by Jenna Elberson | Mar 8, 2013 | Advertising, Branding, Business Success, Interactive, Latest, Social Media
The “Trend”. More brands are turning to social media to reach more of their customers through trending, they are not realizing the impact 1 tiny misspell or mistake can make.
Already in 2013 we have seen many social media fails. While they bring in a good laugh for the public, for the brands or companies it can be hugely embarrassing and worse.
Some of the biggest mishaps of 2012 were awarded with a SUXORZ awards at the New York social media show. Yes, just like the Razzies which are awarded for the worst movies of the year, prizes are now awarded for #socialmediafails!
Here are just a few of the recipients…
Belvedere Vodka
Belvedere thought it would be great to throw their hat into the meme ring. But when your fans mistake your “meme” as a promotion for rape an apology just doesn’t cut it.
Credit: SUXORZ
Tip: Think it through. When attempting a comical ad piece, think about your audience and what your brand is trying to convey. Ask yourself what is the goal of this promotion and go from there.
Susan Boyle
They say any press is good press. For Susan Boyle, her trending hashtag was the talk of twitter (and won her an award). #Susanalbumparty was one of the top trending topics last year. If you can’t see why… look harder.
Tip: Pick more than 1 hashtag option. When thinking of trending a topic, pick a few options to find the perfect fit for your campaign or promotion. Proof read twice, then a third time, even five times. Then have a group of people review them to. Fresh eyes are always helpful. The goal is to choose a hash tag that is legible and easy to understand.
McDonald’s
Look before you leap should be the motto for all social media campaigns. McDonald’s attempted to engage their followers by asking for heartwarming stories with the trending hash tag #McDStories. The hashtag quickly trended with negative stories and backlash and the campaign was pulled after 2 hours.
Tip: Understand that people like to complain more than praise. Tread carefully when asking for feedback or any type of response on Facebook, Twitter or Google+. Word spreads quickly in the age of social media.
Know of any other social media snafus. Please share them here!
by Lisa Wedmann | Mar 6, 2013 | Branding, Business Success, Interactive, Latest
In this business, we all want to keep our clients happy. Yet in this busy, fast paced go go go world, one key component is lacking – listening!
Instead of hearing what our clients are saying, we are so eager to “sell” our latest idea, fix a problem or answer a question, that we interrupt, ramble on and miss important knowledge and insights.
Listening is THE only way to provide a client with great ideas and plans. Yet instead of hearing what our clients are saying, our brain is busy rushing ahead preparing answers and plans.
Here are a few tips to help listen to clients.
Keep an open mind
Don’t go into a meeting with pre-conceived ideas about what is going to happen. Yes, prepare an agenda. Yes, do the necessary research. And then, let the meeting happen.
Listen with intent
Actively listen to what your client is saying. Don’t jump in, or worse, interrupt. Provide answers when necessary. Remember, the goal is to keep the conversation going and lead to a plan of action.
Talk Less Than You Listen
Be present and be quiet. Yes, ask questions. Yes, provide answers. But let your clients speak, without interruptions.
Ask open ended questions
When asking questions, the aim is to get your client to share. Avoid simple yes and no questions. Instead, ask questions that will get you client to open up and share important insights.
It’s not personal
The client is always first… even when they are wrong! Understand that this is part of business…any business not only the advertising business. It’s hard to sit in a meeting and have your latest ad torn apart after hours of work.
As tough as it can be, remember it’s not personal – this is business. Don’t get upset, interrupt, or get defensive. Hear what the client is saying and let them get it out.
Get off email
When a client sends an email expressing a concern, get it off email – quickly. Pick up the phone, or set up a meeting to talk it out. Then listen. This will lead to a solution quicker than having multiple emails going back and forth. It’s so easy today to “duck” facing issues personally… but just because you can, doesn’t mean it’s the right approach to use.
Communication with clients is a two-way street. We do need to be persuasive “sales” people. But in order to achieve success, to obtain the “go ahead” or buy in that we want, we need to listen first.
by Jenna Elberson | Jan 3, 2013 | Branding, Latest, Social Media
My Reddit cake day (the term used for 1 year anniversaries) is almost upon me. Having been on Reddit for almost a year, I thought I would take the opportunity to immerse myself more into Reddit – not as a community member, but as a marketer.
It’s important when trying to use social media to reach out to your target audience and see it from their perspective. Understand how and why they use that particular site, get the inside scoop right from them. So that’s what I did. I took the idea to r/marketing and asked my fellow Redditors how they felt about their marketing efforts on the Reddit site.
It’s sad to say, but I didn’t get much love from my post. From all the comments I gathered, most, if not all my fellow marketing Redditors said “JUST DON’T DO IT!”. Reddit is a hard social site to get penetration on for your brand. The community is so different from that of Twitter, Facebook, Tumbler and Google+ that it takes a certain type of person to pull it off. Redditors are a very loyal community and numerous times respondents of my post stated that the number one rule is that you need to be a Redditor first and a marketer second.
My favourite quote from this post was from Modern_Caveman who said “deciding to do marketing on Reddit is a little bit like deciding to swallow swords. Unless you’re really experienced and know what you’re doing, just don’t”.
Well this doesn’t sound good, right? Not necessarily, I’ve come up with a few pointers on how to maintain a brand presence on Reddit without disturbing the force of the community.
1. AMAs: What is an AMA? The acronym stands for “ask me anything”. This is a Q&A Redditors can participate in and ask you questions and you answer. Many film companies have used this method for promoting up and coming movie releases by having the cast answer the AMA. You can utilizes this by having a special guest or expert from your brand answer your fans questions. Talk about new promotions you’ll be having or use the AMA to open up to a new contest.
Upside: It’s very simple and can be extremely successful. 
Downside: You need to make sure your brand/product is appealing to the Reddit community or it will get lost in the hundreds of failed AMAs. Researching top tending AMA topics can be very beneficial to avoid this issue.
2. Subreddit properly: A subreddit is a subform; it’s different categories Redditors can post their content in for example: r/marketing, r/baseball, r/pics etc. For us this is important. We post a few blogs for some added showcase on marketing subreddits. This can be key to promoting your content and there are hundreds of subreddits out there to choose from!
Upside: the subreddit you post in will likely be people with a similar interest to your brand. Downside: some subreddits have very few subscribers, so do your research and find one that would best fit your brand or product with lots of subscribers.
3. Participate!: Reddit is like a giant pool of really neat ideas, pictures, videos, articles etc. Use this to your advantage and get interactive with the community. Comment on topics that resonate with your brand, post in r/freebies to give users a chance to sample your product, post about a product or idea you have, buy some Reddit gold and give it to people who comment on your post and ask for advice.
Upside: You aren’t necessarily marketing on Reddit you’re delving into the community to ask for advice and helping users, which, with patience will help you and your brand out in the long run. Downside: It may take a long time for you to gain a big presents on Reddit, but keep at it and it will pay off!
Overall Reddit is a great community of people from around the world and even though they are potential buyers, clients or fans they are still Redditors and love their site. Unlike Facebook, Twitter or Google+ there aren’t many advertisers so be respectful of that and have fun. Reddit can be a greatest asset to you as long as you use it properly, so enjoy all the wonders that Reddit offers!
If you have any more suggestions or ideas on marketing and Reddit let me know in the comments below!
by Matina Singh | Dec 28, 2012 | Branding, Business Success, Latest
When we go shopping for anything from food, clothes or cars, we have a lot of choices, at times too many choices. Do we choose a brand that’s familiar to us or do we take a chance with a new one? How do we choose from all these different brands on the retail shelf… and what do they do to set themselves a part from the rest?
With the many choices we have as consumers it’s easy to be overwhelmed – throw in the towel on our decision making process and buy the already known rather than trying something new! But even if we want to try a new product, there are so many out there, we often don’t even know where to begin. Too many of POP materials and communications at the retail level put out by brand makers talk about the feature of their product and totally forget to talk to the benefits – in short, what’s in it for the consumer. Benefit-driven communications is the best way to speak to consumers. Is the brand more efficient? Provide time-saving or cost-saving?
In-store retail merchandising and retail point-of-sale (POS) mechanisms are crucial to make a connection with the consumer to drive both impulse and trial sales. To capture the consumer’s wandering eye, brands and retailers need to constant create new and innovative point-of-purchase (POP) to grab attention where and when in counts the most: in-store. Without these attention-getting on-shelf or in-store communication pieces, many consumers often overlook new products or specials and consequently buy familiar and already trusted brands.
Brand Marketers want to make sure that their brand doesn’t get lost in all the in-store option available to consumers. Here’s a quick check list to do just that:
- Packaging: This is the most important brand POP. It is the piece that will keep on working where ever it is: on-shelf, in-store, in the pantry, in the home. It is all about originality! The brand package needs to carry the brand character, personality and voice and more importantly speak to its benefits.
- POP: Using unique visual elements and colours that speak to the brand in order to draw attention to the product provides at the retail level the necessary impact. Creating effective POP on-shelf that speaks to consumers will entice them to make the change. Using mobiles, shelf-talkers, on-shelf coupon generators, on-shelf digital messaging are only a few tactics that are available.
- End Aisle Displays/ Check Out Displays: Using these in-store tactics are an effective way of making brands stand out. While consumers wait in line or turn the aisle, the “one brand” shelving strategy definitely gets the desired effect. Couple this impact with the right benefit-driven message and brands will be sure to generate the much sought after impulse purchase.
- Floor Graphics and Floor Stands: An effective and creative way to drive consumers right to products on-shelf is using floor graphics leading the way! Of course colourful floor stands filled with products are also effective and provide a solid “real-estate” space, often away from the competitive products.
Effective POP helps snap consumers out of their routine. It engages them at the most critical purchasing moment and affects behavior to drive sales. All brand marketers must be sure to get this part right. It doesn’t matter how great an advertising campaign is… if consumers don’t find the brand on the shelf, the sale is lost. After all isn’t that what it’s all about?
by christine | Nov 22, 2012 | Branding, Business Success, Interactive, Social Media
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 your social 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 resources are 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
Want to know more about social media? Download Social Media Understood here.
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!
