The Impact of Social Media on Local Brands/Businesses
The ubiquity of the internet has monumentally revolutionized how we interact with each other. From the advent of email, bulletin board systems, to current social networking sites, technology has been integrated with communication to become a prominent focus of the new digital age. (http://www.onlineschools.org/blog/history-of-social-networking/) According to an infographic created by OnlineSchools.org, the first email was sent in 1971via two computers placed next to each other. However, pre-internet social media goes as far back as some centuries ago in England when people started posting bulletins on trees and wooden posts in public spaces, giving birth to the term "postings". (http://www.blogherald.com/2012/02/13/celebrating-the-history-of-social-media-through-video/)
Today, our online interaction, especially in the social media sphere requires us to make 'posts' to share our content with the public and connect with other users.
This historical bulletin board was then transformed in 1978 into digitized systems enabling users to exchange public messages and files over telephone lines. Then came the creation of Geocities in 1994, one of the first social networking sites, which was conceptualized to allow users to select 'cities' to place their webpages corresponding to their content. This meant that entertainment-related content would be placed in "Hollywood" while computer-related content would be placed on "Silicon Valley" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoCities); and anyone with a dial-up connection was now able to create public profiles and share public content.
By 1997, other modern networking sites were launched: theglobe.com, aol.com and sixdegrees.com. AOL popularised the instant messaging concept while sixdegrees.com facilitated profile and friends-list creations. This new found method of interaction quickly became popular and by August 1999, the concept of 'blogging' was born with the launching of Blogger. By 2002, the first real social networking site, Friendster, was launched. Friendster allowed real people to make real connections online and and had 3 million users in its first 3 months. This caught the attention of entrepreneurs and investors worldwide who were able to pick up on the marketing possibilities and new ways of engaging their customer-base. Within the next 3 years, the biggest social media powerhouses were established: LinkedIn and MySpace in 2003; Digg and Facebook in 2004; Youtube in 2005 and Twitter in 2006.
Fast forward to present day, 2012, social media is by no means a fad; it is in fact an industry and one that is paramount to the successful branding and marketing of many products and services.
In order to unlock the full potential of social media on one's business, sound strategies need to be implemented. Additionally, a certain level of creativity and willingness to include multimedia where applicable will likely result in a very successful campaign.
Several international brands have ran impressive viral campaigns and have not only targeted their existing customer base but were able to draw the attention of thousands online viewers and ultimately increase sales. Here are the top social media campaigns from the Forbes magazine article entitled "The Best-Ever Social Media Campaigns" by Victoria Taylor published 8/17/2010:
metrics for success for a social media campaign
Today, our online interaction, especially in the social media sphere requires us to make 'posts' to share our content with the public and connect with other users.
This historical bulletin board was then transformed in 1978 into digitized systems enabling users to exchange public messages and files over telephone lines. Then came the creation of Geocities in 1994, one of the first social networking sites, which was conceptualized to allow users to select 'cities' to place their webpages corresponding to their content. This meant that entertainment-related content would be placed in "Hollywood" while computer-related content would be placed on "Silicon Valley" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/GeoCities); and anyone with a dial-up connection was now able to create public profiles and share public content.
By 1997, other modern networking sites were launched: theglobe.com, aol.com and sixdegrees.com. AOL popularised the instant messaging concept while sixdegrees.com facilitated profile and friends-list creations. This new found method of interaction quickly became popular and by August 1999, the concept of 'blogging' was born with the launching of Blogger. By 2002, the first real social networking site, Friendster, was launched. Friendster allowed real people to make real connections online and and had 3 million users in its first 3 months. This caught the attention of entrepreneurs and investors worldwide who were able to pick up on the marketing possibilities and new ways of engaging their customer-base. Within the next 3 years, the biggest social media powerhouses were established: LinkedIn and MySpace in 2003; Digg and Facebook in 2004; Youtube in 2005 and Twitter in 2006.
Fast forward to present day, 2012, social media is by no means a fad; it is in fact an industry and one that is paramount to the successful branding and marketing of many products and services.
In order to unlock the full potential of social media on one's business, sound strategies need to be implemented. Additionally, a certain level of creativity and willingness to include multimedia where applicable will likely result in a very successful campaign.
Several international brands have ran impressive viral campaigns and have not only targeted their existing customer base but were able to draw the attention of thousands online viewers and ultimately increase sales. Here are the top social media campaigns from the Forbes magazine article entitled "The Best-Ever Social Media Campaigns" by Victoria Taylor published 8/17/2010:
- The Blair Witch Project - touted one of the first viral marketing efforts and the best social media campaign was done in 1999 and created a buzz worldwide. This rather low-budget movie used fake newspaper clippings insinuating that the movie's main characters were missing complete with photos of their 'missing' car. This campaign started months before the movie's premiere and resulted in the film making upwards of US$29 million in its first week of release. To date, the film has generated approximately US$249.
- Blendtec's Will it Blend campaign - this campaign centred around the Total Blender which showed videos how powerful the product was, blending anything from a baseball to a cellphone. "According to Jeff Robe, Blendtec's director of marketing, the videos have done more than boost awareness of Blendtec blenders. Home sales of blenders have increased 700% since November 2006."
- Old Spice Smell Like a Man campaign - in this campaign the marketing team used the brand's spokesman, Isaiah Mustafa who had originally represented the brand in tv-commercials, to engage customers online. He responded to fans on Twitter and other social media platforms in a series of web videos totaling 180 in the summer of 2010. So successful was this campaign that it lead to a follow-up in 2011 with Mustafa being pitted against Fabio, a well-known international model. It should also be noted that this particular campaign has since be proclaimed to represent the future of marketing.
- Burger King Subservient Chicken campaign - so successful was this campaign that it received 15million hits online within its first 5 days. The premise behind it is that this "subservient" chicken, played by a man in a chicken costume suit could perform the commands based on the user's input. This was however depended on pre-recorded footage while appearing like an interactive webcam; playing upon the slogan "Get chicken just the way you like it"
- The Pepsi Project - this campaign followed a more philanthropic path. It allowed people to get funding for projects they are passionate about. It engaged participation on Facebook where person's could vote for which project is most deserving and users got to see the winner's project benefit. IT must be noted however that this campaign flourished from a philanthropic standpoint and was successful in creating buzz and increasing followers etc. it's success from a business standpoint is shaky. This will be explained in more details further on.
To be continued...
Pepsi Refresh
While Pepsi's Refresh campaign, which gives people the chance to get funding for philanthropic and charitable ideas, is ongoing, the Forbes judges highlighted the use of "Refresh" as a way for Pepsi to push toward a new identity while still maintaining its youthful image.
metrics for success for a social media campaign
