Mediaboss Marketing

Social media comes in so many flavors; photos, videos and words, all can be brought together to tell a story, to attract viewers and potential customers. This element of telling a story through the different social media channels for the purpose of marketing seems to be absent, or very rare if you want, in the local or even Arabic market. Till now, companies are still thinking about the number of followers, number of views and likes, regardless of any impact their message is making on the customers and on the brand. Till now, the only definition of social media marketing, for a lot of companies, is to recruit Twitter users with high number of followers to promote their products, or to look for YouTube shows with high number of views to sponsor. What made the situation even worse is the sudden boom of social media marketing agencies, with nothing under their belt other than a number of contacts of highly influential Tweeps or YouTube producers, promoting products in a very dull and boring way; no creativity, no deep knowledge of branding and positioning. Maybe we should learn a thing or two from how big companies are using social media to promote their products and position their brands. Mashable has listed the 5 top social media campaigns of 2014 with each and every campaign using a different technique to reach out to customers. I particularly liked two of those campaigns. First, there is the AT&T the giant American telecom provider. Now if you do not know about the campaign already, what would you think the campaign is all about? I bet you would have thought of a number of celebrities directly promoting the services of AT&T! Sorry, you are wrong. The campaign was a web-series produced by the company to target teenage users. If there are three things that teenagers love, its reality TV, social media and their cellphones. AT&T combined the three in its social media reality series @SummerBreak, which followed eight friends during their last summer together before college. Mashable reported. The targeted customers got attracted to the message, interacted with the series and its cast, and scored millions of hits on different social media platforms like Twitter, Instagram, and YouTube. The campaign was successful to the point that the company decided to go for a new season of the series. In a creative way, they positioned their brand as a part of youth lives, accompanying them in their first lives journeys and challenges. The second campaign that caught my attention was the one developed by Chevrolet and the American Cancer Society. The campaign was called Purple Your Profile, it started with a video aired during the 2014 Super Bowl, featuring a couple riding a Chevy and holding hands, giving signals that they are coming back from a journey of battling cancer. The video was followed by asking Facebook users to purple their profile, donating $1 for everyone who participated. The campaign was able to raise around $1 million for cancer charities. Is it possible to see such powerful campaigns in our local market, just for a change? I certainly hope so.

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Saudi firms need to think out of the box

How to get 3 Leads in 3 hours Using Social Marketing
Boost your social Marketing, by using these 8 simple steps toward building your business, and following.

By: Daniel Hammon

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How to get 3 Leads in 3 hours Using Social Marketing - Video

Big brands are turning quickly to the image-based social network Instagram. That's the takeaway from new data out from Simply Measured, which indicates most (86%) of the Intrabrand 100 are using the social network

"The rapid adoption of Instagram by big brands signifies the continued expansion of social media as a cornerstone of overall marketing strategy," said author and digital brand strategist Jeff Bullas. "In the past, brands would double-down efforts on one or two channels, but now we're seeing an expansion of assets and better coverage on a wider range of platforms. They're engaging with customers where they natively spend time."

Some interesting takeaways from the Simply Measured Q3 2014 Instagram Study include:

In 2012 54% of measured brands held Instagram accounts, in 2014 86% held accounts 73% of brand users on Instagram post at least weekly Brands posting at least daily have tripled (2013 vs 2014) Instagram users are 'more receptive' to marketing on the network Posts tagged with a location receive 79% more engagement

"Our data shows that brands are continuing to invest heavily in social media, especially the visual platforms," said Michael Thomason, data analyst at Simply Measured. "Active brands are developing a standardized strategy for reaching their customers on Instagram, and are in turn receiving record engagement and exposure to a wider audience."

Image via Shutterstock

Tags: brand advertising, branded social marketing, instagram, Simple Measured, social marketing

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Study: Instagram gaining traction with brands

RICHMOND, Va. While still behind Sen. Mark Warner (D-Virginia) in the latest polls, Republican senatorial candidate Ed Gillespie has gained a larger following on social media than the incumbent. Gillespie was leading the Democratic incumbent in terms of Facebook LIKES as of Friday.

The challenger also led by more than 25,000 followers on Twitter over Warner. Libertarian candidate Richard Sarvis was head-to-head with Warner on Facebook and led him on Twitter.

Candidates reliance exclusively on direct mail and on TV just doesnt play these days, said David Saunders, president of the marketing agency Madison+Main. He believes that older forms of political marketing are being pushed by the wayside in favor of social media usage and that campaign efforts need to adjust to the current times.

Younger audiences and more politically engaged audiences are having discussions in real time on social networks, Saunders said.

One of the things we make sure to do is that were not just broadcasting our message on social media, were asking other people to share and spread it as part of our grassroots effort, said Eric Wilson, digital director for Gillespies campaign. I think social media is a necessity. Its one of those platforms that theres so many people engaging on it, that you have to meet voters where they are.

The Gillespie campaign even met one in person as a result of an organized Twitter engagement session.

We did a Twitter takeover of the College Republican National Committee account, where for about a half hour we took questions from college students and young adults across the country, Wilson said. One person tweeted them asking for a pre-file form and within 45 minutes one of Gillespies field staffers met the voter at home to collect the form.

Thats an interaction that would not have been possible without listening very carefully to what people are saying about us on social media, and integrating responsiveness with digital communication throughout our campaign, Wilson said.

But Saunders also praised Sen. Warners social media efforts, whose campaign did not respond to an interview requests for this story. Saunders said that he applauds the efforts of Warner tweeting from the senate chambers and that he followed people back on Twitter. On the other hand, he said the campaign of former gubernatorial candidate Ken Cuccinelli in 2013 was terrible at using social media.

Literally it was just a feed of political sentiment over and over, saying the same thing every single day. It really didnt do them any good, because they were preaching to the choir, which the far-right fringe of the [Republican] party, Saunders said. Social media is really meant to engage everyone, and thats where candidates can win. Candidates dont win unless they win the middle. Social media is a way to engage the middle.

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Behind in the polls, Gillespie leads Warner on Facebook, Twitter

While scores of marketers practically bear-hugged Facebook and Twitter when they first launched, seeing these social platforms as an opportunity to reach the masses, luxury brands stayed mostly out of sight, preferring to remain niche and elite. But as social becomes a key component in marketing, some luxury brands are beginning to play catch up.

Chanel, Burberry and Louis Vuitton have come to see the value of social media. Chanel, which has been on Twitter since 2011, only recently began posting photos to its Instagram accountgood news for the 1.7 million followers who had waited for months to interact with the fashion brand.

Meanwhile, Burberry is now dedicating 60 percent of its budget to digital thanks to social successes, while Luis Vuitton in September planted clues on Instagram to create some buzz for Paris Fashion Week.

But other high-end brands continue to shy away from social, including Apple, Rolex and even culture/design publisher Monocle.

"We put out 40,000 words every month in the magazine," said Andrew Tuck, editor at Monocle, which doesn't push any of its Web articles via social sites. "And you only have to turn on the radio to hear all of our editors' voices and get their opinions."

Tuck explained that his marketing team is unwilling to allow tweets to water down what the print magazine means in the hands of its readers or let Instagram photos lessen the VIP nature of Monocle's parties and events. "[Social media] feels like a little too much exposure," he said. "For our brand, it seems just a little bit uncomfortable."

Rolex started a Facebook page a year ago but only posts a few times a month, while leaving its Twitter and Instagram protected so as to vet all those who seek to enter. Yet Rolex appears to be open-minded about a future policy change.

"They are not oblivious to the data," said Sarah Kotlova, client services director at Digitaria, which handles digital for Rolex. "And they are right to not just rush into channels because the brand is so admired. You cannot start a Twitter stream and then stop it."

Apple declined comment. But the Cupertino, Calif.-based tech giant poached execs from social-minded Burberry and Nike in recent months, suggesting changes could be in the works. Rival Samsung is all over social, and this year hit the motherload, smashing President Obama's retweet record with Ellen's Oscar selfie.

"These [anti-social] companies are resisting something inevitable," said Will McInnes, CMO of Brandwatch.

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Luxury Brands Are Still Casting a Leery Eye Toward Social Media