The Revolution of Digital Marketing: #TheSocialMediaMovement
Social media has become a vital tool for companies small and large alike.
The rapid shift of digital advertising and communication has forever changed the way businesses engage with consumers and the public enabling two-way communication.
What is Digital Marketing?
In simplistic terms, digital marketing is the promotion of products or brands via one or more forms of electronic media. Digital marketing differs from traditional marketing in that it involves the use of channels and methods that enable an organization to analyze marketing campaigns and understand what is working and what isn’t – typically in real time.
Social media is really a paradigm shift or change in world view rather than simply a new set of tactics.
Traditional media relied heavily on a one-to-many paradigm — the brand creates a message and transmit that message to the masses through broadcast, print, radio, or signage.
Traditional media is a one-way communication
system that doesn’t create engagement or work toward promoting word of mouth —
the hallmarks of social media.
Social media (done right) gives you all this because it’s inherently a two-way communication system.
Rather than getting brand messages, you get recommendations from friends in the form of reshares and recommended posts, which de-commercializes the brand message.
3 Companies You Should Be Following
Old Spice: The YouTube Pro
What They Did Right
In February 2010, Old Spice launched a new advertising campaign, Smell Like a Man, Man.
The first commercial, “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like,” was an overnight success and quickly became a cultural phenomenon, generating significant word-of-mouth buzz online and offline.
186 personal video messages responding to fans’ comments on Facebook, Twitter and others were scripted, filmed and then posted online in just over two and a half days of production. The work went on to record more than 65 million views, making it one of the fastest-growing and most popular online interactive advertising campaigns in history.
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The campaign gave something great to people and didn’t ask anything in return. This was the most important aspect of the campaign.
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Old Spice got an attractive actor to talk into the camera all day without his shirt on. This certainly helped.
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They responded to a few celebrities, and then other celebrities starting lining up to get in on the act, and each of them told their millions of Twitter followers all about it. Brilliant.
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Nearly every video was drop-dead funny – and under a minute in length, which was also key.
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They did their homework before launching this campaign, as evidenced by the celebrity tweets they referenced, so of which were two weeks old.
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They let it grow organically – there were no press releases or conferences. Just good old fashioned word of mouth.
Why YouTube Works
1. Put the focus on short, snappy video content.
The majority of the videos average at less than a minute per video.
2. Pump out the content.
If you create quality content, chances are that people will want more. After all, more content for fans to consume means happier fans. Old Spice attacked this idea by producing as many commercial-quality video responses as possible.
3. Keep fans engaged.
Most companies engage their fans once the product is made and ready to market, but Old Spice went a step further by actually letting its fans influence every video. Fans become fanatics when their favorite brands go out of their way to invite the audiences in on the fun.
4. Market everywhere at once.
Consider all of the channels for advertising. Having several ads across many different networks is the best way to attract as many fans as possible to your cause. By marketing all at once, the hope is that the multiple discussions on each network converge to create one giant conversation.
5. Trust your marketing team.
The client company should always watch and grade the final product before releasing it to the market, but if you want to rapidly produce content like Old Spice, you have to give your creative team have a little more of a leash to play with, and simply play the "support" role. Having the level of trust Old Spice has isn't easy to achieve, but it pays.
Charmin: The Sassiest Brand on Twitter
#TweetFromTheSeat
Charmin is a great example of a brand whose humor aligns with the products it sells.
...which is in fact, is toilet paper.
It’s not easy to be consistently creative and engaging across all your chosen marketing channels, while crafting your message to appeal to each audience. It’s especially challenging when you’re selling a product that isn’t exactly glamorous.
What They Do Right
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Evolving along with the social media landscape and their growing communities.
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Charmin engage in social responsibility and get their fans involved.
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The Charmin team has a priority of keeping an eye on social media trends and the future, with a focus on building relationships.
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Their direct and playful approach with the toilet humor is witty, smart and has sparked conversation.
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The lines of social, traditional, and digital are blurring, and use a holistic marketing approach and find relevant ways to touch the lives of their consumers.
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They're a toilet paper brand that doesn’t take itself too seriously. They use a ‘playful instigator’ tone and tweak it according to which platform they're on to make sure that it plays well on that channel.
#TweetFromTheSeat Campaign
This campaign is so successful because Charmin promotes its bathroom tissue through daily tweets that praise not only the brand but also the relief that comes only with restroom breaks.
Their social media marketing strategy is simple: turn an everyday activity everyone experiences into a conversation everyone can related to- all revolving around their product.
Sonic, Those Two Comeback Guys
You know those commercials for Sonic Drive-In? The ones with the two guys in the car, or the couple, just riffing absurdly about burgers and shakes and life?
In 2005, Sonic pulled their Two Guys ad campaign off the air. There was a growing internet ground-swell to bring it back. Sonic decided to embrace that movement and revive the campaign.
But for the sake of fun...
Sonic made the Two Guys work for it.
They would have to reach out to their fan base and earn their old jobs back.
Their efforts began with a website with the expertise of Two Guys with zero expertise. The site was a place for fans to see all of the Guys re-employment enthusiasm.
They started off with videos showcasing just how badly they want their old jobs back.
The Two Guys set up a Linked-In profile.
They responded personally to fan buzz on Twitter
They spread their witty banter on Facebook
And replied with silly videos to comments on YouTube
Within a few days, the Guys petition page was full of signatures, and super fans expressed their support at Sonic locations.
And it all worked.
What They Did Right
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Wanting to focus the campaign more heavily on its food, Sonic realized how much the two guys and their quirky banter over an order of tots meant to their customers.
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Engaged with fans and responded to comments in a humorous way.
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Stayed true to themselves and their character.
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Used the public to decide their fate.
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Character-driven viral campaigns on YouTube.
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Reached out to fans of all ages over many different media channels.