Gender in Social Media Use

Gender effects social media use.

Another great chart from Marketing Charts. This one chronicles social media adoption in the general population and by gender. There is a lot of interesting information that comes out of this graph and some of it matches stereotypes. Pintrest is vastly more popular among females. This is not very surprising but if you are primarily marketing to women this means that you should really be using Pintrest!

I find it very interesting that there are only three social networks that comes in stronger for males than females: Google+, Linkedin and Vine. The running joke for a while was that only Google employees were on Google Plus and well Google has a propensity to hire males (83% are males). This could be the explanation or it might have to do more with cultural tendencies for employment. This article indicates that almost 2/3 of business owners and those who are self employed are males.

Google requires Google Plus pages for the business map pages. Linkedin is the business social network. This is probably not the only factor but it might help explain the disparity. I think these adoption statistics will change in the coming years as women become more empowered in our society.

It is also interesting that a 6% larger share of males ignore social media all together.

A few less Beliebers

http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/justin-bieber-arrest-cnn-sets-673508
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/live-feed/justin-bieber-arrest-cnn-sets-673508

Scrolling through CNN this morning before heading out to play football I saw a headline that grabbed my attention.

“Justin Bieber just lost 3.5 million Instagram followers”

Now just to be clear, I am not a Belieber and generally try to avoid anything talking about Justin Bieber but this one caught my eye: Link to Article.  (h/t @AaronSmithCNN)

The summary of the article is this: Instagram in something people are calling the “Instagram Rapture” (I think would be better named: Instagram Purge), Instagram has purged fake profiles and the Biebs has lost 3.5 million followers. Crazy. But it almost makes me feel better about my small amount of followers.

As far back as the days when MySpace was popular I remember having to deal with robotic accounts. You would recieve friend requests from random people with clearly photoshopped pictures and the temptation was to accept the request. Why? Because having that one more like, even if it was fake, might make your numbers look better. Businesses can do the same thing: it is tempting to get one more email or facebook like for the sake of having the number. The quality of emails and facebook likes is important. If you are building a tribe of dedicated fans you ought not dilute them with fakes or people who you have tricked or forced into liking your page. If dilutes your numbers and does not allow you to measure your marketing strength or market reach effectively.

But with facebook you have to do more than worry about people who dont really like your service but with robots check out this amazing video about facebook click farms over seas (h/t to @veritasium)

So how to prevent this? I start with really specific targeting of your Facebook ads and a realization that numbers are not everything.

Customer Spotlight: Maxwell’s Bow Ties

I have been eagerly awaiting this post for over a month now. Monday the website for Maxwell’s Bow Ties went live and so now is a good time to tell you about it! When I first started my business a gentleman wearing a unique bow tie walked into the Co with the apparent mission to find me. That man was Max Garner and we started a business relationship to help bring his bow ties to market in the best way possible.

Max and I worked together to create the entire branding package: logo, packaging, and a website. It has been a joy to work with Max on all of these projects and to wear the bow ties around town (yes I have been actually wearing these and they are awesome!).

Here are the goods (and you can order them here):

 

Maxwell's Bow Ties logo engraved on wood.
Maxwell’s Bow Ties logo engraved on wood.
MBT Business Card Front
The front of Maxwell’s business card.
MBT Product Insert Front
The front of Maxwell’s product insert.

 

The backside of the Bow Tie Insert
The backside of the Bow Tie Insert with the story and care instructions.

I hope to see everyone wearing Maxwell’s Bow Ties this Christmas!

Effective Emails

Why do people open emails from companies? What makes an effective marketing email? Well these stats from Marketing Charts seem to show that deals are the primary reason that emails effect buying behavior.

But this also covers info regarding other forms of marketing. Email ranks at the top of this list and I think it might have something to do about permission marketing. You have to opt in to receive those emails which means you are already interested in the product. If you are the marketer you have already qualified the prospect. Permission marketing is the way to go!

 

Email works when deals are offered

 

McDonald’s addressing its millennial problem?

While perusing the internet last week I came across a new online ad campaign from McDonald’s featuring Grant Imahara (formerly of Myth Busters). McDonald’s has hired Imahara to help “bust some byths”(ht-wd) about their products. This campaign is made up of videos of Grant Imahara and others visiting the factories where the McDonald’s food is made. The video below is an exploration of the sandwich that can only be described by the name McRib!

 

McRib

With this campaign McDonald’s is trying to take steps to recover it’s public image that was so degraded during the great pink slime scandal of the last 2000’s. I think their image is especially tarnished with Millennials. Millennials tend to care about the quality of their food and where it comes from. During a conversation at the CO last night it was pointed out that Chipotle restaurants have a great reputation with Millennials because they have their supply sourcing Millennial-proofed. They use organic and sustainable products which Millennials love. I think this ad campaign is specifically trying to overcome some of the distaste that Millennials have for McDonald’s. What do you think?

 

 

4 Take-Aways from Taylor Swift’s album release

Taylor Switch just sold 1.287 million albums.

That is the most albums sold in one week since 2002 when Eminem released “The Eminem Show” featuring the single “Without Me”. It is the most albums sold this year. No other album has succeeded in going platinum this year and that includes releases from Lady Gaga, Maroon 5, and Florida Georgia Line. In a time of declining album sales how did Taylor Swift do it? I think it was more than musical expertise. Here are four marketing take-aways:

 

100 likes Guy Meme

 

1. She fought the system.

Taylor made an unconventional move by removing her music from online streaming service Spotify and refusing to allow her new album to be played online for free. This is a 180 degree turn from what the music industry is doing. Is it always wise to defy convention? No. But by forcing her fans to buy the album to hear it she found a convention to defy that was in her favor. It was a low risk high reward plan that appears to have worked out for her.

2. She was everywhere. Even NPR. Twice.

Leading up to the release Taylor did appearances on all sorts of media outlets. Late night shows and early morning shows. She worked hard. Even outlets that might be on the fringe of her target market, like NPR. I caught a piece of her interview with Fresh Air and Morning Edition and was impressed by her interview skills. One of the downsides with radio is that you would have had to look on twitter to see that she even showed up on NPR dressed in costume.

3. She incentivised purchase.

To help make people purchase the album in the stores she incentivised the purchase. Taylor and her marketing team thought through the action they wanted people to take (buy an album in the store) and made a good guess on the amount of incentive customers needed to complete that transaction(3 bonus tracks, pictures, and other stuff). She turned the buying of the cd into an experience and in a world full of stuff, experiences will become more and more important.

3. She connected with fans.

Swift does an amazing job with connecting with fans on Twitter and Instagram. One particularly interesting effort was having people send her pictures of them buying her album in stores! I bet for most of these tweens it was their first album to purchase and put their hands on a physical copy (unless it was a gift). In a world where people (me included) get excited about a a mention or retweet on twitter, why not do it to your fans! What a way to connect with fans with exerting a small amount of effort. If someone tries to connect with you on social media it is to your advantage to reach back.

 

Taylor Swift market genius?

What is holistic marketing?

While guest teaching a class with a client at the University of Memphis-Lambuth campus last week I made the following statement:

“As a marketer I am a bit of a control freak.”

I think as marketing continues to develop this statement will become more common. If you handle the marketing for a business, not just providing a service like a logo or some print material, it will serve you well to be a little controlling when it comes to marketing.

As the marketer for a business (or the owner) I think you should start thinking about every point of contact with a customer as an opportunity to make a stark raving fan. I describe this thought process as Holistic Marketing. Holistic marketing means that marketing is more than just a logo and an ad.

Holistic marketing works through all of the pieces of your business to help the customer have a great user experience

(to borrow a term from the web design world). Instead of thinking about something like customer service or returns as an annoying/nonprofitable area think of it as a tool you have to help retain a customer and increase that customer’s lifetime value.

Like social media, websites, and text messaging, customer experience is another tool of the marketer.

If you have a great ad and someone comes to your restaurant, visits your retail location, or calls your phone number and the food is cold or the clerk is rude your ad is going to do more harm than good. Before you spend money on ads think: What pieces do we need to have in place to make sure this ad is as successful as possible? Evaluate the entire process for the customer from walking in the door to completing his purchase to returning something if her experience is bad. Then think about how you can make each step in the process great for the customer.

Questions about holistic marketing? Send me an email and we can set up a consultation.

 

Customer* Spotlight: Madison Co CASA

Customer is not the right word here because all the work for I do for Madison County CASA is done pro bono. (Which I have always used but what does it really mean? I guess it doesn’t have anything to do with Sonny and Cher or that guy from U2 after all)

The mission of Madison County CASA is to advocate for safe permanent nurturing homes for a abused and neglected children by providing specially selected and trained community volunteers.

I was recently elected to the board and will be helping them by providing marketing services. So this post has two purposes: 1. To show some of my work. 2. Let you know about some upcoming events that you could attend to help CASA.

1. Eat Outback for CASA.

On November 7 you can eat lunch at the Outback in Jackson for $20. Almost half of the money from each meal ends up in CASA’s hands. That means you get an amazing lunch put on by the great manger and staff at Jackson’s Outback. By eating lunch you get to help a great cause in CASA. In every sense of the phrase this event is a WIN-WIN! Here is the link to the Facebook event.

Eat Outback for CASA!

2. Breakfast with Santa

Thanks to sponsorships from Leaders Credit Union and the Barn at Snider Farms CASA will be hosting its first ever Breakfast with Santa on December 6. For $5 come and have breakfast and take pictures with Santa. If you have children this would be a great way to avoid the creepy mall Santas and still get your children’s annual picture with Santa.

Breakfast with Santa

 

Keep an eye out for more opportunities to help CASA as they serve children who really need our help.

Instagram gains in popularity with Teens and Facebook drops

Last year someone told me that Facebook was dead because teenagers are not using it anymore. I proceeded to argue with my then boss that Facebook is not dead. My boss at the time was on to something though, Facebook is losing popularity among teens. Look at these stats from Marketing Charts:

 

Teens are leaving Facebook via Marketing Charts

Over the summer Facebook lost 27% of the social media preference among teenagers. If your target market is teenagers look closely at this chart and notice that Instagram is rising in popularity(unlike just about everything else). This rising in popularity has not been missed by Facebook and Twitter as they have been moving to more visually centered design. Really most of the internet is moving to picture focused design. Pictures require less reading than a tweet and they are more quickly consumed. The move to more visual content I see as a trend that will continue for a very long time.

But before you completely write off Facebook: Do note that FACEBOOK OWNS INSTAGRAM. Facebook was trying to hedge its bets when it purchased Instagram for $1 billion. Facebook is positioning itself for long term stability by becoming the universal log-in for apps and services online and this will help cement its place in our lives for years to come. (Also Google is doing the same thing with its Plus/email accounts.)

Facebook is designed for adults. Adults have the money to spend on products and currently Boomers have the most disposable income of any generation. Facebook is not dying because it is not dependent on teens and tweens. I think it will be interesting in the coming years to see if teens as they age return to Facebook because its what the ‘adult’ world uses.

But always keep in mind that Facebook  is a rented marketing channel.

 

Facebook Local Awareness

Man holding iPhone

Man holding iPhone

Facebook is flexing it’s big data muscles again by introducing Facebook Local Awareness.

Facebook is now using your location to sell ads. Nothing new right? They could already place ads in front of people in your city but now they are taking it to the next level. By using the location system on your phone (that is my assumption, I am not sure of the technology behind the program) they are able to target ads within a distance as mile away from the brick and mortar location of a store/event.

With Facebook Local Awareness you can now target people driving past your store. From a marketing angle this is awesome. A few scenarios: being near a college campus and setting your food discounts to that area. Coffee shop in a business district? Send the ad to all the workers about a special on coffee.  Near the interstate? You can set your ad far enough out from your location to pick up the major gas stations.

There are several ways you can set the goals for the ad. I think the real trick here will be for “Offer”. This will allow retail and restaurants to help drive foot traffic. Other services such as a mechanic could use this to gain likes for the neighborhood they serve.

Local Awareness

As a consumer it might be a little scary.

Check out Facebook Awarenesss here.

I am going to try and do a case study with this new tool soon and will post the results on the blog.