All Posts Tagged 'Twitter'
I’m a big fan of wartime propaganda posters. Like the most effective brand posts in our social feeds, these messages were always short and bold. Aaron Wood, the clever artist behind justonescarf design recently merged popular social channels and propaganda to create a series of beautiful posters that entertain and jokingly inspire.
Take a look at my favorites below and be sure to visit Aaron’s Etsy store for a wider selection and to order prints.
Looking forward to 2012, I wanted to share some of my thoughts on what’s next in social media. Here’s a short, sweet, general prediction:
While many brands will continue to focus on growing their audiences, smart brands will work hard to get to know their existing audiences better. Some of our best professional and personal achievements have been fostered through networking, tapping our existing relationships to develop new, better ones (I was introduced to Netplus, and even met THE girl, via Twitter.) Applying that thought, next year we’ll see a shift back to our networking roots and build deeper connections through social media. Look for budgets and time to be put toward delivering value over volume. This means improvements in social commerce and customer service, new approaches to listening, collecting data and a focus on developing outstanding consumer-oriented content.
2012 will be the year we become better friends with our fans and followers.
Originally published on
Last week, RightNow and Harris Interactive released a study on consumer response to retailers’ use of social media during the 2010 holiday season. The study detailed the astounding result that listening to consumers and responding in a timely, effective way has a positive impact on their propensity to return as a customer or to advocate for the brand even when a complaint launched the original interaction. While I don’t mean to sound cheeky (well, maybe a little), this somewhat obvious and intuitive observation might profit from even a bit more exploration.
Clearly, whether online, in social media, or in stores – responding appropriately and quickly to customer complaints can yield positive results. Not responding to heartfelt complaints adds salt to the wound and, given the current communication tool set available to consumers, can spread that injury well beyond the original complainer and the original problem. The issue is not so much that retailers don’t understand this, but that they have limited resources and many have yet to become comfortable in social media.
In the early days of e-commerce, retailers often had insufficient experience and insufficient resources to respond quickly to e-mail inquiries. Retailers had to overcome resistance, training, staffing, process, and other challenges to begin using the communication mode that their customers clearly preferred. There were many debates at that time about removing e-mail addresses from the site if you could not respond in a timely fashion. This would be unthinkable today. Read the rest of this entry »
Originally published on
Yeah, you heard me, but I will deny it if you misquote me. I did not say we could reliably create a viral phenomenon on behalf of your brand, nor did I say we could guarantee zillions of free impressions. We can, however, create a smart platform and program to help facilitate sharing and exposure of your content and give it the best possible chance to soar.
Most of the great viral stories tapped successfully into the communal zeitgeist, often tickling their funny bone in an unexpected way. Most of them also had a plan to help facilitate sharing, not leaving it all to chance or hope. If you have the kind of content that can potentially appeal to or entertain the masses, then achieving “viral” status may be that much easier. Ninety-nine percent of the opportunity for something to go viral rests with the quality and/or mass appeal of the content and whether, in fact, it does meet the zeitgeist test. It’s critically important to make sure that your content is appealing to your target consumers, and that it has enough value for them to inspire and facilitate sharing among their friends, who by association may very well be potential customers. That may be 99 percent of the work, but you’re not done. Here are some tips to help spread the word. Read the rest of this entry »
Originally published on
Just like you, I get hordes of messaging on social media. And this is in addition to all the other work you might be doing in the area — conferences, summits, your own personal social media activities. The list goes on. When I was asked to write this article, the focus was on how to make these social activities digestible, actionable, and relevant to marketers, media, and those who work with them. And even while writing this piece, news of evolving trends was pouring out at a dizzying rate.
To give this article more long-term relevancy, I’ve categorized the trends I will discuss into interconnecting “ubertrends” — the trends that will directly impact the emergence and growth of supporting micro-trends and how they might relate to your business. Make no mistake about it, there will be more progression as we move into the new Yyear and beyond — and there is a vast beyond. Read the rest of this entry »
Originally published on
Yesterday, a good site offered compelling, relevant, and fresh content, an intuitive navigation perhaps supported by an internal search, and fast downloads. It was optimized for relevant searches and delivered an excellent user experience that occurred within the confines of the site. Early social programs were often developed with the goal of driving audience from social communities to the brand or e-commerce site or sometimes to a microsite.
Today, the paradigm has flipped. No longer is the marketer’s site the only destination and often it is not even the primary one. Site content and traffic are used to multiply traffic and expand potential customer base through a host of powerful social tools to encourage sharing and other “social” behaviors that build audience, sales, brand equity, and loyalty. While there are clearly powerful strategies, tools, and programs to engage with your customers socially, “socializing” your site is a critical component of an overall social marketing strategy. Read the rest of this entry »
Originally published on
Good blogger relationships are critical to the success of many integrated social media campaigns, but finding the right blogging partner or partners can be a brand’s worse nightmare. There are millions of blogs out there ranging from the new class of professional bloggers to the occasional posters on sub domain sites. How do you find the right partner, lay out expectations, negotiate the right deal, and create a mutually beneficial relationship?
As an agency, we face this challenge daily. This spring we completed a very successful social media campaign with ConAgra Foods’ brand Ro*tel that was a textbook case of how this can work beautifully. I asked both client and blogger to give a bit of their perspective on the elements that made this relationship smooth and successful. Read the rest of this entry »
Originally published on
Yes indeed, we love our new toys — those shiny objects that dazzle, challenge, inspire, and invite us to play. Whether it is a new device, channel, technology, or platform, it is more than fun and games. At the last iMedia Brand Summit, I took my new iPad to the One Minute Match-Ups. For those of you who many not have experienced these rapid, one-minute delights, it is an opportunity to connect buyers and sellers in a concentrated time period. You basically have one minute to sit down with someone and make a meaningful connection. I used the iPad to engage discussion and showcase NetPlus case studies.
The writing of this article came as a result of that. The iMedia folks told me that everyone was talking about it, and they asked me to write an article based on that experience — it created buzz.
Playing with our new toys — whether it is the iPad, Foursquare, or any other new thing coming down the pike — can lead to inspired ideas that translate into meaningful business success and impact. In small ways, such as the iMedia One Minute Match-Up example, or in bigger ways like Kraft’s new iPad application. Read the rest of this entry »
Originally published on 5/7/2010 in eMarketer
A 25-year marketing veteran, Denise Zimmerman has spent the past 18 years focusing on the digital landscape and best-practice applications in marketing, advertising and communications. She spoke with eMarketer Senior Analyst Jeffrey Grau about the options retailers have in responding to negative buzz on social media sites.
eMarketer: When I mention negative buzz, what comes to mind?
Denise Zimmerman: A number of things. I recall retailers really being frightened about Amazon offering reviews. It was probably one of the first and certainly one of the best at it. That became a major asset in their business. People looked to those reviews in their determination for a purchase. Amazon proved that it was a positive business driver.
So, reviews became the first step in an area that is probably fair to call social media. I had a number of conversations even back then with retailers who were really afraid to do that. What if somebody says something bad? Not everybody is going to be happy all the time.
eMarketer: What was the lesson learned?
“Reviews were positive for the business. If you had a good product and you were a good company, the positive reviews far outweighed the negative ones. You also got valuable feedback.”
Ms. Zimmerman: That reviews were positive for the business. If you had a good product and you were a good company, the positive reviews far outweighed the negative ones. You also got valuable feedback about potential issues or problems with a product that you might not have gotten before. But the challenge for retailers was, what do you then do about it? And a lot of this is relevant to the larger social media picture.
A lot of companies and retailers werent necessarily set up then to address these issues in terms of responding, and if something came to light that they needed to address from a product perspective, the organization dynamics were really not in place. And theyre still challenged in this way today with social media. Some have made more progress than others, but the implementation remains a challenge.
eMarketer: So how do the new social media differ from customer reviews?
Ms. Zimmerman: Most retailers have bitten the bullet on the review issue. But then youve got Twitter and Facebook. They have grown exponentially in scope and in speed. The additional element is that there is an expectation from the customer that youre going to respond. Reviews were still a little bit more controlled. There was some level of expectation, but I dont think to the extent that there is today.
“If we put this into context, people talking about you is not new. … You just didnt know it. The feedback of how well you were doing was reflected in sales, success of the business and the number of customer-service calls. But now you do know it, and maybe you really didnt want to.”
If we put this into context, people talking about you is not new. For the most part, you just didnt know it. The feedback of how well you were doing was reflected in sales, success of the business and the number of customer-service calls. But now you do know it, and maybe you really didnt want to.
eMarketer: How should retailers deal with negative buzz on social media sites?
Ms. Zimmerman: Youve got three top-level options. The first is to ignore it. This is interesting because if I got up in front of a crowd of people, retailers or nonretailers, who wanted to know about social media and I told them that a viable option was to ignore it, they would probably look at me and say, Thats so antisocial. But it is a very clear option, and there are times when thats appropriate.
The other obvious option is to respond, but then the questions are, how to respond and in what way? There are other things to consider in making that decision. Then, the third option, which also seems incredibly antisocial, is to take the negative comments down.
eMarketer: When should a retailer ignore negative buzz?
Ms. Zimmerman: You need to make the determination based on a couple of variables. One, is it really a company issue? Or was it an isolated situation particular to that individual and not something that is omnipresent or persistent? There are a couple of ways to know that. One is, youve got to know your own business and your own company, and you should look into what the issue is and find out what the facts are. Two, you also may want to look at the individual who has posted that and what their influence is, meaning how many Twitter followers or how many Facebook fans they might have.
eMarketer: Arent there also some people who just like to complain or may even be abusive in their remarks?
Ms. Zimmerman: Exactly. You have to bucket it. And by the way, you have to plan for all this. This is not a reactive thing.
Some people do things like that because theyre just trying to get a reaction. Part of the challenge is that not everybody has the experience to make good calls on this. Its a real challenge and its new to companies, which is why it needs to be, at some level, a team effort and why you need to plan and understand what the options are and how to evaluate these situations. What you really need to have is an evaluation escalation plan.
“You need to ask, who is this person? How influential is the person? Is he addressing and illuminating a real issue? Is this all about him, or is it really about my business or product or whatever? … Youre not going to be right all the time, and youve just got to accept that.”
You need to ask, who is this person? How influential is the person? Is he addressing and illuminating a real issue or not? Is this all about him or is it really about my business or product or whatever? And then you make the determination. And by the way, youre not going to be right all the time, and youve just got to accept that.
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