Real-Life Practical Advice on Social Media for UK Marketers : Part 1
Posted on 01. May, 2008 by Chi-chi Ekweozor in Social Media Strategies
This post is part of a series of articles exploring how to use social media to solve real life marketing problems facing marketers in the UK.
Each article is a response to a real-life question posed by a delegate at my masterclass at March’s Marketing Tech: Tailor Made conference in London. You can read every article in the series by clicking on the ‘Practical social media advice‘ tag.
The Real-Life Marketing Problem
“How do I engage consumers on social media if I have a less than engaging brand (say a loan or washing powder)?”
The Social Media Solution
Though challenging at first glance, answering this one is actually easy.
Loans and washing powders have one thing in common.
Regular users.
People use washing powder and people take out loans. All the time.
People listen to other people’s experiences with loans and washing powders. All the time.
It’s called prime time radio and TV advertising. At least it is here in Manchester.
And most of the time it sucks.
The reason why it sucks is because it is so one-way. You hear the washing powder manufacturer or loan provider’s point of view, ad infinitum and nothing else.
It’s enough to put you off day time TV.
With social media you can incorporate real people’s experiences with either a loan or a washing powder in real time.
I’d love to see a loan provider or financial services company reach out to consumers before it launches a new product. How’s that for innovative?
Rather than fearing what consumers have to say about a “less than engaging product”, it would be great if a loan provider or washing powder manufacturer gave consumers a chance to become involved in telling others about their experiences with the product from the very beginning.
How? Here’s some information you can use…
Real Life Practical Advice
- Use online video on a social media site like YouTube to invite video responses to ‘official videos’ or TV ads showing use of the product.
- Use a blog to solicit early consumer feedback and respond to consumers’ queries.
Real Life Examples
The real challenge is to create a memorable online marketing campaign for one of these products using social media.
There are very few examples of these sorts of things in the UK right now but US firms like Post-it Note manufacturers 3M have started engaging consumers by running contests that invite video uploads by people using their products.
What do you think? How would you go about using social media to engage consumers around a less than engaging brand?
Your thoughts and comments welcome, as always…
Image credit: http://www.visit4info.com
Related posts:
- Real-Life Practical Advice on Social Media for UK Marketers : Part 2
- Real-Life Practical Advice on Social Media for UK Marketers
- A Day in The Life of A Digital Native – NOISEfestival
- Practical Marketing Training: The Learning Social Media By Doing Course
- Social Media Usage in the FTSE 100: Company Profile – Alliance and Leicester
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