Drawing Followers to Your Personal Brand

In the past two and a half years, I’ve learned a lot about advertising. Arguably one of the most important lessons I’ve learned is how essential it is to create a personal brand. It’s an excellent way to stand out and get noticed when trying to break into the industry. But how can you use social media to build your personal brand? Well, if your freelance artist, Greg Burney, you develop your own social media campaign.

Greg Burney is a British artist that was looking for a way to create a memorable connection with new customers. With a limited budget, he knew social media would be an effective way to reach them. To encourage them to connect with him on Twitter, Greg created the #drawmyfollowers campaign. Through his Twitter account, Greg announced that he would draw portraits of the first 3,000 new followers he received. He then encouraged them to retweet their drawings and share them with friends. After famous typographer, Erik Spiekermann retweeted his announcement, Greg’s followers instantly grew. Within two days, he went from 70 to 700 followers, and after a couple weeks, he had over 5,000 new followers. Not bad for someone starting out.

Some of the drawings Greg Burney made for his followers.

So what made this campaign work? Well, Greg knew he didn’t have a lot of money and certainly couldn’t afford to hire an ad agency, so he used what he had to engage his followers. By creating a personalized experience, he was able to connect with them, while also promoting and showing them the work he can do. He was able to attract new customers and increase his fan base, as many of them wanted to see more of his work. He also received attention from multiple blogs and websites that used his story as an example of a successful social media campaign.

While this is a unique way to create a personalized experience with consumers, I question the overall longevity of the campaign. Of course people respond well to incentive; however, once the 3,000 followers received their portraits, there was no guarantee that they would continue to seek more work from the artist. In fact, his followers have decreased, and as of today, Greg has a little over 3,700 followers on Twitter. Unfortunately, it appears that the novelty wore off, as some of his followers were no longer engaged or interested in what Greg had to offer. Although affordable, the campaign would also be time consuming and take Greg away from any immediate work that had to be done. 

Regardless of his future success, Greg Burney’s #drawmyfollowers campaign is an excellent example of how an individual person can use social media to gain attention and promote their personal brand. It demonstrates that people (or brands) don’t have to have a huge budget, or even need to hire an ad agency, to create a unique and effective social media campaign.

Source: http://www.adweek.com/adfreak/artist-vows-draw-all-new-twitter-followers-136333

Oreo: Facebook’s Favourite Cookie

It’s one thing for a brand to create a social media campaign that temporary drives users to their Facebook page. It’s another to develop a social media presence that constantly leaves consumers wondering what the brand is going to do next. While companies often develop elaborate social media campaigns to engage consumers and make themselves memorable, sometimes all they need to do is keep it simple.

A recent example of a brand that used a simple social media strategy is Oreo. In 2012, with the help of ad agency, 360i, Oreo created the Daily Twist campaign for their Facebook page. Each day, from June 25^th to October 2^nd, the brand posted an image of the cookie redesigned to mark an occasion that occurred on that date. For instance, on September 19^th, they posted an image of an Oreo wearing an eye patch with the tagline, “Talk Like a Pirate Day”. They used various pop culture references to reach niche markets. To further involve their fans, consumers were invited to visit Oreo’s website and make suggestions for the different images that were going to be created. On the last day of the campaign, Oreo created a pop-up agency in Times Square where the final cookie was designed in real-time. They encouraged their fans to visit and experience the process of what went into designing each image.

 "Talk Like a Pirate Day" image from Oreo's Daily Twist campaign.

The campaign was successful, as it increased customer engagement by 110% and added five million more likes to their Facebook page. The campaign also gave Oreo exposure from other media outlets and groups. For instance, they began the Daily Twist by designing a cookie for Gay Pride Week. Not only did this spark discussion among people in the LGBT community, but it also helped the campaign go viral. By the end of the campaign, Oreo had nearly 32 million likes on their Facebook page, and were soon established as a brand leader on Facebook.

In order to gain attention from consumers and media, Oreo participated in newsjacking, an approach in which a company integrates their message into current news stories. They were able to integrate topical subjects in a playful way to promote their brand, while also creating discussions about the specific occasion or event the cookie was representing. In addition to this, the execution of the campaign was nearly flawless. They used simple visuals to spread their message and make each one memorable. Oreo’s campaign also offered an element of surprise and delight, as fans continued to come back everyday to see a new image. In addition to this, it shows that Oreo truly understands what their brand represents. They played into their brand personality of being young, playful, and fun by having their cookie represent unusual or untraditional events. Their simple ideas, combined with the use of pop culture references enabled them to create an emotional connection for consumers.

Although the campaign was inexpensive to execute, it was very time consuming and would have required constant monitoring online. While the campaign only lasted 100 days, it would have been interesting to see if Oreo would still be successful if they had continued to post new images for a longer period of time.

Regardless of what it could have turned into, Oreo’s social media campaign is an excellent example for small companies or brands looking for inexpensive ways to develop their online presence. While most brands believe they need to develop elaborate campaigns that personally involve consumers, as this case study suggests, taking a simple approach can be just as effective.

Source: http://www.shopify.com/blog/7589919-the-secret-behind-oreos-social-media-marketing#ixzz2kwVXcY90

Kotex: A "Pin"spiring Campaign

As I’ve already established in my previous blog posts, many brands find success by developing social media campaigns that personally target consumers. Personalized campaigns allow brands to engage users and create a memorable experience for them. But how far should companies go to create these personalized messages? Well, that depends on the social media site being used and who the brand is trying to reach.

Pinterest is a fairly new social media site that’s been steadily growing in the past couple of years. For those that may not be familiar with it, the site allows users to collect images from around the web and “pin” them to boards. Users can follow each other to see what they’re posting and get ideas or inspiration for recipes, gifts, or other projects. Since it’s still relatively new, not many brands have explored or implemented Pinterest in their advertising campaigns. Except for Kotex, of course.

With the help of Israeli ad agency, Smoyz, Kotex developed a creative campaign called “Women’s Inspiration Day”. The company searched Pinterest to find 50 “inspiring” women that were active, influential users with large followings. After selecting these 50 women, the company then sent virtual gifts to all of them. If they pinned the gift, the company promised to send them a real gift based on something they had already pinned in the past. These gifts were original, handcrafted, and designed to appeal to each woman’s individual style. The gift box was beautifully presented and also featured a box of Kotex feminine products.

A closer look at Kotex's "Women's Inspiration Day" Campaign.

Much like anyone would react to a present, these women responded with surprise and delight. The women then posted photos of their real gifts to their Pinterest, Facebook, Twitter, and Instagram profiles. Almost all of the 50 women posted photos of their gifts. In addition to this, they had 2,284 interactions and 694,853 total impressions. Not too bad for only reaching out to 50 women.

So why did this campaign work? Well, because it was one of the first Pinterest campaigns ever, the brand was able to reach out to users in a place that wasn’t already saturated with contests and promotions. The campaign also demonstrated that Kotex understood their target market. Because the majority of Pinterest users are female, it was logical to use the site to promote a feminine product. Although they only reached out to 50 women, they conducted enough research on each of them to ensure they all had a strong social media presence and a large following. This guaranteed that more than just each individual woman was exposed to the Kotex brand after they posted photos of it online. By giving these women personalized gifts, it was also a way of acting as a brand reminder. In the future, anytime they see these handmade gifts in their home, they will instantly be reminded of Kotex. While the campaign was costly and fairly labour intensive, it was well thought out, as the brand was able to create a memorable and personalized campaign that gained exposure across multiple social media platforms.  

While creating personalized messages on social media is an effective way for brands to become memorable, as Kotex proved, sending personalized gifts might be even better. The brand was able to take advantage of a platform that most companies have ignored and use it to reach their target market in a creative way. Due to the cost and effort put into each gift, I assume this will be a one-time campaign; however, the results demonstrated that Pinterest can be an equally effective social media site brands can use to run unique and inspiring campaigns.

Source: http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/guerrilla-marketing/kotexs-womens-inspiration-day-pinterest-campaign/

Pepsi NEXT: The Digital Taste Test

Nowadays it’s difficult to find an integrated marketing campaign that doesn’t include social media. If used correctly, it can be an effective way to generate awareness and connect with consumers on a personal level. While social media can help new businesses establish themselves, it can be an even more powerful tool for existing companies looking to launch a new product line.

A recent example of a brand that successfully used social media to launch their new product line is Pepsi. While the soda company has continuously had a strong online presence, they are probably best known for hosting the Pepsi Taste Challenge, a sampling event that challenges consumers across the country to see if they can taste the difference between Pepsi and Coca-Cola. This has been a huge success for Pepsi. Not only does it give consumers the chance to taste the brand’s product, but it also gives them an opportunity to show their support for the company.

So how do you move this type of sampling campaign into the digital age? Well, with the help of ad agency, The Barbarian Group, Pepsi launched the “Drink it to Believe it” campaign and created an online taste test to launch Pepsi NEXT.

To increase trial and generate buzz for the new product line, Pepsi teamed up with the popular website, Funny or Die, to create the Internet Taste Test. Users were invited to register for the Internet Taste Test on Pepsi NEXT’s Facebook page for a chance to watch themselves “taste” the new beverage through Funny or Die comedians. After analyzing consumers’ Facebook profiles, these comedians improvised what they thought these users’ experiences would look like trying Pepsi NEXT for the first time. These videos were posted on Pepsi NEXT’s Facebook page, as well as on Pepsi’s YouTube channel. To launch the campaign and get users familiar with the concept, Pepsi released a video featuring comedian, Rob Riggle, watching an impersonated version of himself trying the beverage. Pepsi also purchased online advertising to promote the campaign.

One of the impersonated videos from the “Drink it to Believe it” Internet Taste Test Campaign.

The campaign was a success and helped Pepsi NEXT reach over 70 million people in eight weeks. In addition to this, 480 fan-inspired videos were uploaded to Pepsi’s YouTube account, and the launch video received more than two million views. Pepsi NEXT also gained earned media, as users posted the impersonated videos of themselves across their social media platforms, helping further spread the brand’s message. This helped Pepsi’s online presence grow faster than it ever had before.

While it’s important for companies not to recycle old campaigns, I think Pepsi was able to successfully transform their famous Pepsi Taste Challenge into the digital age. They were able to capitalize on a campaign that has already worked well for them in the past by putting a digital spin on it. The success of the campaign shows that Pepsi understands both their positioning in the beverage market and also what appeals to their target market. They’ve always been known as the youthful, fun, and vibrant soda company that young people enjoy. By partnering with Funny or Die, they were able to further instil their brand personality while appealing to their target market. In addition to understanding that humour was the best approach to take to reach their target audience, they also understood that consumers would react best to personalized messages. While they faced the risk of insulting consumers and potentially harming the Pepsi brand, they were able to conduct enough research to know that their target audience would respond well to the campaign.

Pepsi was able to captivate their audience during the launch of Pepsi NEXT; however, the next challenge will be to engage consumers once the beverage line becomes well-known and established. Personalized messages are a unique way to create memorable advertising, but once the novelty wears off, consumers’ attention may go elsewhere. In the future, Pepsi NEXT will have to be smart in their social media strategies if they hope to continue to reach their target audience, otherwise consumers may choose Coca-Cola in a taste test.

Source: http://barbariangroup.com/2012/11/pepsi-next/