Marketing

Social Media Easter Eggs

How are you offering value to your customers? How is your business doing it differently from your competitors and peers?

Are you taking their service and adding a slight twist to it, or are you thinking of ways to separate you from the many other similar approaches that others are using?

“Customers” doesn’t necessarily need to refer to people paying for your services, either. Customers could be readers of your blog; or connections on Twitter; or watchers of your YouTube videos.

While they may not pay you hard cash for your “service” (blog, tweets, videos, etc), they are investing their time in you; time that could be spent elsewhere.

So how are you rewarding that? Are you? How about Easter Eggs as rewards (as in the virtual hidden message version)?

Some of the ideas I’ve been thinking of I’ll be putting into play very soon. For example, if you’re connected to me via my Facebook Page, you’ll receive something in the next 5-7 days that’s tied into Facebook and won’t be available elsewhere. Sure, someone may share it after it’s public, but until (or if) that happens, you’ll only get that something on Facebook.

Or Twitter. One of the ways that I want to use Twitter more is by time-stamping a tweet, where there’ll be a surprise for the first X amount of people to click through to a link and download area for a limited edition Twitter ebook, or similar.

Or this blog. I’m in the process of a “relaunch”, if you like, with a new design and a newsletter, just to kick things off. If you subscribe to the newsletter, occasionally I’ll pick a subscriber and send something really cool their way that’s tied into the topics we talk about in the newsletter.

The same goes with the SRM Group – we’ll be looking at ways to reward social responsibility, whether that’s on Facebook or any other social outpost.

These are just some simple, basic ways to use Easter Eggs in social media, to say thank you for your support. Hopefully each one will be beneficial, because it’ll be tied into the platform in question.

Now, imagine if you turned that over to your business to your most loyal customers? It could be offline or online – it depends where you have a bigger presence.

Instead of giving 10% off your latest product or a two-for-one offer, why not give something your customer really wants? After all, anyone can give a discount but only those that care give a benefit.

Accessories that you’d normally use as an add-on sale – can you take a hit and give them as part of the overall sale?
Guidebooks for cars – can your garage/service centre give them away to a customer for their first service?
A milestone order from a customer or supplier – can you give them a relevant partner product as well as the ordered one?

Every action you take to thank loyalty has a core reaction of extra loyalty. Get extra loyalty – well, the sky’s the limit then.

Yes?

photo credit: enough

The Art of Doing

I’ve been looking at a lot of businesses lately and watching with interest as they adapt (or don’t) to today’s business world.

Some are managing the transfer (Coca Cola, Ford, Four Seasons), while others seem to be struggling (BP, Nissan, Nestle). And these are the big boys that should be able to provide the budgets to create a successful strategy – yet as BP, Nissan and Nestle show, that’s not always the case.

So why are companies still struggling to adapt?

Having both worked at and for large corporations, the answer doesn’t always boil down to poor decision-making by the strategy team; it can have more to do with immovability and a “not quite ready yet” mindset from the decision-makers at the top.

Which is why more companies need to start learning the Art of Doing.

The Art of Doing

One thing that’s clear with any company (or at least any one that wants to be successful and stay ahead of the game) is the want for change. This could be a change in the way you do business; a change in the people that run things; a change in corporate culture; or a myriad of other compartments.

But there’s a big difference between want and making happen.

Both Ford and Nissan wanted to run a successful social media campaign for their latest products; but only Ford really made it happen. Nissan had great early success, for sure, but early success doesn’t guarantee long-term returns – something the negative reaction to the second half of Nissan’s Cube campaign shows only too well.

So how do you switch from want to do?

Make sure your ship is watertight. When you plan something, there are always going to be uncertainties. How you plan for these uncertainties defines your success. Being fluid enough to react to ad-hoc needs is key.
Question interventions. The businesses that are making the successful switch from existing to future are doing so because they have teams that believe in what they’re trying to do. Often those in more expensive suits will question your wisdom; make sure you have answers and questions of your own.
Finite or infinite. A great plan knows that to achieve and measure success, you have to have timelines and guide points. You need to know where you need to be by a certain time, and if you’re not, do you cut the cord or take one last stab at the target?

Get Motion Sickness

In late 2008, the Big Three motor companies – Ford, General Motors and Chrysler – saw their fortunes dip massively as the U.S. economy took a nosedive. As the recession bit, it looked like all three were seriously in danger of going out of business.

It was only a huge financial bail-out that saw GM and Chrysler survive. But Ford didn’t ask for a bail-out; instead, it got motion sickness.

Believing in the company’s new products and the ability to distance itself from the other two strugglers, Ford’s approach to changing things up inside and outside (the strong use of social media and consumer marketers) saw them enjoy a massive turnaround in fortune.

Make motion sickness happen for you:

Ignore the safety harness and take the direction you need to take, no matter how sharp the turn.
Use the accelerator more. Slow and steady might win the race but competition won’t always wait for you to come in.
Ride the dirt track. Just because the same road has always worked before doesn’t mean it always will. Get off the tarmac and onto the mud if you need to.

Every company wants to do. Only the good ones know the art of doing, though. Where does yours fall?

photo credit: otherthings

Why Being Obvious Can Be Original Too

Sometimes we look for the smartest ideas and the way-out-there jumping off points to tell a story. We look for the abstract to make people think that our products must be worth knowing, since they can’t be told in a simplistic manner.

And yet sometimes being obvious can be original too. Take a look at this picture of a parking lot opposite the Kansas City Library in the U.S. state of Missouri.

If you came across this building in the street, two things would be apparent – it’s a place tied into books. And it’s cool as hell.

Some other things that stand out?

It doesn’t have artsy pretensions, although it’s definitely a work of art.
It doesn’t shout, “Look at me!” but it does grab your attention.
By going with the classic titles it lends itself to timeless quality.

Sometimes we look for the smartest ideas and the way-out-there jumping off points to tell a story. But as this image shows, being obvious can grab someone’s attention in the simplest of ways.

Something more businesses could learn from. No?

photo credit: jonathan_moreau

Be a Magician

David Copperfield convinced audiences that he walked through the Great Wall of China.

He also made the Statue of Liberty disappear and once flew above his TV audience.

Even though we know that walking through almost 20-feet of solid stone or hiding more than 300-feet worth of statue is impossible, we believe the illusion and wonder how he did it.

Magicians know the secret of perception. They know that if we want to believe something, we will.

How many magicians does your business have?

Promotion Commotion

Businesses spend thousands (or millions) on launching new products. Ad spend, PR, marketing, media blitzes – and that’s just the traditional approach. Then you have social media to add to the mix.

The bean counters look at the return and either class it a success or call for the promo team’s head.

What they tend to do, though, is get lost in the promotion commotion. Not all product launches are immediate successes.

Look at The Shawshank Redemption. A failure when it hit the cinema, but now one of the most beloved movies ever and frequently on movie magazines Best Of lists, not to mention normal viewers’ favourites.

Sometimes the product is right, just the timing is off. That’s not to say success won’t come. Plan to build for the long-term and stop watching the instant ticker tape results – you might just win in the end.