Brand Strategies of Facebook All-Stars

Photo from "What Should We Call Social Media"

Recently, I was asked to pull together a POV for creating a more engaging Facebook wall experience for one of my clients.  So I did what any self-respecting social would do. I went to the source, to the very most engaging brands on Facebook today. Anyone working in social knows them: Red Bull, Oreo, Taco Bell, Intel, Newcastle Ale, Pringles, and Skittles to name a few. I figured if I could deconstruct the strategies of these brilliant brands I could ignite some brilliance of our own.  

First up, is Oreo.  They are enjoying a tidal wave of positive sentiment amongst their customers and Facebook marketing nerds everywhere. Oreo utilizes several strategies to build engagement, developing visually-driven campaigns to leverage the #1 shared type of content on Facebook - photos.

Oreo strategy #1: Develop a campaign that leverages events and holidays and infuses it with the brand personality to build affinity.

Oreo strategy #2: Create a campaign that builds on another marketing initiative to build awareness.

Oreo strategy #3 Create a quote campaign that utilizes and recognizes advocates to build fan love.

Oreo strategy #4: Develop posts that integrate with other social campaigns.

Next, is Intel. Interesting enough Intel and Oreo share a lot in common. Intel like Oreo uses wall post campaigns with photos that resonate with their core audience. For Oreo, it's moms. For Intel, it's tech-oriented folks.

Intel strategy #1: Develop a monthly campaign that recognizes fans' birthday to build community.

 

Intel strategy #2: Develop a quote-like campaign that celebrates tech talk to surprise and delight fans.

Intel strategy #3: Develop a campaign that speaks to fans in a language they understand to build brand affinity.

 

Intel strategy #4: Develop a campaign that has the product as hero to increase awareness.

 

  Intel strategy #5: Develop posts that integrate with other social properties.

 

These are just two brands that have figured out how to visually engage their fans and draw some media attention to their Facebook community management. In reviewing theses strategies, brands of all sizes and in all stages of Facebook development can grab some insights to take their wall to the next level.

Social Amplifies All Marketing Channels

What makes social media more valuable than any other form of marketing is that it is not just an ad. It connects and engages people like no other marketing channel and links with every part of your organization’s business.

Taking an integrative approach to social media yields results that are far greater than the sum of the parts.

The following shows how you can really skyrocket your marketing campaigns by adding one simple ingredient: social. 

1. Add social to your SEO strategy to create collective momentum.

Google has upwards of 200 unique page ranking factors. SEOmoz.org, an SEO software development company, tested 150 of these page ranking factors and found that Facebook shares was the number one highest correlated metric for achieving a higher page rank. What does that tell us? If we include share buttons in our owned media and give people the ability to share our content across the web, the ranking of our website on search engines will improve. Who really wants to be on page two of search results anyway?

2. Add social to your email campaigns and see how 1+1 equals 3, or 5 or maybe 60?

ChiefMarketer.com conducted a study of email campaigns and found out that including a social sharing option in email messages can increase click-through rates as much as 30%. And why does that matter? A click-through rate (CTR) is the number of recipients who clicked on a link, button, call to action, etc. in your email and therefore, engaged with the content of our email in order to land on your website, blog, E-commerce platform or any other desired location. And YES, that is the goal of email. Thus, the CTR is an important metric to understand the effectiveness of your campaign.

Aside from increasing the CTR of your emails, social media, specifically social sites, are a valuable tool for cultivating your email opt-in list and newsletter sign-up forms. Once your campaign went out to your initial subscriber list, share and like buttons can broadcast your content and brand messages to a far wider audience than just that initial list of recipients. And that is how 1 email + 1 recipient could equal potentially thousands of friends and followers in your recipient’s social network that now all know about your brand and products.

3. Add social to display to achieve unparalleled reach.

Display targets new customers and segmented audiences on millions of websites. Display’s biggest problem is that it often gets ignored. Our brains are so cluttered with all the ads we are bombarded with every day that it is almost a reflex to pass over display and banner ads. Our minds perceive them merely as noise on the web.

Social, however, does not get ignored because social is not recognized as an ad. Like and retweet buttons are clicked often and allow companies to share brand content to social audiences and to an infinite number of their friends and followers.

By converging social and display, brands don’t have to limit their marketing to only their owned media properties (their websites and owned social profiles) but can extend the social power across the web and generate meaningful engagement with consumers on millions of websites.

There is so much more that social can do to amplify your campaigns than what is listed here but I hope this brief summary gave you some food for thought. There is a reason why Business Insider calls Social Media “the most powerful form of internet advertisement available today.”

Now, go out, add the secret (social) ingredient and see how your marketing campaigns, too, can skyrocket.  

Are we obsessed with data—or just ourselves?

Lately I’ve been absorbing information on the evolution of data visualization and methods to facilitate communication of the key performance indicators to executives. Yawn. Let’s talk about something YOU can use! I can’t help but notice how many new tools are available—not just for big business—but for the consumer.

Facebook’s  “2012 Year in Review” is a good example. It compiles the most popular posts in one place based off some fancy algorithm, however it couldn’t manage to find my personal favorites, which apparently did not garner the most likes. 
And just yesterday several colleagues and I were salivating over Zeebly’s Social Me tool, which was exponentially more exciting. Why? It compared me to other Facebook account users and told me I was “more emotionally stable than 87% of people.” YES! I may be single but am not a crazy cat lady!  But I digress…

 

These data visuals bring me to the most amazing product: the NikeFuel band. It’s a wristband you wear everyday that tracks steps and calories and converts them into “Nike Fuel,” which is it’s own branded metric of success much like Weight Watchers points. You sync to your smartphone NikeFuel app via Bluetooth, and vioah-la. A sleek and stylish dashboard pops up that charts your daily activity based on goals you’ve set. Being able to see your energy expended and connect with other fitness enthusiast certainly has aided my already dwindling 2013 self-motivation to change. The more I talk about it, the more friends I discover using the product and instantly we have a bond. So far I have changed a couple routines: during the week on Wednesdays and Thursdays I make sure to be active on my lunch break or run errands after work since I don’t hit the gym, which gives a boost to my fuel points.

Sounds like a win-win for everyone. Naturally the more I work out, and work out hard, the more I want to wear performance clothing and gear to accommodate “the sweaty beast.” What’s the purpose of getting NikeFuel? Shouldn’t the real metric be weight loss? Nope. I’m hoping to score enough NikeFuel to get discounts on clothing at the Nike store so I can work out smarter, better, and longer. Nike has managed to sell a $150 gadget to me, had me refer my friends to purchase, and in return we all compete with each other to see who can get the most points to get the most Nike gear. Well-played Nike.

Nike is a genius in it’s own right, but all of the trending apps developed to display our decreasing weight loss, chart our spending at the pump, and visualize our ovulating days begs me to wonder—why are we obsessed with tracking these details of our life? Are we any better, faster or stronger?

Following metrics have has always been a way of charting success. However, adding visuals to facilitate communication and digestion of raw numbers has been growing in popularity, creating a more self-aware individual. Now we have nothing to hide behind. You can’t cheat or assume you worked out hard enough; the NikeFuel points don’t lie.

What other apps or services have made you more self-aware, or rather, self-obsessed? Is this a positive trend? Let me know how you think it affects our culture in the comments.

Social Posts: Twitter: What #apps do you use that chart success or goals? I like #nikefuel. [blog permalink] Facebook: [Pull Nike Fuel visual] Can’t get enough NikeFuel points. Thanks for the new obsession @Nike. [blog permalink]

Mismatched Socks & Elevating your Personal Brand

I wear mismatched socks. It began out of laundry-folding laziness, but secured implicit intent when I learned that my wardrobe mishap became a conversation piece with a simple cross-of-the-legs and flash-of-the-ankle (hubba-hubba).

Intrigued by the many comments and attention, I began to get creative with my sock combinations: A jack-o-lantern on the left foot and a snowman on the right?!? Tim Burton made millions with a similar stroke of genius, and as I often feel kindred to his artistic insanity a ten-toe salute to Nightmare Before Christmas seemed only natural. The conversations that ensued were humorous and insightful. My socks were sparking department-wide innovation in the form of laughable suggestions and guesses of what I might do next.

I had realized that my colorfully clad ankles had gained true momentum when they became my identifier: “She’ll be wearing two different socks. You can’t miss her!” My socks became an icon for my personal brand.

In my line of work, where socializing is a MUST, my socks were an easy icebreaker. The creativity, the light-heartedness, and the sheer silliness advertised to my audience that I was approachable and easy-going. In essence, my socks helped me get my foot in the door (pun intended).

I’m not suggesting that anyone follow me down the path of footwear tomfoolery, however, the take away from this little anecdote is that how you are perceived is a critical component of your personal brand:

·         What’s on the outside is just as important as what is on the inside. A personal brand is how we market ourselves to others. It is the whole package—our skills, attributes, our product, as well as packaging. It is human nature to judge a book by its cover, so consider what messages you want to project when making a personal first impression.

·         Find something that identifies with a key quality of your persona, and amplify it. For me, my socks projected my inner geek, my easy-going nature, and my creativity as a subtle yet noticeable addition to my office uniform.

·         See your personal details as opportunities to market yourself. Own it. Don’t be a passive listener in the conversation about your personal brand. Be the leader. If you don’t own your brand, someone else will.

Whatever it is you’re “marketing,” your image is the first and usually lasting impression that you have complete control of. This is your billboard. Make sure you’re sending the right message...even if that message is, “talk to me about my socks.”

How do you wear your brand?

by Melissa Pardo

image from Senesense