Posts Tagged ‘Social Media’
Posted by Dave McCue on February 17th, 2012
Advertisers shell out big bucks and roll out their best commercials to reach millions of viewers during the Super Bowl. Whether or not you’ve got that type of advertising budget at your disposal, a lot can be learned from the spots that aired during this year’s big game.
Think multi-channel
Chrysler’s “Halftime in America” featuring Clint Eastwood caused a big stir among viewers, but why stop there? Shortly after the commercial aired, Chrysler deployed an email message with a link to view the commercial. Not only did this strategy help Chrysler get in front of potential non-football fans, it also provided the commercial in an easily share-able format, helping expand the potential reach of the campaign into the social media space.
Familiar, or stale?
Nobody was surprised to see the Budweiser clydesdales, the Coca-Cola polar bears or GoDaddy’s latest “web content unrated” teaser, but at what point does the familiar begin to become background noise? It’s an important point of discussion for email marketers as well. If response rates aren’t where you would like them to be, it could be a case of recipients tuning your messages out. Try something new to get their attention.
Listen to your audience
Doritos’ “Man’s Best Friend” and Chevy’s “Happy Grad” both received high marks in the various audience polls conducted after the game, and both were user-generated contest entries. Does the audience understand brands better than brands understand themselves? Not likely, but from an email standpoint your audience can offer valuable insight into what “works” and what doesn’t in relation to your communications. See what they have to say, you might be surprised.
Posted by Rob Ropars on April 20th, 2010
Publishing your thoughts via various Social Media platforms, whether LinkedIn, Twitter, Facebook or blogging has always been a double edged sword. SubscriberMail has its own blog and we also use Twitter to Tweet about industry news and/or the new blog posts.
But on the personal side of things, most of us have our own email addresses, Social Media accounts and even our own personal blogs. Keeping a separation of work and personal life is always an ongoing necessary challenge.
Two developments this week should be a reminder to be cognizant of what you’re pushing out into the world via Social Media, specifically Twitter.
1-Google has announced that they are creating a searchable archive of Tweets to allow for future replaying of posts by users. So a string of Tweets posted that you might have created at home, late at night, on the weekend could be replayed like a video clip. Future generations can enjoy your missives on movies, games, politics or whatever.
2-The Library of Congress has just revealed a plan to archive ALL Tweets and make them a part of their permanent historical/public record. Here’s an example of some actual Tweets from @ParisHilton that future historians and students will be deconstructing and analyzing to better understand early 21st Century America:
*Aside from being @ the same club, Reggie and I didn’t even say hi to each other. I was there with my sister and friends. 6:21 PM Apr 13th via UberTwitter
*On set shooting still. Been here since 6am, so tired. Can’t wait to finish and get home to my puppies. 6:43 PM Apr 13th via web
*At my favorite italian restaurant with my grandpa and family. about 13 hours ago via UberTwitter
*At home getting ready for bed. I love my grandpa, we had such a lovely time with him and dinner tonite. He is the best grandpa in the world! about 9 hours ago via UberTwitter
Posted by Nic Winters on May 22nd, 2009
Welcome again to The First 2 Weeks, where we analyze 3 competitors’ email marketing strategies when it is most crucial… the opt-in process, welcome message, and first few campaigns as these marketers attempt to establish relationships with subscribers.
In our first edition we evaluated the opt-in process and welcome messages for 3 competitors in the outdoor sporting goods retail segment: Gander Mountain, Cabella’s, and Bass Pro Shop. In part 2 we will now investigate campaigns sent beyond the welcome email and preference editing options.
INITIAL CAMPAIGNS
All three competitors sent out additional campaigns beyond the welcome email within the first 2 weeks. However both Gander Mountain and Cabella’s communicated closer to the opt-in date and more frequently than Bass Pro Shop (as they sent only 1 message and it didn’t arrive until day 14). Both Gander Mountain and Cabella’s sent a total of 3 messages each in this same timeframe, with Gander Mountain sending the email closest to the opt-in date (day 3 as opposed to Cabella’s received on day 8). This quick response by Gander Mountain was sorely needed as they did not send a welcome email – unlike their competitors.
All 3 competitors had a reminder to add them to your address book to ensure the delivery of future messages at the top of each email, while only Gander Mountain and Cabella’s had links to view in a browser. Bass Pro Shops failed to offer this feature even though the one email we received beyond the welcome was image heavy and thus appeared fairly blank with images off.
Posted by Dave McCue on May 13th, 2009
In the mind of an online marketer, the knowledge that millions of potential customers are logging onto social media sites every day elicits an almost Pavlovian response. The marketer pictures so many pairs of eyes, and one great big opportunity to stick a message in front of them. Oh, the possibilities…
Those potential customers, meanwhile, might just want to throw sheep at each other on Facebook, reconnect with business associates on LinkedIn and update their Twitter status a dozen or so times a day. Simply put, they aren’t in the market to be marketed to—so why are so many people touting the merits of social media as an effective marketing tool?
It comes down to being able to periodically ignore the robotic voice inside their heads that keeps saying “must….promote…” If a business launches a social media profile, and the only thing it’s used for is promotion, then it’s just another advertisement—people receive advertising through plenty of other mediums.
What makes social media unique—and what often gets lost in the rush to use it as if it were a traditional marketing vehicle—is the opportunity for a personal conversation to take place between an organization and its target audience. I can think of several instances where I had already become a recurring customer of an online business before ever having contact with an actual representative of the company. In those cases, the first time any sort of personal communication took place is when I had to reach out to the company due to a problem with an order or something of that nature. With social media, a relationship outside of the purchase engine could have been established well in advance, strengthening my connection to the company and likely making for a less-contentious situation when issues arose.
Posted by Mike Ferguson on April 9th, 2009
Note to email spammers: You’re so 2008.
An interesting post on Security Expert Bruce Schneier’s blog. Long story short when there’s a will, there’s a way and social media has proven no exception.
We’ve already seen exploits on twitter via tweet tornado. Now, Schneier helps us understand some of the simple ways some of us or our social-media-entwined friends and relatives might be preyed upon after instilling perhaps a bit too much trust in some of the household names of the social network properties on the web. This goes beyond chatting up a new acquaintance in an online community that perhaps isn’t of the gender or age group they pretend to be. This is accepting network invites from people we might think are professional colleagues or old college friends.
General spamming and identity theft aren’t the only themes being called back from the early spam days of yesteryear. More specifically, it’s good to know our old Nigerian friend that just needs a little financial help hasn’t changed.
I can’t wait for Bill Gates to befriend me on twitter or facebook and offer me some money for spreading his message amongst my networks.
