Tag >> twitter
Toyota seems to have a sticky Twitter foot too.
JP Holecka Feb 23, 2010 - filed under: Social Media Comment (3)

Over the last few days I have noticed a sudden and strange behavior on Toyota's Twitter account. There was a huge influx of uber positive re-tweets from other Toyota fans on Twitter. There is nothing wrong with re-tweets (RT's) per say but like most tools in your toolbox understanding how and when to use them is key and from what I could see Toyota did not understand the tool at all.

toyota-tweetsThe subject matter was regarding the quality of Toyota vehicles from point of view of Toyota owners. That in its self is not an issue but the shear volume of RT's on the subject was quite large and it made more of an impression of a "See we are ok and so and so even says we are..." kind of approach. Tweets like this from @Benne420 "@Toyota as a teen driver, I still get amazing gas mileage out of my 02 Camry LE. I love my car!", from @OmarHenry "@Toyota is still the best cars around! a guy at my gym still drives a 1980's toyota with the original engine! dont believe the hype...." and from @FireCat_7 "@Toyota my first car is a 1998 Toyota Camry LE. I LOVE IT and I love Toyota. Much love guys. Keep the good work up :)" were the norm in yesterday's tweets. That is really a very guttural and unsophisticated old fashioned PR approach. Like talking really loud with your hands over your ears "LA LA LA I CAN'T HEAR YOU".

Anyone that knows me knows that I simply can't stand over use of passive self flatulence on social media sites and this was clearly one of those instances. The tactic of re-tweeting praise from other users is really no different than making the statement yourself. Who are we trying to kid here? I don't care what any social media guru tells you or your company. Be careful on that tactic because as the public become acclimatized to the vernacular of social media marketing so will they see through the thin veneer of that type prolific of re-tweeting. It's lazy social media to flood your stream with.

The tweets felt somewhat desperate and like the usual person responsible for the Twitter account had suddenly been yanked from their duties and a desperate Sr. manager with orders in hand to "DO SOMETHING' was now at the helm. The strategy veered off coarse and felt like there was a sticky accelerator on the RT button.

What should Toyota be doing? They should stay the course of the original strategy by helping the thousands of Toyota drivers out of this mess, through helpful links on how to get there cars fixed quickly, and demonstrating what the company is doing to rectify the matter and to restore confidence in the brand.

When someone is stuck at the bottom of a well that you pushed them down, get a rope and help them out. Don't stand there and tell them that everyone else you pushed was able to avoide the well all together. The whole feed in recent days is nothing but bogus PR fluff. Between the massive recalls and the congressional hearings that begin today it would be better use of social media to take this head on as apposed to head in the sand as they are continuing to do today.

Photo credit emrank

tags:// twitter, toyota, social media, recall, Brands, Branding
Social Media, Search and Viral now outperform Banner Ads for traffic
JP Holecka Apr 5, 2009 - filed under: Advertising Comment (0)
In a recent Adage article, using data from the research firm Hitwise, t was reported that Facebook now accounts for more referral traffic to some sites than Google. Facebook now has a confirmed number of registered users in the range of 200 million. Social networking has grown a whopping 93 percent since 2006; the amount of time people spend communicating online has increased from 18 to 32 percent of their total online time.[1] The actions performed in Facebook are shifting as well; users spend a good portion of their time on the newly redesigned newsfeed page, where they can quickly scan for status updates and user-recommended videos, products, and  articles. Similar streams in Twitter and FriendFeed are also becoming powerful recommendation engines. Further, the low click-through rate of banners on social media sites is even further below the already shockingly low industry average of .01%-.02%. These low results are primarily due to the highly focused activity performed by users on social media sites, and also explain why media placement companies have bluntly told me, "Social media does not work for online advertising."

The numbers:
  • Last fall, it was reported that 40 hours a month are spent online by the average internet user in North America.[2]
  • Of those online, 75% are spending time in the social networking and social media space.[3]
  • The the industry attributes a .1%-.2% click though rate on most web banners and that number drops further on social networking activity.
  • Social networking has grown 93% since 2006.[1]
Now, let's look at some of my anecdotal social media link click-through activity. According to mrtweet.com, a Twitter user recommendation site, I post an average of 42 tweets a day. 28 percent of my posts contain links; that's about 12 links per day. I use Hootsuite to post links, as it enables me to measure the stats of those who actually click on the Hootsuite to post links, as it enables me to measure the stats of those who actually click on the links I post. Last week, I had a total of 1250 clicks[pretty graphs], either directly or through re-tweets[4], on 84 links. That gives me an average click-through rate of 7%. I have approximately 1200 followers, and there are hundreds of thousands of Twitter users with substantially more followers than me. With the growing number of Twitter users alone, recent rumours of the company's acquisition by Google make sense. I post about half the number of links on Facebook as I do on Twitter, but can't measure the click-throughs as Facebook currently lacks the requisite analytical tools. The total number of online social media users across the various platforms-Facebook, Twitter, Stumbleupon, Del.icio.us., etc.-provide a clear indication of where consumers spend their time, and why it's important for companies and agencies to create content and campaigns that are viral-worthy.

So where does that leave the web banner? Should we abandon the staple that has given hope to so many web start-ups and sustained others? The answer is no; the web banner has its place in delivering brand presence and campaign messaging online. Perhaps if the web advertising industry had not hung its collective hat on CTR, this issue may not have seen so much back-peddling as there is today. The industry was so keen on proving its relevance in the web's early days that it differentiated itself from other mediums through the highly measurable CTR. Unfortunately, what wasn't considered were the lack of novelty and typically bad experiences users often associated with the click.

However, banners are still important in that we can track their impacts by measuring all customer impressions through comprehensive analytic tools. I believe it is all part of the mix, but the final destination of any campaign must be relevant and engaging enough to hold the attention of users, and contain content that will compel them to share it with others. Creative agencies play an important role in orchestrating compelling ad campaigns that customers can relate to, but ultimately, the method of directing viewers to those destinations is shifting from the once almighty banner ad, to the terrain of "the people's media."

[1] This, according to a survey conducted by Netpop, based on the 105 million U.S. broadband users.

[2] Comscore

[3]  PEW Internet research, March 2009

[4]  A re-tweet is when a Twitter user likes your post so much and recommends the link to their followers through the method of  what is called re-tweeting.

tags:// viral, twitter, marketing, facebook
I will be a panelist at the 'How to Profit from Social Media Marketing' workshop
JP Holecka Apr 1, 2009 - filed under: Marketing Comment (0)
I will be joined by top Vancouver social media experts Shane Gibson and Dr. Raul Pacheco-Vega for practical advice on expanding your network and increasing sales through social media marketing. The night will consist of networking, presentations and the three panelists answering questions from both the moderator and the audience.
 
Won't you join us the evening of Monday April 13th at the Harrison Gallery. Where we will answer the question. "How can you get social media working for your business?"
 
More information and tickets here>>

tags:// twitter, recession, marketing, business, Branding, advertising
The Brand race for followers. It's not just numbers.
JP Holecka Mar 20, 2009 - filed under: Social Media Comment (5)
There is an arms race, of sorts, going on. Yes, another one and it's really no surprise. The reality is that Twitter has dropped and ad agencies are guiding their clients down the same path as they did with Myspace, Facebook and pretty much any other popular social networking site that has emerged over the last five years.

This is what I am hearing and seeing in agency recommendations. Get as many followers as you can quickly then blather out a bunch crap and useless messaging at your followers! Yes another old school one way communication platform has hijacked Twitter. When will they learn? We are back to the eyeballs measurement again because that seems to be the only measurable metric that  makes it into the quarterly campaign review decks. It's not just traffic and eyeballs anymore. Comscore needs a new set of measurement tools. The measurement is brand interaction in the Twitterspace. The numbers matter if you are interacting well with many, then it counts.

Celebrity has really pushed Twitter to the tipping point in recent weeks and sure some of them are doing it well and others are really doing it bad! Agencies should  not build out their Twitter plan and campaigns following the lead of people like P-Diddy and Ellen. Maybe Snoop Dogg because he gets it big time, but for the love of God not P-Diddy. *Disclosure* I am a west coast guy and prefer the LA rap anyway.

Twitter is 140 characters of content. That content has to be engaging, insightful, helpful and maybe even carry a narrative. The problem is that agencies are already having trouble boiling down narrative from a 30 second TV spot to a 9 second web banner. Now they have to get down to 140 characters and it freaks them out further to even contemplate that. Hell it freaks me out but that is the new canvas. Figure it out soon before the next and even more confusing communication channel emerges.

If you gather up a ton of Twitter followers and have nothing relevant to say. Your brand will become dull and tiresome quickly and the giant swath numbers your brand has worked hard to get will have zero value.

tags:// Twittersphere, twitter, Brands, Branding, advertising
#skittles a Not so Colourful Social Media Campaign
JP Holecka Mar 2, 2009 - filed under: Social Media Comment (0)
I have been waiting to see who would be first to rock the social networking site Twitter, with an interesting and conversation worthy campaign. I can now announce that I am still waiting. This may not be a bad thing either. Skittles [Mars Corporation] have taken the conservative approach to the campaign and in doing so have not offended the throngs of Twitterers that are tweeting about the initiative. 
 
Mars Corp. have basically converted skittle.com in to a search aggregate of Twitter that displays the real time conversation of key words on Twitter that relate to the Skittles brand. They then seeded the refresh and are watching what happens. There is a little overlay that links off to other areas of the site for further exploration. It's a simple concept and in my opinion only relevant because they are first to market. This type of campaign is the 'little toe in the water' approach and is more exploratory than anything else. There is very little risk to this campaign and very little cost as well. So was it worth it? Sure if all you are trying to do it get some PR buzz then I can say it worked. There will be a little brand lift for a couple of weeks and maybe it'll hit the bottom line with a few extra boxes sold in Q2. For companies only planning from quarter to quarter its just fine. It's also just fine if you are trying to experiment with cost cutting marketing campaigns in this time of global economic bla bla.
 
Did it rock the social media world? Not from the posts and tweets that I have read. But that's not a bad thing either. Skittles are now on the radar of the social media elite and I hope that there is a part two to this so that I can stop waiting for that big day.
 
I guess that it does further push the idea forward that Twitter is very close to reaching critical mass and that there are now marketing efforts a foot by the larger brands to see what the benefits to marketing in Twitter will yield.
 
Mark this day on your calendar as the day Twitter turned. 

tags:// Twittersphere, twitter, Brands