What is Social Media?
Social media could be classified as an online environment that is created via user interaction
and often user created content. It is a space online where people meet, share and interact.
Sites such as MySpace, Facebook, LinkedIn, Digg and You Tube are all perfect examples of
Social Media sites. All these sites are created and utilized by a large community of internet
users, so it is referred to as social media.
social media success stories
Case Studies
Red Bull rocked Facebook marketing.
The energy drink proved its vigor with an all-out Facebook campaign. Red Bull ruled
Facebook this year, jumping from 8 million fans when Brafton first reported on its campaign
to more than 14 million at the end of 2010.
The company offers a fine model of how relevant, original social content is key to catching
Likes. RedBull's Facebook page demonstrates the company's keen understanding of its target
audience, making wall posts that pose questions about various extreme activities energy
drinkers might enjoy.
The brand fuels social conversations about broader, similarly invigorated industries –
sometimes gathering thousands of Likes and up to 500 comments per post. It also posts links
to RedBull.com stories to bring social visitors to its main pages.
Plus, Red Bull gets bonus points for including a social games tab – dubbed the
Procrastination Station. The company appeals to fans by entering the emerging online gaming
sector with relevant, high-energy interactive media, such as the Red Bull soapbox race.
Marketers can take away the fact that engaging content that invites users' comments will keep
fans coming back and bring new ones to social pages. Also, Red Bull shows it's possible to
try new platforms without losing a brand's message.
Inception's multichannel campaign worked like a dream.
Christopher Nolan's film has earned a Golden Globe nomination for Best Picture, but we
think he and the marketing execs at Warner Bros. should also be honored for creating an
immersive internet campaign for Inception.
The social campaign surrounding the movie was a cross-platform tour de force. When
Brafton first covered it, the film had 500,000 fans, but the social campaign's shelf life has
exceeded the movie's time in theaters, now boasting more than 4 million fans. Inception's
Facebook page has carefully documented news coverage of the film since trailers were
released and continues to ask followers what they think of the latest Inception news. The site
also features original content that lets the backstory of the movie unfold.
The immersive world of Inception extends beyond Facebook. The company created a comic
book on Yahoo sites that extends the tale of its characters. It also appeals to on-the-go
consumers with a mobile app featuring a maze game designed around the movie, which lets
players become part of the story.
While the movie industry may seem like a perfect fit for this storytelling social campaign,
marketers across industries can achieve consistent brand messaging and tell a compelling tale
about their brands through customers' experiences or industry news delivered via myriad
channels. Plus, Inception's campaign proves that news content keeps sites fresh.
Gap got its Groupon .
Some may say Gap doesn't need a Groupon campaign to make itself known, but we think the
long-established retailer proved that old dogs can benefit from new tricks and that local
targeting can go a long way. The company's Groupon campaign brought in $11 million.
Marketers likely know Groupon; the daily deal finder is becoming a household name with its
local coupons. The Gap offer's resulting word-of-mouth, cash in hand, potential extra
spending and free advertising is something brands won't want to ignore.
Gap was one of the first major brands to test Groupon's local waters. The buzz surrounding
Gap for its Groupon deal is clear, with nearly 500,000 web results for the one-day offer
appearing in a search for "Gap Groupon."
The company was bold to offer a nationwide 50 percent discount for $50 purchases, showing
that even big brands can get into the local market. In addition to the Groupon email about the
offer, Gap also promoted the Groupon campaign on all of its social pages. By late morning,
Groupon was selling 534 Gap offers ($25 to redeem $50 worth of goods) per minute.
There's something for everyone here. Smaller brands can consider how the success of the
campaign on a local level indicates Groupon and supporting social marketing can bring foot
traffic to their stores. Major brands can take it as a cue that neighborhood deals can enhance
their national efforts.
Domino's delivered with foursquare.
Domino's is the second-leading pizza chain in the U.S., and the company's rising U.K. branch
found that effective social marketing may be the secret sauce to success.
The company offers foursquare promotions for more than 500 U.K. and Ireland store
locations. The deal includes a free pizza for mayors, and CEO Chris Moore suggested mayors
visit the stores more regularly, but "cement" their relationships with the brand on
Wednesdays when they receive free food.
Domino's officials believed that foursquare played a role in the company's 29 percent
increase in earnings during the first half of 2010.
The Domino's campaign signifies that social media can and should be used to foster brand
loyalty. One of many foursquare campaigns that rewards brand advocates who check-in at
stores, the pizza chain shows it pays to use social media to encourage nearby consumers to
spend a little face time with workers.
Ford used Facebook to make its announcements.
This year, Ford let social users do most of the talking to spread the word about its new
Explorer.
The 2011 Ford Explorer reveal happened on Facebook this year, making it accessible to the
company's followers and countless other auto enthusiasts on the social network. The firm
starting by generating buzz for its Facebook reveal through the social network and other
channels. Then, it unveiled Explorer-related content throughout the day on a Reveal tab.
The Ford Explorer Facebook page saw a significant increase in fans leading up to the reveal.
Plus, Jumpstart Media told MediaPost the online autoshow caused a 104 percent increase in
traffic to Ford Explorer pages, and Ford's share of SUV shoppers grew by 52 percent on the
day the car was unveiled.
Searches for the 2011 Explorer are said to have far exceeded the lifts given to brands by
Super Bowl ads, giving the power of Facebook and Ford an edge over the NFL.
What this might indicate to marketers is that social networks should be used to create a sense
of community among a broad online audience. By turning a traditional, in-person event like a
car show into an online phenomenon, the company allowed more consumers to experience
the exclusive insight of the reveal. Companies might offer exclusive content or insider deals
through social channels to recreate this enthusiasm.
Plus, Ford might inspire brands to create similar release and sales strategies for Facebook in
2011. The network is reportedly looking into partnerships to boost commerce options, which
may turn product reveals on Facebook into social shopping events next year.
These campaigns each brought something unique to the table, but there are common threads
throughout these success stories that can inform social media marketing plans for 2011.
Above all, these social leaders were fearless in trying new social channels (or new strategies
on existing channels), and each seeded its social campaign with original content that would
be of interest to its target audience.
Moral of the story: Engagement requires unique, relevant content that reaches your audience
wherever it is online.
The six campaigns we explored do a great job of engaging social users, but we know this
short list leaves out some of the year's other brilliant social marketing moments. Plus, we’ve
talked about major brands that generated a lot of buzz, but we know there are plenty of little
guys out there who thought big on tight budgets.
For instance, earlier this year, Brafton reported the social success of Daddies Board Shop – a
small business that grew an international audience thanks to its Facebook campaign and
thoughtful content targeting. Then there’s the Skin Institute of Miami, which Groupon has
publicly praised for selling 677 facials through a campaign on the deal-finder, and then
turning 70 percent of these consumers into regular customers.
Live Event Coverage
7. Children’s Medical Center in Dallas tweeted about a kidney transplant from a father to his
son. Twittering took place at both UT Southwestern Medical Center (where the kidney was
removed from the father) and Children’s. According to data from Children’s (reported by
Greystone), the results of this single event were as follows: “By the end of the day,
Children’s Twitter followers had increased 370%, 40 interviews were scheduled over the
following 9 days and more than 600 stories were garnered with more than 60 million
impressions. In addition, 20 people contacted Children’s transplant program to request
information about becoming an organ donor.”
CurbsideCupcakes.com: Success in Using Social Media :
Samuel Whitfield III and Kristi Cunningham, Owners, CurbsideCupcakes.com
One home business that gets social media is CurbsideCupcakes.com
http://www.curbsidecupcakes.com, a mobile vendor of gourmet cupcakes in the Washington
D.C. area. While most mobile vendors simply show up in their locations and wait for
customers to come, CurbsideCupcakes.com uses the social media sites such as Twitter and
Facebook to announce where their mobile van will be and at what time. Thus, their customers
know where to go to look for the pink mobile truck and get their cupcake fix.
Launched in August 2009, CurbsideCupcakes.com is the brainchild of the soon-to-be-married
couple Samuel Whitfield III and Kristi Cunningham. Friends thought they were crazy to
leave their stable jobs in the middle of a recession, but both believe that they have a
wonderful product and a solid business plan. And from the reaction of their fans on Facebook
and Twitter, their gamble is paying off!
The couple makes their cupcakes, and goes to their destination for the day for 30 minutes (or
until the line dies down). Customers can check the Cupcake Calendar to see the scheduled
destinations for the month. However, some days are marked as “Wildcard Spots” and the
exact locations are only announced on Twitter and Facebook. Customers can also get the
most updated schedules on the social networking sites.
With 3,166 fans on Twitter (and fast increasing), their tweets are light hearted teasers that
their followers take to heart. Once a tweet goes out where they will turn up next, fans start
preparing to go after the mobile van to buy their gourmet cupcakes. My introduction to the
company came via an email from a friend alerting me that CurbsideCupcakes.com will be
stopping by near my location, and I need to hurry fast to get their delicious goodies. Many
fans even take the bus and the subway train just to get to the mobile van’s location.
Here are some of their latest tweets:
It is in their Facebook fan page , however, where the passion and adulation of their fans for
their cupcakes are most apparent. With 5,618 fans on Facebook, fans post pictures of their
cupcakes, their interactions with the pink mobile, and their love for the cupcakes.
Here’s a sampler of some interesting posts made recently – and any marketers worth their salt
would die for these comments:

PLEEEEAAAASE come to 1250 24th Street, NW we have a building of people who
would love to enjoy your yummmmmy yummmmmy cupcakes
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OMG! Cupcake Biss! Me and a coworker just got back to the office with 18 cupcakes.
Just finished eating RedVelvet…..mmmm…..yummy….cupcake… Hope you come
back to Smithsonian area again soon.
Your Red Velvet cupcake rocks my world! I never chased a cupcake truck until
today!! Thanks for coming to Smithsonian.
Omg, this is the most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Cupcake Perfection
I’m definately spreading the word Sent out an email to all of my peeps first thing
this am about voting for you guys AND the truck being at our building Would love
for our stop to become a regular one hoping you do well especially with all the
tourists that are around again c-you soon!
i hope you still have some more cookies and cream!!!!
Have you forsaken 131 M Street NE??? Say it isn’t so!
The success of CurbsideCupcakes.com lies in how they are able to generate excitement in the
shopping process. People are not just buying cupcakes, but are participating in a fun and even
thrilling experience of trying to be in the announced location at the right time. They may be a
small business, but they have developed a strong brand that’s sugary sweet (pink van! pink
logos!) and fun. And customers seem to be responding very well to the business.
Social media has changed how businesses reach out and engage their customers. Small
businesses like Curbside Cupcakes that are able to harness and leverage social media to
market their businesses can get a leg up against competition, generate increased sales, and
develop a loyal base of customers.
Old Spice: A Social Media Marketing Success Story
A look at how Old Spice have successfully used social media to promote brand
awareness through a viral interactive YouTube campaign.
If you are a regular Twitter or YouTube user it probably won’t have escaped your attention
that the Old Spice brand is being bandied around a fair amount today. This is effective social
media marketing in action.
So often companies overlook the most fundamental part of social media – being social. It’s
all well and good creating a bit of a buzz or promoting a product endlessly, but without direct
interaction you can only achieve so much. Old Spice certainly appear to have cracked that
nut.
Using Facebook, Twitter and YouTube integration, the brand famed for their masculine musk
have been building a fan base around an online campaign around The Old Spice Man. Social
media users are invited to ask questions and talk to him through the various channels. But
rather than responding through generic tweets or messages from a PR intern, they have
decided to create a series of short videos. Cue social media meltdown.
Their Facebook page has over 575,000 fans and they’ve invested in becoming a ‘Promoted’
trend on Twitter. With the towel wearing Old Spice Man and his YouTube responses as the
primary focus, all of this activity is creating a natural buzz. This is, remember, just a
fragrance brand.
The concept is simple and the execution perfect. By responding to genuine public queries
through a variety of social media channels Old Spice are furthering the awareness of this
campaign and, as a direct consequence, their brand.
Now this won’t be replicable for many businesses; certainly not those with tight resources.
However, as a case study for success it should certainly open up your eyes. Facebook,
Twitter, YouTube and all other social media, networking and bookmarking sites are hugely
effective in their own right. But if you can have a concerted campaign across numerous
platforms the benefit is manifold.
This particular campaign has now gone viral. Ingenuity, interaction and targeted promotion
have ensured that it has seeped into the public consciousness. Regardless of people’s feelings
towards the brand themselves, the videos and tweets have taken promotion to a new level.
Old Spice aren’t the first to have employed such techniques, but they have (arguably at least)
been one of the most effective. Their efforts can be upstaged, but it is going to take
increasingly dynamic and inventive techniques to do so. For now at least though, the
company are on the crest of a viral wave and will no doubt be the envy of many who have
tried and failed.
Lead/Demand Generation & Customer Retention
AMEX‘s strategy was to drive their pull marketing by “having something differentiated to
say, get influencers to say it, and use social media to allow it to scale”. AMEX embarked on
this campaign after their research identified that the use of social media was increasing
amongst the older and more mature small business owners in the running and promoting of
their businesses. The site “Open Forum” is divided in two sections; the idea hub and the
connectodex.
The idea hub is a space for business owners to blog about the topics they are passionate about
without first investing the time and resources to develop their own corporate blog. These
posts and the resultant conversations in the community give AMEX a first hand sneak peek
into what their consumers are looking for. It also provides AMEX an opportunity to drive
conversions to their additional products and services from their participation and
conversations with the consumers via the forum. Just having a space to blog would not
necessarily drive traffic to that site and thats where the second part of the forum comes in.
The connectodex is a community of business owners who have been approved for an AMEX
business card. AMEX validates these businesses through their open endorsement of them as
credit worthy organizations and gives businesses a forum and community within which to
connect to one another to grow their business networks and opportunities.
Rod Phillips, Liquor Plus
Rod Phillips is the Director of Buying and Marketing for Liquor Plus. Rod was gracious
enough to be our inaugural interviewee. Rod recently integrated social media into his
marketing strategy by blogging and using Twitter. As you will see from his comments it's
already having a positive affect on store traffic and "average ring" (retail speak for how
much money a customer spends per store visit).
Chris: When did you first integrate social media into the marketing mix for Liquor Plus?
Rod Phillips: Twitter I started on July 22, 2009 after it was suggested to me by Doug
Brown at Copeland Communications. As for Facebook, I have really only been
experimenting over the last week. Blogging started shortly after Twitter as a supplement to
our weekly TC article, but has shown enough positive results (customer reach, customer
count, and increase in average ring) that we have decided to stop the weekly article and
focus those monies on web/social media development.
Chris: What attracted you to social media?
Rod Phillips: It was recommended to me by Doug Brown as a way to enhance customer
awareness of Liquor Plus and the expertise that we offer.
Chris: What was your first impression of Twitter?
Rod Phillips: Awesome, especially when enhanced by platforms like Hootsuite and
Tweetdeck. I have described Twitter to other as “if you ever wanted to be a fly on the wall,
Twitter is the closest thing to being a fly on a lot of walls.”
Chris: What social media tools do you currently use?
Rod Phillips: 95% Twitter, 5% and growing Facebook.
Chris: How has using social media affected your business?
Rod Phillips: Over the 6 years that Liquor Plus has been in business we have used different
media to achieve different goals at different stages in our development. First there was a
weekly radio show on CFAX (similar to what CFAX online is now). After 3 years we found
that our customer counts were not growing and that our listenership was the same each
week. We would have continued this medium if the costs were not so high. We then
diverted those funds into the Wine Talk article that appears each week in the TimesColonist.
This year we engaged Copeland Communications to help us enhance the core of our
business. Through this process we decided on diverting marketing funds from the Wine
Talk article to the development of a highly interactive, content rich, website that can
provide our staff the direct ability to gain product knowledge while adding to the shopping
experience of our customers. This came with the introduction to Twitter.
In the last two years our Douglas Street store had been experiencing significant declines in
customer counts and average ring. The reasons for these are many and some involve
internal problems, but the majority of this was the increase in the amount of competition
surrounding our Douglas Street store (4 new stores opening), and the adoption by most of
these stores of our pricing strategy. Both of these emphasized the weakness of our Douglas
Street store’s location.
We were experiencing declines in customer counts in our Douglas Street store while
investing approx. $52,000 in the TC to build customer counts.
Since I started investing time into Twitter we have seen a stemming of the decline at
Douglas and additional growth at our Saanich and Royal Oak locations. Remarkably the
majority of people who respond to our ‘Tweet Deals’ request Douglas as their pickup store.
In addition, now that we have done a number of offers, we are seeing the average ring in all
stores incline. Those that took advantage of the first offers were only collecting the offered
product. I suggest that now that those picking up the offers are familiar with our stores and
selection, that they are also shopping when they pick up.
The intangible that could only have a positive effect, is the hundreds of impressions that
each tweet gets, not to mention the positive statements that are posted about our service,
staff, selection and product knowledge. Using TweetReach the last offer received 7330
impressions. The name Liquor Plus has been seen by 12,715 individuals in the last week
alone.
Chris: Do you have a particular success story you could share?
Rod Phillips: Social media was the primary driver for a fundraiser that we did in the stores.
Matthew Williams is a local Saanich kids who was diagnosed with Leukemia in the spring
of this year. We organized a fundraiser and publicized it through Twitter and my blog. To
date we have raised over $2,000 in 4 weeks. This money will go to cover a month and some
of their mortgage and household bills so that Matt’s parents and little brother can join him
in Vancouver at Children’s Hospital while he undergoes treatments that will, hopefully last
1 year.
Chris: What has surprised you most about using social media?
Rod Phillips: The fact that it has offered us the ability to have on going two-way
conversations with our customers. We don’t work or live in a vacuum and as such two-way
conversations allow us to get better at what we do and offer, while giving us the ability to
express our ‘personality’ which, of course, can not be duplicated by any other company.
Chris: On average, how much time do you spend on social media per day?
Rod Phillips: At most 2 hours, min 1 hour.
Thank you for taking time to speak with us Rod. Best of luck with your future social media
endeavors.
If you work for, or know of, a company that is successfully using social media you can
contact me at chris at bwest.ca or leave a comment below.
Social Media Case Study: The Local Restaurant That Could
Company: West Cafe
Social Media Marketing Team: Lisa Peyton, Bonfire Social Media
Campaign Length: Six months, September 2008 – March 2009
Result: Up to a 34% Increase in Overall Restaurant Sales
SoMe Award Finalist 2009
The Challenge
The economic recession hit Portland small business owners hard in late summer and early
autumn of 2008. Those offering “luxury” products or services were in an especially
precarious position. West Café, a small upscale neighborhood restaurant, was particularly
vulnerable to the economic downturn because it had only been open a few years and is
located near Portland State University, where many neighborhood residents are more pricesensitive than elsewhere.
Owners Doug Smith and Sean Concannon (chef) knew their restaurant wouldn’t survive the
winter if they didn’t do something significant to drive business. Even popular restaurants in
higher traffic areas of Portland were closing or making deep cut-backs in hours and staff.
They had tried traditional advertising in the past – with mixed to mostly poor results – so
they were ready to try something new with Internet marketing. However, a quick look at
their web site and traffic stats made it astonishingly clear that their site was doing very little
for them. The one page, flash-based site was only listed in search engine results for their
brand. Analytics data showed they were lucky to get 5-10 visitors to the site per day, most
arriving from a direct search of their web site domain – which implied these visitors were
probably previous customers just looking for hours of operation or a phone number.
Additionally, West Café had been hosting live jazz twice a month on Saturdays and really
wanted to expand to every Saturday for consistency, but the numbers just weren’t there to
support it.
The Solution
Given a limited budget and time constraints, rebuilding the West Café web site was out of
the question. Instead, social media addict (and West Café customer) Lisa Peyton decided to
harness the power of social media to build buzz and drive business.
Creation of the West Café Blog
The West Cafe Blog was built using WordPress, which allowed for search engine
optimization and easy content management. It was designed to match West Café’s
branding, which was already established inside the restaurant and on its web site.
The West Cafe blog included daily drink specials and creative promotions.
The blog includes categories to support West Café’s offerings, help draw in customers, and
provide a platform for keyword-rich copy. Regular columns include a weekly fresh sheet
posted by the West Cafe pastry chef, special event announcements, a monthly jazz calendar
and daily drink specials.
Getting the word out via Twitter
The blog was getting indexed by search engines and the site began picking up traffic very
quickly. But that alone wouldn’t be enough to drive the kind of business West Café needed
to be successful during an economic downturn.
Enter Twitter. Portland is regularly listed among the top five U.S. cities using Twitter, so it
was an ideal platform for getting the word out about West Café. Moreover, Portland is a
walkable city with a vibrant downtown where most Web 2.0-related events take place,
making West Café a viable destination – and desirable since it offers fast, free Wi-Fi.
The West Cafe Twitter campaign included a daily drink special, upcoming
events and requests for feedback from frequent diners.
Peyton used the twitter ID @WestCafePDX to drive traffic to the blog by offering the city’s
first-ever Twitter restaurant coupon!
The link
to the above coupon was posted on Twitter and helped to motivate the
Portland Twitter community to visit West Café.
She also targeted (and interacted with) key Portland tweeters, reached out to jazz fans, and
created word-of-mouth buzz about the restaurant. In fact, many people who began
following @WestCafePDX commented that they didn’t even know the restaurant existed
before they were followed on Twitter!
Creative promotions across multiple social media platforms
Once the blog was up and running, it was time to get creative. In September, the
presidential election was in full swing and dire economic predictions led the news. Peyton
decided to use this news to their advantage. She proposed a tongue-in-cheek marketing blitz
that drove unprecedented web traffic to West Café – and lots of happy drinkers and diners –
through its doors.
They kicked this off with a Five-Point Plan to help Portlanders deal with the economic
crisis. This included: 1) $10 Bail-Out Menu, 2) daily Dow Drink Deals, 3) Let Them Eat
Cake mini-cupcake give-away 4) an Election-night extravaganza, and 5) a Bootleg Bash
featuring Absinthe and retro-jazz with the rallying cry Party like it’s 1929!
The portion of the Five-Point Plan that drove the most web traffic was the Dow Drink Deal.
Every single weekday, Sean Concannon created a drink special based upon how many
points the Dow went up or down. Peyton wrote a short blog post about the drink of the day,
optimized it for Portland Happy Hour searches, and then Tweeted about it that afternoon to
alert potential customers.
Within just a few weeks, West Café was ranking within the first 15 Google search results
for Portland Happy Hour! And, of course, many Portlanders got to try fun cocktails, great
beer and fine wines at a discount.
The Twitter campaign drove daily traffic to drink specials,
which brought foot traffic into the restaurant.
The blog and Twitter account were also used to highlight live jazz events (which were
expanded to every Saturday when the social media marketing campaign started). West Café
was able to rank within the first 10 Google search results for Portland Jazz Bar. This has
made it possible for the restaurant to sustain live jazz every Saturday night and build a
regular following.
The Results
Stellar Traffic Stats
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Web site traffic increased 500% from September to March
Page views increased 300% from September to March
Time on site increased by 25%
Traffic from search engines increased from 42% to 70%
Top Rankings
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The number of pages indexed in the search engines increased from 27 to over 100.
Initially, West Cafe web pages were only showing in search for their branded terms.
The campaign received visibility in Google, MSN and Yahoo for over 30 targeted,
non-branded keywords.
The campaign achieved rankings within the top 10 search results in Google for these
key terms: Portland’s best dessert, Portland Jazz Club, Portland Jazz Bars,
Downtown Portland Happy Hour, Portland Oregon Cafe, Portland OR Cafe.
Increased Sales
Total restaurant sales increased dramatically over the course of the campaign despite the
region’s economic woes. Owner Sean Concannon had this to say about the effectiveness of
the campaign: “We started this all in November and December and I can truly say business
has been steady ever since the Election Party. This is due to the Internet promos. How to get
factual numbers on this is hard, but I must say many places have closed their doors.”
The percentages below reflect the increase in sales revenue month over month starting with
September as the baseline:
September – 100%
October – 12% increase
November – 32% increase
December – 26% increase
January – 25% increase
February – 34% increase
March – 20% increase l
Unsolicited Press Coverage
While there wasn’t a budget for outreach to the press, West Café received exceptional
coverage by local TV stations and print publications who heard about the restaurant’s
promotions via Twitter. As any Public Relations pro knows, when the press starts tracking
YOU down to do nice feature stories, your word-of-mouth buzz is good!
Within just a couple weeks of launching West Café’s Five-Point Plan, local NBC affiliate
KGW-TV came by to do a feature on West Café. They profiled the Bail-Out Menu and the
Dow Drink Deals in October 2008, speaking at length with Sean Concannon about how his
restaurant was able to beat the economic woes facing many other Portland small businesses.
ARTICLES
Daily Blog
A fascinating B2B social media success story
JUN 20TH
With many companies now engaged in social media marketing strategies for nearly two years
or more, success stories are starting to emerge, even in the difficult marketing world of
industrial B2B. I discovered a great success story to share with you through a masters thesis
being developed by Haakon Jenson of Norway.
The case exemplifies an integrated approach to CRM, customer research, SEO, web design,
content development, and social media marketing that I think you’ll enjoy!
BACKGROUND
ShipServ is a leading e-marketplace in the maritime industry providing a portfolio of
software, services and hosted applications designed to enable efficient global
shipping. Their core product TradeNet, an e-commerce platform connecting industry buyers
and suppliers. Currently ShipServ serves 150 shipping companies managing 5,000 ships and
approximately 30,000 suppliers. In 2008 the company turned to the social web to help them
through several marketing challenges:
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Image of being an impersonal software company.
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Limited marketing budget and employee resources
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Increase awareness of using eCommerce as a shipping solution — a big change for
traditional customers
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Customer base not early technology adopters. A survey showed 65% regarded the
social web as a “distracting waste of time”
OBJECTIVES OF THE MARKETING PROGRAM

Drive 50% more traffic to website in three months

Raise awareness of brand throughout global shipping industry

Attract new sales leads through relevant content
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Change focus from “shouting” at customers to “listening, engaging and inspiring”
STRATEGY
The company began with research to find out where customers were receiving their
information, their participation in the social web, information needs and the current “state of
the conversation” for the ShipServ brand. Key discoveries included that there were very few
online communities for their industry and that the mention of their brand was rare. Despite
the fact that their historical customer base largely did not use the social web, they saw an
opportunity to seize the lead and become a thought leader in their marketplace.
ShipServ partnered with an outside marketing firm and their CRM vendor to create an
integrated social media plan that focused on leading the creation of an online community,
developing outstanding content and using social media channels to drive new sales leads
through their website.
ACTIONS
> Conducted research to determine customer information needs and keyword themes.
> Revamped website to be more customer and content driven — New design was more
easy-going and personal. Developed custom landing pages for groups of keywords used to
find the company and specific calls to action based on individual customer needs.
> Created a blog that frequently featured their customers. They also used the blog as a way
to establish conversations in the industry.
> Established “scorecard” through their CRM system to track lead nurturing progress. All
reactions and visitor behavior was examined for possible sales leads.
> Developed quarterly content plan based on themes established from research. Content
was leveraged and re-purposed in various ways across all the social media sites.
> Promoted original content through variety of social media channels, which were used as
“beacons” to drive traffic back to the main website. These channels included:blog, enewsletter, Twitter, light-hearted videos, podcasts, Facebook and LinkedIn.
> A series of valuable white papers (like 10 Essentials of Online Marketing in the Shipping
Industry) were created and promoted through the social channels, website and newsletter,
resulting in 1,000 downloads in seven months.
> Established online industry community by creating a group on LinkedIn. The company
introduced this forum to both shipping company suppliers and procurement professionals and
had 863 members as of last week. Content for the community was developed based on the
initial research of user needs and included research, surveys, and of course content repurposed from other sources.
> Search engine optimization campaign, including keyword content planning.
RESULTS
Website

Website visitors increased by 59 %

Pageviews increased by 70 %

Average time on site increased by 25 %

Generated over 1,000 downloads of a white paper
Community

378 members in the ShipServ Maritime Network group on LinkedIn

300 visitors to the blog

Over 600 views of the company videos

LinkedIn and Twitter have gone from zero to the top 20 traffic sources
Business statistics

Increased contact-to-lead (landing page contact) conversion by 150%

Increased lead-to-opportunity conversion by 50%

Decreased campaign management costs by 80%

Increased the number of sales-ready leads by 400%

Measurable increase in brand awareness
Break-even on the $30,000 social marketing media investment was achieved in three months.
The company estimated the results they achieved would have cost $150,000 through
traditional media.
Do hospitals need to enter the world of social media?
October 5th, 2009
by Nancy Cawley Jean
Do hospitals need to enter the world of social media? That's the exact question we asked
ourselves last year at Lifespan, a large, Rhode Island-based health system comprised of a
parent and five affiliated hospitals. We started to realize that communication as we know it
has changed dramatically in the last five years alone, giving consumers more of a voice than
ever before.
No longer are disgruntled customers (or patients) left with the sole option of writing a letter
to the editor of their local newspaper to get their voices heard. Now they can blog about it,
tell their friends through Facebook, or even share their experience with the entire world
through Twitter. Unlike the past, consumers now expect to be heard.
These changes require businesses to stop avoiding social media and start paying attention.
Hospitals are no exception. Like it or not, people will use these new forms of social media to
talk about your hospital and staff. True, you could simply choose to ignore those
conversations, but any savvy business professional knows that word-of-mouth marketing is
hard to beat.
Consider: If the conversations surrounding your brand in the social media world are
negative, it's vital to be aware of those conversations so that you can engage in a dialogue to
try to change the negative perception. Likewise, if someone says something positive about
you, wouldn't you want to engage them in a conversation and thank them?
These are some of the reasons why Lifespan made the decision to enter the world of social
media. Our goal: Engage in personal conversation to build loyalty and be aware of what is
being said about us, and have this serve as an extension of the strategic marketing plan. More
often than not, the comments posted about our hospitals are positive.
Shortly after establishing our Twitter accounts, we started using Twitter's terrific "search"
function to look for any mentions of our hospitals. If someone tweeted that they were
"visiting mom at Rhode Island Hospital," for example, we'd tweet them directly and wish
them all the best--in a very personal tone. And keep in mind--these "conversations" can be
read by thousands of Twitter users. (They don't call it "social" media for nothin'.)
The responses we receive to these direct tweets are amazing. First, the person is surprised
that the hospital is actually on Twitter. Second, they express sincere appreciation that we
took time to message them back in a personal way.
One of our hospitals, Newport Hospital, had an ongoing Twitter conversation with a man
whose mother had been in the ICU and finally released. He couldn't thank us enough--not
only for the care she received, but also for the concern we expressed on a personal level
through these tweets.
Addressing negative issues can also be accomplished through this new medium. One woman
tweeted that she was late for her appointment because she couldn't find her way around our
very large, urban Rhode Island Hospital campus. I responded that indeed, it can be
confusing, apologized for the inconvenience and sent her a link to a campus map on the web,
saying she could contact me anytime. Her appreciation was clear in her responses.
Once you get the hang of Twitter, you might want to check out some of the cool Twitter
applications out there, such as TweetDeck or HootSuite, which make searching much easier
and allow you to manage multiple Twitter accounts and monitor for brand mentions and
replies.
Our Facebook fan pages, especially Hasbro Children's Hospital's, have also been very wellreceived. It's a great forum to where "fans" can share their own stories with us. This, of
course, always provides us with a potential patient testimonial that can be used to support
future marketing efforts, but that's not why we have the fan pages. The point is to reach out
on a personal level to connect with people near and far and build loyalty and trust.
Social media popularity can predict stock prices
March 17, 2011 | Ciara Byrne
A new study conducted by a
doctoral student at Pace University, in association with Famecount (which tracks how
popular brands are according to social media) concludes that social media popularity can
reliably predict daily stock prices.
The study tracked three brands, Starbucks, Coca Cola and Nike, over the course of 10 months
in 2010-2011. The number of Facebook fans, Twitter followers and Youtube views were used
as measures of each brand’s social media popularity. This data was tracked against daily
stock price movements for each of these companies, relative to an index of consumer stocks
(which reflects how well the stock market is doing in general) and keyword search trend data
(the number of searches for “Starbucks” reflects general public interest in the brand and
should show spikes due to major announcements).
Although the fortunes of the three brands varied
considerably over the course of the study, e.g. Starbuck’s stock price climbed 24 percent
while Coke’s declined by 6 percent, a correlation was found between daily popularity and
stock price, even when a 10- or a 30-day lag was introduced into the study, suggesting that
social media popularity may be a lead indicator of stock price performance.
This study only looked at a very small number of brands and the indices used to track stock
market performance, and public interest might not be sufficient to separate the influence of
social media popularity from other factors. However, traders are increasingly taking
techniques like sentiment analysis (another measure of a brand’s standing with consumers
and media) seriously.
Reuters’ trading dashboard uses text and sentiment analysis from Lexanalytics to track news
on 20,000 stocks and commodities. Text analysis determines the meaning of a block of text,
while sentiment analysis determines the mood or tone of the text and how positive or
negative it is, e.g. a very positive review of a new product. This data is now being used as
actionable input for algorithmic trading, automated trading software that accounts for up to
50 percent of trades in the U.S.
I recently talked to Rochester Cahan, Vice President of Global Equity Quantitative Strategy
at Deutsche Bank about the usage of text and sentiment analysis in trading. His team advises
fund managers on trading strategy and has been experimenting with the Reuters service.
According to Cahan, the amount of relevant data available on a stock is becoming impossibly
large for a human trader to process. To be used by a trading system, the massive amounts of
unstructured text containing information relevant to a stock need to be summarized into a
simple number (or numbers). This is where text and sentiment analysis scoring come in.
Multiple news sources are analyzed for particular words, tone, relevance and freshness, e.g.
the latest news reporting that Apple will not support NFC in the iPhone 5. If there is
a statistical relationship between a stock price rise and similar news in the past, then the
trading system will buy.
Cahan told me that he has seen significant improvements in trading performance when the
text and sentiment scores are used as trading inputs. In addition, the scores were uncorrelated
with existing trading signals, i.e. they provide new information to the trading system.
The most positive sentiment levels are not necessarily the most useful for trading. When, let’s
say, Apple announces the iPad to almost universal media euphoria, the stock price reacts very
quickly so it’s difficult to take advantage of the information. However, stocks with moderate
positive sentiments tend to be overlooked by the market and make good buys.
Social media is a crucial marketing tool but few companies are ready study
By Simon Pitman, 20-Sep-2010
Market Trends
In the first of a two-part article we look at new research that finds the beauty industry
needs to take maximum advantage of opportunities provided by social media as a means
of brand advancement.
Consumer behavior has evolved rapidly in recent years, and as traditional media marketing
tools such as print publishing and television continue to return flat growth at best, the internet
is looking like an increasingly seductive alternative for brands.
However, although beauty and cosmetic companies recognize the growing importance and
influence of social media as a result of this increased internet use, a newly published white
paper from beauty social marketing consultancy Beautystat.com (www.beautystat.com ) finds
that these companies have varying degrees of digital marketing strategies in place.
Indeed, a recent report is cited in the paper from Heishman-Fillard and Harris Interactive that
finds Americans are now spending more time online than engaging in any other media.
Internet usage surpasses all other mediums
The Beautystat report underlines this fact by pointing to recent research showing that the
average US consumers spends 17.8 hours a week surfing the internet, while watching
television only accounts for 14.0 hours a week and time spent reading newspapers averages
just 2.9 hours.
The Beautystat researchers point out that if these figures were reflected in beauty companies’
marketing budget, the internet would already be commanding the biggest slice of marketing
spend – something that is clearly not happening yet for the vast majority of businesses.
“Social media, simply put, is the most engaging channel available for consumers today,”
the report states. “The brand that learns how to swim best with the social media current
will be the one to maximize the tremendous Return Of Investment (ROI) it has to
offer.”
To gauge the degree to which companies are taking advantage of social media,
Beautystat.com has compiled key figures reflecting how much engagement there is amongst
the top ten beauty companies in the US for the two leading social media channels, Twitter
and Facebook.
The figures show a big variety in the way different brands have tapped into social media,
with this disparity showing up even among those brands marketed by the same companies.
Big disparity in approach to social media
The research figures show that the Estee Lauder brands really underline this difference, with
the company’s Bobbi Brown brand having one of the highest engagement scores, at 5.3
percent, while its Ojon brand had the lowest engagement score at 0.0 percent.
But the highest score was for Avon Products, which had an engagement rate of 6.9 percent,
reflecting the concerted effort the company has made to tap into social media websites, a
means of marketing that fits in neatly with its direct sales approach.
However, the Beautystat research suggests that Facebook and Twitter are just the first step
towards establishing a social marketing strategy and points to the fact that the second phase
should concentrate on Social Outbound Engagement.
This important stage of the social media strategy should include a clear plan that should
culminate in a high ROI, and is best targeted by following a ten point plan, outlined in the
paper by the researchers.
MARKET HAPPENINGS
Market trends report on Social Media marketing and others
Feb 14th, 2011
DoNanza has published a report using its data. DoNanza is a largest search engine to work-fromhome and freelance job as they claim. Recently they have published a combined data using its search
term stats and people's response it gets on their site.
According to its report, social media marketing projects has increased its presence in
projects posted on DoNanza. This is not a surprise trends as we all can see how Facebook
and Twitter were creating history even in recession times. Social Marketing includes social
advertising, running fan pages, social bookmarking, development of social applications. With
the help of social media marketing marketers try to make the advertisement viral.
Social media marketing really helps here. When people start supporting any products, news,
etc then they do advertisement on their own.
Social media marketing requires better support from developers and creative people
than search engine marketing. With the increasing trends in social media marketing,
projects related to social media marketing got better price than search engine marketing
projects.
Now something about Skills required on quarter four of 2010 with comparison to quarter three of
2010
DoNanza based on the skills requested from its user has presented a data that tell about the
required skills in Q4, 2010, which is not long ago. It has presented a list of 50 skills where
few were in high demand compared to previous quarter. Skills gained in Q4, 2010
compared to Q3 are, social media marketing, Admin Assistant, Creative writing,
jQuery, iPad, Android, and others. These skills were in high demand in work-fromhome projects.
New Social Newspaper for LinkedIn Users
March 11th, 2011
Posted in Social Media Strategy by Chris Sturk
Receive the most-shared headlines relevant to your industry
LinkedIn is taking strides to become more social by releasing LinkedIn Today, a new social
newspaper.
This product is designed to filter headlines that are relevant to a user’s professional identity.
Liz Walker, the product manager, mentioned in an article from VentureBeat that LinkedIn
Today is valuable to professionals that work within multiple industries. The product’s
features can deliver high-level industry news in a time efficient manner. This way,
professionals do not have to waste more time discovering all the pertinent news within each
industry they reside in.
Users that find stories of value can start conversations with their LinkedIn contacts about the
subject matter and see who originally shared the article.
Discover social media marketing tips for doing business and building website traffic
with Twitter—that you can start using today—when you download Twitter Advice For
(and From) Content Marketers for FREE right now.
In November of 2010, LinkedIn added an article-sharing button to their website to make for a
more social environment. The new LinkedIn Today is yet another extension to continue along
the road of social engagement.
The sharing of articles and an updated newsfeed relevant to professionals is an attempt to get
members to the website more often so they can update their profiles and truly take advantage
of this social network.
I see a lot of potential in LinkedIn Today. This new feature of the already popular social
network can make B2B engagement even stronger while presenting popular industry
information to more people. Bigger communities may develop around valuable content.
Partnerships may be forged more easily.
Nine in Ten Organizations Market with Content, Does Yours?
February 21st, 2011 • By: Sarah Moraes • Content Development
Did you know that nine in ten organizations market with content? This is according to a 2010
study conducted by MarketingProfs and Junta42, B2B Content Marketing: 2010 Benchmarks,
Budgets and Trends. Organizations use eight content tactics on average, the most popular
being: social media (excluding blogs) (79%), articles (78%), in-person events (62%) and
eNewsletters (61%).
Source: B2B Content Marketing: 2010 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends
Also according to the report, B2B marketers allocate approximately 26% of their total
marketing budgets to content marketing initiatives while 51% of B2B marketers plan to
increase their spend in content marketing over the next 12 months.
BUT, marketers are not confident in which tactics to use and are unsure of how effective they
are. Marketers and business owners need more education and training in this discipline.
Content marketing experts are responding to this need with conferences, workshops and
training, both in-person and through virtual events.
Reaching the Hispanic Market Through Social Media
Posted April 22, 2011 by Ralph Paglia
PR professionals think social media is important for reaching Hispanics, though less
than half currently use it
Hispanic-focused PR company TeleNoticias and LatinoWire surveyed PR professionals in
conjunction with the Hispanic Public Relations Association (HPRA), Hispanicize and
Survey.com. The survey found the same percentage of respondents, 69%, viewed social
media programs as somewhat or very important for reaching both Hispanic and mainstream
audiences.PR professionals consider social media just as important for reaching Hispanic
markets as it is for reaching mainstream markets, yet less than half are currently using social
media to do so.
PR professionals know that social media is an important tool for reaching Hispanics.
However, only 45% of respondents said they actually use it, compared to 92% who use social
media to reach mainstream markets. This discrepancy means there is an opportunity for more
marketers to reach Hispanics via social media.
Survey respondents are mostly using the same major social networks to reach both targets,
with 84% reporting that they use Facebook to reach Hispanic markets and 62% using Twitter.
This is compared to 92% using Facebook to reach mainstream markets and 83% for Twitter.
Only one tool is used by more PR professionals to reach Hispanic markets: mobile.
Social media budgets are on the rise for both mainstream and Hispanic markets. The survey
found that 58% of respondents expect mainstream social media budgets to increase and 60%
expect Hispanic social media budgets to increase in the next fiscal year.
With overall marketing and communications budgets on the upswing, it follows that more
niche areas, such as multicultural marketing, are also seeing an increase in interest and
investment. The Hispanic market is top of mind for marketers as the results of the 2010 US
census are released, and as the audience demands that companies interact with it where it is—
online.
Hispanic consumers are catching up to mainstream markets when it comes to social media
usage, and marketers and communications professionals should leverage this trend—and
increase budgets—to reach the Hispanic market using social media.