Social networking and social media make my life fantastic. Hours of my day spent on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and various blogs are actually considered “work” for me. Concepts like this drive people like my dad (killer 'stache, pops) crazy because “it just doesn’t make sense.”
But it rocks my face off. And pays me dollars. What a great, great combo!
Consequently, many organizations have yet to grasp the concept of exactly what New Media can do for them. However, a few companies have managed to approach and enter the doors that new, social, and online media can open for them, and I’d like to point one out as having done this very successfully.
The company to which I’m referring is my life-long (metaphoric) friend, Marvel. Yes, Marvel as in Marvel Comics. Here’s why (and don't forget to click a link or two)…
The Marvel Twitterverse…
Marvel isn’t just on Twitter…it basically dominates Twitter. 80+ affiliates of Marvel (comic writers, artists, art directors, editors, online creators, audio and video production staff, interns (EDITOR'S NOTE: @ldnallen721, as formerly linked to on the "interns" link, is NOT an intern, she is a web developer...my sincerest apologies...I only know past interns like@nogs), Skrulls, and more...even Senior VPs!) range from light/moderate usage to downright living on Twitter (much like myself) in terms of the number of tweets they send out. Courtesy of @Agent_M (arguably the most active-online facet of Marvel.com’s editorial staff), the Twitterverse has been blessed with a bevy of benevolent Twitterers who are willing to share their lives online (and, consequently, draw me in even closer to the organization that is Marvel). Beyond that, the Marvel account itself (@Marvel on Twitter) is constantly present and available to share new developments, teasers, links, and, most importantly, the account actually ENGAGES Marvel fans by answering questions and sharing in conversations with its 2,500+ Twitter supporters (yes...that's Marvel telling me that it loves me).
On the flipside, I don’t know if the Distinguished Competition (DC Comics) even has a single Twitter account. If so, it hasn’t caused much of a buzz at this point as far as I can tell. Which is quite typical of them, but we’ll get to that later.
Bottom line, @Agent_M got on Twitter long before many people in general, and Marvel has reaped the benefits of being willing to let him encourage anyone and everyone to jump on and share a more personal side of the organization. They’re also wise enough to use Twitter to find stellar interns and other talented individuals in order to stay atop the comic book industry.
Marvel and Facebook/MySpace…
Another thing Marvel does very well is cover its bases with the older social networking sites like our dear friends Facebook and MySpace (both of which are networks you’ll quickly abandon once you spend a few weeks on Twitter). Not only do they use these sites effectively, but they also work hard to incorporate various methods of keeping fans engaged. For example, a Marvel employee might ask for questions for the weekly “MyCup o’ Joe" Q&A with Marvel Editor-In-Chief Joe Quesada via Twitter. Those questions, asked for on Twitter, can then end up being asked in the Q&A which is featured on the website. This engagement takes you beyond having an interview shoved in your face and creates a conversation between the fan and the Marvel organization. As a comic book fan, having your question asked to Marvel’s Editor-in-Chief is just sweet (I mean…the dude goes on the Colbert Report all the time). The next step they take is putting these interviews up on MySpace, adding links on Facebook, and, most importantly, keeping all of these networks fresh and updated. Marvel works hard to accomplish this, which is certainly no easy task for a company that creates comics, movies and TV shows, video games, toys, exclusive interviews, exclusive art, and dozens of other things I could link to if I had time.
Bottom line: Marvel maintains a strong presence on various internet fronts. And that’s not even on the Marvel.com site itself…
The Marvel.com site…
Speaking of the Marvel.com site, just check it out. Marvel.com presents, provides, and shares as much content as any other company’s website you can find on the internet. From news releases to writer and celebrity interviews to wallpapers to games (and an entire site devoted strictly to kids), Marvel.com is vast, powerful, and full of reasons to keep coming back. Most importantly, the comments and replies are unrestricted. If you don’t like a certain comic, let that comic's editor know in the comment section of his blog. If you loved the Iron Man movie, share your thoughts on an Iron Man news story comment section. It’s all open (although I believe it might be edited to keep out profanity/vulgarity/etc.), and that’s what makes Marvel’s leap into the social media world even more impressive. Right now, in December, 2008, the number of companies willing to be that transparent is very small in the relative sense of how many companies in the world have an online presence.
The rest of Marvel’s depth…
Beyond these social and online media elements of the site, Marvel does plenty of other stuff to engage people. From the entertaining Mighty Marvel Podcasts (hosted by Twitterer @Suterman himself) to an EXTENSIVE Online Digital Comics archive (where you can read thousands of comics straight from your computer) to other cool, fan-interactive tools like @Agent_M’s CoverItLive liveblogging at some of the recent ComicCons (comic conventions…which are awesome…just ask Johnny Drama), Marvel is unafraid to dabble in all sorts of new technologies. This leads me to believe that they will continually be on the cusp of technology in relation to the comics industry and beyond. Which is awesome as a Marvel Comics fan.
Last (and probably least)…
This is the website for DC (Marvel’s largest rival): http://www.dccomics.com/
No, I’m not kidding. That’s it. For the company with the second largest market share of the comic book industry, that is what they consider an online presence (apparently they do a podcast, but I couldn't find them on Facebook or MySpace or Twitter). My instincts tell me that they MUST have a site revamp coming sometime in the near future but…if not…wow…
Even non-comic fans can agree - it's "Spectacular"...
Honestly, I challenge you to find companies with such an engaged, engaging, and innovative online presence as Marvel. I’m sure you’ll come across a few that can compare, but I honestly doubt you’ll find many that surpass Marvel by much. You may not be a comic book fan, but in an age when forming tribes, communities, and conversations is a key to business success, Marvel has managed to do so with a group of individuals who are fiercely loyal, with or without superpowers. On that, I commend them. And thank them.
So, if you have any examples of good social media efforts, I'd love to see them in the comments section. Disagree with my post? Let me know. Want to talk about comics? Drop me a line. I could talk about comics all day, so I'd be happy to discuss them with you. Share your thoughts and I'll be happy to respond, no matter what the topic may be.
And now, I’m off to go spend too much of my money on the non-digital aspect of Marvel - comic books.
“I’ve been browsin’, inspectin’…X-Men comics, you know I collect ‘em…”
UPDATE (12-5-2008): It has come to my attention that Marvel's Editor-in-Chief, Joe Quesada, is now on Twitter (@JoeQuesada). That is so awesome. Not that it was in question, but I will forever be making mine Marvel...
UPDATE 2 (12-16-08): As of today, DC has joined Twitter with the name @DC_Nation. A little late to the party, but it's still a better late than never kind of thing and I can commend them for starting now. They just have a LOT of ground to make up. Make mine Marvel, either way!
Thursday, December 4, 2008
Share this, por favor
18 comments:
1) The fact that you linked to the combos website, and that they have a tiny little combo photo in the URL bar makes me very happy.
2) I feel I was cheated as a girl because, as much as my mother tried and I could have rebelled against the mold, I grew up playing with Barbies and wanted nothing to do with comics (except for the Barbie comics. Seriously, they existed.) Which means I've never even been able to connect with these franchises and characters, and even the movies, as deeply as a lot of people.
3) And to actually acknowledge where you are going with this whole significane of social media thing: Yes. The funny thing to me is how long this stuff has been around and how quickly it's transitioned from being something you could use to invite people to a party or get to know other people on to-- a viable and NECESSARY component of marketing, not only for b2c marketers but for b2b as well. We no longer live in a world where companies can demand and GET full attention by throwing money at ad space and coming up with something compelling ENOUGH to keep people from changing the channel. It's 1:1, and it has to be integrated into the big picture. While it's been incubating this way for quite some time, it's almost like a ticking time bomb has gone off in the last couple week. Maybe it's just me, but talk of social media, even in the most traditional of places, has been popping up CONSTANTLY. And as far as building the case to the more reluctant b2b's: because they not willing to throw money at ads and have to focus 100% of their marketing $$ on lead gen, they want to know what social media can do to help them build the pipeline. I found this article particularly interesting for building the case and introducing it to reluctant-to-change, skeptical boomers etc: http://www.marketingsherpa.com/article.php?ident=30946 (aka showed my boss, who is now thinking-- you know what, we really need to be thinking about this stuff or we're going to get left behind.) It gives some good concrete examples a tech startup used to grow their traffic and lead gen pipeline-- and if a tech startup can do this, think of the possibilities for everyone! yes.
< / end of novel >
Thank you Brother Mike! It's nice to know our work gets noticed and is appreciated!
Best-
Jeff Suter
Senior Art Director, Marvel Comics
Host of the Mighty Marvel Podcast
Good article Mike.
So this is what you actually do all day?
Thanks!
-Rich Ginter
Jr. Art director, Marvel Comics
I agree 100%. Marvel is easy to communicate with and if they can be accused of anything bad, it's releasing too much info at time. I run a comics/superhero website and I've tried numerous times to get in touch with DC or get press from them - with no response. Marvel was there from day one and they actually follow (and reply) to you on Twitter.
Don't forget Marvel's YouTube channe!
http://www.youtube.com/user/MARVEL
Valerie -
1) Thank you. Combos need love too.
2) You were cheated as a girl. Marvel Superhero toys, the Marvel Superhero board game, the X-Men Alert board game, and the X-Men and Spider-Man animated cartoon shows shaped my childhood. And you are such a not "Barbie" person by nature...
3) Absolutely true. That's why I love that I'll be able to make it my career. And you too. Then, when I move back down to Texas (whenever that may be), you can find me a job! Woohoo!
Jeff - The work you guys do is most definitely appreciated. I started off originally shocked that any of you Marvel folks would even respond to me, let alone that any would follow me back. That was basically the reason I wrote this in the first place. So thank you!
Haha yeah Rich, I actually do real things. Hopefully it doesn't seem quite as weird (and/or creepy) now. Thanks for making it worthwhile to follow you Marvel folks on Twitter.
allaboutduncan - That's awesome! I'm glad it's not just me getting that experience from Marvel. I don't even dislike DC, I just think it's sad that they haven't gotten on it yet. They need an Agent M very, very soon...
Mike, you have nailed it! I actually tweeted this already, but I grew up a DC fan, and Batman and Superman may always be my faves. But DC has flat out stunk and dropped the ball in this arena. Marvel is way ahead of the curve with all that they're doing and it rocks! I am becoming more and more a Marvel fan in the process, which fromo a purely "marketing" kind of stand point is the whole idea. Thanks for the post!
Hey, great blog post! I do a lot of social media stuff at Marvel and linked the piece on our Facebook page:
http://www.facebook.com//Marvel/6883542487#/pages/Marvel/6883542487?ref=ts
Thanks for the kind words!
(@damiella Twitter)
Brian - I'm glad Marvel is having that effect on you. Once more companies realize that all it takes is a connection, not an ad, to gain a follower, the world will be a different place. It's awesome that Marvel can have that kind of effect on you, even as a DC fan.
It's fun to write about things you love, and this topic combined two of them, so it was great for me. Thanks for reading!
@damiella Thank you very much for posting it on Facebook. I love following you Marvel folks and I (clearly) appreciate your great work and really appreciate how open your crew is. Makes it so much more fun to be a fan. Keep up the good work and I'll try to keep spreading the good Marvel word!
Great post encapsulating all that Marvel is doing so right. Other publishers in all genres really need to take note--Marvel is paving the way for the future. Now I only wish we hadn't bought my American cousin stock in Marvel back in the 90s before they went bankrupt and the stock went poof. Marvel now is a force to be reckoned with...just hope they don't turn to the dark side. Muah ah ah, etc.
Marvel is doing a good job of communicating with fans. I subscribe to the RSS of their news feed from their website.
But you're slighting DC if you failed to note that DC has a big MySpace presence. Lots of fans there support the pages of DC Comics, DC Nation, several artists and writers, and editor Dan DiDio. Would I like to see DC publish an RSS feed? Sure. But they don't need to be ubiquitous to be seen.
-Kansas Bard
That is definitely my fault for not catching DC's MySpace page. I could have sworn I'd checked for it but I obviously must not have (unless it was very recently formed, which I don't believe to be the case).
On the flip side of that though, I looked through the DC Comics website and didn't find one link to their MySpace page on the site. What that means is that I would have to go out of my way to find their MySpace page rather than simply being directed there from a site that, in my opinion, should be their hub of information and content.
If I search DC Comics, I would expect to first check out the company's website before looking into MySpace and other facets of an online media presence (and I recognize that may not be the case for all people, but it is certainly the case for me). I would agree that DC does not need to be ubiquitous to be seen, but I also think that they should be providing various avenues for people to gather their DC information and content (a train isn't the only mode of transportation available in 2009, and MySpace shouldn't be the only place they have an established online presence).
The reason Marvel does this with such success is that, while Marvel may be everywhere, the content is almost always fresh in every spot. It would be one thing for Marvel to have 25 different social networking accounts that never got updated, but they keep the content fresh across all the fronts they do utilize. This means that Marvel's ubiquity can reach and be available to people in all areas rather than making people work to find the information.
This is what differentiates the success of Marvel's online tactics and DC's failure to engage fans online beyond MySpace. I'm also aware that, at this point, DC has created a Twitter account and Facebook page (though these are both fairly recent additions), but the fact of the matter is that Marvel has made massive footprint in online media and every step DC takes in Marvel's footsteps is really just keeping them one step behind Marvel. If that makes sense. I hope it does.
While I'm a firm advocate of "Better late than never" in regard to online activity, I think this lack of an online strategy will continue to hurt DC until they improve their efforts online.
While ubiquity isn't necessary, I would say someone with a new found interested in comics has a higher likelihood of coming across Marvel before coming across DC on the internet. If that's one more loyal Marvel fan, it's possibly (and probably) one less DC fan. When you multiply that by the number of potential fans that exist across the internet, Marvel's sitting pretty and DC is hurting.
That's a very long comment (almost a near blog post in itself), but I appreciate your thoughts and the thinking your comment made me do on the subject.
I don't disagree with you in the least about the amazing differences between Marvel's and DC's online presences. Marvel wins, hands down. No contest.
But I still like DC's primary product better. I still think that DC puts out better comic books.
It's interesting to look at the differences though. Marvel does online better. Marvel makes better live-action movies, while DC makes better tv cartoons. All these are just my opinions of course, but I do think that the two companies compliment each other in interesting ways.
This frontal assault by Marvel is indicative of their general plan for making the most of Awesome. I feel like they've really stepped up creatively, taking control of their cinematic properties as well as online properties. It's a good sign for a company with so much creative content that is so dear to so many that they're listening to fans and delivering quality products and conversation.
Perhaps this is ushering in a new era of mainsteam comic book awareness.
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