Posts tagged web 2.0
Contest vs. Free Labour
Apr 19th
What is the line between “Fan-Based Contest” and just getting your fans to do work for you?
I’m all for viral marketing, letting fans have a piece of the “invention” pie and so on. When I read the title of this article, I thought it was a cool idea and was interested to see how it was done and how its panning out. While popularity for the contest seems to be working, the promo work done for the contest by the fans is less than stellar to say the least.
Its seems Mountain Dew didn’t even allow the fans to help create the flavours. It started with 7 sample flavours. Narrowed down to 3 from there. Fans were then divided into “Nations” that were given the task to do everything to promote thse flavours including working with Mountain Dew’s existing agencies to create online promos. They were also tasked to go on a cross-country road trip to promote their given flavour. I wonder if these people were paid for their time and if, creatively, these are the ads that Mountain Dew would have wanted had this been done as an internal campaign rather than a “contest”.
Bears the ugly head of Spec Work…
Check it out: Mountain Dew Releases 3 Fan-Created Flavors
Study: Half Of Top Web Retailers Have No Meaningful Facebook Presence
Feb 16th
Is Facebook for ALL retailers?
I still remember when Flash came out and all my clients “needed” a new site done in Flash for them. At that time, SEO was not really holding hands with Flash and, while it made sense for some clients, I was still confused why other clients wanted to jump on the bandwagon for something that clearly may not appeal to their consumer base. This is more or less how I feel about retailers having a presence on Facebook. While I think it is a give in for some, such as Winners, who barely put something new on their page and it gets thread upon thread of user-generated buzz and feedback, it clearly may serve no purpose at all for clients that don’t have consumers that are active on Facebook or offer no added value to their Facebook presence. I know a certain car sharing company that did not have someone monitoring their Facebook page and when a concern was posted by one user, instead of addressing it asap, it was left for weeks. This unfortunately opened the door for their other Facebook fans to jump on the thread and complain about the company and their lack of customer service. It was addressed later, but that lack of constant presence, defeats the purpose of being there. So, for any companies out there that want to be part of the Facebook party — please make sure you have the resources to do it right or it will bite you in the ass!
Check it out: Retailers and Meaningful Facebook Presence
Moms Place Trust in Other Consumers
Feb 10th
Mom’s are looking to real feedback through social media methods to help them make purchasing decisons
As a newer generation of internet-friendly moms are emerging (perhaps?), more and more of them are looking online for help in deciding what products to purchase. Looking to everything from forums to YouTube to Facebook (to name a few options), it compares only to in-store sales in deciding factors! It makes a huge difference seeing/reading a review by someone who has actually experienced the product rather than just reading a spec sheet and product description given by the manufacturer. My latest thing has been to look to Consumers Reports (with a subscription for full access) for unbiased testing reviews paired with user reviews to make major purchasing decisions. I guess its not just moms that are looking for real reviews.
Read the article: Mom’s Place Trust in Other Consumers
Using Social Media in Your Business
Feb 10th
Its the buzz in Business — Social Media — But how should they actually use it effectively?
Its like when Flash came out — everyone wanted a website in Flash — whether it was useful to them or not. This is on a greater scale now. Social Media is a whole realm. There are so many options and opportunities that lie within it that can either be useless to a business, damage a business but hopefully help a business. The question is, how to make it a positive experience for both the business and it’s consumers across various platforms?
Check it out: How Social Media Can Work Across Multiple Parts of Your Business