All posts tagged Social Marketing

The Mayor Has Entered the Building… Give Us Presents

By On May 20, 2010 In Life Online, Social Marketing With 1 Comment Permanent Link to The Mayor Has Entered the Building… Give Us PresentsPermalink
I am seeing more and more people succumb to the lure and magic of Foursquare, and it tickles me. Even the staunch holdout, @thebrandbuilder, finally conceded to join and in short order earned the Oversharer Badge, which was hysterical. But I have some concerns about whether or not locations who are jumping into the Foursquare fray really know what they’re doing with the checkin-and-reward system. That social media personalities have a touch of vanity that serves as a driver for participating in online antics could go without saying, but it should not. It is this underlying note you’re playing with when you seek to engage people using an interactive mechanism, so it’s important to understand how to work with the psychology of people like us if you want to get the most out of your social marketing efforts on Foursquare and other sites like it. I read an article that says in some places, Mayors can jump to the head of the line if they’re present, and that is a perfect example of the type of elitist reward that should be offered to someone who visits a busy establishment so much that they earn the title of Mayor. I was at Starbucks yesterday (Wayne R. I am coming for you, by the way!) and was very disappointed to see that their highly touted rewards program is nothing more than a push for the latest stuff they’re pimping at the drive-thru: right now it’s $1 off a frappucino. That’s just not good. What if the Mayor comes there everyday for a blueberry muffin, or a half-caf/half-decaf sugar-free soy latte is their preference? You’ve now said, with your flimsy $1 coupon on something unwanted or needed, that the Mayor’s presence is not really appreciated. At $3-7 a pop per visit (and let’s face it, some of us go daily or not at all), a customer who is Mayor of a Starbucks location is A Big Deal. So roll out the red carpet and actually REWARD them, or find some other game to play. The $1 coupon would be far better if it were on something the Mayor wants to have – do you see the difference? My fabulous friend @bobbyrettew and I were just discussing how we long to open a little restaurant of our own on a beach somewhere and use Foursquare and Twitter to play games with patrons and also provide them services. For example, we would:
  • offer a free beer to someone who checks in
  • give a certificate to a random person who checks in and then sees the Twitter post telling them they won
  • let people use Twitter to call our taxi service for a ride home
  • post clues to hidden prizes on Facebook, like a scavenger hunt
  • let people tweet their restaurant order from the beach or poolside and have it delivered
  • let frequent customers pay their tab with no CC on hand because we have their info saved in our system
  • give the Mayor a pitcher of Sangrita (Sangria-infused margarita) and pineapple salsa on the house when He or She arrives
  • have our dry cleaning service pick up the partied-in clothing if needed, from a tweet request
  • let people request songs from the band via Twitter
  • have a live video feed of the band, the beach and the party piped online using our Intefy product
  • have kiosks and displays of real-time festivities up throughout our outdoor and indoor areas so that people can get to know new people who are also there and see what recent guests have said
These are just the silly ideas of two dreamers who want to use these tools not just to talk, but for services and utility and entertainment – all at the same time. But I digress… the point of this post is Psychology of Foursquare Mayors and Badge Earners and Those Who Aspire To Be Them. Think about this, when you are creating ideas for marketing games using Foursquare, Gowalla, Twitter or Facebook:
  • What would a spoiled, pampered Princess expect? (Not WANT… they have expectations)
  • What would the world’s hottest Rockstar expect? What would he or she demand?
  • If this were the President of a country, what would you offer them for coming to your place or trying your product or service?
  • If this were the CEO of a major corporation, would you offer He or She what you are claiming is a cool gift or reward to your Mayors?
You may find these examples extreme, but this is an important question: What can you do, that is an actual sacrifice, to reward your most loyal customer? Send them a gift? Give them a free product or service? Let them pick their own reward? Really GIVE something to these folks… what you will earn in loyalty, word of mouth and influence on others that these people will have, will pay you back many-fold. Foursquare is adding analytics so you can test and track and experiment until you hit the right mix of offers and options. Are you playing with these new social sites or thinking about it? We’re really excited to explore the possibilities and have started pitching ideas in proposals to certain types of clients. This stuff can make retail, restaurants and even service businesses fresh and fun again!

Excited by Domino's Pizza… huh, what??!

By On January 4, 2010 In Advertising, Brand Experience, Social Marketing With No Comments Permanent Link to Excited by Domino's Pizza… huh, what??!Permalink
I can’t believe I’m writing about Domino’s #newpizza, because I haven’t even thought about Domino’s Pizza in years, but last night I caught a commercial on television that piqued my interest. In the commercial, Domino’s executives and employees talk about how they have listened to complaints from customers for years, and they took them to heart and have made changes. Not just lip-service changes, but actual changes to the recipe of their core offering, their pizza. On one hand, that’s great! What a tribute to customer service and interest in staying in business for the long-haul. On the other hand, it’s a little risky – what if existing customers don’t like the changes? What if they result in a price increase? What if people don’t believe it and still don’t give Domino’s a fresh try? Here’s the documentary that tells the marketing tale of this new chapter for Domino’s. So many lessons to be gleaned from just this video approach… you can visit the mini-site and see their social media tools and approach also, at http://www.pizzaturnaround.com. Social Media B2B has a post on this campaign, and asked a great question:
Does your company care enough about its customers to rebuild a bad product from scratch?
For small businesses, I know how tough this is – these projects, ventures and products are our BABIES, often the result of the hard work of one or only a few people. For large companies, such as Domino’s, the attachment might not be as great (maybe the original creators of a product are no longer even there) but the processes and support systems and inventory and suppliers that all go into making something as simple as a pizza can be tremendous. Changing things at this level is not something to be done lightly, and typically involves a significant cash investment. I applaud Domino’s for spending the time to research, listen, and take steps to doing something they’ve done for years, a different way. I have to admit, I want to try their new pizza. I hope it’s as good as the promo for it sounds like it could be. What do you think of this new campaign, and if not a Domino’s customer, would this entice you to try it?

First Rant of 2010: Companies Who Don't Get the Value of Embedded Video

By On January 1, 2010 In Advertising, Social Marketing With No Comments Permanent Link to First Rant of 2010: Companies Who Don't Get the Value of Embedded VideoPermalink
Dick Clark Productions, this post is dedicated to you… but you are far from the only guilty culprit in this matter. Please listen to this marketing message, courtesy of Fresh ID:

Let people embed your damn videos.

Seriously, it’s simple math. What’s one of the hardest things to do, from a marketing perspective, since everyone has some sort of budget limitation? (Tell us, Kristi, what???) KEEP your brand in front of people. Well, guess what? The tweens, baby boomers, companies, consultants, grandma’s and other folks who…
  • Like your video clip
  • Think to embed it
  • Do embed it
  • Share it with others (happily!)
… are not trying to rip off your content. They are SHARING it. For FREE. Helllooooo????? The lights in your eyes look like they’re on, but apparently there’s no one at home. Why the rant? I wrote a personal post this morning, saying buh-bye to 2009, and was inspired by Jennifer Lopez’s “Louboutins” for the farewell song, so I embedded a clip from last night’s Rockin’ New Year’s Eve, where she performed it along with a few others. It was very cool. I check my blog just now, several hours later, and am informed that Dick Clark Productions has deemed this a copyright violation so they won’t allow the clip to be embedded. Blah. So instead of promoting Dick Clark and how fun his event was last night, I’ll be promoting The Ellen Show – she also performed it there. It doesn’t quite match the festivity of last night, so I’m a little disappointed about that, but whatever. And DCP, I won’t be linking to your clip. Tit for tat, my friend. I hope you will wake up sometime in this millenium – you and your worried, paranoid friends, and start to understand what it means for your message to be spread far and wide, crossing global boundaries, across the internet. You can tell who’s embedded the clip, I believe, with analytics, so geeeez… what is the big hairy deal? It was so nice to see Dick Clark, the man himself, at the festivities with his wife and giving his closing remarks. He has been part of my life since I was born. Grow along with me and millions of others, Dick! Leave a legacy of adapting to change and continuing to be a great, passionate promoter of talent and performers. At least think about it.

People Still Don't Understand Social Friendships

By On December 19, 2009 In Social Marketing With No Comments Permanent Link to People Still Don't Understand Social FriendshipsPermalink
A recent survey of MomConnection, a research panel of 583 moms organized by The Parenting Group, concludes that product recommendations come from friends, not networks:
While 60% of moms have used social media in the last 24 hours, they are four times more likely to purchase through direct referrals, than proposals through social networks.”When it comes to influencing brand perception and purchase decisions, the data shows that social media still has a long way to go,” said Stephanie Molnar, Work Place Media.
I don’t know what the questions were, exactly, and I see that sites like Facebook, Classmates, MySpace and YouTube tend to top the mom’s list of preferred social networks, with Twitter coming in 6th on the list, so this doesn’t quite match the experience I (a non-Mom) and many of my online friends have, but if you bear with me I have a point, I promise. Social networks look completely different to different types of users. If you’re primarily there to market or promote your company, you don’t really get the same value that a person who is there to meet people and make friends is experiencing. Discussion boards and forums have existed since before the visual, navigable internet, and online friendships are definitely formed that are as real and valid as the relationships you form with people in person. To form the conclusion that everyone is looking at their social hangout of choice the same way you do, and asking questions from your experience and not theirs, is not going to offer the most accurate data… I think it’s possible this survey could yield different data if it were given to a different set of Mom’s that use platforms such as Twitter and discussion boards where “friends” are primarily unknown rather than known when you meet them (such as Facebook and Classmates, the top two platforms in use by the MomConnection group.) Though I follow a lot of people and a lot follow me, my genuine “friendships” on Twitter are not as great as the number of people I follow. I most definitely would trust and listen to recommendations and referrals made by my smaller group of online friends with equal weight I give to my in-person friends or family members. There are people I have never met (yet) that are definitely as trusted as those in my inner circle of friends. The type of user is also going to be a factor – tech users and early adopters tend to listen to each other more readily than non-tech-oriented people and those who aren’t as comfortable navigating the social waters online. A recent, horribly sad story getting press right now illustrates my point about the lack of understanding of social friendships. A mother reached out to her friends and told them about her son, who had gotten into the family pool and was found drowning. She tweeted to please pray for her son, and within a half hour he was declared dead. People bashed her on twitter, the media has reported the story like it’s some outrageous act, but people need to step back and think before bashing her… my best friend from Texas is on Twitter, as are my clients, co-workers and many people I am close to, converse with daily and consider chums – that we have not met face-to-face is honestly a mute point. These are my friends, my daily companions and people I care about. And they care about me. If I say something to them about something serious going on in my life, why would anyone criticize my actions? That people who DON’T know this heartbroken Mother would stick their nose in and be hateful shows they don’t comprehend what’s really going on in her life or with her group of Twitter friends. Back to the survey, it offers both interesting, and possibly contradictory results. For example, they learned that 94% of moms give advice to other moms, and 69% recommend brands by name, but they’re four times more likely to ask their friends offline for advice… so is everyone talking with no one really listening? That seems unlikely, especially on a discussion board or place like Twitter where you are having back and forth conversations. Interestingly, some consider their online friends recommendations to have the same weight as offline friends, but don’t trust random comments from those they don’t know. In a neat story about Trident doing an ad containing tweet testimonials, Jennifer Grove said that she might consider buying some Trident Layers gum if her Twitter friends recommended it, but seeing tweets from people she didn’t know in the ad, was not enough to sway her. Without the full survey it’s hard to know the context of the data, but if you’re looking to collect information for your own marketing purposes you might want to keep some of these things in mind, and independently study the same people interacting that answer your survey (if possible) for the most complete picture. Users, across the board, in virtually every situation, do not align what they say with what they do… so when you’re looking at studies like this and thinking about your social media marketing budget, keep that in mind.