Social Media | Brandtailers

Archive for the ‘Social Media’ Category

May

by Brandtailers

This is a great list of 12 short tips on Social Media from Shane Gibson, international speaker and author of several books on Social Media, including his latest, Sociable. For some of us, it’s “the basics”, but it never hurts to be reminded of them.

Keep giving and contributing more than the competition. Pay back will be huge.
Every tweet, blog entry, comment and status update will be saved forever and is permanently part of your brand.
Before permission to market comes permission to connect. There’s a lot of trust building in between.
Make it easy for people to find you. While you’re out looking for business there is an entire market looking for you.
It’s not about B2B or B2C it’s about person to person marketing in social media.
Use the back links function in Google to see who is linking to your competitors. Reach out to those connectors.
Go wide with social media then build strong deep networks by going deep with the phone, Skype, webinars or in-person.
Twitter search and tools like Twellow.com can dampen the noise down from millions on voices to the exact ones you’re targeting.
Picking a fight publicly stays on record long after the battle is done. Rarely is it worth it.
Not getting the results you want? Are you asking for help often enough? It’s about community. Reach out.
Share and give more than you think is practical… then do it again. It will build positive momentum for your brand.
When partnering with other social media influencers start by making sure your values and principles are aligned.

Tags: Facebook, google, Social Media, transparency, Twitter
Posted in Brand Management | Brandtailing, Facebook, Social Media, Twitter | Leave a Comment »

2 Responses to “12 Social Media Tips <140 Characters”

Franklyn Osika says:

June 11, 2010 at 3:59 pm

Hey can I reference some of the information found in this post if I provide a link back to your site?
Brandtailers says:

June 11, 2010 at 4:14 pm

Sure thing!

May

The New Social Pressure of Being “Liked”

by Brandtailers

Remember the days when you had a best friend, and then maybe 5 or 6 other close friends? That circle was enough, wasn’t it? Spending quality time with them was usually very rewarding.

Now we move to the digital age. Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare, LinkedIn and others, where popularity is based on the number of friends, connections, how many people “like” you or your business, or how many places you’re the “Mayor”. And heaven forbid if you show only a few!

Obviously it’s easier to have more friends these days. And easier to stay in touch. For one thing, you can talk to all of them at the same time via most of these social media tools. And it doesn’t matter where they are. Heck, it doesn’t even matter what language they speak because Google will translate it with one simple click.

But, what’s happening to the quality of friendships? Quantity is often forced to replace quality in the digital world unless you want everyone in your growing circle to know the finite details of your life that you might otherwise only share with a few close confidants.

Time will tell how this new world of mass-connections pays off. No one can say at this point. But we do know that society is changing because of this technology. What we need to remember along the way is that it’s a choice we make, not a mandate.

Tags: Facebook, foursquare, linkedin, marketing on Twitter, Twitter for business
Posted in Consumer Behavior, Facebook, Relationship Marketing, Twitter | Leave a Comment »

May

Why You Should Understand Foursquare

by Brandtailers

If you don’t understand what Foursquare is, you’re just like 98% of all Americans. Feel better now? But you probably should know what it is and a bit about how it works, so you can understand its implications for the quickly emerging power of what we call geo-location and geo-targeting services.

Most people know what OnStar is. Or even Lo-Jack. They’re computer and satellite driven resources that know how to find your car in case of trouble. Take that concept and put it on your mobile phone. Then look at your phone as having the capability of being OnStar or Lo-Jack headquarters, where you can see where everyone in your network is. Real time.

But say you have a lot of friends. And you only want to know where those geographically closest to you are. Just use your phone to “check-in”, sharing where you are (i.e. Kung Pao China Buffet). The technology Foursquare offers lets your friends see that you’re there. You can also see which of your friends are there, or at another place close by. Like maybe within four square blocks of where you are. Get it?

Then get the restaurants, movie theaters and retail stores involved and allow them the opportunity to entice you in. They’ll offer free food, special coupons, and even ego-centric virtual power trips like making you the “Mayor of Kung Pao China Buffet” with extra little perks. All because you frequent that establishment more often (or just first). There’s more to it, but this is enough to give you what you should probably understand.

So, who cares you ask? For now, only about 2% of America. But think about the implications of this technology being at everyone’s fingertips. Very Big Brotherish, but also very convenient. Now, think about what will happen when Facebook takes it and runs with it, which they intend to do very, very soon.

Stand by. It’s only just begun.

Tags: foursquare, geo-targeting, Marketing Technology, mobiletagging
Posted in Automotive Marketing, Consumer Behavior, Location Based Social Networking, Marketing Technology | Leave a Comment »

Apr

Does Online Media Offer Lower Production Costs?

by Brandtailers

Clients often ask us how much it costs to produce an online video ad. Their initial thought is that, because the media is usually free, the production cost should be lower. Sorry. There’s no correlation.

Think about the process of inbound vs. outbound marketing for a moment. Outbound marketing includes traditional advertising. Intrude. Repeat. Intrude. Repeat. You didn’t ask to see the ad, but it’s going to be pushed in front of you anyway in the hopes that you will like it, remember it, and respond to it. Oh sure, the option is usually there to fast forward past it on TV, push the button on the radio, or flip right past it in print. But, you at least get a glimpse of it before you make that choice. A glimpse you didn’t ask for. A glimpse that cost the advertiser a lot of money.

But inbound marketing is different. Inbound marketing puts the exposure responsibility on the consumer. This is why it’s often called “viral”. It’s based on making something so compelling that people will not only see it and share it, but also search for it. Quite the opposite of traditional media, eh? This viral effort often requires spectacular creative that comes in the form of incredible production, or just a brilliant simple idea.

Does that mean it always has to cost a lot? Not always. Like we said, it’s about the idea more than the production (see Levi’s successful viral video campaign that cost less than $10,000). But usually the few successes in the online viral world have involved substantial production costs.

Take the Evian Roller Babies ad above. When totaling its US and international versions, it just surpassed 100,000,000 views online, making it the most viewed television ad in online history. In comparison, this year’s Super Bowl had 106,000,000 viewers and the average 30-second spot cost was a little over $3,000,000 dollars, and that’s before any creative production. Media costs for Evian’s 100,000,000 viewers? Zero.

But when you find out the production costs for this spot were well over $1,000,000, you realize the cost of the ad production has nothing to do with the media on which it airs. In fact, in addition to the message needing to be even more impactful online for the viewer to become your media distributor, the beauty and curse of online ads is they’re not limited to :30 seconds. And those of us in the production world know, with TV spots, the longer they are the more they cost to produce. Ouch.

Just now, after almost a year of online exposure, Evian is taking this ad to traditional television in markets like New York, LA, London and Paris. Will their traditional media exposure pay off as well as their viral campaign did? Time will only tell. But we, the media world, will all be watching.

Tags: inbound marketing, Social Media, viral, You Tube
Posted in Brand Management | Brandtailing, Marketing, Social Media | Leave a Comment »

Apr

How Can Geotargeting Help Your Business?

by Brandtailers

Facebook is diving into the Geotargeting world. Google already has multiple tools tied to this technology. Foursquare and Gowalla are the current internet hotties, mostly because the strength of their location-based API’s are so intriguing. But what does this mean and why should you care? Well, for one thing, it takes the vastness of the internet and localizes it for business and personal use.

Case in point. You’re driving around an area looking for an interesting restaurant. You’d love to have a library of options at your fingertips but too many choices, especially irrelevant ones, are just as useless as none at all. So you push one simple button on your mobile phone and maybe add in the price range you’re looking for. And, oh, you’re in the mood for Thai food. As Emeril would say, BAM! You have the top options right there on your mobile phone, along with reviews. But that’s only the beginning. You also see who you know that’s eating there right now, how long the wait is, and what the specials are for that evening. And because your phone knows where you ate last night, last week, last month, it gives you a comparison in terms of how much you spent, and how many people who ate at the other places you ate at also ate at the restaurant options currently showing on your mobile phone.

This is a basic Geotargeting service that’s been around for a few years now. In the tech world it’s no longer a big deal. But the most important part of this technology is just now being realized, as people become more and more overwhelmed with the vast amount of information available to them (usually for free) online. When it comes to needing/doing things locally, this takes the online world and narrows it down to something as small as a neighborhood block.

Stop for a moment and think about how that can help your business. This technology not only allows them to find you, but you to find them. Hmmm…. Opportunity? We think so.

Tags: Facebook, foursquare, geo-targeting, gowalla, smartphone
Posted in Consumer Behavior, Marketing Technology, Social Media | Leave a Comment »

7 Responses to “How Can Geotargeting Help Your Business?”

Brandon Yanofsky says:

April 15, 2010 at 11:48 am

This opens a door into a whole new area of marketing. I couldn’t see how a local business could use non-traditional media before, but this changes everything.

And as a consumer, it will finally be easy to decide on a restaurant with friends.
Tyson F. Gautreaux says:

April 24, 2010 at 3:55 am

I totally agree with Barbara’s comment. Thanks for sharing such an informative article with all of us. I’ve bookmarked your blog will come back for a re-read again. Keep up the great work.
B Mews says:

May 25, 2010 at 8:48 am

What about businesses besides restaurants? I agree the web is great for eateries, but what about retail?
Score orange county says:

May 25, 2010 at 8:52 am

Being present in consumers’ mindset is a constant opportunity for businesses. So far only big brands have really embraced and leveraged location based targeting.
It would be interesting to see what are the field experiences you have witnessed for smaller businesses. How this new geo targeting will impact branding and marketing budget?

@score114
Brandtailers says:

May 25, 2010 at 8:57 am

B Mews you are definitely right. Retail stores can benefit from geo-targeting just as much as restaurants can. It seems to be most popular in the restaurant business right now, but I agree that it will become quite popular with retail stores as well.
Brandtailers says:

May 25, 2010 at 9:03 am

Score orange county – We are currently seeing a slow adoption to geo-targeting from (surprising enough) automotive dealerships. Many of our clients’ customers have “checked in” to the dealership when they have come in for service for for a new car purchase. But it will be interesting to see what other small business make use of this service as well.
Veronica Brothwell says:

May 29, 2010 at 3:29 am

This is a great article and so true! I have seen some of the positive results as my friends, that are frequenters of the service, get rewarded at places they check into most at. I’m excited to see how other businesses that adopt the service will implement it.

As a consumer my only concern is how much the almighty Google knows about me, but have learned to just come to terms with it as I’m not about to give up Facebook, Twitter or the rest of my online addictions.