It wasn’t so long ago that when you ran a contest the only way people could enter the contest was to take the time to fill out an entry form and then whether mail it in or drop it off in a ballot box. The Internet has made things easier, but still, the consumer has to find their way to your website. Social Media properties such as Facebook has added a layer of ease to the process: Consumers are already on Facebook engaging and talking to their communities. More importantly, consumers have join in and subscribed to contest and promotional sites such as Red Flag Deals or Contest Forums. If the promotion looks interesting enough, clicking on a link that takes the consumer to a contest landing page and asks them to fill out an online form, isn’t that big a deal.
It doesn’t make any difference what type of business you have; running a contest on Facebook is a powerful and effective approach in building awareness, and engagement as well as generating more followers. As appealing as it may seem, Facebook contests can only be effective if it is properly promoted.
Here are 5 simple ways to get the best out of your Facebook contest:
1. Timeline photo
Your timeline photo can be used to tell people about your contest. Not only is this a ‘premium’ advertising space for your contest, there will also be an update to your fans about the changes of your timeline photo. A well-designed timeline cover is a good alternative to promote your contest.
2. Promoted post
In general, only 16% of your Facebook fans see your wall posts. Facebook enrolled the Promoted Post option, where a specific post can be promoted to reach a higher audience. If you recall that caused quite a stir in the business and corporate communities. However, it is here and the fact is that it can cost as little as $5 to reach your community target to get them engaged.
3. Advocate engagement
Have you noticed a particularly engaging fan that frequently shows support for your brand? Engaging with these fans to participate and promote your contest is an effective way to instantly build buzz. It is a form of word-of-mouth marketing that we all know can be influential.
4. Cross promote
Broadcast your contest on Twitter, Youtube, Pinterest, Linkedin and any other Social Media. Your audience is everywhere, so if you do not promote everywhere else, then your contest is probably not reaching its maximum potential.
5. Choose the prize that fits
Instead of offering some big-ticket prize that doesn’t relate to our business, how about giving away one of your own products? If your business is sevice-based rather than product-based, offer the winner a free month of service. The goal of a contest is to find more people who are interested in your business, not just a prize.
That said, here is a very good examples of a Facebook contest…and how you can leverage the impact and reach of Facebook.
Being Human: The Salman Khan Foundation is a registered charitable trust set up by Salman Khan (famous actor in India) for helping the cause of the underprivileged in two main areas: education and healthcare.
The timeline photo changed before the launch of the contest:
The Teaser Campaign Approach: Get your audience curious by adding some pre-promotion. Here we can clearly see the brand is trying to get engagement from their fans by asking and not telling their consumers what the was coming. They have to wait 4 days to find out….
Build and Leverage the Momentum.
In this case, each day a new count down image was posted. The Foundation got their consumers intrigued and made them come back to see the comment, what was new and that all leads to greater engagement.
The Grand Finalé… The Day of the Draw….
Finally here! A total of 31,416 likes, 1,124 shares and 6,170 comments were received! Fans were encouraged to create an outfit for the celebrity and from those comments a 3 random people would win.
Everyday another Timeline photo was posted promoting the new clothing line of Being Human.
Closing the loop… showcasing the winners:
A perfect end to show that this was not only a promotion stunt but the winners actually got to meet the celebrity.
Do you have a favourite contest that ran or is being run right now? Share with us any other great contests that you have seen on Facebook here. We’d love to know!
So your business made it off the ground, you’re generating revenue, but you’ve hit a roadblock with your growth and revenue. Perhaps it’s too niche or misleading, or tied to a geographic location – what to do? Re-branding your company requires careful consideration and planning in order to achieve a successful outcome and take your business to the next level. But this also involves a lot of risks.
Be aware of all the risks of re-branding before you start the process. As a marketer I know how quickly you can get caught up in design and other issues, just don’t let it get you! Re-branding is more than changing a logo or adding bolder images. It is also about researching and understanding the consumer, analyzing changes in target markets when exploring opportunities for brand expansion and repositioning.
Yet, even when forewarned, many still make some common mistakes. Here are the top 5 mistakes to avoid:
Re-branding without research
Put money and time into researching the consumer’s perspective on the product or service. What do (don’t) they like, what attracts them etc.
Wrong assumption “A brand is just a logo”
Your brand is more that just a logo. A brand integrates all aspects of your business; everything from look, feel, culture, tone, voice, product quality, customer care… leading to consumer perception.
Getting started without a plan
Make sure you have a plan from start to finish. From research and analysis to setting up time frames, to identifying metrics for assessing results (ROI).
Not leveraging existing brand equity
A company with high brand equity may not need to undergo a big transformation… or rather, shouldn’t need to go through a huge transformation. When you have a strong brand equity… tread softly and lightly. However you do it, make sure the current brand equity stays strong!
Getting buy in internally prior to external.
Getting employees to understand the reason and goal of re-branding is very important because they will have to sell it to the consumers. This is equally more important in lieu of social media. Internal branding is increasingly important as each employee is a brand ambassador. In short, if they don’t believe it, neither will the consumer.
Going through a re-branding is and can be very challenging. It’s not so much setting the goal, but reaching it successfully. Having gone through a major re-branding I can only say that walking the talk is monumentally important. The re-branding that I was involved in failed miserably on convincing internal people that the change was necessary. The bigger the company, the more time is needed to make sure everyone is informed and all understand why there needs to be a change. If they understand, they will be able to explain it to the consumer. If you believe it, you will show it!
A successful re-branding requires a vision that inspires consumers, investors and others to see the company in a new light. We can learn from other companies who have gone through re-branding. This could be a successful re-brand or even a failure, if we learn from them we will not make the same mistake. Check out the 10 most successful re-branding campaigns ever. This article not only shows how they did it, it also let us know the lesson to be learned. Very interesting!
The Social Media skills now required to maintain a good social media reputation has evolved. Most of us (businesses and brands) have our social listening strategy in place, writing content and posting on our social media accounts. So…how is it going? Are you monitoring your accounts, interacting with your followers on each account? If you are, good. We all know that it’s imperative to listen to what your customers have to say… as this will keep your brand honest and transparent.
Does your social media strategy include the necessary social media skills?
Being proactive in your social media accounts has never been more important. With the daily launches of new social media blogs and sites, keeping on top of your brand’s social calendar takes time and resources. Don’t lose faith! These efforts can and will be reap Brand rewards in the end. Engagement with your customers is imperative to keep the “stickiness” on your sites and also loyalty and trust with your brand. More importantly understanding and knowing how to handling both positive and negative feedback properly can be indeed a powerful tool to gain loyalty from your target audience and enhancing their experience with your brand. Keep in mind these steps below to become socially proactive:
1. Proactive and engagement on yoursocial accounts should be your primary measurement of how your brand is doing. Keep an active conversation with your customers, so when and if a problem arises you can respond quickly with a solution
2. Respond Quickly to all Social Media Feedback, especially negative.
3. Don’t script your response. Be human and sensitive… an actual “real” live sensitive caring person (customized responses will go a long way to creating a supportive community online).
4. Support your response with detailed information; again give qualified information to help turn the negative experience into a resolved, positive experience. (We all remember being on the other end of those endless customer automated phone messages…that keep telling us to press the next sequence of number’s to get help, but in the end, it feels like we are on a never ending carousel spinning round and round, and in the end we hang up out of frustration or just get lost in a loop of unhelpful automated annoying computer generated voices.) We want our customers to feel that someone is actually listening and with a positive timely response your customers will probably post a very sincere thank you back and become a loyal customer in the end.
5. Dedicated customer service email and resourcesare a must. In support to #3, you have to specifically set up for your social media accounts. This will help garner a great customer support service within your social media communities. You should allow for a dedicated resource for these platforms to monitor what’s being talked about online and also join in on the conversation to build strong relationships and provide positive customer experiences.
6. Be Honest and Transparent…this will go a long way for validating that yes we all make mistakes, but lets work together to fix it and make it better by actually listening to what your customers are saying.
7. Be Empathic, stay objective. Look at it from the consumers point of view, have all your facts and as said earlier try to resolve as quickly as possible.
Now to make it all work!Now that you have your social listening strategy, resources, and your social customer service in place you need to add some tools to help you get the edge on your competition by taking charge of your social media and your online presence. You can start with some free resources and or customized packages. No tools work the same, so do your research. This is just a small sampling of links below to get you started:
RSS Feeds, Google Alerts, Track Tweets, Comments and Discussions on fan boards, etc, and Netvibes
Please feel free to add comments, tips, and suggestions; I always like to hear how other people adapt new strategies to their social accounts. And remember be Proactive!
Great, you now have your Facebook, linkedin, Twitter, Pinterest accounts in place. Fingers on the keyboard and ready to write and hit that submit button. Stop! So now what? Well, you may want to hold off on populating all those accounts. Why, you ask? Well, did you prepare a social brief? How do you know if your audience participates on all the accounts you have signed up for? Have you been monitoring their social media activity on different social communities? If you’re not sure, let’s step back a bit …You develop briefs for print, TV, web, and mobile, so don’t forget to write one for social. I know it can be overwhelming, but if you can create a social strategy that will keep you on point, and you have the talent to help you implement your social accounts, you will become a great social listener and your audience will appreciate it too!
We’ve all heard the phrase, “Content is King”, well before content we need to focus on developing that strategy. This will give you the means and ability to make sense of what you are trying to do, what is the purpose of your social media marketing. By creating a social listening strategy you will understand the importance of “really listening”. In social media, listening is your guide through the continuous online conversations taking place on many social media platforms, being alert and one step ahead, will keep your brand strategy fresh and competitive. Focus on these key steps for success:
1. Who is Your Target Audience(s) and which social platforms to use: Once you have determined who your audience is, it’s imperative to focus on where to engage your audience online. As said earlier, don’t just start opening accounts to social platforms that don’t reflect your brand or your target audience. This could have a negative impact on your marketing campaign and diminish your brand. Research where your audience is already active, capture this data and customize your social media accounts to adapt to your audiences’ socializing habits.
2. Identify the influencers: These are the people who follow, share or friend you. They are more important than the actual volume of traffic. Determining who your influencers are will make all the difference in your listening strategy and ultimately how affectively you have captured the information and affectively communicated with your target audience.
3.What are the keywords and trends in your social world: You want to validate the topics and conversations that matter most to your brand and document them as potential keywords. You then need to determine through social listening if these keywords reflect or resemble the “social speak” that your audience is interested in. Keywords should reflect what’s important to your brand. However, you need to compare your word selection to that of what is being used by your audience. Don’t think traditional marketing here, or specific naming conventions used throughout the industry. Look for real words, used by real people. This approach will help you communicate more successfully with your target audience.
So now that you have your social strategy in place and the talent in place. You can now start selecting your accounts and write content. Make sure you keep it up-to-date and current with specific topics that tie into your brand and relate to your social users…use your customer’s speak, not marketing lingo and always keep it fresh. This will keep your brand on target with your audience…You also need to take a pulse on your brand as it stands today, consistently monitoring social sites that talk about your brand, making sure that your online reputation is strong, active and fresh.
Also, keep in mind that socializing on the Internet is not limited to the traditional social media platforms. Don’t forget about the community blogs, forums and posts, these areas all require your focus and interaction keeping up with conversations across the web to maintain a strong brand presence online and off. Keeping up with what your customers are saying about your product or service will keep you informed and honest about your brand. Yes, this is time consuming, but in the end, the best investment for you to apply, and to keep your brand honest and on target.
Now you are ready to get back to your keyboard and write, and make your Brand a “Social” listener.
Let me know how your social listening strategy has worked for you (do’s / don’ts) and links you might want to share with us pertaining to this topic. Thanks for listening.
In clear terms, it defines your company’s direction… and actually acts as a compass through growth opportunities and changing market conditions. It is the critical platform for all communications. Without direction or focus, the brand goes…. absolutely everywhere… and not in a good way!
It seems very easy to create… A few words that speak volumes. How difficult can it be? More to the matter, how significant is a positioning statement? Positioning Statements, or in the case of Consumer Packaged Brands, slogans, have been at the heart of advertising sell copy since the inception of mass selling.
It is an important component of your marketing initiative… if not the most important. Positioning is not just a fluffy marketing word… it defines and identifies your Brand/Business. A brand positioning statement eloquently states your brand’s “stake in the sand”. Moreover, it expresses “This is who I am, this is what I do, this is what and how I deliver”. In basic marketing practice, the easiest way to describe a positioning statement is that it announces to the world what makes your brand stand out above the rest and how you do that in a very succinct message.
Keep your brand/business on track with a powerful positioning statement. So how do you go about developing one?
A good marketing exercise to do prior to attempting to create your own positioning statement is to look at the brands that have successful taglines and try to identify the key messages that the tagline promotes. Ask yourself if the statement is relevant to what the brand promises, or the product delivers….or if it speaks to the service the business provides. View the positioning statement in rewind. You’ll find that the good positioning statements easily reflect the market, the target and the benefit of each brand or business. Here are some to get you started: McCain “It’s all good TM”campaign, “i’m lovin’ it”, an international branding campaign by McDonald’s Corporation (they incorporated it with their logo), and Scotiabank “You’re richer than you think”.
In this new world of do-it-yourself marketing and branding, many start-up companies go at developing a brand positioning statement on their own. Often those positioning statements end up being descriptors of the brand. Like the warning copy on an Evil Knievel daredevil act, I urge you not try this at home… and alone!
Here are the must haves of a positioning statement, in no particular order:
1) The Promise: Must state what we offer.
2) The Benefit: Must clearly identify what’s in it for them.
3) Personality: Must reflect the culture and brand voice.
4) Originality/Uniqueness: Must be a thing of beauty and joy.
5) Simplicity: Must be so succinct as to inspire a “wow”.
6) Longevity…. it must be there for the long haul.
What better way to demonstrate the importance of clearly stating the benefit simply within a positioning statement than with the Muppets! Watch this video clip from the Muppets Take Manhattan movie, for Ocean Breeze Soap. The message is bang on!
Once you achieve the Positioning Statement…. you must, and this is so very important: Use it consistently and frequently on all communication pieces. On business cards, web sites, apps, trade booths, ppt presentations, print ads, radio ads, digital ads, TV ads, leave behinds, etc, etc, etc.
This positioning statement will drive your message home to consumers, just like a GPS and will definitely build the foundation for brand recognition. Check out our ebook “Branding Understood” to get your gears turning!
Does your positioning statement have what it takes to direct your brand’s destiny?
The Teaser Campaign Approach: Get your audience curious by adding some pre-promotion. Here we can clearly see the brand is trying to get engagement from their fans by asking and not telling their consumers what the was coming. They have to wait 4 days to find out….
In this case, each day a new count down image was posted. The Foundation got their consumers intrigued and made them come back to see the comment, what was new and that all leads to greater engagement.
