Branded Mobile Apps: Entertainment vs. Utility

From Adgeek:

by jinalshah

What makes a branded application worth downloading and interacting? Here are some top-level thoughts that I will continue to build upon in the coming weeks. My goal is to provide you with a framework for thinking about a branded apps. While the final build and concept will vary from brand to brand, here are some principles and tools to consider so that you can make the most of your investment in the mobile app space.

My research has led me to believe that applications usually fall under two value propositions: Entertainment or utility. Below is an amazing chart, compiled by Geoff Northcott, Client Partner at AKQA, of publicly available download data for branded applications. (Geoff, too, categorized the applications as Entertainment or Utilitarian.) Although these download numbers are circa 2010, I re-shuffled this data a little bit to make a point. I divided them into two separate charts: Entertainment vs. Utility and picked the best five branded applications in both sections with the highest download numbers.

The point of doing this was to illustrate the pros and cons of entertainment vs. utility in branded applications. Here is the breakdown:

Entertainment:

• PROS: A one-off promotion based approach to mobile applications usually delivers huge spikes in customer engagement and often shows significantly higher download numbers.
• CONS: Brand recall – a large number of entertainment based mobile applications are game-based and as such, it is difficult to ascertain whether users are even aware of the brand when interacting with these applications. Another major con is sustaining on-going interaction with the brand. Interest wanes as the novelty wears off and often, there is little to no re-usage. In fact, 95% of downloaded applications are not used after 30 days. Under-utilized asset of x many customers that have downloaded the application.

Utility:

• PRO: Evergreen application; perhaps not very sexy. Has a slower build initially but evolves and grows with the brand and its audiences. Usually also reflects the general brand direction
• CONS: The biggest challenge with such an application is to continuously evolve the offering and keep it interesting and valuable to the consumers. It needs to strike the perfect balance of entertainment, content and utility

Most brands have taken an either/or approach. While I think it depends on the direction and the strategic needs of the brand, it is worthwhile to consider that it doesn’t always need to be an either/or approach. Entertainment based applications have demonstrated the ability to drive high downloads. Why not consider an “Entertainment” based feature as part of your Launch strategy for your branded application ? Ongoing updates can work on evolving the brand and adding newer features and offerings into the application.

Another point-of-view to consider is simply creating diverse applications for diverse audiences. Lets face it. A deal-hunter will not download a branded application for a highly engaging game. And a gamer will not be very interested in a content-based application. In such cases, it is smart for brands to consider which audiences they want to target and build experiences specifically for those niche audiences. My only caveat is that even as brands build niche experiences, it is crucial to think long-term instead of immediate short-tern return.

Kraft’s iFood Assistant is one of the best branded application case-study that I can think of that has nailed the program vs. platform concept. The application offers up to 2000 recipes, many of them using Kraft products. The application has also in-built shopping lists and deals/ coupon features that incentivize users. It is one of the few applications that has continued to keep its users engaged: It launched in 2008 and to date, about 60% of users that downloaded the application continue to use it. In fact, Kraft charged a cool 99cents per download as well, ensuring an alternative revenue stream and solidifying its value with the users.

Regardless of the route you choose, here are some best practices to keep in mind when designing and building the application:

Best Practices:

Marketing Support: Every successful branded application has had strong marketing support in form of paid media, mobile ads and even online PR. This support gives the initial boost to the application but mostly focuses on generating enough downloads to have the application listed in Apple’s Top 100 applications. Applications featured in the list have a 40% higher chance of being downloaded by other users. Additionally, Star Ratings and Reviews also incredibly important tools towards increasing a brand’s chances towards making it into the Top 100 list. Although this is specifically for iTunes, it is fair to expect similar marketing levers to emerge for the Android Marketplace as well. (Consiering Android is now the number one Smartphone in the word)

Intuitive User Experience: If you are not going to invest the necessary time and resources into building an intuitive and highly capable user experience, you are better off not making a mobile application at all. In a recent study, 13% of users said that a bad experience with a branded application avoided them from downloading other applications from the brand. Also, users just expect an application to be fun and easy to use. Don’t just try to replicate an existing marketing promotion, elements of your website or an ad campaign on your mobile app. Build for its audience and its eco-system.

Social Sharing: Maximize the capabilities offered by a mobile application. Several applications can “speak” to each other. Also there is no point in reinventing the wheel. So where and when possible; make sure your application is connected to Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare or whatever eco-system your brand lives in.

Customization: Depending on the brand, I believe that simple customization not only helps make an application more interesting but also increases the opportunity for re-use. It’s also highly beneficial for brands from a data-collection perspective to have more granular information about your customers.

I’m sure you’ll want to look at case-studies to build your own argument/case. I didn’t see any point in re-writing the best ones there are. So here are the links to the best resources on the web. I hope this helps.

Additional Resources:

1. Mashable’s Top 13 Branded Applications
2. Best Practices: Mobile Marketing & App. Strategies for Food Brands
3. Best Practices: Branded Application Design
4. Geoff Northcott: Branded Apps: Strategies for Success

Hiring a Social Media Agency? Read this First!

From Social Media Explorer:

News Flash: Not everyone who says they understand or have used social media actually knows what they are talking about.

I know, that’s not much of a news flash for many of us. We’ve been watching as this tremendous growth of social media has created a mass-market of companies selling huge lines of BS to brands who honestly don’t know the right questions to ask. They are like really smooth men with pick up lines that are so brilliant you don’t even see them coming. They know if a company is looking for help with social media, it is likely because they don’t understand it themselves. Therefore, if they talk in buzz words and “fake it ‘till they make it” the company will never realize they are clueless.

This is so prolific you can’t really point a finger in one direction. I’ve seen it with agencies, I’ve seen it within corporations, and I’ve seen it amongst “consultants.” And honestly, it isn’t that these are bad people per se, they are simply trying to capitalize on a market that is booming and trying to learn as fast as they can. That’s just capitalism taking its natural course. However, it can be really unfair for companies who are placing a tremendous amount of confidence in these providers to not at least have a clear understand of their real capabilities. Therefore, this post will provide a list of “red flag” pick up lines I’m seeing a lot.

Social Media Red Flag Pick Up Lines

Social media is a great strategy for every company. If you don’t have a social media strategy you will be left behind.

Social media isn’t the “right” answer for every company. There are several factors to consider before diving into a social media strategy. Do you have the resources to support a social media strategy for the long-term? Are there natural places within your current marketing strategy where social media can be integrated? Are there conversations happening about your industry already?

You must have a presence on Facebook and Twitter and YouTube and…

There is no magic list of social media channels that applies to every company and industry. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are not the end all be all of social media and for many companies they are the “wrong” places to be. The big question here is whether or not your audience is actually “participating” in a social media channel. If they are which ones are they using? The reality is that for many industries Facebook and Twitter are not the right channels, but represent a drain on resources that could be better allocated to social media sites where their audience actually participates.

We will manage your entire social media presence for you…it’s effortless for you

There are definitely companies that will do this for you, but it raises a huge red flag. Social media isn’t about pushing out a bunch of marketing messages, it’s about engaging in conversation. Who would you allow to have a direct conversation with your customers and prospects? What kind of training is involved before you let someone pick up the phone for the first time? Allowing a social media provider to manage all of your social media channels without active engagement and commitment from your team to support them can be disastrous.

We developed a strategy for Company X that led to over a bazillion fans

Anytime a provider uses the number of fans or followers or views as a gauge for the success of a campaign, I throw up a little in my mouth. Were the fans and followers relevant to the company? Did the people who viewed your video do anything as a result? Did any of these people do anything that actually contributed to the financial goals of the company?

We have an experienced social media team

Unfortunately, this is more often than not a bold faced lie. There aren’t enough people who have successfully created, implemented and measured a social media strategy for a business to work for all of these providers who are making these claims. I’ve seen this range from people who have no “real” experience in social media to a team of fresh out of college “interns” being managed by one person who has a little bit of experience. Make sure to ask exactly who will be working on your account and how much experience “each one” has in social media. Also, make sure to ask what companies they have developed and implemented social media strategies for. You will likely have some junior people in the mix, but you should have at least one who has been in the space long enough to know their elbow from their “rhymes with smash hole.”

Social media is special. Your current marketing strategies won’t work, that’s why you need us.

Social media is another tool in your marketing tool kit. It isn’t any more special that email marketing or paid search advertising. Each one of these requires and understanding of what you want to accomplish and a clear understanding of how it can help you reach your business objectives. Social media isn’t any different. In many cases, social media will compliment your current marketing strategies with a little twist.

Social media is the only marketing strategy you need.

Social media is not a silver bullet. It will not fix problems within your current marketing strategy and quite frankly it is more likely shine a big red light on them. It is also not the “only” marketing strategy a company should use. Good marketing is a combination of smart strategy and well-thought out tactics that are executed within marketing channels where their prospects and customers play. Putting all of your eggs in the social media basket is extremely risky.

Facebook Launch Brand New Ad Format – The Comment Ad

From SimplyZesty:

Leo Burnett has today become the first agency to develop an unit for Facebook : The Comment Ad. The ad was developed and submitted as part of Facebook’s call for submissions from agencies for ad suggestions, at the 2010 Ad Expo, and announced today at the Cannes Lions International Festival of Creativity. The ad is inherently social, as it works by allowing brands to post a piece of content, whether this is an update, photo or video firstly as an update with the brand Page wall itself, but then as an ad unit to people’s profiles. Significantly, people can then respond within the ad unit itself, making comments visible to friends. Each action within the ad unit can then be supported by a sponsored story, helping to make the ad even more social.

This represents an exciting new step for Facebook, as they show that they are clearly open to working with agencies. Indeed, Blake Chandlee, VP of global relations at Facebook said “With the most creative minds in the industry, agencies can and should be leading a new way of marketing that is personalized, social and engaging. We look forward to working with others to see future innovations that come from the agency community.” And you can see why this ad works for Facebook, as it continues to make the ad experience something social, and completely integrated within the main functions of Facebook. Unfortunately for those brands wanting to get their hands on the new ad format, Leo Burnett have exclusive use of this for 2 months.

New Facebook ad format in partnership with Leo Burnett

What is a Facebook ad anymore?

What this ad format also shows, is that Facebook are beginning to make less of a distinction between the paid and organic activity on their site. This forms part of their over-arching ambition for the Facebook platform to become a place where everything is a social object, with no distinction between people, brands, content or interactions. Everything will just become a social object, and this new ad format fits perfectly into that. We saw it first with the sponsored story, which many people don’t actually realise is paid for content. And with this new ad format allowing for commenting within the ad itself, it will become less and less clear for users just what is advertising and what is organic activity. And indeed, what originated from a brand and what actually originated from a friend. The opportunities for brands here are significant, as it presents the most real opportunity to engage with your users on a personal level, instead of being seen as a corporate identity which has a very set place within the site. Now it’s not just Pages, but actually enabling commenting with profiles.

Focus is on conversation, not Likes

What is especially encouraging about this ad unit, is that it starts to move the emphasis away from the number of Likes on your Page, and towards the actual conversation and engagement with your fans. This ad is designed for brands to start a conversation among their fans by posing a question, something that will get people talking instead of just something that will get people Liking. It’s as yet unclear how friend’s responses will translate into Likes on the Page, but given that the activity happens within user profiles, there will be less emphasis on the Likes on the Page, and more emphasis on what people are actually saying. This presents a new, welcome challenge for brands who have to get back to the roots of a good Facebook Page : the engagement, not the little number on the left hand side.

5 Proven Twitter Marketing Strategies

From Mashable:

Seeking to take Twitter beyond a social phenomenon, its founders have lately set their sights on making it business-friendly as well. For marketers, this means new opportunities are opening up all the time.

Twitter never seems to rule anything out. The company is philosophically opposed to banner ads, but has nevertheless dabbled with them in Japan. Likewise, it recently experimented with text ads in the U.S., but, according to Adam Bain, president of global revenue for Twitter, that doesn’t indicate much. “I wouldn’t read too much into it,” he says.

The experiment has yielded some winning ad formats, Bain says. Chief among them are Promoted Tweets, Promoted Trends and Promoted Accounts. All comprise very new forms of advertising that leverage Twitter’s strengths. However, many marketers don’t seem to know what to make of the formats, or Twitter itself, for that matter. Taking that into account, here are some Twitter marketing guidelines for those who are making a move.

Of course, you can easily create an account to tweet on behalf of your company, but read on for further advice to get the most out of the microblogging platform.

1. Use Promoted Trends or Promoted Tweets to Publicize an Event

Twitter is all about discovering what’s going on right now. As Bain notes, many users return to Twitter’s homepage a few times per day just to see what’s trending. Promoted Trends leverage that phenomenon by giving advertisers a premium position on the page.

Bain says that this can yield much higher engagement rates than standard online advertising, for example, banner ads. Introduced in 1993, banners have notoriously low click-through rates, even though such advertising is still growing rapidly. (Proponents of banners also point out that, while the ads work fine for raising awareness, direct sales are still measured by clicks.)

Nevertheless, Bain says Promoted Trends and Promoted Tweets yield engagement rates between 3% and 10% on average, and sometimes much higher than that. For instance, Volkswagen got 52% engagement on an April 18 Promoted Tweet for its 2012 New Beetle launch.

In this case, engagement is defined by click-throughs (which usually accounts for 80% of the total), retweets and “favorited” tweets. The buying process for Promoted Trends and Promoted Tweets and all of Twitter’s ad products follow a model similar to Google's -- marketers buy them in an auction at a cost-per-engagement rate, and then pay based on engagement.

Obviously, if you’re running a Promoted Trend or Promoted Tweet, it helps if you have some kind of news, product launch, or associated event. For instance, For instance, Coca-Cola earned high engagement during the 2010 World Cup — whenever a goal was scored, Coke would unleash a celebratory tweet.

2. Build the Brand With Promoted Accounts

While Coke’s case is instructive, Bain says that Promoted Accounts are likely a better vehicle for long-term brand building. “We ask, ‘What’s the lifetime value of a customer?’” Bain says, “We look at it almost like a joint business account.”

With a goal to gather as many followers for a corporate account as possible, Twitter positions Promoted Accounts in front of users who might be interested in the brand. Twitter gauges such interest by noting who said people follow and what they tweet. If you follow a lot of baseball teams, for instance, then a Promoted Account for Major League Baseball might make sense.

3. Use Your Hashtags

While “follow us on Twitter” messages from marketers appear ubiquitous, Bain says that hashtags can be more effective. For instance, after Audi included the hashtag #ProgressIs in its Super Bowl ad, the company “completely dominated” Twitter discussions about progress for the month, Bain says. RadioShack also used #youneedanewphone in April, and Comedy Central ran a #TrumpRoast hashtag at the bottom of the screen during its March telecast.

Like Audi though, you might decide to opt for an open-ended hashtag that encourages people to add their own thoughts. Late Night with Jimmy Fallon has driven engagement by running hashtags that invite audience participation, like #myparentsareweird and #thereshouldbealaw.

4. Counterprogram

During March Madness, AT&T aired constant television ads, but rival Verizon bought up all tourney-related Promoted Trends on Twitter. Verizon’s tactic secured the online discussion, Bain says.

5. Follow Through

Cultivating an audience for your brand via social media is more complicated than simply blasting out a TV ad. The key difference is follow-through.

Patrick Kerley, senior digital strategist with Levick Strategic Communications, says that Kraft Macaroni & Cheese’s recent Twitter promotion illustrates the consequences of a brand that fails to recognize the campaign tools available. In March, the brand ran a program called "Mac & Jinx" that rewarded people who used the phrase "mac & cheese" in their tweets. Kerley won the contest and its prize, but has yet to receive an email or other promotion, despite having submitted his email address. He also notes that, at the time, around 2,700 people followed @KraftMacnCheese. Kerley suggests, "Had the brand said, ‘Be the first person to follow us' or 'Follow us and visit this URL,' they would very likely be sitting on a very large online audience that could be reminded every day about the brand, its products and other promotions."

Coca Cola Use Facebook Places For Innovative Recycling Campaign

From SimplyZesty:

Coca Cola are a brand that are always ahead of the curve when it comes to social media and they showed that with their latest campaign video from Isreal where they used the recently launched Facebook places to encourage users to recycle their old bottles. They called it king of the recycle and over 10,000 recycling bottles were placed around the country and all given their own Facebook place. Users were then encouraged to check in to the spots and take photos as they recycled their bottles. The real beauty of this campaign is that it taps in to that feeling of social conscience with the theory being that if you see your friends recycling then you will feel nearly obliged to start doing the same yourself. It created huge buzz online which all reflected well on Coke for doing something to improve the enviornment (and sell more Coca Cola obviously). It’s another example of a great offline campaign that pushes in to the online world and indeed one of the best previous examples we have seen of that came from Coca Cola in Isreal last year.

Tips to improve your Facebook ad campaign

From SimplyZesty:

Given that we cover a lot of news on Facebook’s ad product developments, I thought I’d provide some tips on how to run an effective ad campaign and how to get the best return on your advertising spend. Optimising your ad campaign once it’s been set up is incredible important and is often something advertisers overlook, as it’s tempting to throw a couple of ads up there and let them do the work for you. This will only get you half the real results of an effective ad campaign however.

Analyse your Edgerank

Edgerank is the formula by which Facebook determines the likelihood of your updates to appear in someone’s ‘Top News’ section on their newsfeed. While some people choose to access content via latest news, which means they see latest updates as they come in, the majority choose to access content via their Top News feed. This is where Edgerank comes in, as Facebook selects the stories that appear in here based on what it deems to be the connections you’re most interested in – i.e. Pages, groups or people that you interact with most. If you’re investing in ads but not running an engaging Page, you could have a low Edgerank score, which means you’re paying for the fans at one end, but they’re not actually seeing your updates at the other end – the free part where you get to continually engage with your fans. You should use this free Edgerank checker to measure the score of your Page and work to continually improve this. Look for engaging updates, the days of the week when fans are engaging with you most for example, and tailor your activity off the back of this.

Avoid ad saturation

With the new ad report tool, you’re able to see how many times the average person has seen your ad. This is shown in the ad report under ‘frequency’. If you have a larger ad budget, or you’re targeting a very specific audience, the chances are the same people are going to see your ad again and again. So while you might think you’re continually targeting the right people for your ad spend, you could actually just continually targeting the same people with the same message, and they could actually start to get annoyed by your brand if they see it popping up all the time in their newsfeed. You can try and avoid this by regularly changing the text and image of your ad, if you are targeting the same people all the time, so that it appears fresh and you might eventually convert them into a click. It might also be time to review your campaign if you’re continually gaining impressions for the same people, but not generating clicks. A new tactic might be required, such as changing the target audience completely.

Just change one thing

When running an ad campaign on Facebook, it’s advisable to run different ads within the same campaign, so you can effectively optimise it after and see what’s working. We would generally recommend around 10 ads for each campaign, though this can vary of course if you have a particularly large budget. To get an effective view of how they’re performing, try just changing one thing between each ad. Whether it’s the ad copy, image, or target audience, if you change just one thing then you can see what the difference it when it comes to reviewing which ad is performing better. You could find that just changing the image in the ad doubles the click through rate. If this is the only difference between one ad and another that’s performing poorly, you know that image works and you can then roll it out for other ads.When making changes as well, try to leave them for a minimum of 7 days if you’re running a longer campaign, so you build up enough data to analyze for the ad, and you know it’s a fair test as you’ve accounted for all the days of the week, which can affect how an ad performs.

Target friends of connections

This is an option that not many people actually know about within Facebook ads. When setting up your campaign you have the option to choose to only show ads to friends of connections. This applies for Page ads, not ads that you’re sending directly to a website. What this means is that the only people that will see your ad, are those that already have at least one friend who is a fan of the Page. And while this works for allowing you to target similar audiences, it also guarantees that every time your ad is shown, it will display the name(s) of friends who Like the Page as well. This makes the ad appear instantly more engaging and the user is more likely to be drawn to it and click. This is incredibly effective and we’ve run ad campaigns before where we only have this option selected, with great success.

Go for little and large

While the targeting options available within a Facebook ad campaign allow you to select niche audiences for your product, I recommend running this strategy alongside an ad that targets a much wider audience. If you’re looking to create brand awareness, you can benefit from a lower cost per click for broadly targeted ads, and you can potentially reach new audiences that are relevant for your brand. Of course the niche ads will bring you traffic that is more likely to convert, but try running broadly targeted ad to see how this traffic is performing. This should only really be run alongside niche ads (unless you have a significant budget and are on a brand awareness exercise) that target lots of different niche audiences. So don’t just target 25-35 y/o interested in cooking, but try an older age range with the same interests. Don’t forget that with Facebook’s ad report you can see how many of your clicks are actually converting into connections (i.e. Likes), so you can effectively review how this ad is working for you.

Rest In Peace Marketing: I Never Really Liked You Anyway

From Brian Solis:

This guest post is by Michael Stelzner, the founder of Social Media Examiner and author of the new book Launch.

Social and selling just don’t mix. Have you ever been to a wedding sponsored by Nike? Does a future where restaurant tables display infomercials sound appealing?

The last thing anyone wants in a social context is a commercial. If you’re responsible for marketing your business, the time for change is now.

It’s time to pack away the marketing messages. If you don’t want to build a loyal and raving fan base, then simply promote the heck out of your products and services via every imaginable social media channel.

However, if you want to build lasting relationships with your prospects and customers, then keep reading.

Why Marketing Must Be Transformed

Here’s how the American Marketing Association defines marketing: “Marketing is the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.”

Focus on two words here: “exchanging offerings.” Most of us have been taught that marketing is about making an offer that attracts people. We’ve been trained to focus on crafting the right arrangement of words and delivering them in the right place, at the right time, using the right medium.

Here’s the problem… We’re treating people like fish. If we just create a better lure than our competitors, silently climb into a boat, and simply cast that bait right on top of our customers, they’ll bite. Or so the theory goes.

And the word “exchange” implies a two-way process between you and the customer. Your business makes an offer and the prospective customer is compelled to comply.

Strong Factors Working Against Marketing

Beyond not treating people like humans, marketers face more two large challenges.

People are tuning out: Channel overload syndrome happens when information is transmitted faster than it can be received. It’s like those intense rainstorms that cause raging rivers, taking out everything in their paths.

Instead of pouring down rain, bucket-loads of information are dumping on the brains of your customers and prospects. And simple umbrellas don’t cut it. As a result, people are retreating, shutting down, and seeking refuge from the information onslaught. People are literally tuning out!

Do people really trust your business?: Fewer than one in three people trust marketing messages, according to Edelman Digital’s annual survey of trust. That’s a pretty dismal number. The study also found that trusting companies is more important than delivering great products and services.

Do your prospects and customers trust you? If great products alone won’t gain the trust of consumers, what will?

If no one is paying attention—and when they do, they don’t trust you—what can your business do to gain the attention and respect of people?

People Are the New Way

If you want to connect with customers and attract raving fans, the solution is very simple: Focus on people. You can meet the needs of people by helping them solve their problems at no cost.

People’s core desires don’t change. Your audience wants access to great insight, great people and recognition. When you help people with their smaller problems, many will look to you for their bigger issues. If you can multiply free assistance by hundreds, thousands or millions of people, you can rapidly grow your business.

Content enables this!

When you provide engaging “how-to” information and assistance in the form of valuable gifts (without strings attached), it triggers the “How much more?” question. “How much more value will I gain if I hire this company or buy this product?” is the response many will have when they see the great value you provide for free.

I’ve developed a simple formula to show you how to grow.

Introducing the Elevation Principle

Here’s my formula for rapid growth. It’s called the elevation principle. When you follow this model, you’ll be able to take your business to new heights.

The elevation principle: Great content PLUS other people MINUS marketing messages EQUALS growth!

Caption: When you combine great content that lacks any obvious marketing messages with other people, your business can rapidly grow.

When you offer great content—such as detailed how-to articles, expert interviews, case studies and videos—that focuses on helping other people solve their problems, you’ll experience growth. Why? Because this type of content meets the needs of people. It doesn’t focus on you, your products or your company. It is a true gift to your audience.

The “other people” component not only means focusing on the needs of people. It also transcends your reader base and involves reaching out to people outside your company, such as industry experts. These outside experts possess amazing knowledge that your audience will find very valuable.

The last part of the formula is to deliver this content in a marketing-free zone. Once the marketing messages are caged, the focus of your company shifts from “What can we sell you?” to “How can we help you?” You shift from pitching products to boosting people.

Instead of investing in ad space, you invest in creating content, experiences, gathering places and communities where people who need help can find it.

You have the chance to own the place people go to for help, eliminating your reliance on traditional marketing channels. You can become the center of your industry, niche or local market. And when that happens, you’re launched on an unstoppable trajectory that will take you places you never imagined possible.

The Social Media Rollercoaster

From 1000heads.com:

By James Whatley

Summer is coming and – between the torrential downpours – the sun will be shining once again.

Last weekend, while queueing up* for Adventure Island‘s RAGE rollercoaster on Southend Seafront, I began wondering how theme parks could use social media and further engender positive word of mouth.

And, it was after reading Joe’s post earlier this week around the Social Season Ticket, did I then decide to put my thoughts down on paper – so to speak.

To my mind, theme parks and attractions have a fantastic opportunity when it comes to social media. Standing in line amongst the other would-be screamers, my brain started buzzing. So much so, I made notes -

‘Wouldn’t it be cool if each main attraction at a major theme park had its own Twitter account broadcasting not only for ‘on brand’ messaging [ie: ‘Boo!’ for the haunted house] but also – and much more importantly – up to date queue time information. As a guide for the more socially-savvy guest, this service could prove invaluable.’

This is not an untouched area in this industry. Back in February, Alton Towers announced they were a launch partner for Facebook Deals here in the UK. According to their site:

“On Friday 18th February 2011, the Alton Towers Theme Park opened a day earlier than planned for the Half Term holiday, offering exclusive use for anyone who checked in with Facebook Deals on that day. Guests were able to enter the Theme Park with up to three friends, completely free. 100 lucky people will also claimed a hotel stay on the night of 18 February 2011, completely free!”

Very swish.

As with any industry, it really does depend on how much time and money theme parks want to invest in making this a success; is it a case of a simple Facebook promotion [Like ‘Thorpe Park’ on Facebook and get 10% off your ticket entry] or do you want to go the whole hog and have Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare integrated across every branded touch point [including your entrance ticket].

My advice?

As ever, choose an objective and stick to it -

• Want to increase footfall?
  Great, run an online ticket promotion
  
• Want to sell more gifts + toys?
  Offer Foursquare deals at specific stores across the park
  
• Want to help control traffic around the park?
  Introduce ride-only Twitter accounts which tweet when the queues reach over an hour
  

One last idea from me -

Why don’t theme park ride photographs post straight to Facebook?

This is such an obvious and quick win. Photos get uploaded to Facebook, guests like the page and then are able to tag themselves post-visit. Ultimately, sharing branded experiences with their Facebook friends using branded photos.

It’s certainly better than forking out £8.00 for an old school photograph that you’ll probably get crumpled up on the way home…

All of that aside; as an avid theme park fan myself, if Twitter was used as an information service for each ride? I’d be there like a shot.

6 New & Innovative Social Media Campaigns to Learn From

From Mashable:

We’re always on the lookout for innovative social media campaigns at Mashable. This week we scoured the web and our Twitter feeds to find some of the most interesting campaigns out there.

From utilizing online video in an inventive way to creating a unique presence on Facebook, these six social media campaigns are some of the most original pieces of work as of late. Let us know about your favorite recent social media campaigns in the comments below.

1. Intel: Targeting a Digitally Savvy Audience

Ad agency Amsterdam Worldwide unveiled the first in a series of blogger films, called “Visual Life,” for technology brand Intel back in January 2011. The series showcases top bloggers discussing how they use technology and how it has transformed their work.

The first video of the series documented the work of fashion blogger and photographer Scott Schumann, The Sartorialist. The video garnered nearly a quarter of a million views in its first two weeks and has been viewed more than 850,000 times on YouTube and the Intel site, helping increase Intel’s YouTube channel views by 200%.

The video went viral when it was embedded on The Sartorialist blog, but also gained a lot of views from Facebook, The Cool Hunter and mobile devices. This campaign has done quite well, as it targets a digital savvy audience that is interested in learning about how top bloggers are utilizing photo and video technologies. Such viewers are more likely to share the videos with their social graphs, increasing the virality of the series.

This week, the campaign launched its most recent video (embedded above), which documents the role technology plays for two young Chinese wedding photographers, Kitty and Lala.

Overall, the series takes on a lifestyle approach that is uncommon for tech brands, focusing on the effects that technology has had on each video’s featured subject, both personally and professionally.

2. The Century Council: Using YouTube Ads for a Good Cause

In April, The Century Council, a national non-profit organization dedicated to fighting drunk driving and underage drinking, teamed up with a bipartisan group of 23 attorneys general from around the country to release a creative public service announcement (PSA) in conjunction with Alcohol Awareness Month. The attorneys general each taped an animated or radio version of the PSA that encouraged kids to say “yes” to a healthy lifestyle and “no” to underage drinking. The animated version of the PSA leads attorneys general through many scenes depicting the type of behavior that the council is promoting.

The campaign, called “Ask, Listen, Learn,” has proven to be an amazing success, garnering millions of views via The Century Council’s YouTube Channel. Much of this success was due to smart ad placements on YouTube.

“Utilizing YouTube’s TrueView ad format, we worked with Google’s specialists to buy keywords likely to rack up traffic fast within our core demographic,” says Ralph Blackman, president & CEO of The Century Council. “For example, two of our top five Ad Group Themes were ‘first dance Justin Bieber youtube’ and ‘Baby lyrics Justin Bieber YouTube.’ Utilizing YouTube’s TrueView format, we were less concerned with ad waste and more concerned with impact, as disinterested users were more likely to skip through the ads, resulting in no cost to us.”

“Our main goals were to get our message across to kids nationwide and to put the participating attorneys general in front of their youngest constituents,” says Blackman. “In that regard, we considered our ad buy an enormous success. We racked up more than 2.5 million views over the campaign, had all of our videos frequently embedded, and had website traffic at 11 times its normal levels. Our view-through rate hovered at around 25%, with daily views anywhere from 60,000 to 125,000. Many attorneys general afterward said they were surprised at the reach it delivered as well — constituents frequently mentioned seeing their PSAs.”

3. Johnson’s Baby Canada: Offering Low-Value Prizes for High Return

Johnson’s Baby Canada tripled its Facebook fan count in just three weeks with a baby photo contest that offered users the chance to have their little ones featured on the Johnson’s site.

For Johnson’s Canada, offering a low-value prize (placing a baby’s photo on its website) yielded high returns in fans and engagement. Besides tripling its fan base, it also garnered more than 1 million visits to the Facebook application, more than 3.5 million photo views, and more than half a million votes. The brand benefited from entrants who shared through their social graphs to rally votes; there was an average of 10 clicks per shared link.

The campaign was developed by Edelman Digital on the Strutta contest platform and was available in English and French, as it was targeted towards a Canadian audience.

4. Ford Fiesta: Behind-the-Scenes Product Placement

Car manufacturer Ford, product placement company Stone Management and online marketing agency Wpromote, recently teamed up to launch a behind-the-scenes social media campaign in conjunction with the forthcoming Tom Hanks film Larry Crowne.

The campaign promotes the Ford Fiesta via product placement and features Hanks’ assistant Bo Stevenson, also known as “FiestaBo.” During the filming of “Larry Crowne,” Stevenson and Stone Management took videos and pictures of behind-the-scenes action, which would later be used as engaging content for both the movie and the new Ford Fiesta. The content was then posted to YouTube and Facebook. The YouTube channel has received more than 70,000 video views, and the Facebook Page has garnered nearly 16,000 Likes.

In the embedded via above, Stevenson explains the campaign as a “social media experiment” that attempts to give fans a true behind-the-scenes look at what it’s like to work in Hollywood. As Stevenson assists Tom Hanks, viewers get to see what it’s like to drive Hanks to work every morning, fetch a typewriter for Hanks to make old-school script changes and chat with the other actors on set.

While the success of the campaign is mediocre, we’re more impressed with the innovative approach to product placement. As the film wasn’t car-centric, Wpromote and Stone Management needed to launch a creative way to showcase that the Ford Fiesta was key to the movie’s filming. Highlighting the daily life of Tom Hanks’ assistant as he drove around in the lime green Fiesta was an inventive way to do just that.

5. Samsung: Driving Engagement and Sharing

Created by social media agency Ignite Social Media, Samsung TV’s “Like It, Reveal It, Win It” campaign features a weekly product giveaway on Facebook that incentivizes users to participate regularly and invite friends to join them.

After “liking” Samsung TV’s Facebook Page, users are able to enter to win Samsung products by unlocking pixels, which can be done by recommending the contest to friends. The more pixels a user unlocks, the more chances he or she has to win the hidden weekly prize, a Samsung TV-related product. The contest also dynamically incorporates hidden Easter-egg prizes that can be unlocked instantly.

Unlike a standard contest, where users enter once and then leave the page, this campaign actively engages fans on a weekly basis and gives them a reason to invite more of their network to the page.

Facebook fan acquisition is Samsung’s key goal with this campaign. The company saw an increase of more than 12,000 new fans within the first week and a half, and reports that growth seems to be accelerating as the contest continues and entrants reach out to their networks.

6. Mello Yello: Relaunching with an Existing Fan Base

Remember that citrusy soda from your childhood called Mello Yello? Well, it still exists, and it’s doing what it can to make a comeback.

Mello Yello recently relaunched its brand under the campaign “They Call Me Mello Yello,” which circles around retro kitsch and a remake of Donovan’s 1966 hit song. The brand is utilizing social media, especially Facebook, to spread its message.

After discovering a consumer-created Facebook Page for Mello Yello, marketing agency BFG Communications identified the owner of the page, contacted him and worked with him to transition it to an official brand page. At that point, BFG worked with Mello Yello to develop a brand voice by creating a character sketch that would become the framework for the tone, language and topics the brand would use on Facebook. This distinct voice officially came to life as the brand took on management of the Facebook Page in August 2010, focusing on posting fun content, answering fan questions and responding to comments.

The Facebook Page features a Retro Smooth Photo Generator, which enables users to transform a photo of themselves (by uploading or using their webcam) from “not so smooth” to “smooth,” using a hipster-feeling photo filter. The Page also features a Smooth Quiz, where users can find out just how suave they really are. For a limited time, users can also download the free “Mellow Yellow” remix.

“The goal was to reach 10,000 fans by the end of 2010,” a brand representative told Mashable. “Without any gimmicks or ads, we surpassed that goal within one month of content and community management. The Page continues to grow, and currently has around 78,000 fans. It is also notable that about 80% of the Page’s fans are 24 or younger, showing that the brand is reaching a new generation of fans, not just the consumers who remember Mello Yello from the early ’80s. Many brands focus on bells and whistles to attract a social media audience. The Mello Yello experience shows that personality, content and responsiveness, while simpler, can go a long way and lead to long term engagement.”