Klout, Perks and Packaging.

During the holiday season, why not write about great packaging? (a theme I have written about before) I am a big fan of Klout. Whether your specific number is truly accurate - it represents a general level of influence. And that's important for brands, marketers, etc. And it reminds me of Ken Blanchard's great quote, which in today's world means everyone is capable of influencing and therefore leading:

"The key to successful leadership today is influence, not authority."

But back to packaging. I received a free Windows Phone from Klout's Perks program. It arrived in this colorful, branded box. The box itself is fun, the quotes are funny and on-brand (you got perk'd!)... and the experience of opening it and receiving a great perk is both exciting and fun. That's a win for Klout and, in this case, Microsoft.

It's also worth reading the insert from Microsoft. "Take it for a spin and tell the world what you think." That sums up the Perks experience well. Get product in front of relevant people. Provide a unique, fun experience. And encourage those 'influencers' to discuss and share.

Redbox SMS Program: Users Get Discounts; Redbox Gets Marketing Channel.

I write a lot about Redbox, in part because I am frequent users and in part because they are terrific marketers. Here's yet another example of Redbox leveraging SMS to drive promotions (and to collect user data ... and create ongoing marketing touch-points). The promotion: send Redbox an SMS and get discounted delivered via mobile. That's not entirely unique.

But, it's smart. As noted above, its a clever way to collect data about their users and create ongoing marketing touch-points... like the example below. Once you SMS Redbox, they follow up with an SMS that allows you download the mobile app (just reply APPS).

And that's the big takeaway here: be creative about driving engagement. Redbox uses SMS to deliver discounts and drive app downloads. The discount is the incentive for consumers and its a marketing cost for Redbox to distribute their app and drive engagement (a tactic they have used in email as well).

Both parties win. And Redbox has created a simple, low-cost marketing program that drives long-term benefits.

iTunes Best of 2011 is Curated by Apple. Time for Retails to Curate with Social Data.

It's that time of year when iTunes - and countless other retailers / merchandisers - publish their "Best of 2011" lists. It's fun to review the lists, particularly when a great merchant / voice crafts them. But the example below of reading through iTunes "Best Music of 2011" list isn't nearly as powerful as it could be. What's missing? A list curated by the merchants I most care about: my friends. Show me what my network bought, listened to and loved. That's most interesting and would ultimately be the highest converting.

Of course that requires Apple to either integrate Facebook Connect (or even less likely, have Ping succeed).

But it's a relevant lesson to those retailers who do in fact integrate Facebook Connect and collect social data. There is great value and intelligence within.... think of it as more than social sharing: it's a merchandising and conversion lever.

Hulu's New Social Sharing Gives Visual Control

Hulu has introduced a new sharing mechanism that does two things: 1. It allows users to comment specifically on 'moments'. That then publishes the specific scene to your Facebook wall and stores your comment at the specific moment within the timeline. At scale that creates a very interesting concept: a dialogue that moves along the video's entire timeline. At scale that also poses a problem: will I want to read all of that content? Not sure... but interesting.

2. The preview UI is terrific. This is what first caught my eye: the pop-up box showcases the specific screenshot, comment and formatting that will appear on Facebook. That's really good-looking, unique and powerful.

Why is it potentially powerful: first, because I think users like to feel control over what is published and this is a visually, fully controlled experience. Second, it is different... and that means that users will drawn to it (as compared to a standard like button).

I really like this experience and don't see why it can't be applied to other visual mediums like e-commerce.

Facebook Testing "Listen" Buttons in the Ticker

Below is a screenshot of Facebook testing new listen buttons in the news ticker alongside music apps like Spotify. Visually, its a bold move because they are all over the feed... and it turns a good percentage of Facebook into a music network (people, songs, apps, trends, etc).

It's also a bold move because it's potentially a very slippery slope... are "read" icons coming? "Shop"? etc? Visually that could create significant clutter / confusion - but it also creates hubs of verticalized activity. Fascinating to watch.

Hat tip to Andrew Machado for the screenshot. Founder of OpenHomePro and Dogpatch Labs resident

without the new listen buttons

Bonobos Adds a Clever Twist to Viral Contest, Sharing.

Bonobos is currently running a viral giveaway on Facebook: Win a Wardrobe. Giveaways on Facebook aren't unique - they are great ways to drive Facebook fans, sharing and awareness. But what is unique is the viral hook that Bonobos is using:

"The more you share, the more chances you have to win."

That too isn't unique - usually contests give extra weight for the number of shares, referrals, etc. Bonobos is doing it differently though - and its very clever:

If one of your friends wins, you win the same prize. That's different and very cool. If the prize is enticing enough, its a more interesting way to incent referrals and sharing.

Fitness 2.0 as Demonstrated by P90X's New iPhone App.

By now you have surely heard of P90x - the ultra-popular home workout program that become famous for the never-ending infomercials. After the success of P90x, parent company Beachbody recently released P90x 2... and in conjunction with the launch, they released an iPhone application. It's interesting for a few reasons: 1. Fitness 2.0. It's at the intersection of an evolving, important and fast-moving space: fitness 2.0 (for lack of a better description). What's that mean? Applying the new web to fitness: social, gamification, mobile, etc. Note: if you're working on something in this space, I'd love to hear from you. Contact me

2. Gamification & Social Hooks: notice that this app does more than just award badges. It is part of Apple's Game Center.

3. Paid & Premium. You would think that they would package this application for free as a way to drive awareness / purchases of the workout system. Nope. I guess they don't need awareness. SO they are selling it for $4.99 and include in-app purchases that are relatively expensive (videos & clips).

4. High Ratings. Achieving high ratings in iTunes is an impossible task. 4.5 stars out of 83 reviews... for a paid app? That's impressive.

Facebook Messages: Uncomfortably Somewhere Between Chat, Messages & Email.

Two weeks ago I wrote that it's time for Facebook to rethink email. Facebook messages is currently a hybrid between chat and lightweight email. Considering that each of us have Facebook email addresses (ie ryanspoon@facebook.com), its could be so much more... think Google's integration of Gmail + Google Talk. Anyhow, here's another example of the confused experience between chat and email. The updates from Facebook appear less like email and more like a chat log - but they are chronologically disjointed. The top messsage is the most recent. That is followed by a randomly selected older post and that by a more recent post. Bizarre.

Even Groupon, the King of Conversions, Battles Clutter

I often give the advice of studying web leaders and learning from what they are great at. For instance, Amazon is unrivaled in the ease of navigation, findability and user experience. For user acquisition, onboarding and funnel optimization - Groupon and Living Social are as good as it gets (see more here). But as Groupon tries to grow its product offering and business - it is encountering the common problem of *too much*. How do you keep the experience simple, clean and therefore optimzied with too many offerings and too much noise? It is effectively the inverse of my "In the River" concept.

Here's the example of a recent Groupon. Notice all that's going on: - the Groupon itself (the primary focus) - an expanded promotional unit for "Groupon's Getting Personal!" - Holiday Groupon Gifts - Groupon Now! - the referral program

So in addition to the primary Groupon, the user is exposed to four programs: Personal Groupon, Groupon Gifts, Groupon Now!, and the Referral Program (which has been around from the start). That's a lot!