18Nov / 2015

Facebook’s Safety Check: a PR case on responding to social demand

As social media grows and new innovative features arise to help keep users on their platforms, many marketers will face both praises but also challengers and scrutiny for their decisions. One clever example is that of Facebook’s Safety Check. As the platform loses traction from its aging target demographic toward other platforms (Instagram and Snapchat), Facebook is looking to leverage supplementary features and turn them into a core of their product. By doing so, users will be drawn and maintained within the platform.

Praises from its safety check feature have been applauded as it helped notify loved one of an individual’s safety from natural disasters. Turning Facebook into a go to place for solace during the earthquake in Nepal, hurricane Patricia and other natural disasters. A challenge for Facebook, as safety check grows and becomes a social norm, is to be attentive and responsive as it takes on this new duty; which on Friday November the 13^th, it was scrutinized for turning the feature on for Paris and not for Beirut’s bombing. Facebook handled the PR situation splendidly. Founder and CEO Zuckerberg issued a personal response and a corporate response was given explaining that safety check for Paris was their first-time test run, there was a need that was not being solved, and unlike natural disasters, turning on safety check for wars or epidemics could be ineffective as the harm is continuous compared to a natural disasters.

Further Readings:
– Zuckerberg: Facebook will use safety check for ‘more human disasters’
– Safety Check: How it works

Posted in PR, Social

Tags: crisis, Safety

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11Nov / 2015

Twitter: Tweeting Non-invasive Native Ads

As more and more consumers dived into social media as their main source of entertainment and media consumption, marketers dutifully followed. Nonetheless, as they explored how to effectively interact and communicate in the social media space, marketers realized that the traditional banners and pop up videos were no longer fit to do the task. As always, marketers need to step into the shoes of its consumers and understand what it is that they want to get out of it. There a need for an organic and natural element to the way the marketing message is delivered, which gave rise to Native Advertising.

According to Twitter,

“Native ads follow the
form of the user experience and function as natural content. In contrast to banner
and interstitial ad units, native ads are part of the overall app experience.”

Twitter does a great work with incorporating native ads into its platform. With a simple “promoted” tag, the tweets, trending hashtags, and suggested channels are incorporated in the twitter feeds of its users. Moreover third party resources such as MoPub allow marketers to strategically coordinate the time and repetitive cycle of the promoted ads. This further functionalities help ensure that the user experience is not overcrowded with ads. Most importantly, it allows marketers to place content where users are actively playing attention to and providing content that is aimed to enhance the user experience versus diminish it.

Further Readings:
– 12 Examples of Native Ads (And Why They Work)
– Download link of The Native Advertising Playbook

Posted in Advertisement, PR, Social

Tags: MoPub, Paid, Twitter

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04Nov / 2015

HootSuite: Saling through Content Marketing

Long gone are the days that marketers are able to simply focus on features and basic needs of consumers. Sure those still work, but rarely do consumers give marketers the attention to those ads. Therefore, marketers now engage in…

Content Marketing, which according to the Content Marketing Institute,
“is a strategic marketing approach focused on creating and distributing valuable, relevant, and consistent content to attract and retain a clearly-defined audience – and, ultimately, to drive profitable customer action.”

Which many brands have hastily picked up already, but one in particular that I would like to put on the spotlight is HootSuite. In regards to content marketing, HootSuite does a great job in stirring the focus away from directly selling its social media management system, but rather seeks to provide the value that its target consumers are looking for – how to become better social media experts. Of course, HootSuite weaves its product and services into the articles and up-sells its product as an complimentary enabling tool to that tips and insights that the brand provides.

By following this type of content marketing strategy, HootSuite is able to attract readers and viewers that might not be currently at the stage of purchasing a social media management system, but then aims to retain them by providing the valuable and relevant content. When the time arises for this viewers and readers to choose a system, HootSuite aims to be at the top of the list and attain conversion.

Further Readings:
– What is Content Marketing, Really?
– How to Create A Content Marketing Strategy: A Walkthrough
– 5 Tech Companies That Get Content Marketing Right

Posted in Advertisement, Social

Tags: Content, HootSuite, SM management

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28Oct / 2015

Unilever: (Content) Crowdsourcing All Things Hair

Marketers are constantly looking to put out content that is engaging and creative. It is through the content that stands out from the crowd, the content that provides an extra value, and content that is unique that truly engages consumers. When brands start conversations that are past promoting its products and services, that is when not only consumers but any one is able to relate to the brand. Yes, beautiful videos and gorgeous ads can make the trick, but a marketer knows that there is so many hours in a day, and soon enough, designing and creating the content becomes unrealistic. Therefore, marketers often get creative and start looking for help elsewhere.

Unilever, has done a great job generating content through crowdsourcing. It’s YouTube channel All Things Hair is an aggregation of hair care how-to videos that are created primarily by bloggers. As Unilever syndicates the bloggers content into a go-to channel, Unilever not only positions itself as a central part of the conversation but is also able to drive traffic from, to and between the bloggers and their channel. Most importantly, Unilever alleviates from the need to create all the videos and tutorials themselves, while also promoting advocates that most likely also use their products. Creating a sense of community and care with its consumers and the wider audience on YouTube.