Posts Tagged social media
Hey There Marketers, what is your Twitter annoyance level?
Posted by Deborah Martin in Blogging & Podcasting, Social Media on July 30th, 2010
In a recent article, the blog Social Times identifies seven twitter habits that marketers should avoid so as to not annoy their followers.
Top offenders include:
1. Not using url shorteners
2. Mundane tweets
3. Auto Direct Messages
4. Using so many characters that your followers can’t RT (retweet)
The ROI of social media is. . .
Posted by Rob Fields in Digital Marketing, Social Media on May 10th, 2010
Despite this being a push for a new book by Eric Qualman–Socialnomics: How social media transforms the way we live and do business–it’s chocked full of interesting stats. To wit:
- Social media has overtaken pornography as the #1 internet activity
- 1 in 8 married couples met over the internet
- Generations Y and Z consider email passe
- People care more about how their social graph ranks products and services that how Google ranks them
Additional link:
- Read more at Eric Qualman’s blog
Experiential Marketing Best Practices
Posted by Bob Bell in Experiential Marketing on February 17th, 2010
A recent article posted on BtoB.com identified experiential marketing as one of the top 10 trends for marketers in 2010. The article – titled “Optimism, Accountability, Social Media Top Trends” – stated that “nothing can replace face-to-face communications with consumers.”
We couldn’t agree more.
So, with 2010 upon us we thought it would be prudent to provide you with some best practices in developing an experiential marketing campaign.
Know Who Your Target Is
While this seems to be an obvious point it cannot be overstated enough. All marketing campaigns, experiential or otherwise, start and end here.
Traditional demographics are important to understanding your target but they do not tell the whole story. In today’s fragmented society, consumers have many layers of sub-segments. You have to address all aspects of your targets need states – emotional, physical and social – to develop an experience that creates a lasting, meaningful connection with them.
This is best supported by an article which appeared in the Philadelphia Examiner in June of 2009 titled “Back To The Basics With Experiential Marketing”
“Break free from the traditional demographic parameters you were once taught. Use them as a foundation for defining your target audience, but don’t stop there. Remember, experiential marketing is about the emotions and logic involved in your consumers’ thought process. If Stephen Starr [STARR Restaurants] would have stuck to the straight forward demographics of his potential customers, he would have developed a bland one dimensional dining experience comparable to the same restaurant chains we as consumers are getting bored with.”
If you develop a great experience but deliver it to the wrong consumer than you fall short on connecting with your target in a meaningful way. And, that is at the crux of any successful experiential marketing campaign.
Brand The Experience
In developing the experience, ensure the consumer touch points throughout are branded and uniquely ownable.
How?
First and foremost, your experiential marketing campaign has to showcase your product and brand. It should allow consumers the opportunity to try while providing other relevant information which heightens their overall interest and engagement with your product or offering.
For example, a wine manufacturer executing a consumer tasting is best served to also share wine pairing suggestions and/or recipes for utilizing their wine; common obstacles to purchase for consumers when selecting a wine Brand.
This Experiential Blog…why now? And why is it important?
Posted by Mark Biggin in Experiential Marketing, Marketing Accountability on February 2nd, 2010
This is my initial blog and I appreciate the opportunity to host a forum that provides a voice for the experiential space. There is no shortage of blogs in the advertising, marketing and promotion arena, but none that truly hones in on the depth and perspective that experiential marketing brings in the totality of the marketing experience. Here are a few of the many reasons why I presume to write:
- The consumer is changing
- Measurement, measurement measurement.
- Convoluted media messages
- There is a lot of conversation we need to share.
The consumer is changing
Arguably we are leaving a recessionary year that has impacted consumers, business, politicians, and the social fabric that we all have taken for granted for a long time. Foreclosures are at all time high, banks were (and still are) on the brink of disaster, we elected a African American President for the first time in our country’s history, while the Hispanic population is growing at a rate that will make this group a minority in the not so distant future. We have seen a consumption lifestyle morph by necessity and design to one of caution and temperance. Americans are saving more, spending less and volunteering more. This impacts what and how we do what we do.
We, as marketers, first and foremost must be aware of the shift and be sensitive to the fact that there are new paradigms in the relationship between consumers and brands. That is the upside. Change brings opportunity. New rules bring innovations and ingenuity. That is our challenge, and we again, as marketers, based upon our vast experience can be successful.
Measurement, measurement, measurement
With an evolving consumer the need to understand and measure change becomes increasingly more important. In fact it is critical. What do we measure? How do we measure? Why do we measure? What does it mean? Everyone is measured everyday. Students are measured by their grades. Social institutions are measured by their impact on society. Politicians by successful agendas, and brands by sales. It is the core of why we are in business and the importance of this deliverable cannot be short changed. We need to be astute, proactive and accurate.
Convoluted media messages
We are all part of the Media landscape. Where does experiential fit in among social media, out of home, on air, in-store, promotions, shopper marketing, sponsorships, lifestyle, niche marketing, home parties, television, radio, mobile? Is there really a concept of integrated marketing, or interconnected marketing? If so, what does that mean and how do we achieve this integration?. Can the disciplines work together? Will we play well in the sand box? Whose sand box is it anyway? All these questions and thoughts are important as we, experiential marketers , make a difference in the lives of our ultimate target audience.
There is a lot of conversation that we need to share
By starting this blog I hope that we are committed to sharing our collective thoughts, learning’s and insights on what we see and what we don’t. On what works and what doesn’t. With this intelligence we can address the questions that we face daily. What? Where? How? And most importantly Why?
Do I have all the answers? Not by any means. Challenge me when you disagree, add thoughts when I don’t go far enough. Raise topics I miss that you believe to be important. This is collaboration, a group dynamic where we can help each other. We may not have all the answers but we do know our industry and we have a tremendous amount of experience and knowledge in our reservoir.
Next steps
Look for my first topic blog shortly. I truly ask an open mind and a contributory nature. Together we can create a conversation that will advance the world of marketing in which we live , and in the process make the world safer for brands.
–Gary Kleinman
CEO
Yardstick Marketing Partners
sister company of Centra Marketing & Communications, LLC.
Tweetstakes Law: Too Many Tweets for Twitter
Posted by Michael Barkow in Digital Marketing, Marketing Law, Social Media on August 13th, 2009
Moonfruit, a. U.K. based online building tech company, recently launched a 10 day sweepstakes in which participants received an entry each time they sent a twitter containing the hashtag “#Moonfruit.” MacBook Pro computers were awarded as prizes and no limits were placed on how often Hashtag Twitter messages could be sent. Viral buzz was over the top, but Twitter pulled the plug on the seventh day after Moonfruit reached the top of the Twitter Trends list. Manatt partner and PMA board member Linda Goldstein talks about what prompted Twitter’s action and what message it sends to other marketers who might find Twitter an effective vehicle to increase consumer awareness.
What exactly did Moonfruit do that so annoyed Twitter?
Goldstein: Twitter never explained, but user comments suggest that many – far too many – received multiple tweets and re-tweets until some thought they were victims of something akin to user generated spam. And Twitter apparently thought that the highly commercialized use of Twitter must be addressed when the viral activity it spawned threatened to replace most other topics of Twitter traffic. So it removed the Moonfruit tag from its Trends list and the search box that aids Twitter users to hunt for topics of interest.
How did Moonfruit respond?
Goldstein: Surprisingly well. It expressed surprise that its campaign was so successful and that it had no intention to dominate Twitter for 10 days or move aside important subjects like Iran from the agenda. In a candid reply by its marketing director, she admitted that the “campaign could set a dangerous precedent” and could lead to an “abuse by marketers.” She was, however, disappointed Twitter had summarily suppressed the Moonfruit tag without notice. Moonfruit would have gladly worked with Twitter to limit the promotion.
Since the campaign was so successful, up to a point, do you think other marketers will follow suit?
Goldstein: Maybe. Although Twitter could also respond to other commercial campaigns that “abused” the Twitter social network, a marketer could, at least for a while, get a massive viral response to a simple sweepstakes if the prizes were attractive enough. The Mac laptops cost, say $10,000, and for that Moonfruit reaped an astonishing 300 tweets per minute. That’s quite a viral response for comparatively little cost. I expect, however, that Twitter, will soon establish some checks to prevent any comparable highly commercial reoccurrence.
What’s your takeaway from all this?
Goldstein: Twitter certainly has the right to edit hashtags to prevent smut and control user spam. After all, it’s a social network and not an advertising forum. And where, as in the Moonfruit game, unlimited entry translated into an abuse that transcended the sometime unspoken etiquette inherent in social communities, Twitter had to act to prevent marketers from “gaming” its system. On the other hand, it’s the Twitter users who actually propelled the campaign forward, so it’s not the total responsibility of the marketer. I suspect that most established brands, however, will act cautiously and not risk a widespread user backlash by consumers who view Twitter as primarily a channel for social networking. In the meantime, Twitter might establish a policy that either embraces viral marketing campaigns or sets forth some guidelines as to what kind of marketing will be permissible going forward.
What’s In Your Social Media Policy?
Posted by Brian Heidelberger in Digital Marketing, Marketing Law, Social Media on May 21st, 2009
Has your company created a social media policy yet? It’s probably a good idea to think about doing it now, rather than later when the !@#%$ hits the fan. You know that your employees are social networking, both personally and on behalf of your company and your clients (if you are an agency). But you may not have thought about the fact that if the employee’s messages are in furtherance of the company’s or its client’s goals, the employee’s statements may be attributable to the company, even if only made on the employees own social networking pages during their own time. Over-arching issues you are going to have to consider are those relating to false advertising, intellectual property, as well as SEC compliance.
Disclosing material connections and what it means for you
Most notable are those issues that relate to the FTC’s recent proposed changes to the Endorsement and Testimonial Guidelines. One issue you are going to have to deal with is “disclosing material connections”. Specifically, the FTC has taken the position that employees who post endorsements on message boards on behalf of their company or their clients should disclose their connection with the company. They also have taken the position that bloggers who receive a free product from an advertiser must disclose the gift when making an endorsement of the product, even if the endorsement reflects the honest opinion of the blogger. The FTC believes that consumers would not otherwise expect these kinds of connections, and thus, the required disclosure. This gets pretty tricky when you try to deal with it from practical perspective. For example, if I become a fan of the new KFC Grilled Chicken on Facebook, isn’t that an endorsement of the product? If so, in becoming a fan, do I have to disclose that I do legal work for KFC? I hope not, because this doesn’t even seem possible.
Understand the “typicality of consumer experience”
In the proposed changes to the Endorsement and Testimonial Guides, the FTC indicated that a consumer’s product endorsements will be interpreted as a “typical” experience such that an endorser’s experience needs to be representative of what consumers will achieve, otherwise the endorser must disclose the generally expected performance (and have proof of it). Interestingly, they indicated that the old “results not typical” disclaimer isn’t good enough. It’s not entirely clear how this issue will shake out in the final rule, but in the meantime, it certainly raises issues from a social media perspective. Is the FTC saying that when you give a blogger some free product to try and they blog about their personal experience with your product, that you have to somehow get them to disclose what a typical consumer’s experience is with the product? I just can’t get my head around how a company could get a blogger to disclose the typical experience of other consumers, which it probably doesn’t even know.
Reducing your company’s liability
The FTC did provide some nice guidance with regard to how an advertiser can reduce their liability when using social media. In particular, the FTC indicated advertisers who hire blogging and other similar services should:
- Require companies to provide guidance and training to their bloggers about the need to be truthful and to disclose material connections;
- Monitor the bloggers to confirm compliance with the training; and
- Take action to have posts removed that don’t comply with the guidance and training when they are identified.
Notice that the FTC doesn’t seem to be maintaining a zero tolerance policy, but rather is asking companies to take good faith attempts to assure that its guidelines are followed.
These materials have been prepared by Winston & Strawn for informational purposes only. These materials do not constitute legal advice and cannot be relied upon by any taxpayer for the purpose of avoiding penalties imposed under the Internal Revenue Code.
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