Think beyond Facebook

For a lot of organizations, the leap into social media begins (and often ends) with this sentence: “We need a Facebook page!” If you hear that said by a colleague—and especially if you say it yourself—take a step back and carefully consider your options. While Facebook’s 300 million members might make you think you have to be there, it’s by no means your only choice. And it may be a waste of time.

Your main consideration should be your audience. Are they on Facebook? If so, can your content compete with all the other content they engage with on Facebook? For some organizations, the answer is yes. But as Facebook grows larger, it will be a good fit for fewer and fewer organizations. While Facebook can be a great business development tool, its members use the site primarily for personal use, so you need to be pretty compelling to get noticed. Just because you build it, there’s no guarantee they will come.

Even if your company says no to Facebook, however, you don’t need to say no to social media as a whole. You could start a blog. You could launch a YouTube channel. You could put a discussion board on your website. And maybe best of all, you could use a tool such as Ning to start your own social network. There’s no one tool that’s right for everyone and no shortage of options. Saying no to Facebook may make it a little harder to get started, but thinking beyond the most popular social media site may be exactly the right way to begin.

--Anthony J.

Sing-a-long math

The power of a jingle is never more evident to me than when I’m with my 12-year-old daughter.
She hums, she taps, she whistles, she sings. She sings Fall Out Boy, Taylor Swift, Pink and Katy Perry. She also sings the Luna Flooring telephone number we heard so often in Chicago: 773-202-LUNA.

This is a child who might not come up with the result of 7x8 if her life depended on it. But she could get you new wood laminate floors in a jiffy.

Every time I hear her sing some ditty or jingle off a radio or TV spot, I am reminded that setting things to music can be a very effective tool to help consumers remember important information. Especially if it’s used consistently and frequently, as those ever-lovin’ Luna spots were.

I’m writing tunes right now for things such as her morning routine, remembering to close closet doors and turn off lights, and how to pack a nutritionally balanced lunch. I might need a full opera for the multiplication tables.

There’s sound research to support the success of jingles. Professors Graham Hitch and Alan Baddeley at Cambridge University have published extensively on music in the working memory, and language and music as cognitive systems.

There also are some fun lists of the best-worst jingles and songs, the earworms that chew incessantly at your brain, online at How Stuff Works. Do you remember “you deserve a break today” from McDonald’s? What about the baby-back ribs jingle from Chili’s? Yeah, they’re stuck now, aren’t they? Sorry about that.

What’s your favorite? Or your love-to-hate? Share the pain. And let me know if you need some new vinyl tile.

--Julianne W.

But do they make me look fat?

The Gap announced recently that it’s abandoning TV for its latest product launch. Instead, its Born to Fit line of denim will be marketed online, primarily through Facebook. All other media—print, outdoor, cinema and blog ads—will drive consumers to the Facebook page.

The Gap? No TV? Isn’t that like a mall without Coke?

Actually, maybe even that analogy is a sign of the times. TV viewership is declining and growing more fragmented as entertainment and viewing choices multiply. Malls vie for traffic with online retailers, lifestyle shopping plazas and freestanding independent stores. Coke is facing challenges from energy drinks and specialty waters (and is producing a few itself).

And The Gap? If I had a penny for every time I heard someone say “The Gap just doesn’t have anything anymore,” I could buy a truckload of khakis. Is its steady decrease in same-store sales over the past two years a result of poor advertising or a poor merchandising mix?

It will be equally hard to determine whether any bump in sales with this campaign is the result of Facebook or simply a great product. Born to Fit promises a range of style choices, increasing the odds of finding a great-fitting pair of jeans. And I’d buy a pair of great-fitting jeans from the back of a truck parked down the street.

But the Facebook page already had more than 335,000 fans just a week after its launch. Many were wishing The Gap a happy 40th birthday. (And yet its distressed jeans don’t look a day over 39.)

Do you shop The Gap? Do you watch TV? Do you go to the mall? Do you Facebook? Most importantly, where do you go for great-fitting jeans?

--Julianne W.

Would you like verification with those fries?

I thought I spied a clever-sneaky new form of advertising on Facebook yesterday. I was wrong, but the possibility is something to “keep in mind.”

To upload a link to a Facebook account I manage, I had to type in a pair of words for verification. The pair? Coca-Cola. It made me wonder … was Coke paying to have its brand circulate among the random verification words? Were others?

(It also made me want a Coke. I found a Diet Pepsi instead. I did fail the taste test years ago.)
I couldn’t find anything on Google about such an advertising plan. So I went straight to the source and asked Facebook, which has proved quite a helpful entity every time I’ve had a question. Their answer:

“Thanks for your inquiry. We do not sell verification words as advertising. However, we will keep your suggestion in mind as we continue to improve advertising on the site. Let me know if you have any further questions.”

Nice people over there at Facebook. The bigger point, however, is the potential for brand integration into every process. Are you looking for a way to put your brand in front of more people? Find out where those people already are and craft alliances.

If you’re a member of your target audience, it’s an easy thing to look at your habits and surroundings with an eye for brand appearances. If you’re not, spend some time with someone who is. Learn where they already go, then be there.

I like Facebook. I use it all the time. I like soda. I drink it all the time, often in front of the computer while I’m using Facebook. It would be a natural pair. (Whether Diet Coke or Diet Pepsi.) I’d like to keep Facebook free by typing “Coke” or “Pepsi” or “Aveda” while I’m verifying my account, vs. “muddle red” or whatever the program comes up with. Thanks for your time in replying, Facebook. I’ll be curious to see what pops up next.

--Julianne W.

Late Fringe Morphs Into Prime with Leno

It’s not really a new show, per se, but rather an old show redefined and uprooted to a new time period. Jay Leno is moving from the 11:30 p.m. late fringe time slot he inhabited for 17 years as host of NBC’s “Tonight Show,” to 10 p.m.—the final hour of prime time. The show will air every day, Monday through Friday.

It is hard to predict whether NBC is crazy or brilliant. According to NewMediaMetric’s research, Leno may be able to pull off a ratings win on Tuesday night, when other networks are showcasing new and unproven dramas. The other nights will prove more difficult, when Leno has to compete with hits such as “CSI: Miami,” “CSI: New York,” “Private Practice” and “Numbe3rs.” Can Leno compete with first-run programming that has a solid and loyal audience?

Giving one program monopoly over five nights of prime programming is a very risky move on NBC’s part. They have the potential to lose shares (and revenue) every weekday. Leno jokes about his precarious position in the fall 2009 lineup: “Do we expect to beat ‘CSI?’ No,” he admits. “Originally I wasn't going to stay at NBC. But I remembered something my parents always told me, ‘Whatever I do in life, make sure I come in fourth.” The show would have had a much better chance of rising above fourth place had it premiered during the summer months, when other networks are in repeats.

“The Jay Leno Show” premieres September 14 at 10 p.m. (Eastern).
--Tessa G.

Marketing Mistakes: Six Red Flags to Avoid

I’ve said this before, and I’ll say it again: Most marketing is bad. Awful, actually. When the creative is good, it’s often poorly targeted; when the targeting is dead on, the creative usually sucks. And more often than you’d think, the creative and the targeting aren’t what they should be.

Here’s one example: Six Flags’s revived campaign for its theme parks, featuring “Mr. Six,” whom Time calls a “creepy dancing old guy.” And that’s not the only insult Time and its sources hurl at Mr. Six:

“[H]is troll-like antics may prevent you from ever setting foot in a Six Flags park,” Time writer Sean Gregory says.

“It's a pretty miserable piece of advertising,” says Barbara Lippert, a critic for Adweek, the trade publication. “It's as dumb as can be, and talks down to us. He's like an Elmer Fudd who never made it out into the country.”

So what’s the root of evil campaigns like this one? Why does bad marketing happen? There are a lot of reasons, but in honor of Mr. Six and his favorite theme park, here are Six Red Flags to avoid:

• Too many decision-makers. Marketing designed to please everyone in the boardroom usually pleases no one in the audience. If you find yourself making concessions that ensure your campaign flies, it’s time to make a difficult decision. Either risk making someone unhappy, or start over.

• Not focused on the right audience. Who is Six Flags’s audience? Teens and tweens, right? Now, does Mr. Six look like a character who resonates with teens and tweens? Take a look at his Twitter bio. Do most teens and tweens even know who Fred Astaire is?

• No clear branding strategy. If a company cannot concisely and quickly say how they are differentiated, it’s going to be hard to develop a 30-second message that tells the audience why they should care.

• Too much navel gazing. Comments like this one from a Six Flags exec are a good reminder that your audience doesn’t think about your brand nearly as much as you do: "We had a lot of internal conversations about Mr. Six, and we were like, look, he's beloved by our guests," says Vieira Barocas. "There are definitely people who are not fans of him. But he has more fans than not. And at a time when there's all sorts of uncertainty, people like the familiar and the known." Remember: “familiar and known” to you does NOT necessarily equal “familiar and known” to your audience.

• Doing what you’ve always done. Change is hard. It’s clear that one of the main reasons why Mr. Six was revived is that bringing him back seemed easier than starting over. Easier, yes; but better? Not so much.

• Not knowing what else to do. Six Flags is in trouble—they filed for bankruptcy protection in June, as Time notes—and Mr. Six seems like an act of desperation. Would the company have been better served by some market research? Might have their money been better spent on rebranding its theme parks? Probably. But the unfortunate, common rule of thumb is, “when you don’t know what to do, throw more money at the ad budget.”

There’s good news in all of this. Avoid these marketing red flags, and your campaign will stand out. It’s not easy, but it’s worth the extra effort.

-Anthony J.

Build loyalty with brand integration

In the world of marketing, it’s important to localize your brand and integrate it into the community. This not only builds loyalty among your customers, but also keeps your product top-of-mind.
The integration could be in the form of a sponsorship, such as partnering with a nonprofit like the local Susan G. Komen affiliate. Or it could be in the form of a cross-promotion, in which you align your brand with a property in the community.

Our agency orchestrated a cross-promotion for a SUBWAY® client in western Massachusetts with the Boston Red Sox, one of the hottest properties in the region. During the months of July and August, hundreds of SUBWAY® restaurants in the New England area will be selling co-branded collectable cups, and sandwich artists will be wearing co-branded T-shirts.

While the Red Sox alignment is significant for the New England SUBWAY® restaurants, cross-promotions can certainly be done on any level. Smaller scale examples include partnering with a local zoo, art museum or minor league baseball team, depending on your target audience.

With economic times being tough, it’s important to continue building relationships with your customers. Integrating your brand into your consumers lives, into things that are important to them, will strengthen their perception of your brand and ultimately their loyalty.

Is there a product that you’ve developed affection for, in part because of its involvement in the community or environmental or health issues?

--Kara W.

Real time support now “nearly a requirement”

A few years ago, I visited LandsEnd.com, and I was amazed to see that they offered live support via chat. Well, a lot can change in a few years, and now not only am I not amazed by sites that offer live chat, but I’m a little disappointed by those that don’t.

Apparently I’m not alone. A recent Adweek.com story about the new realities advertisers are facing, for example, discusses consumers’ expectation of “instant gratification” when it comes to customer service. And live chat is just one of the tools marketers need to consider when it comes to responding to these expectations. As Andy Jacobs of MRM Worldwide says:

"Our clients find themselves in a very reactive world...They're forced to respond to things. They need methods by which they can confidently and quickly publish info through the right channels."

How are companies doing this? Twitter is in the mix, of course, because companies can monitor customer comments and respond in near real-time. But other innovative tools exist that allow organizations to connect with customers more quickly than ever before. One example: the message board on the Ivy Tech Community College home page, where students, parents and prospects can post questions about everything from financial aid to transferring credits to a four-year college or university. In addition to responding directly to those who post, the message board also provides ready answers to the most commonly asked questions.

How is your organization responding to your customers’ need for “instant gratification”? What tools do you wish other companies would provide to get you faster answers to your questions?

--Anthony J.