Tag Twitter

Oreo Knows the Only Winning Move Is Not to Play the Game

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, social media, target marketing, technology, Twitter, word of mouth advertising, word-of-mouth marketing Tagged with advertising, social media, target marketing, technology, Twitter, word of mouth advertising, word-of-mouth marketing March 25th, 2013 @ 8:00 am

After being challenged to a game of tic-tac-toe by Kit Kat, Oreo wisely declined in a way that would make fictional characters Dr. Stephen Falken and David Lightman proud.

As I explained in a recent post, movies often contain lessons mixed in with the car chases and beautiful people living extraordinary lives.

If you grew up in the 1980’s, you probably remember that in the 1983 movie “WarGames,” David Lightman, a young computer hacker played by Matthew Broderick, unwittingly accessed WOPR, a United States military supercomputer that was designed by Dr. Stephen Falken to predict possible outcomes of nuclear war. In the process, Lightman unknowingly almost starts World War III.

At the climax of the movie, Dr. Falken and Lightman try to teach WOPR that nobody wins in a war. The first lesson begins with multiple games of tic-tac-toe before moving on to war simulations.

In the end, the computer ends the war simulations and writes, “A strange game. The only winning move is not to play.”

Well said. Lesson learned. (Click here to watch that scene on YouTube.)

Competing for Laura Ellen’s Love

If you follow social media marketing news at all, you know that Oreo earned praise for the tweet they sent out after the power went out at the Superdome during this year’s Super Bowl. They also had success with this real-time marketing strategy during the airing of the 85^th Academy Awards.

Other brands are taking note and are trying to replicate Oreo’s success.

Therefore, it is not surprising that when Laura Ellen, a Twitter user from Manchester, UK, tweeted that she was following both Kit Kat and Oreo on Twitter, Kit Kat jumped at the chance to challenge Oreo to a friendly game of tic-tac-toe in an effort to fight for Ms. Ellen’s affections.

As a post on Mashable.com points out, this scored huge points with Ms. Ellen. And, judging from the number of retweets and favorites, with the clever use of Kit Kats for Xs and (potentially) Oreos for Os, Kit Kat also scored points with the general public.

How About a Nice Game of Chess?

When faced with the option of playing Kit Kat in a public game of tic-tac-toe, Oreo decided to decline with style and grace. In my opinion, that was a brilliant move.

As Lauren Indvik points out in the article on Mashable.com, there are possible negative consequences of being the loser in a game that could get old real fast.

Furthermore, as the folks at ADVERVE point out, just because brands are rivals doesn’t mean they can’t have a little fun at the same time. As they ask, “Is it so unreasonable to think that there are Kit Kat lovers in the Oreo camp, or vice-versa?”

By declining to play the game by complimenting the taste of Kit Kats, Oreo found a way to create a win-win situation. Kit Kat gets a compliment, and Oreo gets some free advertising from Kit Kat, not to mention all the free publicity it received by the media covering the ad campaign.

As an added bonus, I would be willing to bet that this ad campaign made many people think of the movie WarGames. Knowing that this is a movie that is beloved by tech geeks around the world, this was a perfect move for Oreo to make in a social media ad campaign. Was it intended? Only the digital agencies involved could tell you that for sure.

Final Thoughts

With some things in life, nobody ever wins. In those cases, the best solution is not to play the game.

In the 1980’s movie WarGames, we learned that nobody wins in a nuclear war.

The same could often be said in head-to-head competition in the marketplace.

In the case of the Kit Kat tic-tac-toe challenge, Oreo proved wise enough to demonstrate that there is room enough for both brands in the marketplace, and that there is no need to show its skill in a game that often ends in a stalemate.

By declining the game in the way that they did, they created a win-win scenario for both brands.

Photo credit: Torben Bjørn Hansen on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Marketing analyst and strategist, freelance writer, content curator, applied sociologist, and a proud UW-Madison alumnus. My goal is to help businesses achieve their marketing objectives and business goals while gaining additional experience in the exciting world of digital marketing. I'm currently looking for my next career challenge. Please feel free to contact me anytime at: chadjthiele@gmail.com.

They Only Cost a Tweet! #tweetshop

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, case study, mobile, Product, public relations, retail, shopping, social media, technology, Twitter, word of mouth advertising, word-of-mouth marketing Tagged with advertising, case study, mobile, product, public relations, retail, shopping, social media, technology, Twitter, word of mouth advertising, word-of-mouth marketing October 2nd, 2012 @ 8:00 am

The Kellogg Company Introduces Special K Crisps to the UK

In his book, “Why We Buy: The Science of Shopping—Updated and Revised for the Internet, the Global Consumer, and Beyond,” (affiliate link) Paco Underhill points out that, “Close to 90 percent of all new grocery products fail, but it isn’t because people didn’t like them—it’s because people never tried them. In my opinion, a new product introduction that doesn’t include a well-funded, fully supported (with marketing) effort to give shoppers samples is not a serious attempt.”

Therefore, it’s not surprising that when introducing its new Special K Cracker Crisps to the UK at the end of last month, the Kellogg Company created a unique marketing campaign that not only gave customers a chance to try the product, but they also incorporated social media into the effort in a way that guaranteed that customers would spread the word about how awesome Special K Cracker Crisps are to their friends online.

Kellogg’s Tweet Shop

The idea was simple: They created a trendy pop-up shop in London’s Soho district that invited customers to get packages of Special K Cracker Crisps in exchange for a tweet that included the hashtag #tweetshop.

As an Ad Age article points out, this is not the first time that a brand has offered free products in exchange for a post on a social networking site. However, the article points out that it might be the first example of real-life interaction using a pay-with-a-tweet-concept.

In the Ad Age article, Dan Glover, creative director of Mischief PR, the agency behind the campaign, is quoted as saying, “We believe that physical and social are one and the same. When we had the idea it felt very simple, and we did a lot of checking to be sure it was a world first. We jumped on that and made it happen – it was eight weeks from idea to execution.”

Not only was this a creative way to get customers to sample a new product, but it also created a lot of buzz in the media, as well.

And, the pay-with-a-tweet concept ensured that people would be spreading the word online.

As Sarah Case, brand manager for Special K, explains, “The value of positive endorsements on social-media sites is beyond compare, so we’re excited to be the first company to literally use social currency instead of financial currency to launch this new product in our bespoke Special K shop.”

Word of Mouth—What Customers Were Tweeting

On Friday, September 28^th, I searched for the hashtag #tweetshop. (This, by the way, was the last day that pop-up store was in operation.)

As would be expected, many of the tweets included photos that were posted on other social networking sites.

Some of the tweets included the hashtag #spons.

According to theEword, a search marketing agency located in Manchester, England, “Within the Kellogg’s pop up store, people are given a menu of Tweets to try out, all including #tweetshop #spons. While #tweetshop allows Kellogg’s to monitor the success of its social media campaign, the #spons hashtag ensures that it adheres to regulations put in place by the Advertising Standards Agency, which requires sponsored tweets to be clearly indicated.”

Here are some of examples of the tweets. (Thanks to the Twitter Blackbird Pie WordPress plugin, you can actually click on the links in the tweets to see the photos that customers tweeted.)

We love to tweet to eat #specialK #tweetshop http://t.co/qmobi1A5

September 27, 2012 8:33 am via Instagram ReplyRetweetFavorite

@emilyrorrison

Emily Jane Rorrison

So cool! I'm at the first tweet shop in the world! #tweetshop #london

September 27, 2012 8:59 am via Twitter for Windows Phone ReplyRetweetFavorite

@pamche

Pamela Chehade

Kellogg's #TweetShop #popupshop on Meard Street. Actually pretty good crisps. (@ the tweet shop) [pic]: http://t.co/TjF7GYMJ

September 28, 2012 5:51 am via foursquare ReplyRetweetFavorite

@Thesegoto11

Steven Ray

@larisaidwhat thanks for the breakfast idea. Really works! :) Amazing idea #tweetshop #spons http://t.co/DjDweyJN

September 28, 2012 5:52 am via Twitter for Android ReplyRetweetFavorite

@IlmaRamcevic

Ilma Ramcevic

I've just had new Special K crisps and they're delicious! #tweetshop #spons

September 28, 2012 6:12 am via Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite

@AndyJoeyTaylor

Andrew Joseph Taylor

Just having cracker crisps in the special K tweet shop! It is rather good! #tweetshop

September 28, 2012 7:27 am via Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite

@Heph

Simon Hepher

Yum! More free food. Thanks Special K #tweetshop http://t.co/gUQbLi1r

September 28, 2012 8:09 am via Instagram ReplyRetweetFavorite

@paulj85

Paul James

Increasing Brand Engagement

The official UK Press Office for the Kellogg Company (@KelloggsUK) also asked Twitterers who were not at the Tweet Shop to tweet using the hashtag #tweetshop for a chance to win some free Special K Cracker Crisps.

By engaging the audience in this way, the Kellogg Company helped increase the awareness of the new product and hopefully got some additional people to purchase them.

Who wants to win3 new flavours of Special K Cracker Crisps? Please tweet #tweetshop with a message why you should win! http://t.co/5BC0AxsL

September 28, 2012 3:36 am via webReply RetweetFavorite

@KelloggsUK

Kellogg's UK

Conclusion

As Paco Underhill pointed out in his book, getting people to try a new product is of the utmost importance.

Getting consumers to sample a product and creating a buzz at the same time is a big win.

That’s exactly what the Kellogg Company did when they introduced their Special K Cracker Crisps to the UK in September.

By using a trendy pop-up store in London’s Soho district, the Kellogg Company found a way to get the product into consumers’ hands and, at the same time, get them excited about it.

From the consumers’ perspective, they got some tasty snacks—and it only cost them a tweet.

Chad Thiele

Only Half the Story: Instagram Now Has More Daily Active Users on Mobile Than Twitter

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Advertising, app, apps, BLSG, Inbound marketing, Instagram, mobile, public relations, social media, technology, trends, Twitter Tagged with advertising, app, apps, BLSG, Inbound marketing, Instagram, mobile, public relations, social media, technology, trends, Twitter September 30th, 2012 @ 7:00 pm

You may have read the Mashable article that reported that Instagram now has more daily active users on mobile than Twitter.

Yes, it’s true, according to comScore Instagram had 7.3 million daily mobile users in August, compared to 6.9 million for Twitter.

However, Twitter enthusiasts need not worry at all. After all, the numbers that were reported by comScore are only based on mobile users and many of Twitter’s users access the site via its website on their PC.

In fact, according to eBizMBA Inc., as of September 2012, Twitter is the 9^th most popular website.

Furthermore, I think it’s misleading to compare Twitter and Instagram, because they are two very different types of social networking sites. In fact, even though Facebook now owns Instagram, Instagram and Twitter currently have a very symbiotic relationship. That is, many Instagram users use Twitter to share their photos with other people in their network—particularly those who aren’t using Instagram. This benefits both Twitter, as its users can share additional content, and Instagram, as its users can have their photos reach a larger audience.

Therefore, the fact that Instagram has more daily active users on mobile than Twitter is only half the story.

In fact, I don’t think that it’s a story at all.

In the end, Twitter is still a great place to for advertisers to focus when trying to generate buzz about their products or services. As I plan to point out in the next post, this is particularly true when used in conjunction with some other event or as a part of a larger marketing or public relations campaign.

Photo credit: eldh on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Social Media Marketing Is About Business… And, That’s No B.S.

2 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in book review, customer service, Facebook, public relations, social media, technology, Twitter Tagged with book review, customer service, Facebook, public relations, social media, technology, Twitter July 22nd, 2012 @ 1:00 pm

By now, you have probably heard someone say that your business should be using social media to help market your products or services.

There is no doubt that the other decision-makers in your company have heard that, also.

There is a chance that they have decided to take a wait and see attitude or maybe they even rolled their eyes and decided that they didn’t believe the hype.

On the other hand, they may have decided to take the chance to see what they could accomplish by using social media as a marketing tool. In my opinion, that’s the smart decision.

No Bullshit Social Media

In their book “No Bullshit Social Media: The All-Business, No-Hype Guide to Social Media Marketing,” (affiliate link) Jason Falls and Erik Deckers explain that when used correctly, social media can be used to enhance branding and awareness, protect brand reputation, enhance public relations, build community, enhance customer service, facilitate research and development, and drive leads and sales. All of which will have an effect on your bottom line.

As they say, “When you add the word marketing to social media, it’s about business.”

Social Media Marketing Is Not Free

A lot of people think that social media marketing is free. This is not true.

Sure, it might be free to set up a Twitter account for your business and create a Facebook page, but you still have to pay someone to handle your social media marketing efforts, not to mention any other overhead costs that will be incurred (e.g., the costs of computers, electricity, etc.)

In fact, if your business uses social media to enhance customer service, your costs might actually increase.

This is not because it costs more to reach customers using social media. In fact, the opposite is usually true.

However, when you use social media to handle customer complaints, you might actually be able to reach unsatisfied customers who might not have made the effort to call or email your business to complain.

As Falls and Deckers suggest in their book, “Measure the total number of issues your customer service department handles as a whole. That includes phone and online issues. Has the number gone up because of the use of social media? Then that means a lot of those customer complaints were already out there, but you were able to identify them and solve the problem. It might mean you’re handling more issues on the whole, but it also means you’re increasing customer satisfaction.”

Final Thoughts

In my opinion, businesses that are taking a wait and see attitude or dismissing social media marketing altogether are definitely leaving money on the table.

As Jason Falls and Erik Deckers point out in their book, social media marketing can be used to help your business achieve many of its business goals. That is, if your business uses social media correctly.

If you are looking for suggestions on how to use social media for marketing purposes, I’d suggest picking up a copy of the book and giving it a read. It is filled with useful information and valuable case studies that reveal what has and hasn’t worked for other businesses in the past.

And, that’s no bullshit.

Photo credit: Tomas Fano on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Think Outside the Bubble

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in branding, Twitter Tagged with branding, Twitter June 25th, 2012 @ 10:00 pm

We all live our lives in different ways.

Often, we interact with people in our ecosystem and forget that life is very different for people outside of our little “bubbles” of reality. For example, some people on the bleeding edge of technology might only interact with people with similar interests, thus they forget that most people outside of their bubble aren’t as informed about the latest and greatest software, apps, and websites.

Furthermore, people also tend to have different opinions about the best ways to approach a problem.

However, many people tend to think that most people think the same way that they do. This is definitely not true most of the time.

In fact, even if you fill a room with like-minded individuals, there is going to be a least one topic where you are going to find some disagreement.

If the topic that is being discussed is philosophical or personal in nature, the worst thing that can happen is that you might make someone else mad or possibly lose a friend.

However, if you continue to live with blinders on and think that all people think like you do when you make business decisions, it could end up costing you a lot of money in the long run.

People See What They Expect to See

In their book, titled “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind,” (affiliate link) Al Ries and Jack Trout explain, “Ask two people of opposite persuasion, say, a Democrat and a Republican, to read an article on a controversial subject. Then ask each one if the article changed his or her opinion.”

“You’ll find that the Democrat gets out of the article facts to support one point of view,” the authors continue. “The Republican gets out of the same article facts to support the opposite point of view. Very little mind changing takes place. You see what you expect to see.”

Marketing Your Product or Service

When marketing a product or service, brands shouldn’t look for the solution in the product or service itself.

And, because they are so close to the product or service, know more about the product or service than others do, and have a built-in bias towards their product or service, brands shouldn’t try to create their marketing messages based on their own opinions.

Instead, brands need to build their marketing messages based on the current perceptions of the product or service from the prospect’s point of view, not the reality of the product as the brand sees it.

Marketing Recommendations from Experts

In my opinion, even marketing experts tend to forget that they also have a unique reality that is different from everyone else’s. That is, once they have achieved a certain level of success, they tend to give advice based on what is currently working for them. In the process, they forget how difficult it was to get someone to listen to them when they first started out. And, it may be the case that the current environment is a lot different now than it was when they first got started.

Therefore, if they have a certain level of name recognition and respect, the advice that they give might work for an established brand, but it might not work so well for an up-and-coming brand or even a small “mom-and-pop” business down the street.

As Chris Brogan likes to say, “Your mileage may vary.”

It is for this reason that I was happy to see that Mr. Brogan recently started a new Twitter account to see how “big name” people respond when they think the tweet is coming from a no-name guy with only 45 followers. This is an exercise that I think all successful marketing consultants should participate in from time-to-time, on Twitter and in other marketing vehicles that they give advice about. This will help remind them of the difficulties that a new startup or company might encounter.

Final Thoughts

We all live in our own little “bubbles” of reality. That is, everyone lives a different life and forms opinions about reality based on what they have experienced in their lives.

If a person has formed a strong opinion about a topic, even the most solid evidence against that opinion might not persuade them to change their mind.

Therefore, when a brand creates marketing messages that are intended to try to persuade consumers to purchase their products or services, they shouldn’t try to change the mind of the prospect by telling them things that go against the prospect’s current beliefs. Instead, they should create marketing messages that use the prospect’s current perception of the product or service to the brand’s advantage.

Furthermore, in order to provide the best advice to clients, marketing consultants need to avoid making a similar mistake. That is, they need to keep in mind that what works for them is not necessarily going to work for a brand that hasn’t made a name for itself in the marketplace.

In other words, brands and marketing consultants need to think outside the bubble.

Photo credit: Trodel on Flickr. Original by Mila Zinkova, edited by Alvesgaspar on Wikimedia Commons.

Chad Thiele

Is Twitter Destined to Fail or Did It Find a Creneau?

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Facebook, Inbound marketing, SEO, social media, target marketing, technology, trends, Twitter Tagged with Facebook, Inbound marketing, SEO, social media, target marketing, technology, trends, Twitter June 17th, 2012 @ 8:00 am

People are always trying to assess the future of various social networking sites.

For businesses, this type of assessment is needed from time to time, because businesses don’t want to invest heavily in a particular social networking site only to see it close its doors.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that HubSpot is holding a debate about the future of Twitter on Friday, June 22, 2012, at 12 P.M. EST.

The debate will feature Kipp Bodnar, Inbound Marketing Manager at HubSpot and co-author of “The B2B Social Media Book” (affiliate link) and Laura Fitton, Inbound Marketing Evangelist at HubSpot and lead author of “Twitter for Dummies.” (affiliate link)

Mr. Bodnar predicts that “Twitter is slowly coming to an end.” On the other hand, Ms. Fitton “couldn’t disagree more.”

Personally, I agree with Ms. Fitton, but it will be interesting to hear what they both have to say during the debate.

Finding a Creneau

I’m currently reading, “Positioning: The Battle for Your Mind,” (affiliate link) by Al Ries and Jack Trout.

In the book, the authors point out that the French have a rather useful marketing expression, “Cherchez le creneau.” The English translation: “Look for the hole.”

The authors suggest that it is difficult (if not impossible) for a brand with a small share of the market to take on the established leader by competing head-to-head.

Instead, they suggest, “Cherchez le creneau and then fill it.”

Facebook Vs. Twitter

In the social media world, with over 900 million monthly active users, Facebook is clearly the established leader.

Using the logic put forth by Ries and Trout in their book, it doesn’t make sense for another social network to try to take on Facebook by offering a similar product. However, in my opinion, that is exactly what Google+ is trying to do.

Twitter, on the other hand, with its approximately 100 million users, offers users a social network that is very different from Facebook. Instead of using a complicated formula similar to Facebook’s EdgeRank to determine who sees a post, pages and a timeline that are filled with a lot of other distractions, and a plethora of other features, Twitter focuses on speed, simplicity, and brevity.

In fact, what makes Twitter unique is brevity. That is, given the fact that posts can only be 140 characters long, it forces the person who posts the message to get to the point.

Furthermore, Twitter is great for skimming through a lot of posts quickly to see if there is something that you might want to learn more about by clicking on the link, if there is one. This is not as easy to do with Facebook.

Therefore, it’s not surprising that according to a MarketingVox study, 40% of active Twitter users don’t actually tweet. They are using Twitter as a resource for information.

And, as Tom Webster points out in his blog post, titled “Why Twitter Is Bigger Than You Think,” the way that Twitter is set up makes it easy for traditional media outlets to use the site as a source for their news stories.

Bigger Is Not Always Better

The HubSpot blog post that introduces Friday’s debate points out that while Twitter came out only two years after Facebook, it hasn’t grown as fast.

I’d argue that this might not be a bad thing.

Often when a site gets so big that everyone is using it, it loses its appeal to a certain subset of the population. Twitter offers people an alternative to Facebook.

Furthermore, while users might use Facebook to connect with certain people, they might choose to also use Twitter to connect with a different subset of their network. This allows them to post things without sharing everything with everyone in their network. (I know that you can accomplish this by changing the post settings in Facebook, but sometimes it’s just easier to post to another network and not have to worry about it.)

Twitter for Business

Twitter is not going to be useful for every business.

As with all social networking sites, Twitter is going to be the most beneficial to your business if your customers and prospects are using it. Therefore, the future of Twitter might not matter to you if your customers and prospects don’t use the site.

Keep in mind, however, what you tweet does have a chance of showing up when your customers and prospects do a search on Google or any other search engine. This is just something to think about.

Final Thoughts

It is important for businesses that use social media for marketing purposes to keep up with trends and assess the health of each social networking site that they use to connect with customers and prospects.

Therefore, it might helpful to watch the debate that is being held by HubSpot on Friday.

Going into the debate, my feeling is that Twitter will be around for a long time, even if it only serves a small subset of the population.

Social networking sites can’t be everything to everyone.

As I pointed out in this post, I think that the fact that not everyone is using Twitter can actually work to its advantage.

In other words, I definitely think that Twitter has found a creneau and filled it.

Chad Thiele

Social Networking Sites Should Not Replace Your Website or Blog

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in app, blogs, Facebook, Inbound marketing, mobile, social media, technology, Tumblr, Twitter, word of mouth advertising Tagged with app, Blogs, Facebook, Inbound marketing, mobile, social media, technology, Tumblr, Twitter, word-of-mouth advertising June 2nd, 2012 @ 7:00 pm

On Friday, picplz announced that on July 3, 2012, it will shut down permanently.

This is not surprising, given the fact that Instagram recently released an Android version of the Instagram app. Prior to the release of Instagram’s Android app, picplz was one of the best alternatives available to people with Android phones.

What is more noteworthy is that all the photos picplz users have posted on the service will be deleted.

This is a good reminder that many of the services that we use could do the same thing, and all the time and effort that we spent posting photos and other content and building human connections could be for naught.

Home Bases, Passports, and Outposts

Chris Brogan, Darren Rowse, and others have been blogging about the concept of home bases, passports, and outposts for years.

One of the key points from their posts that I want to focus on is the fact that while social networking sites (passports and outposts) are great for connecting to your customers and prospects, they should not replace your blog or website (home base).

To build on that further, if your blog or website is being used for your business, you should spend the money and find a web hosting service for your blog or website. After all, while Tumblr or even WordPress.com might be around for a long time, they could choose to shut down at any time. If that happened, all the posts and relationships that you spent time and effort creating would be gone… forever.

Futhermore, while social networking sites should be a part of your online marketing strategy, you shouldn’t put all your eggs in one basket. If you only post on one social networking site, you are completely at the mercy of that site. For a business, that is not really a good position to be in.

Final Thoughts

Even with all the free social networking sites that are available, you should still invest in a self-hosted blog or website. This will give you complete control over the design, layout and content that you make available to your customers and prospects. And, the site will never go away, unless you want it to.

Don’t get me wrong, you definitely should be using social networking sites to connect to your customers and prospects. The point is, social networking sites (yep, that even includes Facebook) should not replace you website or blog. They should be used in addition to your blog or website. And, whenever possible, you should be using these social networking sites to drive customers and prospects to your blog or website.

Finally, if you have the resources, you should be connecting to customers and prospects on more than one social networking site for two reasons. First, people are fickle (i.e., they might choose to start using another social networking site more frequently.) And second, because social networking sites are run by third parties, there is always the possibility that they could decide to shut the site down.

When a social networking site does choose to shut down, all the content and connections that you spent precious time and effort creating will be lost, unless you find a way to bring your customers and prospects to your website or blog, where you are in control of what they see and how they connect to your business.

With that said, I have to go download a few photos…

Photo credit: odysseygate on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

Don’t Worry, They’re Just Words: Part II

4 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in blogging, case study, Inbound marketing, social media, Twitter, word of mouth advertising Tagged with Blogging, case study, Inbound marketing, social media, Twitter, word-of-mouth advertising May 26th, 2012 @ 11:00 pm

In my last post, I pointed out that the words that we choose to use can influence the way that people interpret what we are trying to say.

At times, the ideas that we are trying to convey to others might not be properly communicated because the intended recipients don’t understand the meanings of the words that we use. (In some cases, the words that we use might actually have different meanings among people with different cultural backgrounds.)

In other words, what we are trying to say might get lost in translation even if the people who we are trying to reach speak the same language.

Furthermore, even when the ideas that we are trying to communicate to others are properly received, there might be a more succinct or influential way of wording what we are trying to say.

A Real-World Example of the Power of Words

Not long after I posted the blog post, the point that I was making was illustrated perfectly in an article that was published by the Huffington Post.

However, in this case, it wasn’t an incorrect choice of words that caused the problem; it was the omission of the word “acquisition” that created the confusion.

According to a tweet by Peter Shankman, when the Huffington Post first published their article, it said, “Facebook has said it expects the Instagram to close sometime this year.” (Or, something similar to that—I didn’t see the actual post before the change was made. I am relying on Mr. Shankman as a trusted source.)

This led him to post this tweet with a link to the article:

However, the mistake was spotted and the article was updated. Fortunately, Mr. Shankman found out about it and tweeted this:

However, Mr. Shankman’s original tweet was still out there and not everyone saw his tweet about the typo. Therefore, misinformation continued to spread on Twitter the next day.

For example, his tweet was retweeted by Britton Edwards, and it looks like that is how Emily Binder found out about it. This led her to tweet:

This is how I found out about the post and the typo.

Now, as you can see, the omission of the word “acquision” changed the meaning of the sentence in the article and rumors of Instagram closing started to spread on Twitter. In fact, they continued to spread even after the article was fixed and Mr. Shankman tweeted about the correction.

I’m guessing that a lot of people had the same reaction that Mr. Shankman and Ms. Binder did. Just think about how many other people tweeted this.

Final Thoughts

The example that I gave in this post illustrates the fact that one word can make a huge difference in how people interpret what you are trying to say. (It also illustrates how rumors can easily be started by an innocent mistake.)

Therefore, it makes sense to not only pay attention to what you say, but also how you say it.

This is true when you are writing traditional advertisements and when you are writing blog posts as part of your content marketing efforts.

If you are interested in reading about this further, I’d check out Peter Shankman’s blog in the next few days, as it sounds like he might have a thing or two to say about it. (I will update this post with a link if he does write a post about this in the near future.)

Furthermore, you also might want to check out Emily Binder’s lastest post. She doesn’t address the typo, but she does give her opinion about Instagram and the Facebook Camera app.

Chad Thiele

Some Things to Consider When Choosing Where to Post Content

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Facebook, Pinterest, social media, target marketing, Tumblr, Twitter, word of mouth advertising Tagged with Facebook, Pinterest, social media, target marketing, Tumblr, Twitter, word-of-mouth advertising May 17th, 2012 @ 4:00 pm

Many businesses have dedicated a lot of resources to try to figure out why content gets shared on the Internet.

While many factors play a role in influencing what gets shared and what doesn’t, most experts agree that posting great content is essential. After all, why would people share something if it isn’t interesting in the first place?

Once you have great content, getting it in front of the right people (key influencers) is also important. Getting these key influencers to share your content is going to go a long way in increasing the reach of your message.

The question then is: Where should you post your content?

Choosing the Right Social Networking Sites

The best advice that I can give you about where you should post content is to post it where your customers and potential customers hang out.

That sounds easy enough… All you have to do is conduct a survey to find out what social networking sites your customers and prospects currently use, examine what social networking sites are currently driving traffic to your website, and/or look at the demographics of the users of each social networking site.

Say that you find out that most of your customers and prospects are on Facebook and Twitter, but don’t use Google+, Pinterest, Tumblr, or any other social networking site. That means that you can focus on these two social networking sites and call it a day, right?

Not exactly.

You see, if you use this logic, you are forgetting the role that key influencers play in social media.

Let’s say that a lot the key influencers in your particular field use Facebook, Twitter, Google+, and Pinterest.

Given all the potential noise that’s out there on Facebook and Twitter, it might be easier to get your message in front of key influencers if you post on Google+ or Pinterest. If the content is good enough, the key influencers will hopefully post it on the other social networking sites that they use. In this case, if they share it on Facebook and Twitter, it would put your content right in front of your customers and prospects, with the added benefit that it is being shared by people that your customers and prospects know and respect. That’s priceless.

The Role of Traditional Media

To complicate the matter even further, traditional media can also play a role in spreading your message.

As Tom Webster points out in a blog post, titled “Why Twitter Is Bigger Than You Think,” when you post something on Twitter, it has the potential to be talked about in the traditional media. In fact, according to research conducted jointly by Arbitron and Edison Research, 44% of all Americans age 12 or older report that they see tweets in other media (e.g., radio, television, newspapers, or other websites) “almost every day.”

Now, before you go running to your coworkers to tell them that your business should be posting on Twitter in order to help get your content shared in other media, you need to keep in mind that the research is only saying that it is possible that your content will be mentioned by traditional media outlets if it is posted on Twitter. However, is it likely? Probably not.

You will need to post some really remarkable content for it to be shared by the traditional media outlets. But, it could happen.

Also, keep in mind, the study only looked at Twitter. (At least, that’s the only site that was mentioned in the blog post.) The same thing could happen if you post on any social networking site. And, as mentioned, if it is good enough, your content will probably find its way to Twitter even if you don’t post it there. (If it is content posted on your blog or website, having social sharing buttons helps make this easier.)

Final Thoughts

There are a lot of things to consider when deciding where you should be posting your content.

Before you write off a social networking site because you don’t think that many of your customers and prospects use the site, you need to consider where it will be easiest to get the attention of key influencers in your field. In some cases, this might not be the same social networking site that most of your customers and prospects use. With this in mind, it might make sense to maintain a presence on this social networking site, anyway.

Furthermore, by posting your content on various social networking sites, it makes it possible for your message to be spread in other media, as well.

In the end, though, you still need to post content that people find interesting. Otherwise, why would they share it?

Photo credit: Rosaura Ochoa on Flickr.

Chad Thiele

How Businesses Can Get More Followers or “Likes” on Social Networking Sites*

0 comments By Chad Thiele Filed in Facebook, Inbound marketing, social media, Twitter, word of mouth advertising Tagged with Facebook, Inbound marketing, social media, Twitter, word-of-mouth advertising May 2nd, 2012 @ 10:00 pm

Do you want to know what the secret is to quickly gaining a lot of followers or “likes” on social networking sites?

Well, here it is: Create a brand that is loved by people all over the world or become famous in some other area of your life.

I say that somewhat tongue in cheek, but the reality is that this statement is actually pretty accurate.

If you look at the top 100 accounts on Twitter, you find that most of them are owned by celebrities. Furthermore, most of the top 100 Facebook pages are owned by major brands, celebrities and a few movies and television shows.

Ways for Small Businesses to Gain Followers and “Likes”

Although major brands and celebrities top the lists of accounts with the most “likes” on Facebook and followers on Twitter, that doesn’t mean that small businesses or businesses that are still trying to make a name for themselves should write off social media as a way to acquire new customers or retain existing ones. In fact, social media is perfect for small businesses. It just takes more time and effort.

Most experts suggest that businesses should post great content and interact with fans and followers to increase the number of followers and “likes” that the business has on social networking sites. For additional suggestions, you might want to check out this article that was posted on the HubSpot blog, titled “8 Guaranteed Ways to Increase Social Media Reach.”

More “Likes” or Followers Isn’t Necessarily Better

Having a lot of followers or “likes” on social networking sites doesn’t always translate into increased sales.

For example, say you own a business in Honolulu, Hawaii, and have a lot of “likes” on your Facebook page from people who visited your establishment when they were on vacation, but not a lot of locals connected to your business on Facebook. If you have a product that can be mailed to customers when they get back to the mainland, having the out-of-town customers connected to your business on Facebook or any other social networking site could be a good thing. However, if your product or service can only be enjoyed when your customers are in town (e.g., if you own a bar, surfboard rental shop, etc.) then these connections will only lead to increased sales if these customers visit Hawaii on a regular basis or recommend your business to people in their network who might be planning to visit your city in the near future.

In this scenario, if you use your Facebook page to push out messages to your customers and potential customers, it’s not going to do a lot of good for your business, unless you can build connections to locals who might be able to use your services more often.

Furthermore, as JD Rucker points out in a post on socialmediatoday.com, titled “Why Local Businesses Should Stop Focusing On Their Facebook Page,” just because a lot of people “like” your Facebook page or follow you on any other social networking site, doesn’t guarantee that these people will see your posts. And, if they do, it doesn’t necessarily mean that they will be motivated to use your products or services.

What you are really going to want to do to get the most out of your social media marketing efforts is to get your customers and potential customers talking about your business online. In the post, Rucker offers some suggestions about how you might get these conversations started.

Final thoughts

Although it’s clearly easier for a well-known brand or celebrity to get users to connect to them on Facebook, Twitter, or any other social networking site, social media can still be a valuable marketing tool for small businesses. It just takes more work.

There are steps that businesses can take to increase the number of users who “like” or follow their business on any of the many social networking sites out there.

Posting great content and interacting with the people who have connected to the business on these social networking sites should be a part of the business’s social media marketing strategy.

However, the real magic happens when a business can get its customers talking about and recommending the business to their friends, family and other people in their social graph.

* Note: There is an asterisk in the title of this post, because after reading this you should now realize that getting more “likes” or followers shouldn’t be your only goal. In fact, the most important goal should be to do things that make your customers happy and then encourage them to share their love of your business with their friends and family online.

Photo credit: warrenski on Flickr.