When it comes to social media, a small-yet-active audience is often more valuable to a business than a large-yet-passive audience.
Why?
Because the incoming feedback, suggestions, color commentary and positive word of mouth that an active audience provides to a brand are useful indicators that they are passionate about (and loyal to) that brand. And since you know they’re active, you can be sure that they’re out there… somewhere.
The trick is finding them. (They’re active, so they move fast.)
One such example is the recent (and repeated) success of our client Bigelow Tea‘s Facebook sweepstakes.
These are giveaways that are awarded among fans of Bigelow Tea on Facebook and are promoted across Facebook, Twitter and email during the active duration of each particular sweepstakes offer — sometimes a week, sometimes a month, depending on the prize.
These sweepstakes have boosted Bigelow Tea’s Facebook page past the 10,000 fan mark, which is obviously great from a sheer numbers standpoint. But it gets better.
It turns out that these newly-engaged fans have also stayed active on Bigelow Tea’s Facebook wall even after the sweepstakes have ended. This has led to a more robust and interconnected community of tea drinkers than Bigelow had before their sweepstakes began, and it’s simultaneously providing the company with rich, colorful and valid feedback, which doubles as market research, inspiration for Bigelow Tea blog posts, and more.
All that for the price of a free gift of tea — and the opportunity to connect with a company that responds, listens, and provides a community where their fans can do the same.
During the initial wave of social media adoption by businesses and brands, conversation was key. Brands were lauded not for using these tools to sell, but for using them to chat. To listen. To appear human.
But that mentality may be shifting.
Remember Seinfeld? It was one of the most popular TV shows of the ’90s, but it was also (in theory) “a show about nothing.” Each episode consisted of a tightly-wound series of in-jokes derived from absurdly pedestrian circumstances, which gave viewers a chance to relate. In short, it was the kind of show designed to be relived around the water cooler for not just the next morning but the next few months… or longer. (Personally, I have friends who still celebrate Festivus.)
Why did Seinfeld succeed? In part, it was because — at the time — no one else was talking about nothing. When everyone else has a plot, you can break the mold by only having subplots.
Social media works the same way. When everyone else is selling, it’s easy to stand out simply by offering customer service. But once everyone starts using social media to “join the conversation,” the conversation itself becomes diluted. That’s when people start needing something… else.
When we helped Bigelow Tea create their Twitter and Facebook channels, conversation was key. Just chatting with tea lovers was enough to help Bigelow gain traction with the social media users they connected with.
These days, every tea company with access to the web is on Twitter and Facebook, which means Bigelow needed to shift their focus away from mere conversation and back toward informational value like their content-rich blog. They’ve begun offering successful sweepstakes on Facebook and Twitter. And their Facebook page has become a conversation that’s heavy with links to their teas and gift sets.
The results? Facebook is now one of the primary drivers of Bigelow Tea’s online sales, with plans to expand their strategy even further in 2011.
What has this shift taught us? Yes, people still like to talk tea… but they haven’t stopped needing actual value from their brand interactions, either.
So… what’s your brand’s Seinfeld ratio? How much time do you spend talking about nothing?
When you’re the top specialty tea company in the United States, you reach a lot of tea lovers. Our client Bigelow Tea is using social media — from Bigelow Tea’s Facebook (and, yes, MySpace) pages to their YouTube channel, Bigelow loves to share their tea knowledge with the world. (After 65 years in busiess, they know a thing or two about tea.)
But how often do their customers have a chance to share what they know with each other? Normally, it’s not easy. Fortunately, we at Creative Concepts are helping Bigelow Tea bridge that gap.
Last month, the Bigelow Tea Twitter account asked its followers if they had any tea tips worth sharing. The results were instructive, and they formed the basis of a helpful blog post that allowed Bigelow’s fans to learn from one another.
This isn’t Bigelow’s first foray into customer connectivity. Earlier this year, they hosted their first Bigelow Tea Social in New York City, where bloggers and foodies alike came together to talk tea (and get their fill of free samples). How was that live event conceived of and managed? Why, on Bigelow’s blog and Twitter account, of course!
And while tea is obviously a communal drink to begin with, Bigelow Tea isn’t the only company finding new ways to bring their customers together. Our client Ecover celebrated their 30th anniversary of creating ecological cleaning products with a live event that united green bloggers, media-makers and innovators, all of whom swapped stories and tips until the party ended. How did we at Creative Concepts help Ecover organize this event? With a Facebook contest hosted on Ecover’s blog!
Social media: bringing companies and customers together — with the emphasis on together.
For example, our client Bigelow Tea has been doing some great contests, with prizes that range from free tea to free tickets for Wayne Gretzky’s annual hockey camp. The cost of entry? Simply liking Bigelow Tea on Facebook. Who wouldn’t trade the few seconds it takes to click a button in exchange for a chance to meet The Great One? (For all you non-hockey fans, that’s Gretzky.)
When Bigelow recently gave away the herb plus tea gift set on Facebook, the one-week contest earned them more than 400 new Facebook fans. That’s a 7% increase in their total number of fans, which rose from 5720 to 6162. If they did that every week for a year, they’d nearly double their fanbase in 12 months.
And what’s their investment in this venture?
A prize (obviously, the more interesting the prize, the better)
Time (planning, designing & promoting the contest)
Shipping the prize to the winner
What would your company be willing to invest in a year-long doubling of their marketing reach?
Because you can rest assured that your customers are willing to invest the time to click.
Our client, Bigelow Tea, recently announced a new business partnership with Bruegger’s, the Vermont-based chain of bagel bakeries who’ve agreed to carry Bigelow’s line of organic teas. To help celebrate this nifty news, Bigelow asked Creative Concepts (that’s us) to film a video featuring Cindi Bigelow and Jim Greco, the CEO of Bruegger’s. We said sure.
In theory, we knew the focus of the video was supposed to be Bigelow’s organic teas, but as we’re well aware after having filmed dozens of videos for our clients, live video shoots are unpredictable and you never know what the real story might be, so we kept our options open.
As it turns out, the story behind this shoot turned out to be the remarkable similarities between Bigelow and Bruegger’s, both of whom pride themselves on seeing their employees and their customers not as numbers but as family. Whether it’s a friendly glimpse of Cindi Bigelow scrambling to make a bagel sandwich for a Bruegger’s customer or Jim Greco’s tale of how his mother first intoduced him to tea, it’s these wonderfully human moments that remind viewers and employees alike that the companies they work for (and buy from) are, ultimately, comprised of people.
And, as we’ve said before (and we’ll say again), people like doing business with people, not brands.
How is your brand reminding its customers and its employees that it is refreshingly, endearingly human?
For tips on humanizing your brand, follow us on Twitter or Facebook!
It’s Columbus Day here in the US, and that means some people are taking a moment to reflect on our country’s history. Whether or not Columbus truly “discovered” America is debatable, but one thing’s for sure: he must have been thrilled when he found it for the first time! Wouldn’t you be? A whole new world, filled with new opportunities… which other people outside his social circle just happened to have known about for years.
This got us thinking about celebrating a different discovery…
Last week, Arik Hanson cited the blog of our client, Bigelow Tea, as one of 4 examples of corporate blogs that set the bar high for branded communications. We were thrilled for Bigelow Tea’s blog to have been “discovered,” because we invest a lot of time and effort into helping Bigelow produce a blog that they — and we — can truly be proud of.
And even if others have known about the blog long before Arik did, that doesn’t change the way Arik must have felt when he discovered a great blog that was “new” to him.
The web is filled with new information every day, but it’s also filled with endless archives of content that might not be knew to its creators or its intended audience, but which feels new every time it’s discovered by someone else.
Are you creating content that people will be thrilled to discover?
If you need help with that, come find us on Twitter or Facebook!
You just spent weeks — maybe even months — crafting a social media campaign that’s guaranteed to amaze your customers, awe your competitors and endear your most loyal fans to you for life.
And then you blew it.
How?
Because you didn’t pay attention to the details.
The following three tips are so obvious, they should almost go without saying. Yet we see these same mistakes being made time and time again — sometimes, even by us. (Yes, we’re human too — which is why, like you, we sometimes need to remind ourselves of the basics.)
1. Proofread. Nothing hurts the impact of a message like a spelling, grammar or punctuation error. Whether it’s due to haste, laziness or simply lack of knowledge, these mistakes happen. The trick is to catch them before your audience does. Some of the blog posts we help craft for our client Bigelow Tea are reviewed by half a dozen people before they’re published, and the last person in line still catches the occasional gaffe.
2. Watch the clock. If you’re using an ancillary tool like HootSuite or CoTweet to schedule your messages in advance, you need to be aware of two extremely common hiccups:
Scheduling a tweet or status update to post at the time you’re writing it, rather than at the time you intend for it to publish.
Scheduling an update for AM instead of PM (or vice versa).
Because nothing hurts the ROI of your message like publishing it at 4 AM…
3. Recycle. You have a killer piece of content… but you only post it to one of your channels? Why waste it? For example, our client Ouidad may have great photos from New York Fashion Week, but if they were only posted to Facebook, they’d never be searchable on Flickr. Likewise, just because you’ve tweeted, blogged or otherwise discussed a topic once, that doesn’t mean everyone in your audience saw that individual message. Repeat the important stuff often, so your busy fans and customers can have multiple opportunities to connect with your big news.
Want more tips? You should follow us on Twitter and Facebook!
As we mentioned last week, social media is becoming increasingly important in building customer loyalty. If your customers enjoy interacting with your brand on Twitter, Facebook, etc., they’re more likely to see and act on your messages, from sales to reviews to requests for help.
But those requests for help go both ways. If you’re asking your customers for feedback, you should also prepare to answer their incoming questions. Here are examples of 3 ways our Creative Concepts clients have used Twitter to help solve their customers’ problems.
1. Store Locators
Both Bigelow Tea and Ouidad are store-based clients of ours. Bigelow Tea is sold across North America, while Ouidad has certified stylists in salons nationwide (and beyond). But sometimes their customers can’t find a certain tea flavor at their local grocer, or they wonder if there’s a Ouidad certified stylist in their neighborhood.
When these comments pop up on Twitter, Bigelow and Ouidad can reach out and offer lists of nearby salons or stores that can help a discerning tea lover or fashionista find what they’re searching for.
Just because your products or services are designed to solve problems, that doesn’t mean your customers necessarily remember to use them. Sales are one approach to reminding your customers that you exist. Suggestions are another.
During cold and flu season, Bigelow Tea offers moral support (and suggested tea remedies) to those poor folks with nagging coughs and sore throats. Or, when people voice their frustration with inefficient (or ecologically unsound) cleaning products, Ecover can confidently suggest their own line of household cleaners. (You can follow Ecover here.)
3. Shared Wisdom
Yes, a company is a business, but a company is also comprised of people — and your customers are people too. Sometimes, questions can come up that have nothing at all to do with your products and services, and everything to do with life in general. If you know the answer, don’t be afraid to offer it.
For example, letting someone know that a group of butterflies is sometimes called a kaleidoscope may not have anything to do with laundry detergent, but that doesn’t mean Ecover couldn’t share that information with a person who’d asked. Did it sell another bottle of product? Not necessarily. But it did remind someone that Ecover exists, and that they’re listening — and that they know a thing or two about the environment.
After all, at the end of the day, people remain loyal to the brands they feel best about. And when your brand takes the time to care, and to be personal, that’s one more reason for you and your customers to keep talking.
Want to talk more with us? Let’s connect on Twitter or Facebook!
Online, people are forever in search of something new. Today’s big news is already tomorrow’s second-page Google return. (Which, thanks to Google Instant, makes yesterday’s news nearly invisible.) And this means your social media channels need to stay fresh or risk becoming irrelevant.
Unfortunately, creating new content is one of the most time-consuming aspects of social media. The prospect of creating a new video or blog post every week — much less every day — can scare away any business that’s already low on time or cash.
The good news is, you don’t need to start from scratch every time you create a new piece of online content. In fact, you already have a storehouse of material at your fingertips, waiting to be used (and reused) in your marketing efforts. Here’s how you can maximize (and multiply) what you already know — and save time in the process.
1. Write What You (and Your Employees) Know
We help our client Bigelow Tea create the content for their blog. After 65 years in business, there’s no shortage of information, advice and anecdotes that they can draw on to produce new blog posts. Why scramble to constantly find new topics and trends to discuss when their own employees have experiences and stories that no one outside the company has ever heard?
Turn to your employees — and your customers — for a never-ending source of inspiration.
2. Create an Ongoing Series of Tips
Earlier this year, we began curating a #DailyTeaTip for Bigelow Tea’s Twitter channel — a process some other tea lovers have begun to adopt. Bigelow’s tips are usually links to existing Bigelow Tea blog posts or FAQs, which provide answers to questions that people might not have thought to ask — from “Who is Early Grey tea named after?” to understanding the difference between green, black and oolong teas. We keep a dated list of the tips Bigelow has posted, and we repeat popular tips when appropriate — because if someone hasn’t seen a tip before, it’s still new to them.
Think of ways you could create a content series on your blog, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, Flickr, LinkedIn…
3. A Picture Is Worth a 1000 Word Blog Post (Give or Take)
Promotional photos. Product shots. Print ads. Office parties. No matter how old or how small your company is, you’ve probably created hundreds — maybe thousands — of photos and images over the years. Odds are, your customers and fans would love to see all of those images in one place — and that means you have a nearly endless supply of easy content updates.
One of the most-retweeted accounts on Twitter is Mashable, the go-to news site for all things social media. Why? For one thing, their tweets are notoriously short — usually around 100 characters. This means they can be easily retweeted and commented upon within a tweet by their readers.
Yes, you have a lot to say. But you’re as pressed for time as your readers and viewers are. Brevity helps both sides win.
Here at Creative Concepts, we’re often asked to help our clients create interesting videos on location — maybe at work, in a restaurant, during a photo shoot or on the street. And while these on-location videos can be tightly controlled or spontaneously energetic, the locations themselves always present the same batch of speed bumps, roadblocks and complications.
If you want to film a branded video on location, here are 7 tips we’ve learned — some of them the hard way — to help filming and post-production go as smoothly as possible.
1. Befriend and respect the location’s manager or owner.
If you’re filming in a business or office, track down the manager, owner or supervisor. Be friendly. Explain what you’re doing, and what your goals for the video are. Ask them if they know of any obvious stumbling blocks to avoid, any shortcuts, or any particularly photogenic angles. (After all, it’s their building.)
2. When you’re outside, roll with the punches.
If you’re outdoors, be mindful of the public, the nearby property owners and the police. What you’re filming probably looks interesting, and you may attract a crowd. If you’re not controlling the crowd with barriers and security, they may linger. This is good, because it increases the exposure for your shoot — but it also increases your opportunities for unwanted noise and distractions.
Does the location play music on a PA system? Is the heat or air conditioning on? Are the walls thin enough to let nearby conversations come through? Does the floor vibrate when cars or equipment move past?
If you can hear it in the room, you can hear it on the video. Make sure the audio that’s in your video is supposed to be there. And if you can’t turn the noise off, be prepared to work around it (and hope you can reduce it in post).
4. Shoot more than you think you’ll need.
Maybe your script only calls for 10 shots, and you’ve wrapped ahead of schedule. Be proactive. Get an extra introduction or conclusion. Ask the interview subject a few unscripted questions. Pitch some alternate ways that a product could be shown, or that a topic could be discussed.
It’s these unexpected additions to the script that may well turn a stiff, boring video into a human story with actual character.
5. Stay loose.
No matter how comfortable someone seems in person, putting them in front of a camera is like sending them into battle. People freeze when that red light comes on. They panic. They become acutely aware that the next words out of their mouths will be seen by numerous strangers, possibly for years to come, and that’s a lot of pressure.
Be personable. Help the subject loosen up. Make them laugh. Get them comfortable. Change the subject. Ask them a question. Change the lighting. Move them to a new room. Make a mistake, then fix it, so they see that mistakes can be corrected and recovered from.
Above all, do whatever it takes to ensure that the personality seen by the viewers is the same personality you saw on your subject’s face before the red light went on. (And if all else fails, film them when they think they’re not being filmed. It’s funny what some black tape over that red light can accomplish.)
6. B-roll will save your life.
Get ample footage of the location, inside and out. Get shots of every participant, even when they’re not looking. Shoot labels, packaging and displays. Shoot products, in all stages of assembly and execution.
If you’re filming a conversation between two people, get reaction shots from both of them. Get shots of the table. Get shots of the audience. Get shots of their hands.
There will always be at least one place in the final edit where you’ll wish you had just one relevant clip to cut away to, over an emergency edit you had to make. If you don’t have something to use, you can’t make that cut. Never, ever shoot yourself into a corner.
7. Always carry release forms.
You’re shooting on the street outside a business and you’ve only planned to get once scene with the company’s owner. Suddenly, her favorite customer, or a longtime vendor, or her family members arrive unannounced. What a wonderful opportunity to film a meaningful exchange with your client and the people who matter most to the success of her business!
Now, if only you had a release form that person could sign, so you could legally use their image…
For more business tips, connect with us on Twitter or Facebook!
