Blog Archives
Twitter Plans to Send User Tweets to Salesforce.
Photo from onlinesocialmedia.net
Twitter has agreed to give Salesforce, a customer relationship management company, access to over 400 million public tweets for data analysis. Data analysis for what exactly? Salesforce would like intel on how Twitter users are engaging with brands.
From a brand standpoint, this is fantastic news because this will be the genesis of better customer engagement, relationship cultivation and wider brand reach online.
From a Twitter user standpoint, do we want our interaction with brands to be analyzed? Do we prefer brands to reach out to us before we reach out to them? Maybe it’s case by case.
I’d love to know your thoughts on this. Personally, I want interaction with brands on my terms, not theirs.
Increase Engagement on Your Facebook Page [Examples]
It’s Friday afternoon and I just returned home from a fantastic meeting with the marketing and communications folks for UCLA. While there, we briefly discussed two segments of Facebook Page fans: (1) Distant Observer and (2) Active Engaged. Since then, my head has been spinning about this topic. Lets talk about it.
Distant Observer – One who “Likes” your Page and doesn’t engage in the form of comments, shares or likes. This also takes into consideration people who don’t “Like” your Page (yet).
Active Engaged – One who “Likes” your Page and comments often, shares posts and likes. He or she may also tag your brand in their posts and/or photos.
The question being how do you convert Distant Observer into Active Engaged? Think about the value proposition? Why should people engage with your Facebook Page? Are they getting something on our Facebook Page, they cannot get anyplace else? In a nut-shell, the Distant Observer must realize the value of becoming an Active Engaged. To help the Distant Observer realize the value of your Page, you must know what that value is and how to leverage it.
Ways to recognize your Facebook Page’s value:
- You actively engage with your fans on a daily basis. Example from Yoplait
- You post breaking updates/news in real-time. Example from Fandango
- Your engagement is personalized (as much as possible). Example from Dell Computers
- You post a variety of content (i.e. teasers about upcoming updates to your website/blog, photos and video, you ask for feedback etc). Example from Oscar de la Renta and Gatorade
- You don’t just talk about yourself. Example from Zazzle.com
- You cross-promote. Example from Frontier Airlines
How to leverage your Facebook Page’s value:
1. Put your Facebook Page on the “map” by promoting it.
- Website/blog
- Business cards
- Tweet about it (aka cross-promote)
- Marketing collateral
- Email campaigns
2. Constantly be thinking of ways to make it better.
- Keep the header image relevant and up-to-date
- Add a landing tab and other custom tabs
- Integrate eCommerce (if applicable)
- Add a contact form
3. Contests and sweepstakes.
If you’re interested in adding a contact form, integrating eCommerce and exploring custom tabs, I recommend checking out Appbistro. It’s a great resource!
Spotlight on Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream (@benandjerrys)
It’s been a while since I highlighted a brand’s use of social media tools. I covered Target, Pillsbury and Oreo. I need to get on it. No time to waste…here we go.
Ben & Jerry’s Ice Cream. It’s a house-hold name and incredibly delicious. The brand is known for its fun flavor combinations, catchy names, whole ingredients and being philanthropic. What more can you ask for? Moreover, they’ve got social media covered so ice cream fans can connect 24/7 and spread the goodness that is Ben & Jerry’s.
You can find Ben & Jerry’s being sweet in these online avenues -
Facebook
Twitter
Mobile
Google+
Instagram
YouTube
tumblr
I am not seeing Pinterest. Ben? Jerry? Thoughts on this? I am interested to see how Ben & Jerry’s will leverage Pinterest to satiate ice cream fans’ desire for visual delicacy.
The company is active in so many avenues, we’d be here all month if I covered each of these in detail, so I’ll cover a few.
Facebook – 3.7 million “Likes”
The Social Media Managers behind Ben & Jerry’s Facebook Page are leveraging the Timeline banner image with an image that resonates with us…green hills with the iconic black and white cows in the foreground.
You can find photos of employees, customers and a wide variety of content such as new flavor launches, event information, polls and even a countdown to Free Cone Day and a Whirled Map (both are Facebook apps).
Twitter – 45,000 Followers
#VT, #phish, #halfbaked, #fairtrade, among others…these are all hashtags you’ll see Ben & Jerry’s tweeting about. For a brand who has a Facebook Page of over 3 million fans, I am a little shocked to find it only has 45,000 followers on Twitter. Nevertheless, Ben & Jerry’s does a great job of compartmentalizing it’s content so that followers and flavor advocates can easily join the conversation. Additionally, the Social Media folks behind @benandjerrys are posting a variety of content to keep us interested. We’re seeing retweets, replies, tweets about causes it’s supporting, teasers about new flavors and more.
Instagram – 21,000 Followers
Naturally, we’re all very visual people, so apps like Instagram, Hipstamatic and others give us that desire to post and view photos that are unique. Ben & Jerry’s is using this tool to leverage the beauty of Vermont and its products. This photo, what can I say? Now I am craving a creamy ice cream cone!
YouTube – 807,000 Video Views
Completely grassroots, fun and non-corporate videos here. Ben & Jerry’s staying true to their roots.
