Get To The Grapes

Friday, June 4, 2010

Target your social media efforts by going for quality over quantity

Sacramento Business Journal – by Debi Hammond, Contributing writer, Marketing

Dunkin’ Donuts has 80 percent fewer Facebook and Twitter followers than Starbucks. So it is losing the social media game, right? Well, it depends on your definition of social media success.

If your goal is to be like Ashton Kutcher (he was the first to reach the 1 million “follower” mark on Twitter, even before CNN), then I guess you could consider your social media program a success. However, my recommendation is to focus on quality over quantity.

Besides, what do those 1 million followers really represent for a celebrity? More movies? More money? Or was it simply a bunch of people experimenting with a new medium who now have inactive accounts?

After all, according to a recent Nielsen Online data study, 60 percent of Twitter users quit after a month.

From a business perspective, the question you want to ask yourself is, does having more “followers/friends” equate to having more business and more brand equity? If you want to use social media effectively, then stop “selling” and be more “social.”

Be authentic

The biggest mistake marketers and small businesses make when trying to market their businesses is trying to use social media the same way they do traditional media. Social media is not traditional media and should not be treated the same way.

Television and radio use a “hard sell” approach. It’s one way and directional: “buy me” now. Social media is “social,” meaning people need to be engaged to want and to learn about your product, service or other information. You can, and in most cases, should, use it as an integral part of your marketing campaign, but don’t treat it as a traditional marketing tool.

Social media is about engagement. It’s bi-directional. It’s about providing value. It’s about being authentic. If all you do is tweet about what’s on sale, promotions and the number of “friends/followers” you want, buy an ad because social media is not the place for the “hard sell.”

You want followers that want to follow you. You want followers who are truly engaged in your brand and are following you because of the value you bring to their lives. If you’re wondering what kind of social media marketer you are, take this brief quiz (answer yes or no): See article at the Sacramento Business Journal (more…)

Don't be a Jesse James

It seems as though, if given the opportunity, marketers will try to blur the line between fact and fiction and this holds true no where better than the ‘wild wild Web.’ Since the first blog was posted, marketers have been seeking ways to capitalize on those blogs with significant audiences, and at times (shocking!), they have forgone transparency for the sake of the sale. 

A perfect example is Wal-mart’s Walmarting Across America blog (no longer active).  Basically the premise was about a  couple who just “happened” to drive their RV around the United States, parking in Wal-Mart parking lots as they went and blogging about their great Wal-mart experiences. The problem was it was billed as authentic when, in fact, it was a carefully scripted (and paid) campaign by Edelman (a well-regarded worldwide PR agency) for Wal-mart. 

There are many examples of the misuse of blogs and bloggers by companies marketing their products and services as well as a blatant disregard for disclosure and as such, the FTC has stepped in with guidelines to help keep unethical marketers (and companies) at bay. 

The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) has issued final changes to its Guides Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising. While advisory in nature, the new guidelines will reset standards of behavior that public relations, marketing and advertising professionals should adopt to avoid violating underlying laws against unfair competition and false advertising.

As outlined in a notice provided by The Public Relations Society of America (PRSA), the FTC Guidelines  make three key departures from previous guidelines that could impact marketing professional’s practices:

• The FTC advises that “endorsers” as well as advertisers can be held liable for false or unsubstantiated claims or for failing to disclose material connections between the parties.
• The Guides no longer offer the “safe harbor” whereby testimonials can be qualified by a “results may vary” disclaimer.
• Regarding endorsements, the Guides specify that celebrities should disclose relationships with advertisers.

While the FTC will approach each potential violation on a case-by-case basis, the new guidelines will impact how professionals should approach some common practice scenarios. Here are some applications of the guidelines:

• Bloggers who receive cash or in-kind payment (including free products or services for review) are deemed endorsers and so must disclose material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.
• Any firm that engages bloggers by paying them outright to create or influence editorial content or by supplying goods or services to them at no cost may be liable if the blogger does not disclose the relationship.
• Advertisements or promotions that feature a consumer who conveys his or her experience with a product or service as “typical” should clearly disclose what results consumers can generally expect or specify how the results were unique to the individual circumstances.
• If research is cited in an advertisement or promotion, any sponsorship of the research by the client or the marketer should be clearly disclosed.
• Celebrities who make endorsements outside the context of traditional ads, such as on talk shows or in social media, should disclose any relationship with the advertiser or marketer.

A note to marketers, we owe it to ourselves and our profession to do what’s right by, not only our clients, but by the general public as well.  Consumers are already wary of advertising, so let’s not ruin it in the online community too.  Just because it’s the ‘wild wild Web’ doesn’t mean we need to act like Jesse James.

David Holmes, SWA rapping flight attendant

Southwest Airlines continues to garner positive press by hiring great employees.  It’s one thing to have a well-written mission statement or great ad campaign, but it’s another thing entirely to actually live your brand promise.  Southwest, although not perfect, is certainly better than most airlines. Yes, they cram you on a plane and only feed you three peanuts, but at least they do it with a smile – which is much more than I can say for most airlines. Why do people fly Southwest? It’s cheap and no frills. Yet somehow, it’s the only airline that manages to ‘exceed’ my expectations when I fly. That doesn’t happen when I book my ticket online. It happens at the personal level. It happens when I am greeted with a smile at the ticket counter. It happens when the flight attendant actually smiles when I ask for six peanuts or more water. And it happens when they tell me during their safety announcement that I can store small children in the overhead compartment.

All the advertising in the world will not fix one of the most important elements of building a successful brand – your people. I mean really, what’s more endearing than a rapping flight attendant?  The guy has garnered close to 2 million views on YouTube and has been featured on CNN, Fox News and other major networks.  Now that’s great branding and PR. No matter what your musical taste, I’m sure you’ll enjoy this: Southwest Airlines’ rapping flight attendant

In the old days, when you received poor customer service, you could do one of two things: Wait on hold for an hour to speak to someone in ‘Customer Care’ or just get over it because seriously, how much impact could one person have.

Now, in the days of Web 2.0, business is becoming personal again and the beauty of it is that anyone can have a voice and they are using it! Case in point, Comcast.

Comcast is notorious for long wait times, poor service and technicians that often do more damage than good. Well, Comcast customers couldn’t take it anymore and it finally sent them over the edge. With the use of Web 2.0, the customers started fighting back.

Through the use of YouTube, one customer posted a video of a Comcast technician that fell asleep at their house while on hold with the Comcast customer service department! Another gentleman started a Web site called Comcast Must Die that allowed customers to comment with their own personal Comcast nightmare.

(more…)

As a columist for the Sacramento Business Journal, here is my latest article: You might be your firm’s best marketer. Enjoy!

The bar at Crush 29

Eating out at a nice restaurant goes beyond the food.  It’s about the service, the wine list, the table, the chairs, and most importantly, the toilets.  Yes, the toilets.  The bathrooms at a restaurant tell me more about the place than almost anything else.   Fine dining, for me anyway, is about the overall experience.  The experience that will position that brand in my mind.   So many restaurants are so concerned with advertising and leather-bound menus that they forget the most imporant thing – the overall experience.  If you create an expectation, you need to deliver what you promise.  Want a good dining experience? Visit Crush 29 in Roseville, CA.  Clean, warm, welcoming and beautifully designed.  And that’s just the bathrooms.

I visited Disneyland this weekend (yes, you read that right, this weekend).  I know it is the worst time to visit any amusement park, especially Disneyland, but it was a ’visit the family’ trip, so the weekend it is…

For a company who’s mission statement is “To Make People Happy,” the ride attendants should try a little harder.  Let’s just say they weren’t the ‘happiest people,’ period.  Now the charactors (Mickey, Minnie, Goofy), were a different story all togehter – now those things are happy!

But for a company who preaches a “fanatical attention to detail,” it really needs to transcend the rides and decor. The rides made me ‘happy.’ The decor made me ‘happy.’  The people on the other hand… It needs to translate down to the people.  They simply weren’t all that friendly.  And when you promise the customer that you’re going to ‘make them happy,’ it has to be at every touch point, not just the joy of the ‘ride.’  The attendants at California Screamin’ were more interested in each other than any of their passengers.  And the woman who was screaming her script into the microphone while we were on our boat safari, was simply annoying.  She was loud, shrieking and obnoxious. Again, a company needs to live its brand promise.  And I doubt their brand promise includes annoyingly loud 20-somethings screaming into microphones with a scripted laugh that was anything but natural. 

Now for the real ‘dirt.’  To be honest, there really wasn’t that much of it.  There were thousands and thousands of people at Disneyland, and I don’t think I saw one piece of trash on the ground.  They really kept the park amazingly clean.  For a company that caters to kids (big and small alike), you have to put the parents at ease.  And a clean park, makes you feel as though it’s a safe park.  And for parents (me being a new parent of a four month old), safety is paramount. So, if they would spend as much time training their ‘cast’ as they do their janitors, I think we would have truly enjoyed what really should be the ‘happiest place on earth.’

As a busy CEO, marketer, volunteer, wife, new mom, etc., finding time to keep up on news, politics, trends, pop culture, best-selling books, art, wine and yes, even celebrity gossip, is difficult.  Enter The Week.  It’s “All you need to know about everything that matters.”  Okay, not quite, but it’s pretty close.  Given that we’re in the midst of a political showdown, it’s hard to keep up with both sides of the story.  The Week, however, provides just that.  It takes key issues and provides excerpts from media around the world and across both sides of the political aisle.  For busy execs, it just might be the digest of ‘everything that matters.’  If you’re an “I only get my news from the Net,” kind of person, trust me, you might just want to try this ‘old school’ reading.  This digest-version of what’s happening in the nation, and the world, is pretty good stuff.  (more…)

If you thought you enjoyed reading blogs, hold on to your ‘wine glass’ because we’re creating a Merlog – two, in fact (see our agency Merlog “The Water Cooler”). “Get to the Grapes” is just that – a place to gain insight and access to the world of marketing (and other things of interest to me. In this industry blog (or Merlog as we like to call it), I’ll forego pretentious ponderings and simply get to the grapes about what’s happening in marketing and the world. Agency life is our life and we’d like to share with you our thoughts, ideas, and expertise from the agency perspective – and trust me, in this business, it’s a unique perspective. So, come back often and leave us a line – we encourage the conversation.