How do you integrate online applications into an offline community event?
This is the question the the Gastown Business Improvement Society asked the MarketR team when they were planning the 1st Annual Gastown Blues and Chili Festival.
The event would bring together 20 Gastown Restaurants to compete for the Best Chili in Gastown award. The main voting would be done by a panel of celebrity judges; however, there would also be a people's choice award.
The MarketR team decided to integrate the people's choice award with Twitter. This allowed people on the day to use Twitter to vote for their favourite chili.
A large LCD screen was set-up to display, in real-time, the number of votes for each restaurant. Participants could vote online or at the People's Choice Award booth.
The live-voting was a huge success with participating restaurants checking the screen and encouraging people to vote. The live-chart could be viewed online allowing attendees to check who won when they got home. Over 100 people voted for their favorite chili and the Gastown Business Improvement Society is looking at using the live Twitter voting at other Gastown event.
Contact MarketR to see how you can integrate online applications at your offline event.
Offline/Online Integration
Leverage - VFS District 9
Online marketing allows small-medium sized business to leverage events, awards, training programs, and more without breaking the bank.
Read more posts about online marketing and leverage
There has been a lot of buzz lately about a sci-fi movie called District 9. The movie has received one of the highest ratings on IMDB.com and has received rave reviews from movie critics. Even more surprising is that there are no A list actors in the movie and the director has only directed 2 low budget movies.
How do you leverage the fact that the movie director, Neill Blomkamp, graduated from your school's film program?
This was the question that VFS had to ask themselves. Most large companies, who tend not to think outside the box, would send out a generic press release to traditional media. This strategy would work for about 3 days. The problem with this is that it is short-term, and VFS's target audience spend more time reading blogs and on Twitter than reading newspapers.
So VFS decided to create their own microsite highlighting all the VFS graduates who worked on the district 9 movie.
"Neill Blomkamp, director of this summer's must-see sci-fi thriller District 9, got his start at Vancouver Film School. That's not all: much of the talent behind District 9 originates at VFS, including co-writer Terri Tatchell, Visual Effects Executive Producer Shawn Walsh, and 40 other members of District 9's visual effects team."
The microsite is filled with facts about the movie and video on the behind the scenes of District 9. The site also incorporates the VFS twitter and Facebook page, encouraging viewers to follow and become a fan of VFS.
From the microsite viewers can learn more about VFS and the programs they provide. There is even a competition for visitors to input their email for a chance to win District 9 merchandise.
Why this strategy works?
This strategy provides VFS with long term leverage of the District 9 movie. The site will always be on the Internet and can be viewed by potential students from all over the world. Technology, and movie blogs picked up the site and promoted it on their sites to viewers that fit perfectly with VFS's target market. The strategy can be measured easily. VFS can see how many visitors go to the microsite and from there how many visitors view more info about VFS. They can measure engagement through the sign-up form, Twitter and Facebook page.
Is your business doing great things in the local community? Do you have a training program superior to your competition? Have your employees accomplished outstanding feats in their industry?
Make sure you leverage by using online marketing tools. To learn more contact MarketR
If you thought social media was a fad. Think again.
Twitter 101 - For Business
Twitter has recently announced a new website specifically for business owners. The Twitter 101 site walks you through how to set up a Twitter account, the Twitter lingo and case studies of companies using Twitter.
Twitter has been a great tool for companies to communicate and listen to their customers. However sometimes brands get it all wrong. Take Best Buys Chief Marketing Officer for example.
Below is the conversation the CMO of Best Buy had with a prominent blogger. The conversation has been seen by millions and has tarnished any marketing done by Best Buy to promote how friendly and supportive their staff are.
(Click the image to view the conversation)
Future Marketing Trends – By The Numbers
For those of you who are still not convinced that online marketing is the way forward, see the statistics below.
Courtesy of TheFutureBuzz.com
Marketing spends
$55 billion - number of dollars marketers will spend on interactive (display, mobile, email, social, search) channels by 2014
21% – percentage of all marketing spends that the 55 billion figure will represent
7.8 billion - amount marketers will spend on display advertising in 2009
$15.3 billion – amount marketers will spend on search marketing in 2009
$716 million – amount marketers will spend on social media marketing in 2009
4% – percentage of budget allocated to social media as compared to search in 2009
9% – amount this number will grow to by 2014
(source)
$585 million amount in 2008 marketers spent on MySpace ads
$210 million amount marketers spent in 2008 on Facebook ads
9% - amount Facebook’s ad revenue will grow in 2009
15% – amount MySpace’s ad revenue will fall in 2009
(source)
Twitter by the numbers
21% – number of Twitter accounts that are empty placeholders
94% – number of Twitter accounts with less than 100 followers
5% – percentage of users who make up a staggering 3/4 of all Twitter activity (participation inequality)
Tuesday – the most popular day on Twitter (not a number but still an interesting fact)
62% – percentage of Twitter users from the US
(source)
2.56 billion – number of Tweets at the time of posting this (source)
22.99 million - number of unique visitors to Twitter.com in June of 2009 (source)
Facebook by the numbers
200 million – updated number of active Facebook users
30 million -number of those active users who access Facebook via mobile device
100 million - number of Facebook users who log in daily
66% – percentage of Facebook users who are outside of college
120 – average number of friends per user
900 million – average number of photos uploaded to the site monthly
10 million - number of videos uploaded each month
1 billion – number of pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photos, etc.) shared each week
2.5 million - number of events created monthly
70% – number of Facebook users who live outside the US
950,000 – number of developers and entrepreneurs leveraging the Facebook platform
100 – number of applications that have more than 1 million active users
10,000 – number of websites using Facebook connect
(source)
Twitter Pt.2 - Listen and You Will be Heard
So I was at a "Social Media Workshop" on Monday night and the presenter said "I use Twitter but I don't get why, and how to use it." This is when I knew I had to update my blog with "Why and How to use Twitter."
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
If you have not read twitter,tweets,twestival,tweetheart pt1 read it first!!
----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok lets start with some fun Twitter jargon.
twitterlooing: twittering from a bathroom.
Visit Twitterspeak page on Mashable for more.
So why is there so much hype about Twitter and how can companies leverage it's success?
Remember when you wanted to find out what people were saying about a particular product. You would look for online message boards, or forums and ask your friends what they thought about a particular product.
You trusted these opinions because there was no incentive for people to lie. These were honest experiences that people had when using a particular product or service. It was great, you didn't have to worry about spending a ton of money on a car, or a hotel because you had these testimonials.
However, there was one problem with the online message boards and forums, there were so many and some were full of spam and others didn't seem like they really knew what they were talking about and just seemed like one big online argument.
Then along came Twitter.
People talk on Twitter. They talk about everything and anything. The movie they just saw. The girl they just passed. Even the doctors appointment they just went to. It is the largest message board in the world. And even better, it is real-time. Want to know what is going on right now in the world? All you have to do is check what words are trending on Twitter.
Visit www.whatthetrend.com to see what terms are trending on Twitter and why.
For example, I just looked what terms are trending as I am writing this post and this is what I found.
Tim Burtons Alice: Tim Burton is remaking the classic ALICE IN WONDERLAND movie, set to release on March 5, 2010.
IranElection: A large percentage of the Iranian population disputes the election of President Ahmedinejad, believing the election rigged, a "Sea of Green" took to the streets to protest. Tweeters are trying to raise awareness of the situation, because news networks won't.
TED: TEDGlobal 2009 is happening this week with lots of high-profiled speakers
Pretty cool stuff. Especially the IranElection tweets. In fact the reason why the uprising in Iran has been so powerful is because of Twitter.
So what are the implications for brands?
Twitter is an amazing communication tool. You can reach thousands of people. Letting them know about your latest promotion, or review in a popular magazine. You can voice your opinions about a particular event or news story. And you can definitely push any new content that you have recently put up on your blog. (Which I will be doing as soon as I publish this post, @raykanani)
But that isn't why Twitter is so great for brands.
Unfortunately brands are so used to talking that they can not see that listening is what makes Twitter such a powerful tool. search.twitter.com allows you to search what people are talking about in regards to a particular keyword, geographic region, or even attitude.
The MarketR team is constantly listening to what people are talking about on Twitter and engaging in a conversation when we feel the topic is related to the client's brand.
For example we noticed that an individual in Vancouver was complaining on Twitter because she was having a bad hair day. One of our clients is an internationally recognized hair salon. On behalf of the client we engaged in a conversation. We recognized that she had over one thousand people following her on Twitter so we offered a discount to the salon. She was ecstatic at the offer and made sure to share her excitement to her followers. Even better when she came into the salon she made sure to write about her amazing experience to all of her followers.
Some other examples of listening on Twitter.
Malaysian Airlines.
Wells Fargo
By listening you can understand how your brand is being perceived. If you keep hearing that brand x's prices are so high, then maybe it is time to do a price promotion. Or maybe you keep hearing that service is so poor at brand y. Well maybe it is time to focus on customer service training.
By listening you can attract individuals who are experiencing the customer pain that your brand is designed to solve.
By listening you can show your customers and potential customers that you care.
Listen and you will be heard
Facebook.com/yournamehere - Vanity URL
We know we said the next few posts would be all about Twitter, but we felt this could not wait.
Facebook has announced that it will be issuing vanity URLs for Facebook accounts.
You may be asking, what is a vanity URL? It is your chance to claim your very own piece of Facebook.
In the past Facebook URLs would be made up of what looks like random numbers. This was very inconvenient for brands who wanted to promote their Facebook page offline, because who would remember "www.Faceboook.com/profile.php?id=123456789" ?
So Facebook has finally followed Twitter, and MySpace and offered a personalized "vanity url" that can now look like this www.facebook.com/brandname
Because nobody can have the same Facebook URL this space is going to go quick, this means you need to move fast. If you have an existing Facebook page, log-in to Facebook and visit the Facebook.com/username website. From there you are given suggestions for your custom Facebook URL. Click the more option to input your own choice. Note: This also works for Facebook brand pages, however you must have over 1000 fans.
If you do not already have a Facebook page for yourself or brand, you are out of luck. New Facebook accounts are not eligible.
Now for my rant.
For brands who have recognized the potential for social media, the new vanity URL is great news. For brands who thought it would be a fad, the news is irrelevant because these brands are not eligible for a custom Facebook URL. Which means by the time they get 1000 Facebook fans, the URL they want will not be available.
Let this be a lesson to those brands still on the social media sidelines. Get out and play! Because if you don't you might never get a chance to.
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
*Note: You may have noticed the blog has not been updated regularly. The MarketR team is currently in Europe facilitating online marketing workshops for brands wanting to play the social media game.
The team will be back on June 22nd.
