The Automated Marketing Machine
Let’s get real, who hasn’t been annoyed from an automated telemarketer machine?
I find it shocking that some companies still believe that using automated direct marketing tools is a good idea. Sure it’s easy to get an ROI when the cost is so low.. but really.. is that all you got? Isn’t direct marketing all about personalization? It should be obvious that potential customers will only get annoyed (or even angry) when engaged in such an effortless manner.
If something is not acceptable with traditional marketing tools, then why do people think it is acceptable with social media?
The essence of social media marketing lies in the word «social» which is defined as interactions between human beings. Automation, on the other hand, is about using devices in place of human being.
Isn’t automated social media marketing a contradiction in itself?
So why are more and more businesses using software to update their profile content? People are always scared of “wasting time” on social media and automation seems to be the perfect “quick fix” to this problem. The truth is businesses using automation might feel like they are saving time, but they are in fact still wasting time (and money) because once customers realise the account isn’t responsive to comments or feedback the trust gets broken.
…and your account starts talking to itself.
So here is a 2 step solution:
1 - Do not fall in the trap of automation to try to save time but instead learn to be more efficient in your use of social media for marketing. You can plan ahead for updates and write blog posts in advance, as long as you also dedicate some of your time saved to listening to and interacting with the people in your social network.
2 - You can talk about the same topic on Twitter and Facebook, but do not post your Tweets directly on your Facebook updates: people can easily tell when a Facebook update is written in «Twitter language». I’ve had many people tell me they hate seeing the two networks collide.
Just remember: Social media marketing is as much, if not more, about listening to and interacting with others as it is about creating engaging content. And, who knows, you might get highly valuable market intelligence from following the conversations on your networks.
Here is a great talk by Tom Conrad of Pandora about how the site became the most popular online radio station.
“After nearly two decades in the trenches of Pets.com, Apple Computer, and the You Don’t Know Jack game series at Berkeley Systems, Tom Conrad (Pandora CTO) shares his acquired wisdom on succeeding in the consumer internet space. He discusses agility, crisp decision making, and focus, and peppers his lessons with numerous entertaining anecdotes of dot-com days and corporate progress.”
In this video Tom walks through 3 of the key lessons he learned through his career. For a man who’s never founded a company, he’s treated his leadership roles in the companies he’s worked for as an entrepreneur.
I was inspired by this talk a few months ago while biking the sea wall around Stanley Park. You can find this talk in MP3 format at ecorner.stanford.edu
Enjoy!
The power of FREE, SEXY and FUN: Creating social media contests that work
Having a profile for your business on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Meetup, ByzHub, etc. is great, but it is not enough. Truth is without friends, fans, and followers you would only be talking to yourself. So how can you convince people who might not know about your business to visit your pages and follow you on social media? One easy and proven way to get “ears” that will listen to your business news is to create social media contests. The good news for your budget is that a social media contest does not need to provide expensive prizes to the winners to be popular, the fun can be as much in participating as it is in winning if you are creative. Think fun, think bold and think sexy; it has worked for these businesses and it will work for you!
1. Pepsi Refresh Project: FREE
This is a great example of harnessing the will of people to feel good by doing good and talking about it. It also shows that people don’t always participate in social media contests for selfish reasons.
What it is: Pepsi created an interactive blog where people and organizations can share about their charitable project ideas and compete to win as much support from blog visitors as possible. The people or organizations with the most votes within their budget category would then get a grant from Pepsi (between $5000 and $250,000) to make their project come to life.
Smart move: You cannot just like the actual “Pepsi Refresh Project” on Facebook, you have to like “Pepsi” in order to get news about the charitable activities of Pepsi and interact with the grant winners.
They also make it easy for people to connect as a voter via Facebook and for voters to share who they voted for via the Social Media. Who wouldn’t want to share their support for charitable activities?
Could do better: The design of the Pepsi Facebook Page. With a Budget like Pepsi you would think they would find a way to personalize their page.
2. American Apparel’s best bottom: SEXY
They are the perfect example of how creating a sexy contest can really get the word to spread out fast about the contest and about the brand.
What it is: In order to promote their new line of underwear American Apparel decided to launch a global call to find the best bottom in the world. People (men and women) were asked to submit a picture of their behind (wearing panties) and the general public was asked to vote on the pictures on their website. The winner would get to be the “face” behind their new campaign with a free trip to LA and a professional photoshoot. That’s what I call crowd-sourcing!
Smart move: Before officially launching the campaign they already started the buzz by sending press releases to key online and offline fashion magazines and to influential bloggers.
Could do better: They mentioned and promoted their contest on Facebook and Twitter but could have been further by asking people to post pictures directly to their Facebook page and Twitter weekly about the highest rating bottom of the week with a direct link. This would have made this contest a real social media contest.
3. Rogue Kitchen & Wetbar’ contest for the best contest idea: FUN
Ok, this might not be the most fun social media contest of the year, but you gotta give this Vancouver-based company kudos for crowd-sourcing to the extreme.
What it is: This local Vancouver restaurant and bar is using the power of Twitter to not only get more followers but also to get ideas for their next social media campaign. The idea is simple: Twitter users have 14 days to tweet them their best contest ideas for a chance to win a $100 gift card.
Smart move: Just doing it.
Could do better: It would be even more fun if they could help their followers get inspiration by sharing their favourite contests by other companies. They could also mention what kind of contest they were thinking about (serious, fun, crazy, etc.).
4. Mary Kay “Your Way to Beautiful” makeover contest: Sexy
That’s a contest that does a great job at being consistent with the brand image and even improving it. This contest is also great because it goes beyond creating virtual social media connections into getting contestants to actually connect with local Mary Kay consultants in Vancouver.
What it is: The first step for all contestants is to meet with a Mary Kay consultant for their first free colour (makeup) makeover. The consultant, or friends, will take pictures before and after the makeover and upload it on the Mary Kay website. All contestants are encouraged to send their friends from Facebook and Twitter to vote for them on the page and to post their pictures on the social media too. The winners get dream vacations to sunny destinations.
Smart move: No purchases are necessary but meeting a Mary Kay consultant is. All Mary Kay consultants were out on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, etc. to talk about the contest.
Could do better: What about allowing people to also post the pictures on the Facebook page? It would also be great to partner with another brand for the prizes in order to save money.
5. Celebrate Parks Video Contest: Free
An example of how a smart partnership can allow a business to offer winners a prize that is literally priceless.
What it is: Contestants are asked to create a short video about one of Canada’s National Parks to show the world why this park is amazing. The videos will be posted on YouTube and people will get to vote on them. The winners not only get physical prizes such as an adventure trip and mountain sports equipments by partner companies, but the best video will also be screened at the Vancouver International Mountain Film Festival!
Smart move: Getting the interest of young professional documentary film makers by offering them the chance to have their work showcased at a world-class festival.
Could be better: I did not hear much about it in the local news and blogs. This contest could benefit from some publicity.
6. An idea worth exploring: FUN
Contests are even more fun in real life! Consider using Meetup to promote a real life contest or fundraising event and using contests/fundraising events to promote your Meetup group.
What it is: It’s even harder to get real “friends” than virtual “friends”, but Meetup is here to help connecting your online network to the real world. But how to incite people from your Meetup group to actually come to the event your are organizing and promoting?
Smart move: Give your Meetup group members the chance to win prizes when they come, or by giving them the chance to help a charity by coming. When it comes to the contest, be creative, it could be a contest of the best tie (or hat for girls) or the best business card, or prize tickets hidden in helium-filled balloons that contestants need to pop…the more fun, the more buzz you will get about your Meetup, your company (and the one of your partners) and your brand.
Could be better: To make the social media contest even more social, network and partner with other businesses to be able to provide a greater choice of prizes or auction items. If your company is a B2B, then consider offering prizes that are relevant to the businesses coming to the event. What about the chance to win a free consulting session, one month with a business coach or a social media marketing course? In the same way, those would make great auction items to raise funds for the charity of your choice.
Got a better idea? Leave it in the comments below and you can win 1 of 3 prizes!
1) A seat in my next Social Media Workshop (October 7th, 14th, 21st and 28th) $500 value
2) Custom iVatar By 2QCreations and Steven Lin $150 value
3) $25 Amazon Gift Card
Contest closes October 4th! Winners are selected by best idea voted by ME :)
Social Media Course in Vancouver
I just put together this snazzy little video using the Googles Search Stories application. The entire process took about 15 minutes. Not bad hey?
Oh, and of course, don’t forget to tell your friends about my social media workshop :)
Let me know what you think of this video. If you decide to create one for yourself feel free to leave a link in the comments.
Becoming an Entrepreneur
The first time I heard the word Entrepreneur. Yep, I actually remember it. It came to me tonight as somewhat of a flashback, when I really haven’t thought about it for years.
It was 1998 and I was in Grade 8 sitting in CAPP class (Career and Personal Planning). We were in a small class of less than 20, and I was the class clown. The teacher was at the front of the room explaining the day’s assignment. Each of us would be given a career roll and we would have to assemble the steps it would take to achieve the goal. Before folding up the titles and placing them in a hat (actually I think it was my hat because I wasn’t allowed to wear it in class) the teacher explained each of the careers. Nearing the end she got to Entrepreneur (I specifically remember her making a big deal out of it). She wrote the word on the board and asked the class if anyone knew what it meant? The class giggled (haha “manure”) and one girl put her hand up “a business man”. “No no” the teach said, “it’s not limited to men, more and more woman are becoming business owners these days” she went on.. As the class clown I wanted so badly to put up my hand and say “someone who poo’s a lot (hahahha)”. It just wasn’t creative enough.
Now here was the neat twist for the person who got the Entrepreneur roll. You got to choose to do whatever you wanted. You could just make up your career path. EASY. I want that one! The teacher went on to say that a percentage of the class (I forget the percentage but I recall it was high) would go on to become Entrepreneurs. She separated the class to show us the number of people who would go on to become Entrepreneurs, “most of them men, but many woman” she mentioned relating back to some statistics she found.
So finally she puts all these career paths into the hat and asks us to come up one at a time to draw out of the hat (kind of an ironic way of deciding your career path). I open mine, Entrepreneur, Entrepreneur.. Doctor. DOCTOR! Well hey, Doctors are successful people, right? So I research this Doctor Career. Shit. That’s a lot of school to go through.. Did I mention I wasn’t a big fan of school? But hey, lots of money for the average doctor. I didn’t have much fun mapping out this career. The girl sitting next to me ended up getting Entrepreneur. She created a cool little story where she gets to run her own business and bla bla bla (when she gets sick she’ll need me).
So that’s it.
That must have been the day I decided I was going to follow my dreams. I ended up following the path of film and theatre for the next 10 or so years and am still very passionate about the art of storytelling. How that evolved and connects to my vision of Internet Marketing is for a later post.
Do you remember the first time you learned what an Entrepreneur was? Do you love/hate your career path right now? What memory can you recall that may have set you on the path you’re on now. Tell me about it in the comments below or shoot me an email, I’d love to know.
