by Next Wave Team | Jan 10, 2009 | Crispin Porter + Bogusky, Future of advertising, How To Select An Ad Agency, Marketing & the Web, Viral Marketing
I thought about writing this post in 140 character Haiku- but that would be tough and time consuming. Twitter is fast and instant. The simple answer to “What are you doing” can be the ultimate test bed for concepts to our attention deficit audiences. Want to find out what people think: test it on your followers.
Leading tweetheads can make hits magically appear on a site in minutes with a 140 character or less tweet with a link. Launching a new product? Want to test a headline? Tweet the variations to different audiences and see what hits show up. A whole new practice of market research will appear- with the ability to get almost instant feedback.
Soon PR and ad agencies will be evaluated by their social network juice. How many people can you connect to who will work as brand evangelists? Crispin Porter & Bogusky launched Subservient Chicken for Burger King when the agency was 150 staffers- by just emailing their friends about the site. Quickly, the site ended up on top of the viral site hall of fame list. Now the agency is at 600+ employees.
While Twitter is still only reaching a small subset of the population at large, it’s reaching the all critical early-adopter, influencer crowd. So along with client lists and credentials, maybe hiring an agency should also involve checking out their social networks. Friends, followers and connections are the new currency of media power- and a great 140 character (or less) headline will be critical.
by Next Wave Team | Dec 29, 2008 | Marketing & the Web, Public Relations in the Web 2.0 world, Web strategy
Will the number of followers on twitter, or your page rank turn you into a consumer protection force in the near future?
Will companies start being extra nice to those who have social media mojo?
We think it’s happening already- and wonder if ad budgets shouldn’t be slashed and diverted to “customer satisfaction” funds instead.
Peter Shankman is a micro-brand on his own. His Twitter account (skydiver) has 19,093 followers. He publishes the “Help a reporter out” e-mail blast which reaches pr pros across the country. He has a book on PR stunts, he has a blog. He’s web 2.0 connected and plugged in.
So when he tweets about a bad customer service experience from TiVo it gets 35 comments in a few hours.
What actually happened re:@tivo this morning thatI can’t fit into a tweet: http://tinyurl.com/8houvz - S O very displeased. Feel cheated.
It may have been seen by 15,000 people. If others have also had bad experiences, they would start piling up. Back in 2006, I watched this happen on a friends site- for a bad hard disk drive. I also watched Advertising Age’s Bob Garfield launch his rant “Comcast Must Die” after a horrible customer service experience.
No matter how big or small your ad budget is, refunding $29 makes more sense than feeding a web 2.0 PR bonfire.
Bottom line, TiVo can’t afford these kinds of mistakes to normal people, never mind someone with a posse.
Here are some pieces of Web 2.0 customer service advice:
- Always have a customer service ombudsman contact for your site that is monitored 24/7 to respond immediately to potential complaints.
- Have Google Alerts set up on your product and brand name.
- Respond on the “offending” site- within the comments asap- even if it’s a “We’re looking into this”
- Admit your own mistakes on your company blog- and make sure you give credit to the customer for pointing out where you screwed up so you won’t do it again. This was Dell’s solution to the Dell Hell scenario.
- Have a company twitter account- where your fans can follow your brand.
- Make sure you have support forums on your site that are moderated and useful. There is nothing worse than having customers going to other experts to solve problems with your products or service and having the competition recommended.
It wasn’t more than 8 hours before Peter had a response from TiVo. I don’t know if my e-mail to their Investor Relations department was part of the solution, but, in it- I said I didn’t think they really wanted to make a million dollar PR blunder over a $29 refund to a previously happy customer.
While many companies used to say “the customer is always right” we believe the new adage should be “the community is always right.” Offend one, and risk offending many.
Will having a huge network make you a one person consumer rights team? We’ll see soon enough.
by Next Wave Team | Dec 23, 2008 | 1 to 1 marketing, Apple Advertising, Marketing & the Web, Public Relations in the Web 2.0 world, Web strategy
Conventional traditional paid media is dying a quick death. The old discussion of targeting consumers and buying their attention in :30 second increments is over. Twitter may be the ultimate media for the attention deficit consumer who has suffered media overload for the last 30 years. When used correctly, you can make a million with 140 characters. You just have to follow the lead of the Dell Outlet:
Out next week, but wanna welcome all the new followers based on news Dell sold $1M thru Twitter. Happy Holidays to all!
Twitter / Dell Outlet: Out next week, but wanna w ….
Releasing deals, one at a time to opt-in followers created a new way of connecting intimately with people who want to buy their products. It’s that connection that is the secret sauce of new media marketing in a web 2.0 world.
Traditional conventional media depended on repetition with a twist to keep it interesting. How many versions of “Hi, I’m a Mac, Hi, I’m a PC” have there been? If we tweeted the same message over and over, we’d have no followers in no time.
Social media requires an opt-in relationship, meaning it’s only going to last as long as you keep providing value. Many companies talk about their “commitment to the customer” but- what they need to be evolving to is a “commitment to the community.” Defining and nurturing that relationship isn’t a part-time job to hand to the intern either- just see what happens when a relationship is done right: Robert Scoble (who started at Microsoft and grew a community that would stay with him instead of M$)
Obvious communities are Apple users, Harley riders and Oprah followers. But when you look at how Nike took the solitary sport of running and turned it into a global community with their Nike+ technology, you start to see that opportunities to build community abound.
Twitter is a way to tie your company into a community in real time. Not having to wait weeks to produce an ad and get it out into the marketplace can be a powerful tool to out-maneuver your competition.
There are a couple of posts about Twitter from Rohit Bhargava of the Influential Marketing Blog:
The 5 Stages Of Twitter Acceptance
Five Stages of Twitter Acceptance by Rohit Bhargava
Influential Marketing Blog: The 5 Stages Of Twitter Acceptance.
(I’ve copied the image text into the alt text so that this searches properly and is accessible- click on the image to get his 5 stages in computer readable format.
His other post:
9 Ways To Make Twitter More Useful For You
Influential Marketing Blog: 9 Ways To Make Twitter More Useful For You.
Is well worth reading as well. The 9 ways- without their full descriptions to tease you to click on the link:
- Listen to conversations in real time.
- Track emotion moments.
- Get link love.
- Reach unreachable people.
- See what’s popular/important
- Introduce more people to your personal brand
- Get quick answers.
- Optimize your event attendance.
- Read instant feedback.
There are more ways in the comments, including: build relationships with leaders in your field, track customers and competitors, but, most importantly- connect with a community.
Here is the final word on why Twitter is neither a marketing shotgun or rifle- those analogies are just as dead as the idea of conquering customers in a war for market share. You don’t buy market share, you don’t win it- you earn it, by building relationships with real people, one-on-one, in real time.
If you want to follow my thoughts on marketing- long and short, you can follow me at http://twitter.com/thenextwave.
