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A few weeks ago, Social Commerce Today published an article about Taco Bell’s struggles to effectively utilize Facebook with their social media tactics to drive traffic to their stores. Their offer for free tacos for 6 million fans only reaped a 3% response rate. So much for the old adage that anything with “FREE” in the offer motivates buyers.
On the other hand, P&G sold 1000 diapers in less than 60 minutes on Facebook. Free vs fee, and fee wins? What gives?
The author hit it on the head when they noted two major obstacles:
1) The Taco Bell offer lacked the offer of convenience. One had to actually get in their car and drive to Taco Bell to get it. Apparently in our increasingly couch potato society this constitutes hardship, and whether you agree with it or not, that’s the reality.
2) There was nothing exclusive about the offer. Taco Bell’s free taco was the same product one could get for 99¢. Not a big price differential especially since one had to print off the coupon to get the free taco. P&G’s diaper offer, on the other hand, was introducing a new product that could not be purchased anywhere else.
Social media is just as much about being exclusive (in terms of info and offers) as it is about being inclusive (dialogue with the public).
The takeaway? To use social media such as Facebook to motivate consumer behavior, make it easy, make it quick and make it exclusive.
I have noticed an uptick in some of the marketing forums I review, where debates about defining social media are taking main-stage. What’s interesting is how long we seem to have been talking about this “new trend”, although I would propose that this does not really qualify as a “trend” any longer; it’s part of our daily experience.
Consider it was only a few decades (and several questionable fashion trends) ago that there was no such thing as TV advertising. Today, TV advertising is not discussed as separate from marketing, it is discussed and evaluated, (along with all other promotional options), as one part in the potential marketing mix for a client. It seems time to make social media more like that.
Rather than create entire plans around only social media, or talk about it as an add-on, it would seem more beneficial to clients if we simply treat social media as one more marketing tool, evaluated for how it can help the client along with every other marketing tactic. Social media, broadcast tv and cable advertising, radio, outdoor, direct mail, e-blasts, websites, blogs, tweets, facebook, interactive, display – the list grows, the opportunities increase. The challenge is selecting what works best for clients, not just relying on the latest trend, which in the end, may very well be the right tool.
For most of recent memory, panic about advertisers leaving the stalwart network and cable advertising in droves to move their budgets into social media have been the ad industry’s words of warning. However, a recent article in the New York Times tells a different story of how traditional media can successfully partner with, rather than compete with, social media.
Which is how it should be, right?
Marketers ‘get’ that one tool does not make a marketing strategy, but rather, works with all the tools to get the most bang for the client’s buck. It’s good to see that even on the mega-million ad budget front, everyone is learning to play nice together!
Check out the article “TV Networks Expect A Jump In Spending On Commercials“.
Here is an interesting social media article from the February 2010 issue of the Springfield Business Journal with insight from local businesses on the subject, click on thumbnail to read.
Kathy Wheeler, director of media services at Omni Communications Group, agreed with this approach. Omni uses social media – Facebook, Twitter, blogs and YouTube – as a way to build relationships, generate interest and educate readers, not necessarily to directly promote its company.
Springfield Business Journal, from Local companies find social media to be winning move
Here is an interesting article from today’s Springfield Business News of the State Journal-Register on the value of LinkedIn for business and SEO purposes with several quotes from me.
It’s a really good SEO (search engine optimization) tool for link building to our Web site, she said.
LinkedIn article from Springfield Business News October 7, 2009
It was recently announced that Microsoft and Yahoo! have finally merged to take on goliath Google in the online search and advertising arena. And so begins the age of the search engine wars. The Jedi team of Luke Yahoo! Skywalker, Han Microsoft Solo and Princess Leia Bing Organa are now battling the dominance of the imperial Darth Google Vader. Once the dust has settled on the battlefield, it will be interesting to see how this conflict will affect the current shares held by each of the respective search engines involved and the future of search engine optimization strategies. May the force be with them.
One of my new marketing colleagues, Steve Dilley (a motion graphics designer) recently sent me a link for a video that showcased a young (well, young by my terms) designer from Poland who has made incredible changes in the communications field in eastern Europe. Jacek Utko is a Polish newspaper designer whose revamping of newspapers in Eastern Europe have not only won world renown and awards, but have also helped increase circulation of those publications up to 100%. His discussion is “Can good design save the newspaper?”
Jacek has transformed boring, unread newspapers in the former Eastern bloc, by the redesign and re-thinking of the content. These papers have achieved STELLAR increases in circulation (translation: more money).
Design saving a media tool? Design saving a business industry many have said is beyond saving? In Bulgaria, Estonia, and Poland? Something to ponder – how smart strategic marketing and design is changing the fortunes (literally) of business. We hear a lot lately about major newspapers failing in the U.S. Just wonder what would change if really innovative and smart design with marketing entered into the prescription.
“Design coherent with strategy and content can be used as a tool to completely change the product, the process…” Wise words from Utko.
Utko notes that design was only PART of the process. He explained how he borrowed from Architecture regarding how form and function make a strategy (hey, there’s that ‘strategy’ word again!). The story itself is worth watching – it is inspirational if nothing else.
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Omni Communications Group now has a presence on Facebook, the rapidly growing social networking website, in keeping with the latest and greatest media trends. Anyone can now connect with Omni Communications Group on Facebook, become a fan of the page to keep up to date on Omni news and happenings, and interact with current or future discussions of interest. If you aren’t currently a member of Facebook and want to see what the social media revolution looks like, you can check out the Omni Facebook page at the following link:
By Kathy at Omni
Word of mouth marketing can be defined as any unpaid form of promotion in which satisfied customers tell other people, in either verbal or written form, how much they like a business, product or service. For word of mouth marketing to be successful, the satisfied customer needs to be perceived as honest and having no ulterior motives associated with the recommendation. A recent example of effective word of mouth marketing is the publication of Charlie Stratton’s October 6, 2008 letter to the editor in the State Journal Register. His creative and compelling letter in recommendation of Darn Hot Pepper’s Habanero Honey Spread immediately caught my attention and deserves to be published once again here:
Habanero Honey Spread is work of art
Once every couple millennia, a human endeavor achieves such universal acclaim it is “owned by the ages.” A triumph of such monumental importance, its very existence allows us to gain increased insight into the human condition, to peer into our collective soul and to help us achieve a greater existential understanding. Such feats of human greatness might include the pyramids of Egypt and of Chichen Itza, the Great Wall of China, Da Vinci’s Mona Lisa, Michelangelo’s ceiling of the Sistine Chapel, the collected works of Shakespeare and others.Add to the list: Gerardo Jerry Jimeneza’s Habanero Honey Spread, which he sells at our local farmers market every Saturday. Jimenez’s chosen medium is not clay, stone or paint; it’s peppers, and he uses them like a master of the renaissance. All of the products at Darn Hot Peppers (online and at the farmers market) are great, but the Habanero Honey Spread tastes as if it were divinely inspired. It is a work of art: a perfect ying and yang of fire and sweet; two mutually correlated opposites, complementing one another. In other words: dang tasty. Watch out Diego Rivera, another Mexican artist is on his way to fame.Charlie Stratton
Springfield
This great letter effectively generated positive media buzz for Darn Hot Peppers, including an article two days later in the State Journal Register and this blog post in admiration of the successful execution of word of mouth marketing. Who knows what other rewards Darn Hot Peppers will continue to reap from Charlie Stratton’s letter, but I’m guessing the response will be substantial. So how can you generate positive results from word of mouth marketing? The answer is simple: focus to produce and deliver the best products or services to satisfied customers, who will then pitch your products or services for free! And in the “viral” world in which we now live, a satisfied customer’s recommendation can go a long, long way.
Back to Darn Hot Peppers. I headed down to the Farmer’s Market on Wednesday, October 8 at 8:30 am to purchase my own jar of Habanero Honey Spread and was disappointed to find out they were already sold out! I’m sure they are rushing to produce more right now, and I can’t wait to try it!
