Timelessly cool, such is the nature of the Beatles. You’ve probably already seen this billboard image.
Just as their music never goes out of style, their look is as hip now as it was back then. It kind of reminds me of Jack White and his former band the Raconteurs. Many of today’s indie artists also don a Beatles-esque look.
The lyrics, “Come together right now over me,” is such a fitting statement for social media. Don’t you think?
The Beatles meets the digital age. What a wonderful union indeed!
Social media usually works best when its has to do with topics that people naturally enjoy talking about. Do we converse about soap, toothpaste, window cleaner or detergent during the normal course of our day? Maybe if we are discussing chores or errands. And what about paper towels?
When I was on You Tube the other day, I was struck by this prominent display ad on their home page.
I don’t know why, but I clicked it. To my surprise, I really enjoyed watching the video! It was really clever and creative.
If you are wondering what I am talking about, I’ve embedded the video below. But you do need to listen to the song. It’s not quite the same experience when it is on mute.
The fact that I decided to write a post about Bounty’s Paper Towel Gang shows that yes indeed, paper towels can be a fun conversational topic.
This is part of Bounty’s campaign, “2,000,000 Views To Help Clean Schools.” If the 2M views are reached by January 31,2011, Bounty will donate $200,000 worth of paper towels to schools in need of cleaning supplies.
According to their Facebook page, research shows a connection between academic achievement and school cleanliness. Who knew?
No kidding. We all know how effortless social media can feel when we are doing it for personal reasons. Think of how sites like Facebook is an addiction for some people.
When social media is done without expectations or pressure, we are in a different state of mind where our actions flow. This is when sharing and creating posts is fun and effortless. And we find a sense of fulfillment in being able to connect with others in a convenient and easy way.
Some people have been able to create sizable audiences because of how much they enjoy creating content and having people respond positively to what they have to say.
So then, businesses started asking themselves, if social media is so easy and effortless, why not harness the power of online conversations for their own brands?
Social Media is Not So Fun When There Are Expectations
When social media becomes work and money is at stake, fun and effortlessness seem to really diminish. What used to be fun becomes more of an obligation.
I’m sure you’ve had the experience of looking up brands on Twitter and finding that these companies might only have about 100 followers or so. And their last post was probably quite some time ago. Many companies really don’t have a dynamic online presence, the way we might imagine it to be.
Why Does Social Media Seem More Difficult When It Comes To Business?
There is a lot for brands to think about
Using social media for business purposes does require strategy and direction.
There are PR issues that need to be considered.
Also the messaging needs to strike a balance between self promotion and personalized conversation. Being overly promotional is a turn off for many people.
Audiences need to be clear about how they can benefit from a particular brand’s offerings. Quite a bit of strategy is needed to carry this off without sounding like a spam bot.
Quality social media strategies require a lot of small details. Collectively these add up to the ideal outcome.
On a day to day level, they carry the illusion of being a waste of time, when there are so many other pressing obligations to handle.
A Happy Middle Ground?
How do we take the fun, carefree, connected, engaged online social personality and channel it into brand campaigns? I do believe that a happy middle ground can be achieved when we learn to shift our perceptions and trust in our inner resources.
A Frame of Mind for Social Media
Having the right frame of mind every as you work on a campaign might sound frivolous to most people. But if you want your online presence to be better than those of most people, then give this concept a chance.
The social media frame of mind for business objectives requires:
that you get excited about what you offer and finding ways to be conversational about it
putting yourself in your customer’s shoes and relying on your gut instincts to hone in on the human aspect of how they relate to your brand
Instead of first turning to tangible solutions, like the latest new platform, app, or software product, it is wiser to first invest in truly effective strategies that focus on how customers think, feel and want.
Once you understand what your audience needs, then think about how technology can improve experiences for both you and your audience. For more ideas on this, read this article by Mike Corak, VP of Tallwave, “Content Strategy First, Shiny Objects Second.”
Keep this in mind. The things that have gone viral often did not start out with this intention, nor was there much strategy and direction in mind. Most of the time, they are done with a free spirit and the enjoyment that ensued was able to compound and spread.
The ideal frame of mind is the one you are in when you are posting and sharing things without any type of pressure. The challenge is tapping into this state to create quality business campaigns. This is where brainstorming comes in handy.
For inspiration, do a search on successful social media campaigns. In most cases, you’ll find that establishing a true connection with people was the pivotal factor.
Once you have mastered the art of transitioning between the state of creative social nirvana and organized action, then you can have all the fun you want with selecting the right technology for your specialized needs.
With this balance established, your focus will be on giving to your audience through quality conversations and offerings. And likewise the people who follow you will have more reasons to reciprocate and support your endeavors.
Yesterday, I wrote a post about the celebrity Digital Death campaign that was intended to raise money for AIDS relief in India and Africa. I had no idea that on the very same day, it all ended when Stewart Rahr, a pharmaceutical executive handed over $500,000 at the request of the celebs enabling them to jump back on Twitter. I found out through Facebook when a friend, Mateo Gutierrez , had posted a NY Post article about the news.
I don’t know why, but I often say or do things that are (by sheer coincidence) related to other events that I had no knowledge of. I get this feedback from other people quite a bit.
The main site for the Digital Death campaign is Buylife.org. Today they were able to announce their accomplishment of reaching the $1,000,000 mark.
With your help we raised over $1,000,000 to fight HIV/AIDS in Africa and India. Your generous donations will help bring critical care and medicine to the millions affected by this horrible disease. But so many more still need help. Please continue to BUY LIFE – the one thing none of us can alive without.
Here is a screenshot from their homepage today.
A Dose of Realism
The NY Post article mentioned that the stars were frustrated by how long it was taking to reach the 1M mark. They thought it would take 24 hours to a week at the most.
I am not sure how they reached this conclusion. But this type of scenario is all too familiar in the world of marketing. It’s natural for people to want to know how long it will take for a campaign to accomplish it’s goals. It’s also common for marketers to come up with projections that only amount to wishful thinking.
The truth is that most projects will experience delays, especially when it comes to getting people to act.
Lesson Learned: No one can serve as a fortune teller before the start of a campaign, unless the exact variables and results have been repeated numerous times in the past. Also there is a dynamic called the Law of Unintended Consequences, where “actions of people…always have effects that are unanticipated or unintended.”- Rob Norton, author and consultant.
Behaviorism Helps Explain
Most of what happens in the world of marketing and social media can be explained through the findings of research psychology. These arenas have yet to coalesce.
The word “research” is not one to be taken as sheer fluff. Experiments in this area involve researchers who repeat trials over and over until a result is statistically reliable (not due to chance). The principles of behavior have been studied in this fashion. They weren’t just made up.
According to these theories, behaviors are universally driven by the consequences that follow. If you want to increase the frequency of a particular behavior, it has to be met with a consequence that is valuable to the subject.
The Digital Death campaign wanted internet users to make donations within a short time frame. In this scenario, there was no consequence for the targeted behavior (texting to donate).
“I am not going to tweet unless you donate” is contingency called extinction, when you with hold a consequence altogether. According to research, this will reduce the likelihood of a particular behavior, instead of increasing it.
A Celebrity Campaign That Illustrates Positive Reinforcement
Twitchange is a charity auction site powered by celebrity influence. Participants donate. In exchange their favorite celebrity retweets, follows or mentions them, depending on a bidding process.
So the behavior of donating receives the positive reinforcement of being acknowledged by a famous celeb. This works in alignment with behavioral laws.
This probably explains how the Haitian relief campaign managed to receive over $1.5 million for emergency tents after the earthquake in Port Au Prince. More
Lesson Learned: Behavior operates according to dynamics that have been studied by researchers. Don’t try to reinvent the wheel. Create strategies that make sense according to behavior principles.
Final Thoughts
Yeah, I am a little disappointed that the celebrities of the Digital Death campaign didn’t hold their ground. But I guess there is a bright side to many things in life. Even if Stewart Rahr gave the pivotal contribution, at least the targeted level of donations became more quickly available to help AIDS victims.
World Aids Day was on December 1 2010. Celebrities stopped their online presences . These photographs represent their digital deaths.
The concept is unique and evocative. The actual results however, have not been as impressive. According to PR Junkie, the campaign brought in less than $200,000 during the first week.
See the full article here. To give you a heads up, it’s quite harsh. Alan Pearcy who wrote the post had this to say:
Amid the current social media frenzy, it’s completely unfathomable to think how wrong this campaign went–just terribly, terribly wrong. Nauseatingly wrong. Someone should be fired wrong. Yes, that wrong.
Creative Just to Be Creative?
Even though the campaign is quite clever and different, and I do think the comments above are a little mean, I will agree with PR Junkie.
Creativity could have been used to have the celebrities ask their social media followers to contribute, instead of dying digitally. As of today, about $420,600 has been raised. The celebrities will not return to their social media profiles until the one million mark is reached. Read more in this article by USA Today.
I can’t imagine a fan wondering to themselves, “Wow, I didn’t see a tweet from Kim Kardashian today, something must be wrong.” Nor can I picture this sequence of actions:
1. Wondering why the tweets had stopped
2. Investigating the answer as to why the tweets stopped
3. Stumbling upon Buylife.org and deciding to make a donation.
Highly improbable. Direct requests from someone like Alicia Keys would have been more effective at getting people to donate.
But on a more positive note, I think there are many people like myself who are now aware of World Aids Day/Keep A Child Alive campaign because of the Digital Death event.
Much like with advertisement billboards, it is difficult to know what the numbers are behind this awareness.
In the world of communications, creativity cannot be left unbridled. Good ideas need to be aligned with direction and campaign objectives.
Marketing is focused on getting people to notice brands and behaving in a favorable direction. So, how can this be accomplished?
Research psychology has defined a framework called ABA (applied behavioral analysis). It is simple and effective. Any situation can be viewed and modified using this framework to generate real and measurable results.
The first step is to identify the behavior that you want. Then look at the real life context of this behavior as it is happening at the moment. Consider these three sequential components
The Antecedent
Think of this as a signal for the behavior to occur. Examples of antecedents on the web include basic links, display ads, headline titles and Twitter/Facebook posts.
The Behavior
After the antecedent, of course, comes the actual behavior. Desired online behaviors include clicking on links, making purchases, sharing content, commenting etc.
The Consequence
Behaviors need to be reinforced. This is the most important part of ABA. It can make or break what you are trying to accomplish. Consequences need to be rewarding in ways that matter to the individual. Also they need to be provided on a regular basis. This is the only way to get desired behaviors to occur with greater frequency.
Examples of consequences: the acquisition of helpful or valuable knowledge, feeling recognized, the discovery of an ideal product, service or connection.
Using ABA
These concepts are deceptively simplistic. But don’t be fooled. Understanding these concepts on a mental level is completely different from applying them in real life strategies. Every encounter that customers have with your brand should be positively rewarding and meaningful in ways that are important to them. Every one of these instances cultivates an ongoing a mental and emotional association with your company.
This is why regular content and conversations through social media matter are important. They provide more opportunities for audience members to interact with your brand. But it is up to you to determine what elements are reinforcing for the people you are targeting and to provide this on a consistent basis.
Oliver Peoples is one of those brands that I’ve always been familiar with, but never paid much attention to. This changed when I came across their online presence.
I follow them on Twitter and came across a link to one of their videos explaining how to select the right frames for different face shapes.
I think it is important to note this video. It provides viewers with a personable, interactive experience, while showcasing the product. This is quite different from a more direct sales driven approach of just displaying the items along with their prices. It’s inviting, not pushy.
Another video features Elijah Wood and Shirley Manson in an artsy vignette which highlights Oliver People’s eye wear in ways that are subtle and charming.
In addition to their videos, Oliver Peoples has a lifestyle blog which engages the viewer much like a glossy magazine.
Blogs and videos are very simple solutions available to everyone. One of the take away lessons we can learn from Oliver Peoples is that the difference is in how well they are executed. The end result should make people want to stick around.
