the new. One with generational discrepancies. One that has made everyone the “geeks” of ten years ago. And I’m not talking about the virtual realities in the Matrix or any other Hollywood portrayal, although these aspects do exist in another pretence. What I’m pointing out is the undeniable fact that reality is becoming both the online and offline world. Life is being lived in both the real and virtual world. This is where the conversation gets interesting.

There’s an increasingly growing debate between those that are growing up online and those that grew up offline. It’s the Baby Boomers and Gen-X versus Gen-Y. Although Gen-Z is too young to be part of the conversation, the debate between the others is imperative to understanding how they will grow up. The Social Media Revolution is one of the greatest paradigm shifts to occur within modern society. And Gen-Y is right in the middle of it. The debate itself is not in regards to the momentum and power behind social media, rather it is concerned with what consequences this revolution is having on people and how those people are being affected by it.

I can’t say that there won’t be implications associated with the greater integration of life online to that of the real world. However, problems shouldn’t be assumed on the basis of older issues. The “supposed” attention deficit problem that grew up with the TV generation has now moved to the social media generation. The way Gen-Y thinks and functions is different from previous generations considering they had nothing like this. This is the time of virtual friends. And I’ve heard the “that’s so sad” and “pathetic” comments on the topic. Sadly for those commentators, the world is changing whether they like it or not. Tweeting, blogging, sharing, updating, having multiple browser windows open, BBMing, taking a phone call and watching TV all at once shouldn’t underestimate the fact or suggest that I don’t read, walk my dog, go to the gym, work, volunteer and do the 100 other things I do. Reality has always changed to suit the times. Now, it’s just incorporating the virtual world. Gen-Y along with myself aren’t bored. And we don’t have a problem. We just like to do a lot.

Your Brand Has A Facebook, Twitter and Blog Page. So What?

Written on June 21, 2010 by Josip Petrusa

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You have a Facebook, Twitter and blog page along with banners, ads and click-able links. Like everyone else, you know that social media is a relatively new player in the marketing and advertising game. It’s there and you’re going to use it. Why wouldn’t you? The audience is literally hundreds of millions of people. And with all this in mind, you’ve got your message and your content. You have it ready at all necessary access points. It looks good and sounds great. My question to you is: so what?

So What?

It’s a question that I don’t think is asked all that much. And it’s a question that everyone should be asking, considering the avenues of reaching people have opened up drastically in the last year or two. And even though the scene is changing, many aspects of marketing and advertising seem to have stayed the same. Except now, you have the fan page, the twitter followers, promoted tweets and trends along with all aspects of the blogospshere. There’s some definite and powerful uses for all this but what does that mean for you and what does that mean for me.

In its simplest form, it’s about exposure and the “everyone else is doing it so we should do it too” phenomena. But what does it really mean for your product or brand to be part of the social media revolution. In my mind (a Millennial mind), the few success stories are obvious, since we always talk about them and try to duplicate those efforts. Even then, what savvy individuals such as ourselves consider “successful”, it wouldn’t be all that obvious to everyone else, especially to those that make up Gen-Y. In all seriousness, what does all this mean for the customer, consumer, product and brand?

What Does This Mean For You and Me?

When it comes down to products and brands becoming “social”, many brands and products are way off the mark. What they “want” to do and what they “actually” do represents two different things. By no means am I saying this is an easy agenda. But often I wonder why some even bother to dip into the social media realm (there’s fan pages for certain products that wouldn’t give you much else than the number of people that might actually “like” it along with some interesting comments). With that, I also wonder what is considered important and what is considered to be a success after all these efforts.

With this in mind, over the last few weeks there’s been some discussion, in what’s an ongoing discussion, on the value of Facebook Fans. The article, by Retailer Daily, summarized a series of articles all drawing a similar conclusion: fans are more valuable than non-fans. Their supposed “fan worth” is higher along with greater use and influence amongst other people. But isn’t this an almost obvious conclusion. A person who is a fan of football, in a pre-Facebook world, would be more valuable to football than someone who isn’t a fan. So yes as the article says, fans are more valuable than non-fans. But again, I ask what does this mean?

The Coca-Cola Example

As of today, the Coca-Cola fan page is at 5,834,763 “likes”. The article mentioned above puts the average fan worth at about $137.84 for a Coca-Cola fan. And after I wipe the dust off my math skills and multiply the two numbers together, I get a number of $804,263,731.92. When you see a number like that, how can you not ask “what does this mean?”. Based on the average worth of a Coca-Cola fan, the Coca-Cola fan-page should technically be worth just over eight hundred million dollars. Even though admittedly this is based on crude numbers, its fan worth is definitely not representative of the same realistic value.

Alright, so now if I “like” Coca-Cola will I get $137.84? No. Will I get any kind of offer? I can’t say. At one point in time, I started a minor “like” phase. I “liked” 20 random things and then I stopped “liking” anything. Though I will admit that the last thing I did “like” was in large part to the value of “liking” it, so you possible could get something from Coca-Cola. But I wouldn’t know. And even with 5,834,763 fans out of 400 million Facebook users, Coca-Cola’s fan base on Facebook would only represent 0.0146% of all Facebook users. This “success” and/or “failure” can be multifaceted and take on different forms of its own.

What Does All This Mean To Millennials?

If you have some mixed reactions, that’s perfectly fine. It’s a lot of information to take in at once. And if you gave all that for someone to interpret and present, it definitely wouldn’t be done easily. It’s no wonder why getting users to catch on isn’t an easy proposition either. With the emergence of promoted trends on Twitter, “Toy Story 3” being the first I’ve noticed, and the “likes” spreading like wildfire throughout the web, using social media in a traditional marketing and advertising manner won’t necessarily get you the attention that the Millennials are offering.

I say offering due to the fact that a significant majority of the Millennial demographic is already socially online and they spend a lot of time online. You can find those numbers anywhere. And as receptive as we are to different forms of advertising, you might have to do something a little “extra” to really get our attention and keep that attention. Simply making a few different pages on the web will get you some results, but it won’t get you the greater results that are more than possible.

With that, I can most certainly think of a few ideas that would get you real value from your social media effort. So it surprises me that much of the social media effort is not actually investing into itself in order to get the return. It’s a case of making things more difficult than they should be. So if you have a Facebook, Twitter and blog page, remember that it’s about the value you give us, beyond the product and brand. It’s fascinating to see that “fans” are mathematically worth something. What would be more fascinating to see is the worth Millennials give to a product or brand. Maybe that’s the real question we should be asking. Maybe that’s where the real answers lie.