Skeptical of self-promotion? Take a look at comedian Louis C.K. His self-released video of his stand-up special, “Live at the Beacon Theater,” sold more than $1 million in earnings. All this came from a $5 price tag. How much did it cost Louis C.K. to produce the video? Only $170,000! By producing it on his own, Louis C.K. shaved off about $15 the purchase price. Fans were loving it.
Even more interesting, Louis C.K. did not go the traditional PR routes to promote his video. He put the video on his website and tweeted to his followers, but he did not go on any talk shows or appear in any newspapers.
For artists, authors, or any other creatives looking for a way to develop and sell their products themselves, Louis C.K.’s video is a provocative example of the rewards of self-releasing and self-promotion.
It’s been a couple of years since the term “gamification” starting popping into the lexicon online. Most prominently, TED posted several videos on the topic. This one below is one of my favorite TED videos and a nice introduction to “gamification.”
In case you’re not familiar, “gamification” is a word used to describe the use of game techniques or mechanics applied to problem solving or other non-game applications. For example, Foursquare uses badges and a point system to engage its users and encourage them to check in to locations more frequently.
A recent post on Mashable, shows how nine companies have taken the idea of gamification and applied it to their marketing efforts. Retailers from Nike to Best Buy are grabbing onto this trend and setting the example for how to leverage games with customers. The author of the post even notes that a report by Gartner predicts that by 2015, 50 percent of organizations that manage innovation processes will use some form of gamification. These gamified services will become as important as Facebook, eBay, and Amazon.
If you haven’t considered gamification in your strategy, now is the time to pay attention and take notes.
For brands who misstep with their customers, take a page from o.b. tampons. In the fall of 2010, o.b. tampons cited a supply interruptions, and o.b. tampons started disappearing from store shelves. Customers were dismayed and didn’t know when the tampons would return. In desperation, fans turned to eBay to buy out the remaining supply with prices soaring as high as $100 per box. In spring of 2011, most of the o.b tampon line returned, but the Ultra tampons were still missing. Again, customers cried out in dismay over the loss of a beloved line.
Now, o.b. tampons is apologizing – and in a big way. They’ve hired a crew to make a music video to say how sorry the company is for the supply interruption and the disappearance of the Ultra tampon line. If you type in your name, the video and lyrics are addressed to YOU. At the end of the video, the company has a coupon for a box of o.b. tampons.
I can think of no better way to win fans over than with a personalized song. It’s a little cheesy, but sometimes going over the top is what’s needed. In this case, o.b. tampons hit it spot on.
This fall SnapDragon has been working with Lunette, a Finnish maker of menstrual cups, to expand its social media outreach and participate in online conversations around menstruation.
Our efforts centralized around the company blog which we designed and developed to mirror the branding of Lunette’s website. As a custom theme built on top of WordPress, this blog integrates with DISQUS, the social commenting platform, and sends automated tweets to Twitter. On the content side, we laid out an editorial calendar to highlight the best of the brand and topics in women’s health, art and culture, feminism, the environment and more.
For our influencer outreach, we took over Lunette’s Twitter account and contacted bloggers for interviews, guest blog post, giveaways and reviews. With giveaways just starting and many more on the way, Lunette has doubled its site traffic and generated interest in its product.
In an effort to attract hungry customers, McDonald’s is installing HDTV’s into their restaurants. The televisions will run a customized McDonald’s Channel with programming from local news sources and entertainment features. This move is not unlike a similar move by Starbucks two years ago when it created the Starbucks Digital Network. Both seek to offer the dine-in consumer access to exclusive content.
For anyone who went to Brown in the eighties or knows someone from Brown during the period, they will recognize some of the characters from Jeffrey Eugenides’s new novel, The Marriage Plot. Check out this book review from Steven Johnson at the NYTimes.
Lawrence McGlown pointed out an interesting piece on risk-adverse B2B brands. When told by a friend that he had not been hired for a marketing position because he engendered mixed opinions – Marmite, loose cannon, and heaven sent genius – Scot McKee responded,
I would be lying to suggest that the perceived ‘risk’ associated to my engagement didn’t leave with a little bit of sick in my mouth. Had I gone too far? Were my opinions too extreme? Was my pathological need to drive creative change in B2B marketing limiting business opportunities? In short, was I just too risky to engage?
While he is speaking of himself as a person, I think that this line of questioning could also be applied to social media (if she were personified). Many decision-makers shy away from social media because it often does push the envelope and go too far, putting executives in uncomfortable territory.
And as we know here at SnapDragon, social media does come with its risks. I know what you’re thinking: Karynn, aren’t you a social media strategist? Why would you point out the risks to people? Yes, I am an advocate for social media, but I don’t just give recommendations blindly. And with Anthony Weiner examples in the news these days, I don’t think I can avoid the risk conversation. But I want to add to this by saying that there are also risks to not participating in social media.
What are these risks?
Companies risks being overtaken by their competitors who may better fulfill customer’s online interaction needs.
Inactive and abandoned social presences poorly or inaccurately represent the company brand.
Companies cannot counteract negative word-of-mouth put out by employees, prospects, the media, and the general public.
Companies become irrelevant online.
Like everything in business, you have to evaluate a course of action based off the risk of acting but also not acting.
Sarah and Toni are biking down the West Coast with one mission: meet women and talk about the benefit of menstrual cups. What is a menstrual cup, you ask?
According to Lunette, a manufacturer of menstrual cups, the cup is “an easy-to-use, safe, and clean alternative to pads and tampons.” Instead of absorbing menstrual flow, the cup collects it. Once emptied, the cup can be washed and reused again.
Why are Sarah and Toni willing to bike more than 1,200 miles for such a product? They want to start a revolution, teach women other options for their bodies, and show them how to positively affect the environment through choosing to use a non-disposable menstrual cup.
Google’s search algorithm is constantly evolving. This video by Google provides an in depth look into how ideas develop and make their way into the search engine. Check out the video below to learn how Google delivers you the best search results:
Video highlights:
500 improvements to its search algorithms are made every year
Google search algorithms change almost every day
Google tests its algorithm ideas on a small sample of real users
In 2010, Google ran over 20,000 different experiments on its search algorithms
