The New Technology Elite: How Great Companies Optimize Both Technology Consumption and Production

Chapter 16

Social: Amid Chatty Humans and Things

Guy Kawasaki is a well-known brand in tech circles. He was part of the early Apple gang involved in marketing the Macintosh in 1984. He has since written 10 books and been a speaker at a number of technology events. He used social media extensively in launching his last book¹ and is a firm believer that it can be leveraged for any product launch, not just a book launch.

Kawasaki used a Facebook Fan Page, a book-specific website, Twitter tags, optimized search words, and email campaigns; shared review copies with influential and not-so-influential bloggers; and held photo contests and quizzes. The total budget for all these activities, he says, was under $20,000.²

At the other extreme, a 30-second ad on the U.S. football Super Bowl event costs plenty. It was estimated at $3 million for the 2011 game. The cost reflects the fact that in most years it is the most watched TV show across the world. The 2011 game drew an audience of over 110 million, even in countries where football means something quite different and the game starts at ungodly hours. The production of the commercials costs even more. You are talking real money here compared to Kawasaki's budget above. Yet in 2011, the underlying theme for most of the Bowl ads was integration with social media.

The biggest change from previous years: The commercials did not point to advertisers’ static websites, but instead to their Facebook pages, Twitter accounts, or iPad apps.

Big budget ...