Get top marketing stories of the week.
Tag Archives: Facebook
You’ve Launched a Facebook Contest, Now What?
Conducting a Facebook contest is a fun way to engage followers, attract new followers and liven up a Facebook page. But, you cannot just expect the contest to run itself. It is important to have a strategy to help make the contest a success.
Following are some easy (and fun) ways to help promote a contest on a Facebook page.
- Utilize the pinned post feature to keep posts about the contest at the top of the timeline. We suggest pinned posts incorporate a photo about the contest (e.g. an image similar to the banner from the contest page, an image describing the campaign, etc.).
- When sharing images, consider using the highlight post feature to make the image appear larger on your timeline. For instance, if conducting a contest that requires a photo to enter, share some of the image entries paired with contest messaging.
- Change the cover photo to contest imagery and incorporate a link to the contest in the caption blurb. This gives visitors more than one way to find the contest, as well as easy access to a link.
- Share milestones (e.g. just reached 100 entries).
- Incorporate rich media (photos or video) with a post about the contest to help the post show up in more news feeds. Consider sharing images of the prizes, submitted content, etc. to drive more engagement and excitement about the contest. It also helps to show that others are entering the contest for the skeptics out there!
- Pull images from submissions and post to a contest photo gallery.
- Cross-promote on other social media outlets and website! Depending on the scope of the contest, consider sharing the contest with media (e.g. press release, media alert, media invite).
Remember, when running a contest on Facebook, all Facebook accounts must follow the Facebook Promotion Guidelines. As always, we are here to help. Good luck!
Are Facebook Likes the Equivalent of Higgs Boson?
I am no scientist. Just ask my son the scientist.
And I am no Facebook advocate. Just ask Mark Zuckerberg.
Still, all the recent excitement over the God particle got me thinking how awesome it must be to be a scientist and to know with almost complete certainty that you’ve actually achieved something real. Think about it. Peter Higgs hypothesizes the existence of this particle, then PROVES it through experiments.
According to the LA times, two teams reported independent results that suggested the existence of a previously unseen subatomic particle with a mass of about 125 billion to 126 billion electron volts. Both groups got results at a “five sigma” level of confidence — the statistical requirement for declaring a scientific “discovery.”
“The chance that either of the two experiments had seen a fluke is less than three parts in 10 million,” said UC San Diego physicist Vivek Sharma, a former leader of one of the Higgs research groups. “There is no doubt that we have found something.”
No doubt. How awesome would it be to run a Facebook social media campaign, hypothesizing that it will achieve something, then look at your results (traffic, likes, talking about this, total reach) and be able to conclude with five sigma certainty that you actually achieved something.
That’s the problem with marketing. You can be strategic. You can apply a scientific approach. You can measure for and document results. But you will never ever get results with a sigma five level of confidence.
Face it (and if you wish, you can even Facebook it), at the end of the day, we are not scientists. And I can live with that. After all, it took Higgs nearly 50 years to prove his theory, and very few clients have the ability, desire or luxury to invest that kind of time to sell a product.
Are Banana Peels Your Next Billboard?
During lunch yesterday, I discovered a pretty interesting sticker right on my banana. It was oddly shaped, with a QR code and website with a simple call to action: “Turn me into yonanas”.
Intrigued, I visited yonanas.com and learned about a new kitchen gadget that can turn overripe bananas into delicious, healthy soft serve ice cream. This marketing seemed directed right at me. I’m often faced with the dilemma of what to do with the last banana in the bunch that I just don’t want to eat. And as someone who loves ice cream but hates how bad it is for me, I thought the marketing and product was a great idea. There was even a video on the website showing yonanas featured on The Today Show. A quick scan of the yonanas Facebook page reveals a few people who saw the stickers and plan on purchasing a machine.
While this is definitely an unorthodox marketing strategy, it was a critical reminder to think beyond the obvious marketing strategies. In the case of yonanas, using the banana peel as advertising space made absolute sense, and they used smart creative and a clear call to action to support their message. This is an excellent example of using an ad to engage rather than invade. Rather than being offended to find an ad on my banana, I actually appreciate how well the company understands their target audience.
For your next campaign, consider how can you reach your customers with an ad that makes sense in their daily lives. There is no limit or shortage of possible locations for your next ad.
Marketing with Instagram
Instagram has rocked the social media world the past few weeks – first for the much anticipated release of a version for the Android™ mobile technology platform, and secondly, Facebook’s billion dollar purchase of Instagram.
A free photo sharing application for use on DROID or iPhone smart phones, marketers are wondering how they can use this tool efficiently and effectively. The latest integration with Facebook, who emphasizes photo and video content, could mean more possibilities for using Instagram in both B2C and B2B marketing.
Have you thought about Instagram as a marketing tool? While Instagram may not be a fit for all businesses, here are some things to consider:
Company Instagram Channel: Companies create their own Instagram channel to add character to instant uploads. For instance, a cupcake shop may snap a photo of a fresh batch of cupcakes, and upload it to their Instagram channel, share it on Facebook, Twitter or even Pinterest. This can help generate interest in your product…and leave some mouths watering. While you can certainly upload photos to all social media sites without Instagram, adding an Instagram filter can help add character to your post.
Check out Bergdorfs’ Instagram channel that was integrated into the Bergdorfs blog.
Contests: Social media contests are a great way to engage consumers, and can span a massive audience. This can occur across any social media, but if you plan to integrate an Instagram contest on Facebook, take the necessary steps to ensure your contest falls inside the Facebook promotion guidelines.
GE’s contest, “Be the Next Instagrapher”, was a hit with Instagram users.
Event Marketing: People love taking photos at events. Assign a hashtag specific to your events and have attendees apply it to their Instagram photo. This will also give you a way to have real-time photos of your event that you can repurpose for other social media channels. You could even share the photo feed at your event on “the big screen.”
While there are many ways to use Instagram for marketing, it is important to evaluate if Instagram is a fit for your business before diving right in. Just because it is there, does not mean you have to use it. Putting together a social media marketing strategy is essential.
Have other ideas for how to use Instagram? We’d love to hear them.
Facebook Brand Pages: Doomsday wasn’t so bad after all.
If you were scrambling to update your brand or business’ Facebook Page on March 30, you were not alone. The mandatory switch to Facebook’s Timeline format undoubtedly left many pages looking choppy and unorganized. For social media marketers, there are many things to consider about how to leverage the new Facebook Timeline, but here are a few basic features to help take your Facebook page out of limbo.
Cover Photo: Upload this image ASAP. This is the new “Face” of your Facebook page. Use this photo to showcase a current campaign, new product or service, or imagery that showcases the essence of your brand. For best photo quality and use of space, upload an image that is 851 pixels wide, 315 pixels tall and less than 100 kilobytes.
Profile Picture: Consider removing your current profile picture and just adding a small company logo that looks aesthetically pleasing in contrast to your cover photo. This will help maintain the cleanliness of your page.
Views and Apps: These have moved from a left hand side bar to the same grid as the Page’s profile picture. This means you may have to juggle some around so that the most important are shown on the front of your Page, and the less important apps can be viewed through the drop down menu.
To move these apps around, click the drop down menu on the far right of the apps bar to reveal all of your apps. Then, hover over the upper right hand corner of the individual app you would like to move, click on the pencil icon. This will give you the option to “Swap position with:” and select the appropriate app. Keep in mind landing Pages are no longer necessary with Timeline, so you may want to remove that app.
Pinned Posts: A pinned post allows the user to anchor the most important story, for instance a giveaway announcement, at the top of the Page for up to seven days. It can be unpinned at anytime. To pin, post the story on the Timeline, then click the pencil icon in the right hand corner of the post and select “edit or remove”. There it will give you the option to “Pin to Top.” Easy as that!
Again, this is just a very basic overview to help get your page out of Facebook limbo. There are many more built-in features to leverage for your specific business. We’ll continue to explore the use of the new Timeline features on ExeQnAtion, so stay tuned! For more specific details, visit Facebook’s Help Center to read more about the basics.
5 Ways to Test Advertising Effectiveness
When considering advertising – whether it be print, broadcast, online or even through Facebook – run a test campaign before making a long term commitment. This is a good method for determining if advertising in general – and a specific outlet in particular – is an effective strategy for your brand. And while the definition of a test campaign implies a much smaller cost, you still need to ensure those dollars are well spent and ultimately provide useful information to shape your advertising strategy moving forward.
Below are our top five quick-tips for securing the most data from your ad test campaign.
1. Establish Accurate Metrics. In order to understand whether a test is effective – and ultimately make a decision on whether it will be part of your long-term strategy – you need to specifically correlate customer response to a particular ad or campaign. Using a distinct phone number, web page or sales code or phrase to pursue an offer are simple ways to track responses.
2. Test competitive outlets. Use the same creative to reach two different outlets at the same time. Be sure to establish measurable outcomes to track the results from each outlet separately. You may learn that advertising in the leading trade magazine is ineffective, but that its competitor delivers impactful results. If you simply had tested with the leader, you may have decided not to pursue advertising at all.
3. Test different messages with the same outlet. Similarly, once you understand your best medium, try testing different messaging with the same audience to determine what drives the best results.
4. Provide a very specific call to action. This goes hand-in-hand with the importance of establishing metrics for a test campaign. Use the test as an opportunity to drive a specific action among your prospects. A high level branding campaign takes time and frequency to deliver results, and therefore is not conducive to a test campaign. Instead of trying to change a perception or raise awareness in general, use a test campaign to drive a measurable behavior. This will enable you to know sooner whether the campaign has been effective.
5. Always ask for more. Ad sales reps use test campaigns as a way to secure long-tem advertising commitments, and they understand that the more effective a test is, the better chance you will become a regular customer. Always ask for multi-media support when running a test campaign (i.e. ask for no-cost banner ads to support your radio test, or ask for an e-blast sponsorship to support your magazine ad).
Just How Big of a Deal is Social Media?
In the movie Flashback, Dennis Hopper’s character tells his young protégé “when we get out of the ’80s, the ’90s are going to make the ’60s look like the ’50s”. So would you think I am crazy if I tell you that when we get out of the 2010s, people will look at Facebook and Twitter the way people in the 1980s looked at disco and long hair? To paraphrase Nassim Taleb, if you think you understand the world and possess the ability to predict the future, you are probably wrong.
Social media has become the golden calf of marketing, with magical, mystical powers perceived worthy of worship. But let’s be clear about a couple points:
1. When the term social media is kicked around (and it is kicked around feverishly these days), the kicker is typically referring to two sites, Facebook and Twitter. There is some allusion to LinkedIn and YouTube and few others (including MySpace and Ning), but generally speaking, they are talking about one or two sites.
2. There is a growing sentiment that the collective voice of social media is the voice of truth and reason (aka, the great and powerful Oz). In point of fact, the collective voice of social media is just that, the voice of those people who are particularly interested and/or motivated to follow and talk about a particular topic. They are not necessarily representative of the population at large. In fact, they rarely are.
3. Although treated by many marketing experts as a tested and proven science, social media marketing is at best, three parts science, three parts magic and one part thin air. And anyone presenting themselves as social media experts should come under immediate suspicion. The fact that one has been involved in social media for a decade does not make them an expert.
[Disclaimer: This is the point at which I like to remind my readers that I am an advocate of social media as one of many strategies for reaching target audiences. I am simply flashing the caution light for all those who are speeding headlong into the traffic without fully understanding what social media is really all about.]
For example, Automotive News boldly announced today that Ford Motor’s global marketing chief plans to dive deeper into social media to promote new products. On the surface – as a headline – this sounds great. In fact, here is how the headline reads: SOCIAL MEDIA ARE KEY TO FORD’S PRODUCT PUSH.
But what Jim Farley actually tells us in the interview is that he plans to use social media as one of many tools to promote new vehicles. He doesn’t tell us how he intends to use social media, but he does say that his social media expenditure will now be up there with his search and digital banner advertising investments. He fails to mention that his investments in traditional media marketing – TV and radio and print advertising and publicity and direct mail – will be massive in comparison.
To be sure, social media is a big deal. But like the headlines of Automotive News, there’s a lot of hyperbole and misdirection you need to filter through before concluding how and when to use it.
How I Survived Losing My iPhone
Tom Hanks has nothing on me. Yeah, he was cast away on a deserted island for four years, but did he lose his iPhone? Did he survive a week without checking his email at every convenient moment? Did he suffer the inability to check baseball scores or the ESPN Fantasy Scoreboard? Did he know what it was like to not use a TV Guide app and have to actually flip through the channels to find a program? Did he go to his favorite coffee shop (Starbucks) unable to check in on Foursquare? Did he experience the anxiety of not being able to text friends and associates whenever the spirit moved him? Did he have a clue what it was like to be shunned by the mobile Facebook and Twitter communities? Did he stare into the eye of a QR Code knowing he could not scan and download?
No, Tom Hanks (aka, Chuck Noland, the FedEx systems engineer) had it easy. After all, I was one of those guys – one of those early adopters – who managed to secure the earliest version of the iPhone… the iPhone classic. And despite the crappy AT&T coverage and the grindingly slow speed at which it operated, it became a part of me. And I became a part of it.
So imagine the emotional pain of losing my right appendage.
Turns out it wasn’t that big a deal. Within the first 24 hours, I was back to my old routines (pre-iPhone). Within a couple days I was actually happy to be freed up to talk with people and avoid all the junk mail and conversations that were eating up my day. I even managed to spend the last two days in Atlanta on business without missing a beat. Suddenly my iPhone was a whyPhone, as in “why did I let it become such an important part of my life?”
By the time you read this, I will have survived seven days – a full week – without my soulmate. I will also be activating my new iPhone 4.
What can I say. Just because I don’t need it, doesn’t mean I don’t want it.
5 Ways to Convert LinkedIn Profiles Into a Powerful Branding Tool
B2B companies and industry experts have made rapid use of Twitter, Facebook and personal and corporate blogs to enhance their positioning as experts. Often thought of as a virtual resume or networking tool, LinkedIn – when used properly – can act as a powerful tool to strengthen corporate and employee reputations and reach target audiences.
In fact, LinkedIn profiles receive a fairly high page rank in Google. This alone provides confirmation that LinkedIn corporate and employee profiles need to be a destination, not just a supporting player in your company’s online presence.
Here are five fast and easy ways to transform your LinkedIn profile into a powerful brand building tool.
1. Optimize profile with targeted content and keywords. When completing your profile, every piece of information provided should be strategically crafted. From your title to your headline, develop copy and descriptions that incorporate key search terms for your company, product or service. Also, incorporate your value proposition (highlighting features and benefits) in the profile headline, summary or specialties sections. Finally, change the default URL for your profile to a custom URL that incorporates a key term relative to your expertise.
2. Customize and direct multiple unique website listings on your profile. List your company’s home page, company blog, key product or resources pages, etc. separately in your profile websites section. Choose the option to edit your website listings, and categorize each unique page as “Other”. Then, rename each page using key phrases optimized to help viewers find relevant company content.
3. Ask for recommendations. As a B2B marketer, you already know referrals and customer testimonials impact heavily on a prospect’s decision to purchase your product or service. Ask satisfied customers for recommendations, but ask contacts to specifically include how your company helped their business perform better in their review.
4. Use apps to place corporate and sales materials directly on your LinkedIn profile page. An app called SlideShare will allows you to embed 3 PowerPoint presentations into your profile – use it to provide introductory corporate and product/service information. Box.net’s free LinkedIn application allows you to upload and host downloadable corporate documents like whitepapers, case studies, etc.
5. Share industry expertise and social content. Use available tools to integrate your LinkedIn page to your blog and Twitter feed, and frequently post relevant news that is impacting your industry. The goal is to help establish you and your business as valuable expert resources that help customers and prospects do their job more efficiently.
Is This Social Media Marketing or a Ponzi Scheme?
It’s UP2U, so UBdaJudge.
Perfetti Van Melle is gearing up to introduce Mentos UP2U, its first stick gum sold in this country. The initial advertising efforts will be focused in social media like Facebook.
To get its Facebook fan page started, PVM offered the first 1,000 visitors who clicked on the “like” button free gum in a promotion that began on June 13 and ended on Wednesday. Nearly 100,000 signed up, and 99% of them did not get gum.
Phase two of the social media plans happen next month! An invitation will be made on the fan page, asking those who “like” the new product to provide the name of friends they would want to receive samples.
Is it just me or does this sound like a cross between a classic pyramid scheme and the ever popular Ponzi scheme? Mehmet Yuksek, executive vice president for North America at PVM says, “The strategy to introduce Mentos UP2U is very much 360-degree marketing, starting with very compelling and unique social media content.”
Compelling and unique?
COMPELLING AND UNIQUE?!?
I don’t want to pass judgments or jump to hasty conclusions, but I think we’ve passed the point where “free gum” and “give me the name of your friends” are considered clever social media. I’m just saying.
The Difference Between Being Socially Connected and Senselessly Connected
I had lots of heroes growing up. Edward R. Murrow was one of them. And I am reminded of something he was once quoted as saying: “Just because your voice reaches halfway around the world doesn’t mean you are wiser than when it reached only to the end of the bar.”
Likewise, just because you have 50 or 500 or even 5000 followers on your Twitter account does not mean you are socially connected. Let’s be honest, if you closed your eyes you probably couldn’t name 10 of them. And that’s fine.
And just because 25 or 250 or 250,000 people have “liked” you on your Facebook page doesn’t mean your observations are any more or less important than when no one “liked” you. As an example, 245,000 people “like” the Aflac duck, but as we all know, he isn’t real. In fact, he doesn’t even have a voice right now.
The last time I checked, Lady Gaga had nearly 10 million followers. Do any of these 10 million people actually believe they are somehow meaningfully connected to Lady Gaga? And do you think she actually reads the tweets of the more than 140,000 people she follows? This is senseless, not social.
Anyway, this past weekend I was debating via Twitter with one of my most highly respected friends whether it is necessary for reporters/journalists to interact via social media in order to remain relevant. And although we agreed to disagree on our beliefs, I think he – and Edward R. Murrow – would acknowledge that if you have something useful to say to someone who is actually listening, then being socially connected is valuable. Anything else is senseless. The numbers are not nearly as important as the nature of the relationships.
Good night, and good luck.
The Biggest Challenge Facing Marketing Today?
I have been participating in a personal social media experiment this week to measure the networking value of LinkedIn.
I picked an interesting topic in the eMarketing Association Network: “Can you use ONE WORD to describe the biggest challenge facing today’s Marketing?”
So far, there have been more than 320 comments – mostly of the “one word” variety. In and of itself, this is pretty scary. Do people in our industry actually believe you can sum up the single biggest challenge we face with one word? Yikes.
Anyway, whenever possible, I commented on other people’s comments to initiate dialogue or reactions, but with limited results. However, I did notice that a handful of the participants in this “discussion” were pushing to take the conversation to a higher level; this gives me hope.
Unfortunately, most seemed content to conjure up and spit out creative words, like this were an online game… Angry Birds or Bejeweled, as it were. And for me, that is the ultimate problem with LinkedIn and Twitter and Facebook as business tools. A lot of people are spending a lot of time talking about a lot of things that just are not that important.
When I was a kid and would chatter on and on with my dad, he would often tell me this: “Words are cheap, Jimmy. Show me.”
Or if you prefer the advice of Elvis, “A little less conversation, a little more action.”
Do We Need A Facebook and/or Twitter Account?
We are evaluating adding social media to our marketing mix, specifically Facebook and Twitter accounts. Is this a good marketing strategy?
________________________________________________________________________
By Jennifer Manocchio
Facebook, Twitter and other social media sites can be an excellent addition to your marketing strategy, but it all depends on what goals you are trying to achieve. You don’t want to invest in social media marketing because it is the latest trend and “everyone else is doing it”.
Just like any other marketing strategy, social media requires a time and money investment. It is a long-term strategy and requires a certain level of commitment from internal staff. Sure the sites don’t cost a dime to create an account, but you will need to support social media in order to increase followers, increase engagement, and continue to manage these sites.
The first step to effectively evaluating social media is to answer the following questions:
1. What are your goals for getting involved in social media (engage your target audience, create leads, generate sales, provide customer service support, etc.)?
2. What do you expect to gain from the social media involvement (enhance reputation, increase sales, reduce phone calls to call center, etc.)?
3. What level of commitment (time and money) are you willing to make to achieve a successful social media effort?
4. Is social media the most efficient and effective strategy to achieve your goals? Can other strategies (e.g., advertising, direct marketing, publicity, etc.) be equally or more effective?
Also, I highly recommend reading a great article published in Advertising Age – Ten Things Social Media Can’t Do — to set accurate expectations on what social media can and cannot do.
If after answering the questions above you feel social media will be a good addition to your marketing mix, then use your answers to start developing a social media strategy.
Identify what sites you will utilize, what the focus of the content will be (product reviews, customer service inquires/answers, special promotions, educational content, etc.), who will be the face of your company, frequency of updates, time commitment, how results will be measured and how often.
Too many companies view social media (blogs, videos, Facebook, Twitter, etc.) as a quick and easy solution to create sales, but in truth, it is no less time consuming and costly as more traditional strategies. However, if done properly, social media will generate results and help support your overall marketing strategy.
Need a social media strategy and support with implementation? Contact me at jennifer at sweeneypr.com or 910.772.1688.
Like It or Not Christmas Is Here!
The day after Halloween, I started seeing Walmart and Kohl’s holiday television ads. Pottery Barn already distributed its 1st holiday catalog, Target featured a toy guide in Sunday’s paper, Santa is already appearing in the malls, and just this week I started seeing direct response televisions ads for holiday music CDs. It is like we skipped Thanksgiving and went straight to the holiday season.
I completely understand why retailers are starting the holiday season advertising and marketing sooner, and it is apparently working because I’m already feeling like I’m behind with my holiday travel plans, holiday cards and holiday shopping. And I don’t think I’m the only one because the city of Wilmington put up its holiday decorations downtown last week and my sister has already been bugging me for gift ideas!
Personally, I think we as consumers need to take a stand. If we don’t, Christmas in July will soon be a reality! Join the “It’s Too Early for Christmas” Facebook group and take a stand http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=318417645693
Do you have a date with Facebook on Saturday at 12:01 a.m.?
On Saturday at 12:01 a.m. EST Facebook will allow users to secure a unique username for their Facebook accounts on a first-come first-serve basis. This will make it easier for consumers and brands/companies to make their Facebook pages more memorable.
So rather than the long profile ID URL users were given when they signed up (www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=123456789), you might have something like www.facebook.com/john.doe. All users have to do is go to http:/www.facebook.com/username starting at 12:01 EST on June 13 and hope Facebook doesn’t crash and that someone didn’t already take their name.
The rules for public Facebook pages are a bit different. An individual, company or brand with a public page has to meet two requirements. 1. Have started a public page prior to May 31, 2009 and 2. Have more than 1,000 fans by May 31, 2009.
I personally see this opportunity more beneficial for public pages – brands, companies/organizations and individuals. And get ready to see a lot more brands promoting their Facebook URLs… “visit Victoria’s Secret on Facebook at: www.facebook.com/victoriassecret.” Seems to me like there is more in it for Facebook than the brand or company itself… more Facebook promotion should translate into more visitors and more users.
While I do plan to get a username, I will not be on a date with Facebook this Friday night! After all, I don’t want to make my husband jealous.
Welcome Obama
Certainly extraordinary times create an opportunity to divert from the topic of consumer goods.
More than 1 million people are expected to flock to the National Mall tomorrow to see Obama sworn in. But you can enjoy the best seat in the house by watching the inauguration from your office, home or coffee shop. Consider yourself lucky… you will not have to fight for the port-a-potties; only about 500 are being provided for the expected 1-2 million people anticipated to attend!
Tune into one of the many online news sites streaming the live video.
1. CNN.COM: CNN.com and Facebook have partnered to enable you to connect with your Facebook friends while watching all the inaugural events on CNN.com Live. I already RSVPed and am excited to see how this works.
2. CBS.COM: CBS.com will host an exclusive Inauguration Webcast at 10 p.m. ET hosted by Katie Couric, who will look back at the historic day with a host of CBS reporters, political experts, pundits and special guests. The Webcast will include answers to viewers questions, which you can submit at the link provided above.
3. MSNBC.COM: MSNBC will broadcast the event live. There are no special features… just straight video.
4. New York Times: The New York Times will stream video from its home page. Simple and easy!
5. ABC News: Will stream video live and also have live blogs from John Berman and Juju Juggles.
6. PBS: Will be streaming the events live. You can also explore past presidents’ speeches on this site and see how Obama’s speech measures up.
No matter where you are, be sure to catch some of the inauguration. As my mother would say to us when we were kids… “This is history”. Now I can finally appreciate it.
