Mediaboss Marketing

Imagine if the Chicago Bulls said Michael Jordan was once again coming out of retirement, but this time he would suit up for only one game and, strangely, the game would not be televised.

Further, and perhaps even stranger, there would be a strict no social media policy. The 20,000 people who were lucky enough to score tickets would have their smartphones confiscated at the door.

Limiting the majesty of this special occasion to only the folks in attendance would be a crime. Yet in a roundabout way, this is something too many event marketers are doing with their campaigns.

Its not that theyre enforcing silly policies that outlaw tweets, snaps and hashtagstheyre just not fully capitalizing on social media and seeing it for what it is: an engagement-driving element that can and should be leveraged during marketing events.

A whopping majority of event marketers say they use social media before and after events, but about 45 percent say they do not use it during the eventsthemselves. Thats akin to having Jordan sit on the bench for the entirety of his big night back.

With awareness, engagement and reach being the underlying goals of event marketing campaigns, shouldnt social media be a given? Not only is it inexpensive and easy to implement, but its also a slam-dunk way to plug a broader audience into a brands message.

To boot, 85 percent of consumers say they are more swayed by user-generated contentthan the material marketers come up with. Encouraging attendees to post about events adds a key layer of authenticity to campaigns.

The benefits of adding social media elements to marketing events are clear. Here are three tips that will help brands fully capitalize on this approach:

According to one survey, fewer than 30 percent of attendees say they feel compelled to share insights and photoswith their personal social networks during marketing events. Thats because no one is passing them the ball.

Even the most rabid basketball fans need a Jumbotron to remind them to get loud during important parts of a game. Similarly, the most avid Instagrammers and tweeters need to know that theres a photo booth and hashtag that brands want them to use.

There must be a clear awareness of how exactly social media plays into the event. It should be so self-explanatory that consumers cant help but want to document and share their experiences.

Over his long career, Shaquille ONeal attempted only 22 three-point shots. His coaches knew dunks and layups were his forte, so they never called any plays that would force him to shoot the long ball. In that vein, why would marketers ask attendees to utilize social media platforms they dont love to use?

Skip the Snapchat filters for a group of 60-year-old doctors, seeing as the platform fares betterwith younger demographics.

That said, however, dont limit the events social media aspect to one single channelespecially if the attendees are diverse. Make sure all players have opportunities to share the fun theyre having on platforms they enjoy using.

Championships are won when teams embrace and leverage their unique identities. The Jordan-era Bulls werent trying to emulate other teams; they leveraged their uniqueness to rise above the rest and become a dynasty.

In the event-marketing sense, social media shouldnt be haphazardly thrown into a campaign just because everyone else is doing it. Rather, it should be integrated thoughtfully and creatively.

For example, one of my favorite marketing events we worked on was for Tractor Supply Co. We rolled out a life-sized taxidermy rodeo bull and encouraged attendees to climb onto its back and snap photos. The brand wasnt providing a photo op just for the sake of providing onethis was a strategic decision that reflected the companys identity and appealed to attendees interests. It was a one-of-a-kind experience that consumers couldnt resist to share with friends.

If awareness and engagement are the biggest obstructions to return on investment at marketing events, social media is the tool that will help marketers alley-oop over them. Stop treating social media like a halftime show that no one pays attention to and start making it a fundamental part of your programs.

Steve Randazzo is founder and president of experiential marketing agency Pro Motion.

Image courtesy of Dmytro Aksonov/iStock.

Read this article:
How to Slam Dunk Social Media Into Marketing Events - FishbowlDC (blog)

Vancouver-based Hootsuite has announced the acquisition of AdEspresso, which allows small and medium-sized businesses to split test every aspect of their Facebook and Instagram ad campaigns.

In a statement, Hootsuite said that the acquisition of AdEspresso a global Facebook ad partner will allow the company to sit at the nexus of $500 million in annualized social spend. The social media management platform has expressed an interest in becoming a go-to social marketing solution for businesses. AdEspresso by Hootsuite will continue as a self-service ads management product for businesses.

Social advertising has become a vital aspect of marketing; companies are looking for ways to reach an active, engaged audience while getting more mileage from content and advertising spend, said Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite. With AdEspresso, were bringing our users a simple, powerful, battle-tested solution that delivers measurable ROI.

At the same time that it announced the acquisition, the company also announced the launch of Hootsuite Ads, which will provide organizations with enterprise-grade features, such as testing hundreds of Facebook and Instagram ads in a shorter time and connecting an organizations CRM with its Facebook ads account.

Millions of organizations use Facebook advertising to drive the outcomes that matter most to them, said Blake Chandlee, VP of Marketing Partnerships at Facebook. Hootsuites acquisition of AdEspresso, a fast-growing Facebook Marketing Partner, shows that theres a huge opportunity in building customized services on our open APIs to help each business meet their unique goals.

See more here:
Hootsuite acquires social marketing tool AdEspresso - BetaKit

Youre at a party and notice a friend is wearing a new pair of bright red sneakers. He raves about how they feel, so you go out the next day and buy your own.

This is what used to be known as word-of-mouth (WOM) marketing, perhaps the most valuable way of communicating product value because the testimony comes from a trusted source.

Now, that trusted-source value has been hugely amplified by the power of social media, resulting in influencer marketing. In this article, part of our Marketing Technology Landscape Series, we look at this growing trend in social marketing.

In influencer marketing, marketers locate individuals whose opinions matter to other people. Often, those influencers aresocial media stars who have many followers on YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and other platforms.

Influencers can also be bloggers who are considered experts in specific areas, or celebrities who share their opinions. When these influential people say they like a particular smartphone, or when they post a video that sings the praises of a new shampoo, their followers listen.

[Read the full article on MarTech Today.]

The rest is here:
MarTech Landscape: What is influencer marketing? - Marketing Land

PR Daily (registration)

Six Social Media Marketing Trends To Stay On Top Of In 2017 Forbes As a marketing director, I've been focused on planning our company's social media marketing strategy for 2017. In doing so, I've been paying attention to areas of social media marketing that are trending for the upcoming year. Here's what I've gathered ... 5 top social media trends to watch in 2017PR Daily (registration) How to Protect Your Company's Reputation on Social MediaBusiness 2 Community all 11 news articles »

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Six Social Media Marketing Trends To Stay On Top Of In 2017 - Forbes

Abercrombie & Fitch Co. had a rough 2016. The company watched as its stock declined from a high of more than $32 to a low of just over $11. Why?

One reason may be that the company has done a poor job in managing its TotalSocial brand[TotalSocial is a proprietary metric developed byFays firm, Engagement Labs]. Literally, they have not been able to manage how people talk about it either on or offline.

Retail and apparel brands are dependent on social influence, as it drives sales and what consumers say about your brand is at the core of who you are. Whether it is conversations that are taking place off-line IRL (in real life) or online, these conversations are greatly influenced by what is being worn by those we admire and know personally. Thats why its fairly surprising to learn Abercrombie & Fitch, a brand that has undergone a major transformation in the last two years with a new lead designer and overhaul of its brand marketing campaign has been floundering for a while, and has yet to figure out how to effectively manage its social marketing strategy.

According to a TotalSocial analysis, which looks at the full social impact of a marketing strategy, both online and off-line, Abercrombie & Fitch is performing well for off-line consumer conversations, but not at all well for social media. This is probably related to the social media ire A&F drew by stating its refusal to make merchandisefor large women because the brand didnt want overweight peoplewearing the clothing. That attitude didnt fit with an Internet culture that celebrated warts-and-all acceptance of ones flaws, and one that holds disdain for bullying.

Whatever the cause, the consumer influence mismatch this brand has between online and off-line performance represents a key opportunity to turn the good conversations happening in real life into the social media world and its story can be used as a canary in a coal mine for other retailers trying to serve a similar audience.

The below quadrant chart plots the retail landscape by levels and types of consumer conversations according to TotalSocial. The farther to the right and higher in the quadrant, the better the brand performs for overall consumer influence.

The largest number of brands in the category is clustered in the lower right quadrant, performing well offline but not at all well online. Department stores such as Macys and Kohls are joined by specialty retailers like Old Navy, American Eagle and Abercrombie & Fitch. The inconsistency between the brands online and offline performance represents an opportunity to move the positive conversations happening offline into the social media world.

Do Youth-Focused Retailers Harness the Power of Social Influence?

Overall, youth-oriented brands like H&M, Charlotte Russe and Hot Topic earn rather low scores for social engagement. Doesnt it seem counterintuitivethat brands aimed at the youth market arent leveraging the power of their target audiences desire to share? There is a lot of room for improvement.

To improve social performance, the retail and apparel category as a whole can look closely at the two strongest performers in their own category Nordstrom and Amazon.

Lessons From the Leaders

Nordstrom earns its success with phenomenally positive conversations, both online and off-line, and has succeeded in connecting with the influencers who give the most frequent and persuasive advice, both online and off-line. It is clear that Nordstrom thrives with the quality of its conversations.

On the other hand, mass online retailer Amazon achieves success with quantity. In fact, about 170 million times every week, somebody is exposed to a conversation about Amazon nearly one time for every two living Americans. In addition, the brand gets a lot of sharing of its content, particularly in off-line discussions referring to its marketing. One thing that both brands have in common is that they have taken a holistic approach to consumer influence leveraging social conversations about their brand on and off-line.

To be a successful social marketer, use the following strategies:

It is a social gaffe for any of us to be awkward IRL or too often humble-brag on Instagram. Yes, that can be embarrassing. For brands, the stakes are much higher than for people. How your brand lovers and haters talk and share about you online and off-line can either drive or harm sales. To harness the lovers and keep the haters at bay, embrace a holistic approach. Thriving for a retail brand in 2017 is all about directing the right conversations and sharing and letting your brand be styled in part by consumer social interactions.

Brad Fay is chief research officer of Engagement Labs.

Original post:
Think Tank: How to Avoid Being a Socially Awkward Retail Brand - WWD