Sunday, February 17, 2013

How to focus on visuals to capture your audience.

As I stated in the post before the last one, according to hubspot, Facebook images and photos receive 53% more likes than the average post. So why would a marketer not pay attention to visuals when creating a marketing plan.
One fact about marketing is that the plan will differ depending on who your target market is, where your target market is, and many other factors. So when using visuals to capture a market, one must choose meaningful images. I will discuss four important things to consider while marketing using visuals.
1. UNDERSTAND! Understand your consumer! This should go without saying, but if your target market is tween girls from the suburbs of L.A and you're posting videos marketing eyeshadow and using RoseAnne Barr as the spokesperson, you're clearly not understanding your consumer.
2. FIND MEANING! Why should anyone even consider your product? What sets you apart? Why would your target market prefer you over another brand? Have meaning!
Look at Toms shoes for example. Many people don't necessarily think the shoes are the best aesthetically, however, the brand actually has meaning! For every pair of Toms shoes you buy, another pair is donated to someone in need. This also ties to corporate social responsibility, but I'll elaborate on that another time. Brands can have meaning in different ways, but a brand is nothing without meaning.
3. CONNECT!
I don't believe you can connect if your brand doesn't exude meaning. But you want to REACH your target market. What better way to connect than through visuals? Pinterest is the perfect website for this. It's exponential word of mouth. Users choose whether they want to "pin" your items and their friends then "repin" it and so on and so forth.
As well, Instagram is awesome for connecting. Many consumers connect to brands by posting photos (of the specific brand) to Instagram and hash tagging the name of the brand. This is so simple yet speaks at way higher volumes than just exclaiming, "I LOVE THESE NEW SHOES I BOUGHT, YOU SHOULD ALL BUY A PAIR!" Users of Instagram can search hashtags and see photos other users post. This is great for seeing a pair of shoes (or really any clothing) on someone (besides a photoshopped 18 year old model) before making your purchase. This also creates a connection among your consumers.
4. HAVE A BRAND PERSONALITY!
Last, but certainly not least, HAVE A BRAND PERSONALITY! This is especially important when connecting with users through visuals. Nobody wants to see visuals from a robot, it's like having a conversation with Siri. Don't be afraid to post things that don't always pertain to your brand specifically, as long as it pertains to your brand personality! I will use the shoe example again. For instance, you don't always have to post photos of your shoes, you could even post a photo of a cute cat with a funny caption if that's what you prefer. Just make sure it pertains to your brand personality. Also please don't post too many photos of cute cats...you may cause your consumers to think you're a "creepy cat lady" (what's so wrong about that anyways??)...I hope this helped! And never forget about the visuals.

Tuesday, February 5, 2013

Really Applebee's?

I know I stated that my next blog post would be about marketing through visual social media sites, but this buzz on Applebee's was too good to pass up!
So I'm sure everyone knows the story: some server girl at Applebee's had a large party so the 18% gratuity was added to the check (as is all large parties)
Well a female pastor in the group decided to write, "I give god 10%, why do you get 18%?" (http://images.christianpost.com/full/58009/applebees-receipt-posted-to-reddit.jpg?w=262)
Which is an idiot comment because tithing on your income is completely different than tipping on a $30 check... (when no one made you go out to eat in the first place)
Anyways, a fellow employee saw the receipt, snatched a photo, and uploaded it to reddit...except she forgot to crop the signature out. So, Applebee's fired her.
She apparently deleted the photo and reposted it with the cropped out signature, but Internet enthusiasts determined who the pastor was and Applebee's Facebook feed filled with negative comments about firing the server.
Where Applebee's really messed up was with the power of social media. They repeated the same thing over and over and stated that everyone had the facts wrong. They basically ignored all negative comments and, in fact, deleted a post with over 20,000 negative comments (although they denied this).
It just got worse and worse, they actually at one point argued through Facebook with other users, and posted a statement while tagging users that made negative comments.
At this point it would have served Applebee's well to basically ignore the whole situation, rather than do a terrible job at attempting to fix it.
Applebee's should not have:
1. Responded to so many comments with the same reply
2. Tell everyone that they had the facts wrong, essentially angering them more
3. Tagged the users that made negative comments with the same status update over and over
4. Argued with negative commenters
5. They should have never ever deleted any negative comments because that looks as though you're trying to hide something

Maybe at this point Applebee's will consider taking a complete sabbatical, or hire a new social media marketing manager.

Sunday, February 3, 2013

See it or read it?

Although not too surprising, social media visuals are becoming an integral part of a marketing plan. According to hubspot, Facebook images and photos receive 53% more likes than the average post. This would explain why social media networks like Pinterest, Instagram, and YouTube are becoming so successful.

In this post I will explain why visuals are so important to helping you learn more about your consumer. In the next post I will explain the importance of visuals with the social media marketing plan.

Visuals are very important because they help the consumer to connect with the brand/company. Photos, say through Instagram, can help marketers to see what is favored about their products, how their products are being used, who is using their products, and what is popular.

As well, YouTube is an excellent tool for marketers to learn about their consumers. Many consumers place product reviews on YouTube, detailing specifically what they did and did not like about the product. As well, on YouTube, consumers also detail different ways to use your products. So when reviewing your own product line, you can always find ways to improve or tailor your marketing techniques.

Along the same lines as YouTube and Instagram, Pinterest displays what's popular. Unfortunately when someone "pins" your product it doesn't exactly mean they will purchase it, but it does mean that they favor it. They may not own the item due to the price, availability, ease of purchasing process, or other reasons. So when using social media to market, one could discover ways to better reach these consumers that favor the product but do not own it.

All of these visual social media networks offer marketers new ways to reach and learn about their consumers, and it would be in the marketer's best interest to learn and use these tools.