You Tube

This week I spent some time researching using You Tube in your marketing plan.  I'll admit that I have always seen You Tube as a site full of videos that individuals create, not so much as a serious marketing tool.  It turns out to be a quite impressive way to market and it is much, much larger than I thought it would be.  I found a video of Andy Stack, the Product Manager at You Tube which I found very useful in gathering tips on what you should and should not do.  He suggests things such as creating content, not commercial therefore brands and retailers need to develop a content strategy, not necessarily an advertising strategy.  He also stresses the importance of having an entire social media strategy built around the launch of the You Tube video.  I also like how he points out that each video has the potential to be a conversation.

After I did my research, I looked around You Tube and found a few videos that I thought had good design and ideas behind them. 

Disney

A few years ago, in celebration of the Magic Kingdom's birthday, Disney decided to give a new meaning to the phrase "it's a small world after all."  They introduced a series of videos using tilt-shift photography making everything in the video appear to be miniature.  It is an example of an amazing use of technology.  This was my favorite video that I discovered.  I thought it was a clever idea.  All of the videos were from sunrise to sunset and had no words, only music.  I felt this was more powerful than having words.  The only message I got was "celebrate."  It was one of the coolest videos I have ever seen.

Pampered Chef

Next I looked at a direct selling company that my wife used to sell for, The Pampered Chef.  They have a series of great videos on You Tube where one can learn baking and cooking how to's and conveniently the tips and tricks lead you to needing their product. There is even a video with a lesson on using a can opener.  I feel like this is a great way to become a constant source that people will seek out and spread your videos.  I like that the videos can be informative and people can learn something from them whether or not they are buying Pampered Chef products.  The introduction video below kept my attention by the way I had to keep reading what was appearing on the screen.  There was a good mix of narration and nonverbal messages. 

Orion Telescopes 

I am a huge space nerd so I was excited to find so many wonderful videos from Orion Telescopes.  I own an Orion and I love it.  The videos that they have on You Tube are so very detail oriented as far as explaining what on a particular model is and how it is different from a different model.  The videos were simple enough for a beginner to understand yet interesting enough for a more advanced user to understand and appreciate.  I enjoyed the landscape in each video and I thought that the narrator was effective.  This may not be a large, mainstream product but Orion has done a wonderful job presenting its products in video format to capture those who may be searching for telescopes.

Facebook / Google +

This week I looked into marketing through Facebook.  While researching I compiled this list of things necessary for success on Facebook:

• Have a colorful and clear profile picture.  Whether it is of you, your product or someone with your product your photo needs to be clear and catchy.  Society does judge a book by its cover so put your best cover forward!
• Build personal connections by commenting on members' activities that are relevant to your company.
• Don't wait for people to find you, go out and start adding friends.
• Use the photos and videos as marketing tools.  If you have a bakery, then show photos of what goes on in the kitchen.  
• Take advantage of the Events feature.  If you have having an event or a sale then take the time to invite people.
• Always look for ways to stand out.  Be unique and inventive in your postings.
• Offer something special for those who "Like" you.  Whether it be a special page or a coupon, make sure there is an incentive.

These are just a few of the different suggestions that seemed to make the most sense to me.  I used them while reviewing the following Facebook pages.  I will list them in order from the one I liked most to least.

Welch's   I have always enjoyed the history of Welch's.  Started in the late 1800's because Mr. Welch was  very much against alcohol   I was happy to explore their Facebook page and was not at all disappointed.  I thought that the profile photo that they had was bright, clear and had a good contrast to it.  Once you like the page, you gain access to it.  There is a product page that profiles each of their different products which I liked a lot.  There is a page for fans with special offers, contests and events.  The posts were full of recipe and craft ideas as well as product coupons and talk of uses for Welch's products.  There was a lot of fan involvement and activity.  I though that this was a very well rounded and successful Facebook page.

Smoothie King  My wife moved up here from Florida where Smoothie King was part of her daily routine.  There was good and bad news for her when she got here.  Good news was that there was a Smoothie King, bad news was that it was in Medina.  So her daily turned into weekly and then monthly.  She is still a big fan of their Facebook page so I checked it out.  It also had a clear photo which drew me to it when I was searching for it so that was good.  As soon as I liked the page I was directed to a coupon.  The page itself lacks all of the wonderful content of the Welch's page, but still deserves a good mention.  Posts here were more focused exclusively on smoothies and/or nutrition and I noticed that replies to comments and questions were somewhat inconsistent.  They need to make sure to reply to everybody whenever possible.  When they pick and choose like they seem to, it could lead to people getting offended.  They did have a neat pledge that you could take and it looked like a way of signing up for their email list.  I thought that was clever.

Redbox  Since we dumped Netflix we have been using Redbox a lot so I thought it would be a good Facebook page to checkout.  It was my least favorite of these three though.  As soon as I liked the page I got a code for a free one night rental which was nice.  The page itself seemed to have way too much going on.  I get easily overwhelmed when there is too much content on the screen and this one did it for sure.  Their actual wall was okay, this was on the Redbox page.  They had a page of questions and unfortunately they questions seemed to be very outdated.  I don't think they should have the page on there if it is not going to be updated regularly.    There were a lot of comments from fans and Redbox even answered a few of them by name which I thought was nice.  I suppose that such a large company would have a difficult time getting that personal, but someone could be employed to do just that.

Facebook vs. Google +


I will admit that I have never heard of Google + before taking this class.  I have done some research and it seems that the two sites do have some major differences that companies will need to consider.  Google + allows you to target groups which will make it easier to send messages or announcements to certain groups of people.  You can also choose how you want your profile to look to certain groups of people.  It also seems to be more populated with professionals and preferred by males.  Google + seems to be much more secure and is backed by the Google name, something that Facebook could never achieve.  I found a very useful article which I have posted the link to below.  It explains that Google is aiming to create a central hub for accessing all of your online activities.  Personally I feel that all of these sites will be able to exist together for quite some time.  Facebook is not going anywhere anytime soon.  I feel that Facebook will always have an edge in allowing marketers to create a personal relationship with their fans.  Google + seems to be more sterile.  Google + is certainly worth looking into as it seems to be attracting a more mature, more business, less social crowd.  

Be sure to check out this article.

Blogs

Classmate Blogs
Carol B. had a very good blog entry titled What Makes for Effective Social Media Marketing?  I enjoyed it for several reasons.  First, she threw in a tidbit of personal information.  I think this is important so that you connect with the reader on a personal level.  I also liked how she took us through the process of her checking out different company's uses of social media.  I got a good sense on the steps she took and what she discovered along the way.   Her six guidelines of what and what not to do were clear, practical and very easy to read.  My favorite was to have fun, as this step is easy and successful but often overlooked. I liked the simple way it was written while still sounding educated.


I also liked Ralph's blog on Marshall McLuhan.  While I enjoyed reading and learning about Marshall McLuhan, it was not easy to get a clear picture of his thoughts as he was a very complex man.  Ralph's description of him helped me make more sense of all the information I had about him.  In his four paragraphs he summarized and made clear everything I had read about McLuhan and made it simple to understand.


Blogs About Social Media Marketing
My favorite Social Media Marketing Blog is soshable.com.  There has not been a post on there since I started following it that I have not found useful.  I highly recommend checking it out.  A couple of my favorite recent posts are summarized here:
  
In the post Social Media is a Reflection of One's Social Skills, it speaks of the importance of applying real life social skills to social networks. Such a simple common logic, but it is easy to see how it can be left out of one's plan.  Having good social skills will help you in all aspects of life. Simple concepts like remembering to introduce yourself when you first meet somebody apply to social media just like the outside world.  A company that comes across as too technical will loose their fan base really quickly.  The post talks about human needs and the importance of meeting them.  It points out that people are online to meet their needs, and that is what you need to be doing as well.  


I also enjoyed the post 5 Situations in Which You Shouldn't Create a Facebook Page.  It may be instinct to just jump in and start now, but that is not a wise idea for your business.  This was a post I really felt covered an important topic and said that it is okay if you are not ready yet.  Take some time, get a plan together and then move forward.  Don't just assume you should immediately create a Facebook and/or other page.  If you do not have a well planned social media strategy, it may be best to wait before forging ahead into the world of social media.  You will not be well received and the damage could be large.


Blogs Used to Market
An online store that is a large part of my credit card bill each month is the women's clothing store Free People.  My wife loves it; it is her all time favorite clothing store and she spends a great deal of time on their site. So I thought I would check out their blog that she follows blog.freepeople.com/.  The grade I would give this blog is a C.  I wanted to really like it because she likes it so much.  At first glance I really did not like it.  I was put off by the disorganized, simple text and large pictures.  It did not seem engaging to me.  It grew on me a bit once I tried to put myself as a fan of the store.  One of my favorite things about it was the blogroll, or links to other blogs that I found.  I also really liked that they had categories, as this is something I have not seen before.  


I then asked her what some of the blogs she enjoyed were.  I do not have any that I am too familiar with.  She studies the travel industry and told me to check out www.blogsouthwest.com/.  I loved this blog. Definitely would give it an A.  I expected to see a lot of fare sales and other airline information, but I found a great assortment of information. From tips on going green, sports talk, funny airport happenings to reaching out to airline employees who are facing tough times, this blog was wonderfully well rounded.  Flashback Fridays offer followers a glimpse into the past of the industry.  It features the latest airline news off to the right side and is very unpretentious, not at all pushy.  Very diverse and easy to look at.  Anyone who followed this blog would easily feel a sense of community with Southwest.  I can see why she follows it and enjoys it so much.
   
The last blog I looked at was www.starbucks.com/blog.  This was an A for sure.  Another great mix of diverse topics.  And it had the categories again which I really like.  It was clean and very simple with only one photograph, if any.  So it was not overwhelming to me like the Free People blog.  Like so many I enjoy Starbucks quite often and will be looking forward to reading more of their blog.