Recently on a trip to Australia, I came across an article in the Australian financial review. This article illustrated that there are still companys out there that arn't utlising the web as much as they could be.
"AussieBum Men's swimwear and underwear manufacturer mainly sell throught the internet with more that 85% turnover of $23 million exported. Northern and sounthern hemisphere markets smooth out seasonal production spikes, improving the economics of manufacturing and helping achieve net profit of 40%.
This goes to show you that the opportunities on the web are endless.
Wednesday, November 25, 2009
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Social Media: It's about conversation
There are a few things I've learnt since getting into the social media game, but the most important one is to listen.
There is a place for RSS content, feeds and posting links – but spamming your subscribers is going to get you unsubscribed faster then anything.
If you want to grow your SM presence, the first thing to do is adjust your mindset.
Traditional media is broadcast based. New media is a conversation.
In the past, to a certain extent television, radio and print have dictated content to the user. Success was gauged after the fact via circulation and ratings. New media shifts that paradigm - both the you and your consumers can see comments, re-tweets, or views in real time. Put simply: Instant, accurate feedback.
Take that a step further; You can immediately respond to your consumers, providing a personalised experience which wins them over. The consumer then subconsciously changes their relationship with you from occasional customer to loyal friend. Once that happens, they will seek you out, buy your products, listen to your recommendations as they would from a friend - because in a sense that is what you are. Positive word of mouth has always been the best form of advertising - and that's exactly what Social Media is.
There’s always going to be the push from traditionalists to quantify social media with ROI, but as one analyst asks “What’s the ROI of your phone?”. Although many of the return aspects of SM are directly intangible, they do exist.
So turn off your feeds and talk to your subscribers, not at them... And when they talk back, listen.
After all, it's about a conversation.
There is a place for RSS content, feeds and posting links – but spamming your subscribers is going to get you unsubscribed faster then anything.
If you want to grow your SM presence, the first thing to do is adjust your mindset.
Traditional media is broadcast based. New media is a conversation.
In the past, to a certain extent television, radio and print have dictated content to the user. Success was gauged after the fact via circulation and ratings. New media shifts that paradigm - both the you and your consumers can see comments, re-tweets, or views in real time. Put simply: Instant, accurate feedback.
Take that a step further; You can immediately respond to your consumers, providing a personalised experience which wins them over. The consumer then subconsciously changes their relationship with you from occasional customer to loyal friend. Once that happens, they will seek you out, buy your products, listen to your recommendations as they would from a friend - because in a sense that is what you are. Positive word of mouth has always been the best form of advertising - and that's exactly what Social Media is.
There’s always going to be the push from traditionalists to quantify social media with ROI, but as one analyst asks “What’s the ROI of your phone?”. Although many of the return aspects of SM are directly intangible, they do exist.
So turn off your feeds and talk to your subscribers, not at them... And when they talk back, listen.
After all, it's about a conversation.
What is Moonfruit? A Twitter Campaign
What is Moonfruit? A Twitter Campaign Analysis from Social Bug
Amongst all the noise on social media networks like Twitter, companies like Moonfruit have shown an unprecedented resolve to gain your attention. Auckland based Social-Bug has released a case study that examines the recent #Moonfruit hashtag Twitter viral campaign and it’s implications for the future of marketing on Twitter.
Over the past week, the Twitterverse has been abuzz with Moonfruit taking centre stage. The self-service online website generator ran a week-long raffle offering one Macbook Pro a day to anyone in the world who including the hashtag #moonfruit in their tweets. The uncontstrained campaign allowed Tweeps to enter multiple times and also required separate entries for each of the daily draws.
Twitter offers a frictionless medium in which a viral campaign like #moonfruit is able to propagate.
To Moonfruit's credit, they were increase the rate of sign-ups for their product trial by 350% and also increase website traffic by 600%. (According to Moonfruitlounge.com)
Key Metrics:
1. Twitter followers increased from 444 to 44,113 over 7 days.
2. Traffic to Moonfruit.com increased 600%
3. Trials on Moonfruit.com increased by 350%
4. #moonfruit was the number one topic on Twitter for two days surpassing Michael Jackson giving them a featured position on every Twitter user’s homepage.
Depending on what perspective you take, the unprecedented success of the campaign driven by the Twitter community has led to Moonfruit becoming a poster child for:
A: How to run a marketing campaign on Twitter or B: Spam on Twitter
While there have been many complaints, the vast majority clearly did not take issue and continued to repeatedly tweet #moonfruit in the hopes of winning one of the 10 Macbook Pros on offer. We are sure to see more Twitter hashtag campaigns in the future but with 2 major changes:
1. Campaign managers will learn how to minimize and mitigate backlash against their brands.
2. Prizes will get bigger. Everyone has their price.
Key Observations:
1. Interest in Moonfruit spread beyond Twitter with searches for “moonfruit” peaking on day 3 (July 2,2009) of the campaign and “what is moonfruit?” categorised as a breakout search term which correlated with the release of a favourable article posted on the popular social media news website, Mashable.
2. Following @moontweet was not a requirement to enter the competition, it was merely suggested as one way to find out if you had won, and yet they have ended up with 100X more followers than they started with.
3. Campaign shortened from 10 days to 7 days in an attempt to diffuse negative sentiment with regard to Twitter feed ‘pollution.’
4. #moonfruit hashtag was hijacked by spammers in order to garner attention towards wares like 'get rich quick' schemes, but was also used by some charitable causes.
The report concludes with a discussion on the responsibility of Twitter vs. the community to monitor the Twitterverse and proposes an optimised Twitter campaign strategy. The complete Moonfruit Twitter Marketing Campaign Report is available at Social-Bug.com http://www.social-bug.com/moonfruit-twitter/
Source: scoop.co.nz
Amongst all the noise on social media networks like Twitter, companies like Moonfruit have shown an unprecedented resolve to gain your attention. Auckland based Social-Bug has released a case study that examines the recent #Moonfruit hashtag Twitter viral campaign and it’s implications for the future of marketing on Twitter.
Over the past week, the Twitterverse has been abuzz with Moonfruit taking centre stage. The self-service online website generator ran a week-long raffle offering one Macbook Pro a day to anyone in the world who including the hashtag #moonfruit in their tweets. The uncontstrained campaign allowed Tweeps to enter multiple times and also required separate entries for each of the daily draws.
Twitter offers a frictionless medium in which a viral campaign like #moonfruit is able to propagate.
To Moonfruit's credit, they were increase the rate of sign-ups for their product trial by 350% and also increase website traffic by 600%. (According to Moonfruitlounge.com)
Key Metrics:
1. Twitter followers increased from 444 to 44,113 over 7 days.
2. Traffic to Moonfruit.com increased 600%
3. Trials on Moonfruit.com increased by 350%
4. #moonfruit was the number one topic on Twitter for two days surpassing Michael Jackson giving them a featured position on every Twitter user’s homepage.
Depending on what perspective you take, the unprecedented success of the campaign driven by the Twitter community has led to Moonfruit becoming a poster child for:
A: How to run a marketing campaign on Twitter or B: Spam on Twitter
While there have been many complaints, the vast majority clearly did not take issue and continued to repeatedly tweet #moonfruit in the hopes of winning one of the 10 Macbook Pros on offer. We are sure to see more Twitter hashtag campaigns in the future but with 2 major changes:
1. Campaign managers will learn how to minimize and mitigate backlash against their brands.
2. Prizes will get bigger. Everyone has their price.
Key Observations:
1. Interest in Moonfruit spread beyond Twitter with searches for “moonfruit” peaking on day 3 (July 2,2009) of the campaign and “what is moonfruit?” categorised as a breakout search term which correlated with the release of a favourable article posted on the popular social media news website, Mashable.
2. Following @moontweet was not a requirement to enter the competition, it was merely suggested as one way to find out if you had won, and yet they have ended up with 100X more followers than they started with.
3. Campaign shortened from 10 days to 7 days in an attempt to diffuse negative sentiment with regard to Twitter feed ‘pollution.’
4. #moonfruit hashtag was hijacked by spammers in order to garner attention towards wares like 'get rich quick' schemes, but was also used by some charitable causes.
The report concludes with a discussion on the responsibility of Twitter vs. the community to monitor the Twitterverse and proposes an optimised Twitter campaign strategy. The complete Moonfruit Twitter Marketing Campaign Report is available at Social-Bug.com http://www.social-bug.com/moonfruit-twitter/
Source: scoop.co.nz
Thursday, November 12, 2009
Twitter marketing tool of the future
New Zealand businesses need to consider the online marketing potential of micro-blogging site Twitter seriously now Google and rival Bing are incorporating its content into search results.
That is the view of Auckland-based online marketing agency First Rate, which has published lists of the most-followed local Twitter accounts on its blog.
"[Companies and brands] in New Zealand seem to be more engaged in social media - Twitter in particular - than their Australian counterparts," says Grant Osborne, First Rate's director of search and performance.
"As a smaller country we get behind our brands, such as [Air New
Osborne says businesses are using Twitter in a variety of ways as a marketing and brand-building tool.
Some companies are simply "pushing" offers and special deals to customers who follow their tweets while others are taking a "more conversational" approach - engaging their followers in a Twitter "community" based around their business and answering followers' questions about their products and services.
Google has also launched a new tool, Google Social Search, to capture comments made on Twitter and other social network platforms.
"Tweets are now indexed by Google and, secondly, as part of Social Search, when one of your followers turns up in a search from Google the search results will favour content that you have tweeted over standard search result listings," says Stadler.
"This means [businesses] cannot afford to not measure Twitter activity. [Through their realtime feeds] Google and Microsoft have placed it as a pivotal part of their information-gathering strategies."
Osborne and Stadler say First Rate compiled the lists of the top 10 corporate and individual
THE TOP 10 ACCOUNTS ON FIRST RATE'S LIST
The most popular New Zealand Twitter accounts on First Rate's list are:
1. WE LIKE BIKE 42
Twitter name: WeLikeBike42.
Followers: 21,600.
As part of a marketing campaign in the
2. DIY FATHER
Twitter name: diyfather.
Followers: 17,200.
Linked to the locally run DIY Father website, which promotes resources for effective fathering, this Twitter stream is "conversational and functional", says Osborne. "While the tweets cover a range of topics, they relate to a well-defined community."
3. AIR
Twitter name: grabaseat.
Followers: 11,700.
An account focused on pushing out the daily deals promoted by Air New
4. BUSINESSTALK
Twitter name: BusinessTalk.
Followers: 9200.
Another "conversational" account used to enhance and promote the related website, focused on business issues. "They have an agenda, but it's very much about their community," says Osborne.
5. AIR
Twitter name: flyairnz.
Followers: 8900.
Air
6. TOURISM
Twitter name: purenewzealand.
Followers: 7100.
The tourism marketing agency has a particular focus on technology-savvy travellers and the popularity of its account also demonstrates how Twitter can be used to engage an international audience.
7. NZ MUSIC COMMISSION
Twitter name: newzealandmusic
Followers: 5600.
The internet has proven a valuable tool for promoting local music andthis account shows that concept canbe extended through the use of Twitter.
8. VODAFONE NEW ZEALAND
Twitter name: vodafonenz.
Followers: 5200.
"Through their Twitter account Vodafone represent their brand quite nicely," says Osborne. "It's not all about customer service, it's not all about their product. It's about engaging that audience with something that's fun or exciting, which fits with the brand. So they are portraying the brand in the light they want to through Twitter."
9. EVENTFINDER.CO.NZ
Twitter name: eventfinder.
Followers: 4800.
Stadler says an account like Eventfinder, which pumps out information on event information published on its website, runs the risk of becoming "a little bit dry if all you do is push out event information". He says the account has the ability to lighten itself up by breaking up the stream with a variety of related tweets. "It seems to be quite a one-way conversation at the moment, but it would be extremely easy to change that into more of a two-way [conversation] by gathering information from followers with questions such as: 'How did you like specific events, can we pass on any suggestions to the promoters?"'
10. DATING ADVICE
Twitter name: datingadviceNZ.
Followers: 4800.
Like DIY Dad and BusinessTalk, a Twitter account offering its community of interested users a change to interact with the brand in a conversational style. Interaction is easier for accounts linked to this type than for more "corporate" accounts, says Osborne.
(Source: NZ Herald)
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