social net
Social Networking — Twitter, Facebook, etc — is simply people doing what they do: talking and sharing with each other. So, while it’s important to consider new technologies in your marketing mix, it’s more important to apply one core thing: your most remarkable story. Social Media is not about controlling the conversation. It’s about helping one person share a remarkable story with another. The job of a leading brand is to own that remarkable story.
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What if we embrace and utilize neuroscience: that we feel before we think. And what if we use this knowledge of human behavior to rethink how customers might engage with your brand, like these untraditional “marketing” ideas……
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What if you made your story so interesting, people couldn’t wait to share it, customer to customer? Like this one below…
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And here’s that famous Burger King “Whopper Freakout” that was shared across multiple media platforms, delivering real cultural relevance and, above all, outstanding business results.
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…and this followup called “Whopper Virgins” in which the product is tested by people who have no awareness whatsoever of a hamburger sandwich of any kind. Let’s take a minute before checking off the box next to “Marketing” and have a different kind of conversation about ROI and ROE (Engagement) when we’re spending marketing dollars.
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Imagine if your business was condoms. Now, imagine the awareness and engagement generated day by day, week by week, as this story captivated a nation…and how that translated into ROI in social-media and traditional PR coverage, brand awareness, and sales…
first, the documentary…
...and the TV ad that was produced from the event…in other words, the event was the communication…the ad was the result. Counterintuitive.
Remember, nobody really wants to be advertised or marketed to.
So, rethink how you might better develop authentic customer relationships — and an authentic brand — through the kind of refreshing, real stories customers love to share with each other. Like this one below…
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Blendtec wanted to demonstrate the sheer might of their blenders. How? Where? Product placement? Food channels? What if they told their story in a remarkable, irresistible way through social media? On Youtube alone, this one got more than five million visitors. Visit Will It Blend?
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To get their own customers to spread the word of their new Accord, Honda gave them this fun, remarkable story to share…
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Here’s how Tourism Queensland rethought the ROI of showing, yawn, yet another spectacular white sandy beach, stunning aqua marine life and cliche couples walking off into the sunset — and instead, of all things, placed recruitment ads for a six-month paid contract on Hamilton Island, describing it as ‘the best job in the world’…
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What if, instead of another car campaign, you rethink how the car itself can really do something different and useful for a consumer? In other words, put as much creative rethinking into the product itself…so the story about it is something consumers can’t wait to share with each other. The Fiat Eco:Drive system is an innovative application to help drivers reduce fuel costs and carbon emissions…
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Rethink where your customers experience the world and how you might enhance that experience…
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Here’s an example, just an example, of how you can rethink your ol’ powerpoint into a fresh, newly engaging, trust-buzzing, social-media-sharing story of your brand expertise…
Jan Zlotnick is chief marketing officer at GlobeOp Financial Services, a leading technology and service provider to hedge funds and institutions that value superior derivative processing expertise.
