Cancer Research: No make up selfies are genius for non-profit marketing!

How could I, as a marketing blogger, not mention the massive trend this week- No make-up selfies to raise awareness for breast cancer!?!

As I am sure you are all aware- through facebook and twitter, EVERYONE seems to be taking make-up free photos of themselves and uploading them. Cancer Research have suggested that since the trend started they have received a huge increase in the levels of donations to the charity that they have been receiving, enough to even crash their donation systems!

However, CRUK have also said that they have no idea where the idea came from yet clearly they support it!

I know on my Facebook there was a lot of controversy, especially from those saying it is a pointless trend, that taking photos of your face make-up free isn't going to cure cancer and other like-minded comments. These negative comments and retaliations from those arguing the other side of the case have actually given the cause an even stronger presence online!

This is just another fantastic example of how social-media can be used to drive awareness and in the non-profit marketing world, donations...

However, the thing that is unique about this example of social media marketing is that it wasn't driven by the brand it was driven by the consumer! I feel as though a marketing trend could be emerging which brands need to think very carefully about how then can use to the best of their ability!

Cancer Research were very lucky to be at the center of this- lets hope we see more consumer-driven marketing examples in the future!

Steph 

Brands who got it RIGHT: Oreo

A brand who have always done their social media marketing exceptionally well is Oreo! They have been referred to a "social media innovators" and have received exceptional recognition for the social media marketing they have demonstrated.

This post is on why I think they are social media masters:

I mentioned them in the newsjacking post previously, but there are hundreds of more examples of excellent use of social media by Oreo.

Check out these vines that they produced:





The thing that makes these so entertaining is the creativity and the success that Oreo create is SHAREABLE.

There is no point creating a loyal fan base or even posting social media content which has no shareability value- make content which people want to tweet or revine or tell their friends about!

Oreo connect with their audience, they have a strong following amongst their social media platforms and they engage with their target audience CONSTANTLY.

What some brands tend to do is run social media campaigns which publish heavy content and responses around a particular product release or around a particular time of year and then remain fairly quiet until the next one. However, Oreo continually updates with relevant, current and consistent content.

They respond to news stories, important dates, trends and peaks- this means users react in real time and are willing to interact with the Oreo brand. Look above at the phone case tweet- Oreo uses wit and humour to engage their audience and inspire others to share more!

Reasons why Oreo wins best use of social media marketing:
HUMOUR, CREATIVITY, CONSISTENCY, SHAREABILITY

an inspiration and a case study for all brands to learn from- Congrats Oreo!!

Thoughts and opinions all my own.
Stephanie Clark

Social Media Day @ Ogilvy

Hello!

So a couple of weeks ago I got the opportunity, with my team, to visit one of IBM's suppliers. We spent the day at the Ogilvy offices in Canary Wharf discussing the issues around social media and digital marketing. Ogilvy are one of the biggest marketing agencies in the world so you can imagine how excited I was to spend the day with the IBM account team and to visit their UK HQ!

The office for a start was amazing! Set in Cabot square in Canary Wharf- it was my 1st visit to Canary Wharf but it is definitely somewhere I can see myself working! The office was a really creative, modern and stylish setting (much different from the IBM offices...)

We got to hear from a number of interesting speakers and discuss issues around social media that the team had. As you may or may not know (having read this blog I hope!!) social media is one of my passions and something which I think I can talk about with a level of knowledge and experience- therefore I really found the day beneficial and enriching!

We discussed the importance of content on social media and how it shouldn't just be a selling page, delivering content to your target audience means they will use your owned media sources as an information source and this will therefore enhance their experience- meaning your brand is a) a trusted source b) in the forefront of their mind c) not thrust upon them in a sales perspective and therefore they feel as though they are making an informed decision rather than being sold to.

A problem that arose was that HOW can this content be created by a marketing team alone? Especially in high investment/involvement purchases where a great deal of inside knowledge, expertise and specific information is needed, how can a small, specific marketing team manage a social media presence? We also considered how difficult it is to measure the effectiveness of a social media presence, especially in terms of return.

Aside from these issues and concerns, there was an understanding from the day as to the relevance of social media in a B2B environment. Most people consider social media essential in  B2C marketing but don't often associate marketing with B2B, however we were given the idea that it is not a new concept in this market. Networking has been a key part of a B2B organisation for a long time, this is just a shift in how key decision makers connect with their peers.

When marketing in a B2B context, the focus must be on a peer-to-peer basis, rather than brand-to-consumer.

This was the key concept that I recognised from the day, a quote from one of the presenters, "social is a behavioural reality, not just a channel". This gave me a lot to think about...

For example; key decision makers in an organisation who are invited to attend numerous events are more likely to accept an invitation if they are invited in a person to person invitational context.

This brings about the key rule when using social media in B2B: Make it personal

After discussing these issues and concepts, we had a presentation from someone at IDG, a technology media company- they publish magazines and online media all focused on technology throughout the UK.

They showed us the results from their engagement study found here...this reinforced the messages we had heard from Ogilvy and discusses Twitter and Linkedin as the primary B2B social networks. It was an interesting presentation and gave the team a lot to think about.

We then heard a presentation from Linkedin who showed us some interesting stats about how much reach Linkedin can provide when trying to target other businesses. Social media has provided an interesting platform, you may think that "stalking your ex on Facebook" is purely for entertainment purposes, but in reality- how much better to understand your customer's likes, dislikes, interests and connections than to have it written plainly in front of you on Linkedin?

Linkedin presented us with this idea and explained how the increasing use of Linkedin means B2B marketing teams can tailor their marketing messages based on their individual target recipient's behaviour, connections and experience.

The presentation was interesting and reinforced the idea of personal, direct, individual, relationship marketing which I believe is fundamental in any B2B environment.

I thoroughly enjoyed the day and can honestly say I felt at home in the Ogilvy offices- I would love to work there! It was one of the best days working at IBM that I have had so far!!

Views and opinions are entirely my own- Stephanie Clark

Tesco doing it right!!

I have wrote about the importance of a social media presence a thousand times and seriously if your organisation doesn't know that by now, how are you actually still in operation?! Here is one of my Favourites Tesco Mobile who have a fantastic twitter account:

Tesco Mobile

This buzzfeed post summarises it quite nicel, but here are some of my personal faves!!

 When you're competing with the big dogs, i.e. Orange, Vodafone and O2, I can imagine advertising budget is limited, as is a loyal set of brand advocates- however Tesco Mobile's wit, enthusiasm and understanding of their target audience's 'banter' trend, is enough to CLEARLY get tesco mobile noticed in the social media world and is fingers crossed enough to allow them to relaunch their brand image into a lighthearted, fun and laidback brand, which may differ from that of tesco as a parent company.

Views are my own,


Stephanie

Prankvertising

NEW FAVE MARKETING STRATEGY GUYS!!!

Prankvertising is absolute genius!

Have a watch of this:

This was a stunt performed by the team behind a new release film 'Carrie' in order to promote their movie. The video has over a million hits on youtube- not bad at all!

LG also used prankvertising-  this is the best example I've seen so far!

It's also been used in social marketing too- which personally I think it can make a BIG impact!
Check out this prankvertising video by THINK- a drink driving campaign charity.



Companies are always looking for ways to make their brand go viral- this is a perfect way to do it, so easy for these clips to be shared and reshared!

If companies want to join on the prankvertising bandwagon and stand out they best had do fast!!!

Vine

 If you haven't heard of/used/had a look at Vine then you need to get on it! It's a new social media site which I think is going to take off very fast! I would say the site is a cross between twitter, instagram and youtube and it allows users to post a six-second video clip and share with other users.

Many celebs, dance groups and wanna-be singers have taken to Vine to provide entertaining and informative content. I did have a go myself but I don't think I'm funny enough!

So clearly with the huge level of entertaining content on social media platforms at the moment- organisations are finding different ways to slide their marketing content in amongst the others.

As vine only provides content creators with a six-second limit, it separates the best, most creative and unique marketing teams from the weak. Companies have to get their thinking caps on in order for their content to be liked, revined and shared.

A suprising company that I saw on the list was Natwest bank....
They used the application to answer customer's frequently asked questions on twitter- a creative way to engage with customers! This meant that customers could find the answers without having to go on the natwest website or google the questions for themselves!

Will definitely make natwest stand out and the vines can be reshared on facebook and twitter for a higher coverage!

 Another interesting vine from Puma which captures attention...


 Bacardi UK showing how brands can be creative with the Vine app.


And finally doritos showing how vine can be used to engage consumers and INVOLVE them in campaigns.

Vine is a fabulous tool used by marketers and I hope you agree!


Steph