Marketing - in your words. The Official TU-AMA Blog.

Marketing - in your words. The Official TU-AMA Blog.


  • Tag Archives social media

  • Zipcar using social media to attract a young audience

    Posted on February 15, 2013 4:51 pm by Sam Mozhgani Comment

    Recently, Zipcar has started using social media to target young adults and college students. Their use of twitter and Facebook has grown rapidly, using the social media sites to answer questions or give away prizes. In case you are not familiar with Zipcar, they are a company that provides cars to their customers with an hourly or daily rate. They are mostly used in large cities where people can’t afford or do not see the point in owning a car, but may need one once in a while to get around or run errands. Zipcar makes the process very easy through their website. Once you sign up you receive a Zipcard and the right to make reservations for just a couple hours or an entire day. Once you make your reservation, you find the Zipcar station nearest to you and just hold the Zipcard up to the car you reserved and it will unlock and is ready for your use.

    Zipcar’s use of social media has grown rapidly due to their desire to convert young adults to customers. They use Facebook to show where Zipcar stations are located and to give away prizes. Twitter is also used for giveaways, but also to answer any questions that customers or potential users may have. Some of the giveaways include free t-shirts or driving dollars and lets be honest, what college student doesn’t love free stuff. An added benefit is that there is no worry about insurance or gas because Zipcar covers it all. Zipcar has been continuously growing for the last few years and their attention to social media will be sure to add to the success they have right now.

    This entry was posted in Advertising, Marketing - General, TU-AMA and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Snowed In With Starbucks

    Posted on February 11, 2013 8:56 am by Lauren Snyder Comment

    Screen Shot 2013-02-11 at 12.43.47 AMAs East Coast blizzard Nemo hit this weekend, Starbucks jumped at the opportunity to promote their product to consumers via social media. When the snow began to fall in the northeast, the coffee empire sent out tweets and Facebook Marketplace Ads centered on a snow day theme. Whenever Twitter users clicked on #Nemo, #blizzard, or related hash-tags, an ad of a warm cup of java populated feeds.

    Starbucks spokesperson Linda Mills stated, “We always want to stay highly relevant to what’s going on. We want to be a part of [consumers’] decisions as they get ready for the weekend in terms of their product needs, such as coffee.” In one tweet, they even rewarded customers with a $5 gift card with purchase of 1lb of Blonde Whole Bean or a 12 pack of VIA coffee.

    By making themselves more relatable to consumers in an event such as a pending blizzard, Starbucks joins the consumer conversation–who doesn’t love being snowed in with their favorite brew?

    What do you think of Starbucks social media marketing technique? Effective?

    Screen Shot 2013-02-11 at 12.43.35 AM

    Via AdWeek.

    This entry was posted in Marketing - General and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • The 11 Biggest Social Media Disasters This Year

    Posted on November 27, 2012 10:39 am by Lauren Snyder Comment

    Social media can make or break you. Facebook and Twitter interactions with customers can create a lot of positive hype for your company’s product or service. However if you make even one unintentional blunder, thousands of followers are bound to see it, thereby setting you back in both dollars and customer loyalty. Some companies have mastered the art of this customer-brand interaction, while others are still learning the ropes. Below are 11 examples of how not to generate buzz on social media.

    1. McDonald’s: #mcdstories

    In their January attempt to interact with customers and promote the brand, McDonald’s promoted two trends on twitter: #meetthefarmers and #mcdstories. Much to the company’s dismay, Twitter users took hold of the second of the two hashtags to dish their McDonald’s horror stories. Essentially, McDonald’s paid to promote a trend that only resulted in bad publicity.

    2. Snickers Investigated for Paying Celebs to Tweet

    Earlier this year, the popular candy bar company paid several celebrities in the UK to tweet pictures of themselves eating Snickers bars. While it was a good-intentioned attempt to promote the brand, the campaign did not sit well with the UK’s Office of Fair Trading, which requires companies to explicitly spell out when a product is being endorsed. Moral of this story: cover all your bases before launching a campaign.

    3. NRA Posts Pro-Gun Tweet After Aurora Shooting

    This blunder is all about bad timing. American Rifleman, a journal affiliated with the NRA, posted a pro-gun tweet just as the mass shooting in Aurora, Colorado was unfolding. Though the tweet had been pre-scheduled through Hootsuite, it still struck a nerve for many. Both the tweet and the account were deleted later that day.

    4. Celeb Boutique Ignites Firestorm with Aurora Tweet

    Online store, Celeb Boutique, posted a promotional tweet with the Aurora hashtag to take advantage of the day’s trending topic. Clearly, they neglected to take the time to research the story behind the Aurora hashtag, resulting in one insensitive tweet and tons of bad publicity.

    5. The Chick-Fil-A Controversy

    After the company’s founder openly stated that he is against same-sex marriage, critics blasted Chick-Fil-A on many social networks. In fact, the company’s Facebook page was briefly taken over by posts that had nothing to do with chicken. In this case, social media amplified an already negative bit of publicity.

    6. Microsoft Gets Political

    Instead of posting from his personal account, one Microsoft employee who manages the Twitter account dissed conservative talking head Ann Coulter. The accidental tweet was a response to former U.S. labor secretary Robert Reich and it went like this: “@RBReich your granddaughter’s level of discourse and policy > those of Ann Coulter.”

    7. KitchenAid Anti-Obama Tweet

    After the President mentioned his grandmother during the first presidential debate in October, an employee posted the following from the company’s account rather than his own: “Obamas gma even know it was going 2 b bad! She died 3 days b4 he became president. #nbcpolitics” The company quickly issued an apology and removed the tweet.

    8. StubHub Drops the F-Bomb

    Here’s yet another example of employees posting from the company’s account rather than their personal handle. This tweet was up for an hour before the company deleted it and issued an apology: “Thank f*** it’s Friday! Can’t wait to get out of this stubsucking hell hole.” Yikes.

    9. American Apparel Teases Hurricane Sandy Promotion

    The fashion apparel company saw a natural disaster as a promotional opportunity, by offering 20% off for those states affected by Hurricane Sandy, in case they were “bored” during the storm. Customers quickly criticized the ad on social networks such as Twitter.

    10. Gap Angers Storm Victims with Hurricane Sandy Tweet

    Similar to American Apparel, The Gap encouraged those hunkering down for the storm to get online and shop their boredom away. The company eventually took down this tweet and offered somewhat of an apology.

    11. Macy’s Blasted for Relationship with Donald Trump

    After offering to donate $5 million in exchange for President Obama’s college records and passport application, Macy’s customers pressured the company to sever its relationship with Trump. The retailer’s Facebook and Twitter pages were bombarded with anti-Trump comments as a result of his shocking publicity stunt.

    [article via Mashable]

    Which company do you think had the biggest disaster?

    This entry was posted in Advertising, Branding, Marketing - General, Marketing News and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Sneak Peek: The Future of Advertising

    Posted on November 12, 2012 12:08 pm by Lauren Snyder Comment

    With the rising popularity of social media, advertising and marketing strategies continue to move away from traditional techniques such as the coveted 30-second TV spot. Brands are now focused making routine interactions with consumers where consumers spend a large amount of time: on social media.

    In a Forbes article by Rob Schwartz, Schwartz explains his experience being a judge for the Tomorrow Awards, an advertising award show that celebrates the future of advertising, today. The top contenders in the contest imagined an innovative and dynamic form of storytelling, using avenues such as technology, social media, mobile, and even a t-shirt to communicate a message.

    1. Project Glass
    Google Glass is a future product that allows you to explore your world with the web literally appearing before your eyes, and share it. Check out the Project Glass video:

     

    2. Nike Social Response Lab
    The Response Lab facilitated a community conversation on social media sites, featuring a team of graphic designers, illustrators, and animators who interacted with fans during game-time.

     

    3. Mobile Medic
    This mobile app out of Australia was tested to recruit the best and brightest medical students that would be worthy of the Defence Force University Scholarship. The team created an entrance exam that forced hopeful entrants to use their smartphones interacting with posters to identify and treat medical conditions.

     

    4. tshirtOS
    tshirtOS is the world’s first programmable t-shirt created by innovators at Ballentine’s. As the video points out, the t-shirt was the “original status update,” and the “original Like on Facebook.” Check out how they re-imagined the storytelling power of the t-shirt:

     

    Do you think these future advertising techniques will be successful? Would you wear a programmable t-shirt?

    This entry was posted in Advertising, Marketing News and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Dunkin Donuts Turning To Social Media

    Posted on November 9, 2012 1:35 pm by Sam Mozhgani Comment

    Dunkin Dounts has always been a very popular company in the Northeast. Ever since starting out in Massachusetts Dunkin’s primary target has been people in the New England area and they pursued that market hard. They have had many  different commercials, billboards, and promotions over the past decades just to get people into their stores. In 2007 after opening many stores nationally, Dunkin even changed their slogan to reflect the expansion. Their slogan became “America runs on Dunkin” and the commercials that used to be dedicated just towards people in the northeast who would go through tough winters and needed a nice warm cup of coffee to get through their day, became more broad and targeted people throughout the country.

    Today Dunkin is still using these commercials and other form of advertisings that they had done in the past, but recently they have started to market towards people through their social media pages with their “Get Dunk’d” marketing program. As long as you follow Dunkin Donuts on twitter or like their page on Facebook you get access to a Get Dunk’d VIP card, which you can download on your phone or print out from home. On their social media sites Dunkin Donuts will announce giveaways and promotions that will be at their different locations and as long as you have a VIP card you have a change to win. Some of the prizes included are free tickets to a major sporting event or tickets to different theme parks in the area.

    This is a pretty smart idea by Dunkin Dounts because they have been able to target so many people through TV and billboards for so long, but this targets people who are very involved in social media and are more tech savvy. By offering these different promotions they are able to get people into their stores based off the customers intrigue in the ability to win some of these prizes. Once they are in the store, whether they win or not, Dunkin Dounts feels that their food is good enough to make people want to buy it.

    This entry was posted in Advertising, Branding, TU-AMA and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Digital Marketing: Increasingly Important in 2013

    Posted on November 6, 2012 9:19 am by Lauren Snyder Comment

    There is no denying it—marketing has gone digital. And based on a recent survey of 384 national brands, digital marketing tactics prove to be increasingly important components of brand success as we move into 2013.

    According to a recent article, 91% of national brands say they plan to spend more or the same on local marketing campaigns in 2013 compared with 2012 spending levels. These expenditures are largely focused on digital marketing strategies: 67.5% of national brands rank digital marketing extremely important to brand success.

    In 2013, we can also plan to see a shift in local digital marketing priorities. The top three digital tactics will switch from “other social media” (Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.), Facebook, and SEO to mobile, local blog, and online customer reviews.

    Does Digital Marketing interest you? Check out the Digital Marketing Minor offered by Fox! A Marketing and MIS hybrid, this minor prepares students for careers related to customer relationship management, social media, information architecture, e-commerce, search engine optimization, e-detailing, site design, Internet research, demographic and sales analytics, blogging, and media design.

    This entry was posted in Fox School, Marketing - General and tagged , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Is Social Media Turning You Into A Zombie?

    Posted on October 31, 2012 3:59 pm by Lauren Snyder Comment

    In the spirit of Halloween, I felt this infographic was only appropriate. Many of us find it difficult put down our smartphones, iPads, and laptops because of all of the interesting information available right at our fingertips. However, there are some social media users among us that become so infatuated with social media that they tune reality out; these are the social media zombies. If you find yourself falling into one of these categories, you may want to consider abandoning your social media feeds for a few days (#especially #if #you #talk #like #this).

    [Full article]

    This entry was posted in Marketing - General and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Aldo Israel: Ring My Bell Instagram Stunt

    Posted on October 22, 2012 1:13 pm by Lauren Snyder Comment

    Fashion footwear brand Aldo launched a charming street stunt in Israel, in which passersby were invited to receive a free pair of shoes in exchange for an Instagram photo. Aldo Israel placed a bell in the middle of a street in Tel Aviv and asked people to take an Instagram photo of their shoes with the hashtag #aldo and their shoe size. Then, “wait for 120 seconds,” the ad alongside the bell instructed. A large wrapped present would soon roll their way with a pair of new Aldo shoes in tow.

    The bell was rung more than 450 times and 500 photos were uploaded to Instagram. Overall the stunt generated nearly 800,000 interactions for the brand.

    [via Mashable]

    This entry was posted in Branding, Marketing News and tagged , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • What’s YOUR Klout score?

    Posted on October 12, 2012 9:00 am by EmilyL Comment

    I know that you are obsessed with social media. You read this blog, you have a Facebook with 800 friends, you tweet everyday, and maybe you even run your own blog. But did you know that you can receive a score of how influential you are amongst all of your social media platforms? It’s called your Klout score, and the Klout webpage is on a mission to rank the influence of every human being that actively uses social media. This so-called “score” is calculated using an algorithm that measures a variety of variables such as frequency of posts or updates, the number of likes or retweets, and shares of your content on Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn, Instagram, Tumblr, etc. This score is out of 100 points and high scorers can qualify for “Klout Perks” like freebies from companies eager to advertise their own products. Who has a perfect Klout score you ask? President Obama and Justin Bieber. I personally have a Klout score of 47 which according to wired.com is on par with the Aflac Duck.

    If you are in the interviewing process or on the lookout for jobs, be aware that not only do some employers check on your Facebook, but many may even check your Klout score. This pertains especially to jobs that have a strong focus on social media or technology. This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t become so obsessed with improving your score or tweeting something every minute, but it’s important to be aware of as our society greatly encourages us to be involved with social media.

    What can you do to improve your Klout score?

    1. Improve the “cadence” of your posts and tweets. This means post more often and keep content relevant.
    2. Focus on updating about one topic instead of spreading yourself thin among many topics.
    3. Make and keep relationships with high Klout scorers who are likely to respond to your tweets or retweet them, therefore sending your content out to others.
    4. Keep things upbeat and positive and stay away from negative topics or “bad day” posts.
    Read the rest of the article on wired.com here.
    This entry was posted in Branding, Marketing - General, Marketing News, TU-AMA and tagged , , , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.

  • Top 10 Movies That Ran Successful Social Media Campaigns

    Posted on October 1, 2012 1:17 pm by Lauren Snyder Comment

    Remember when VP of Allied Integrated Marketing, Paula Moritz, spoke to us on Friday about the grassroots social media marketing campaigns Allied has used to promote films?
    Well, here’s an article that lists the top 10 movies that saw success from social media campaigns. And look what came in at #1: The Hunger Games, which is one of Allied’s many case studies!

    If you couldn’t make it to the Speaker Session on Friday, be sure to check out Allied Integrated Marketing’s website. They are an amazing company with an office right here in Philadelphia (and they offer internships)!


    1: The Hunger Games

    Continuing with its overnight fame from the books, the Hunger Games movie launched a thorough social marketing plan that worked. They funneled fans from Facebook and Twitter to a website where they could register as a citizen of the make believe-world. You’d also be able to share your profile images across your social sites, and interact with other fans.

    #2: Monsters vs. Aliens

    This Dreamworks hit offered fans a chance to win tickets through a Facebook app. You could also use this app to buy tickets for yourself and your family. Facebook was the central arena for Dreamwork’s campaign, which turned out to be a resounding success.

    #3: Paranormal Activity

    Potentially the most loved and most successful horror movie of 2007, was created for a measly $15 million and made over $150 million dollars at the box office. This was all thanks to the Facebook page that fueled word of mouth hype.

    #4: Alice in Wonderland

    Disney launched a viral Twitter and Facebook campaign that allowed fans to become loyal subjects of the red queen, the white queen, or a disloyal subject of the mad hatter. The largest army of followers would then receive access to an exclusive trailer, that no-one else could see. It was an instant viral hit. Even today the Facebook page has 10 million fans.

    #5: Hot Tub Time Machine

    This comedy used Facebook and ‘Eventful’ a screening app, to request screenings in their area. Get enough people to sign on, and it creates awareness. It also automatically makes screening the film in a particular area worthwhile.

    #6: Toy Story 3

    Pixar and Disney focused on creating a lot of viral video commercials with ‘Lots o’ Huggin Bear’ a key character in the movie. People loved these ads and shared them all over the place, creating a lot of viral buzz on sites like Youtube, MySpace and Facebook.

    #7: Inception

    Warner Brothers cottoned onto the whole viral marketing game, and flooded the internet with viral-social campaigns. One of these was to use a location based service like Foursquare to promote the movie, only the service they used was called SCVNGR.

    #8: Harry Potter and The Deathly Hallows Part 2

    This movie caused a 29 million strong Facebook page following, with 100,000 new users a day leading up to the release. Behind the scenes clips and images, along with interviews were the cause of this boom. At the launch, Twitter received live pics from the premier, from the HP team using the Twitpic app. Youtube received an exclusive live stream of the event.

    #9: TRON: Legacy

    One of the largest campaigns online can be attributed to Disney’s TRON film. Already a cult classic, fans flocked to find out more about the new movie. Twitter was the main site used as the repository for all viral TRON info. It worked like a charm.

    #10: Twilight Movies

    You can’t mention movies on social media without Twilight. It was the first movie ever to reach 1 million followers on Twitter. The Twitter page focused on everything Twilight, press releases, blogs, pictures, exclusive news, video clips and fan comments.

    Full Article

    Which campaign was most effective in your opinion?

    This entry was posted in Internships, Marketing - General, Marketing News, TU-AMA, TU-AMA Events and tagged , , , , , . Bookmark the permalink.



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