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Social Media

e-Marketing, facebook, instagram, measurable data, social media, twitter, youtube Leave a comment


The above video has astounding figures, but what is amazing about the numbers presented is they’re 2 years out of date. As the semester draws to an end I’d like to make one last attempt at converting those companies out there who don’t have a functioning online presence to pull it together and make one!

One. Without a relevant Facebook page you are passing up the opportunity to connect with 1 billion Facebook users worldwide. Specifically, there are 18.6 million users right here in Canada. Can your company really afford to pass up the opportunity to reach 18.6 million people with a single status update?

Two. 600 million people access Facebook via smart phones – that’s an increase of 535 million people since this video was created in 2010! If your company website isn’t mobile friendly, that’s a whole lot of customers you’re missing out on. Not only that, when customers visit your store or restaurant, the content they create and post online is invaluable and more influential over consumer opinions than company generated content.

Three. However.. without an active Twitter account, how will they tag you in their content? How will you listen to their needs and join the conversation? Twitter hosts over 500 million users and sees over 400 million Tweets per day. Twitter is by far the easiest social media account to create and set up and its real time capabilities keep companies in the know all day every day.

Four. A restaurant without Instagram is a recipe for disaster. How are customers supposed to share your delicious food offerings if you don’t provide them a platform to do so? Instagram boasts over 80 million registered users who share over 5 million photos per day!

Five. YouTube has over 800 million new visitors each month and users watch over 4 billion hours of videos. Video is a perfect way to increase customer brand awareness while keeping viewers engaged and interacting with the brand. Is it really too hard for your company to create a video and upload it to YouTube? 

Below is an up to date social media video. The change in numbers since the 2010 video posted above is incredible. Companies avoiding the social media ‘craze’ are missing out on countless opportunities to listen and talk to their customers, to conduct priceless market research, to promote and generate buzz surrounding new product launches, to network with local companies and the list goes on. The opportunities are endless and it’s not too late to start now! Pick a single platform, monitor, listen and join the conversation. Master one platform and the transition into multiple platforms will get easier and easier. Good luck!

Whistler!

advertising, content, e-Marketing, social media, youtube Leave a comment

As avid skiers and snowboarders probably know, Whistler opens this weekend! It has been 203 days since Whistler closed its lifts last season and ski bums have been praying for snow ever since. Finally, the day has come!

Extreme sports are popular among younger generations today. Whether its skiing and snowboarding or sky diving and bungee jumping, it seems the more daring the activity, the more popular it’s becoming. A company that has capitalized on this trend is Red Bull. Red Bull is world renown for sponsoring extreme sports in all forms.

Although Red Bull has incredible marketing both online and offline, it is the company’s video content that spreads like wildfire. Red Bull’s YouTube channel has received over 470 million views since its launch in 2006 and has close to 1 million subscribers.

What makes Red Bulls videos so successful?

1) Selection of sponsored events – Red Bull carefully selects the events it sponsors and has its brand affiliated with. As mentioned previously, the company focuses largely on extreme sports. A prime example of this was the broadcast and sponsorship of Felix Baumgartner’s space jump. This video alone was watched by 8 million viewers form around the globe. Not all sports Red Bull affiliates itself with are this extreme, however, it is unlikely to see Red Bull being associated with horseback riding or tennis. As well as selecting extreme sports, Red Bull also seeks out bizarre and one of a kind events. For example, Red Bull hosts ‘Flying Day’ in nations around the world. This day consists of participants creating flying devices, launching them from a 10 m high platform and traveling as far as possible before plummeting into water below. This event combines innovation, creativity and sport.

2) Discrete advertising – As well as being selective in the events they sponsor, Red Bull is also selective in the way they promote their brand through their videos. Red Bull isn’t invasive. The company sponsors events but subtly places their advertising throughout the events, making sure not to take the attention away from the sports and the participants themselves. Instead, Red Bull focuses on the content, shooting and editing videos in compelling ways to promote the experience rather than the brand. This approach garners more respect form participants and viewers while still effectively increasing brand awareness.

Red Bull has one of the strongest brands in the world with an estimated value of $10 billion.* It has successfully found its niche, targeting extreme sports and generating excitement around them by shooting and posting videos online. By carefully selecting sporting events and dispersing their advertisements throughout, Red Bull has an increasing brand awareness without being overbearing for viewers.

* http://www.millwardbrown.com/brandz/2012/Documents/2012_BrandZ_Top100_Chart.pdf

Viral Videos

content, e-Marketing, social media, twitter, youtube Leave a comment

Last lecture we spoke about viral videos and the use of social media. Since then, a celebrity sensation has created the latest viral video.

Of all celebrities, Justin Bieber easily takes the title of Twitter king. With 29 million follows/fans/”Beliebers” there doesn’t seem to be anything they can’t achieve together. Most recently, Justin leveraged his influential status to promote his new music video “Beauty and a Beat” featuring Nicki Minaj. With such a large number of followers, Justin could simply have tweeted the link to his new video and it would have achieved millions of hits within the day. However, he decided to take a different approach..

On October 10th, Justin Bieber sent these tweets:

 

 

 

 

 

 

Later in the day, someone using the name “gexwy” tweeted Justin the following messages:

And so the speculation began.. countless media articles were posted speculating everything from sex tapes and naked photographs to drug use and violence. Little did they know that Justin was in the middle of a prank..

After days of speculation and publicity, at noon on October 12th, Justin Bieber released his new music video “Beauty and a Beat.” The music video received the most hits in 24 hours of any Vevo music videos on YouTube – 10.6 million and growing.

So what made the launch of this video so successful?

  1. Justin Bieber’s influential celebrity status
  2. The online community of “Beliebers” he has established and nurtured on his rise to fame
  3. The “buzz” he created over 2 days with a fake Twitter account
  4. The video serves as an outlet for Justin to share his story with fans
  5. Production of the video is original, relateable and funny

This story is a prime example of the power of social media and its impact on the world when used to its full potential.