And as a wrap-up to the previous week, we are going to explore social media as a marketing medium! Amazing, yes I know. What else can you go with social media? The possibilities, as said before, are endless!
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| What sorcery is this! |
First of all, lets take a look at a simple and generic marketing model, known as the AIDA model, which stands for ATTENTION, INTEREST, DESIRE, ACTION. Here is a model for your kind consideration:
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| Check out this model yo. |
1.Attention:
Lets say you want to capture your target audience's awareness. You need that ability to attract your customers attention. Probably using something novel or exciting that could most likely interest someone within five seconds or less.
2. Interest:
The "I" stands for interest, and it refers to the ability to gain and retain customer's interests by focusing on and demonstrating advantages and benefits (instead of focusing on features, as in traditional advertising).
3. Desire:
Next is Desire, meaning that you need to convince your customers, potential or otherwise, that your particular product/service is important to them, and that they NEED or desire it, as it would satisfy their needs.
4. Action:
Last on the list is Action. Your advertisement or marketing strategy should prompt customers to MAKE a conscious effort to take action by purchasing your product or service. By doing so you ensure a successful business model for yourself.
The system is used to guide marketers to target a market effectively. Naturally, as organizations move through each step of the AIDA model, a percentage of initial prospects are lost throughout the sales cycle.
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| World Domination Raccoon approves |
If you didn't know, in order to market a product or service effectively, you need a marketing strategy. yes. I'm talking to the guy with his mouth open. That's you dummy. In order for even the most basic marketing strategy to succeed, proper planning must be done beforehand. Using social media as a marketing tool is no different, a proper plan and strategy is needed for your business to take off, if not prepare to see it fall down around your tiny failed ears. You may not notice it, because of its sublime nature, but already many companies have formulated ingenious business models and strategies to take down the social media market. Let us take a look at three companies who actually managed to not only succeed, but prosper in a world where so many others have bombed or had it work towards their disadvantage. The platform we will be explorin'? Facebook.
1. Oreo(YES, the cookie company!)
During the Super Bowl XLVII in the United States, there was a blackout during the third quarter of the game at the Superdome, suspending all play for 34 minutes. During the now infamous blackout, Oreo tweeted a picture from their official twitter account:
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| That's what she said. |
Pretty cool, right? You could say Oreo saw this coming, for something like this to be made and then blasted through the Twittersphere all within 34 mins really takes some genius designers, or they really saw this coming. Needless to say they hit the jackpot on this one. It captured the audiences attention and interest, and the post went viral in minutes. In actual fact, the company had staffed a 15-man team on hand to take advantage and capture the attention of the Super Bowl audience. Their Facebook page? 32 MILLION likes. Now THAT'S one fortune cookie.
2. Nike (how did we NOT see this coming. -.-)
The world's biggest sports company also used a similar strategy akin to Oreo's, using a major sporting event to surround their new social media campaign. Now, being a huge sporting logo among today's sportsmen, you would think they would make use of high-profile athletes like lets say Usain Bolt, or Michael Phelps. Well they kind of went in the other direction, choosing instead to feature your average Olympic athlete. Perhaps someone who you might not even have known! Their strategy was quite clever, in fact. By doing so they showed that Nike didn't just support big names in sports, they also helped out the everyday average sportsman aiming to clinch that title. By doing so, Nike gained 166,718 Facebook fans during the London Olympics. Current Facebook likes on their page stands at 12.6 million likes. Damn son.
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| There's no such thing as bad publicity...right? |
Last on the list is not something you'll expect to even BE on social media, much less concocting a special strategy to corner its target market. Heinz, in particular uses Facebook as a platform for it to launch new products to attract their customers. However in order to get them ON Facebook they need to spread the word of mouth that they are actually ON Facebook. After promoting their Facebook page, Heinz launched a campaign which basically acted as a type of personality test. You had to answer a series of questions on their application and the results would match your 'personality' to a certain type of bean. Personalised beans would then be sent to winners every five hours. If you were able to share the application with ten other people, you would receive discount coupons and in some cases goodie bags. The campaign took off and was a hit with Heinz's customer base. The result? Increase in sales and also with their Facebook page hitting 1.1 million plus likes and follows. Not bad for a company that makes sauces huh?
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| Humans are just so full of complications. |
Three companies who made it in the social media marketing industry. Three successes in an environment where it is so easy to bomb and washout as easily as your started your campaign. How did they achieve such overwhelming(OK maybe I'm exaggerating here) results? The answer lies with the AIDA model. All three companies were able to capture the attention of their target audience with new and interesting, sometimes downright ingenious ideas. They managed to interest their customers and incite some form of desire within them, thus making them take action either by supporting their social media campaign or by buying said products and services. I strongly advocate this model to any aspiring entrepreneur who is looking to break into the market using social media as a marketing tool.
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