Cookies and Stream

Social Media marketing is a strange beast and the things that work can really surprise. In previous articles I've talked about how using Twitter and Facebook 'properly' is totally different from the way it is being used by most. The issue is that using it the way it should be is both time consuming and difficult, the later for the simple reason that getting it right is not that simple.

Stream Marketing

This new term concerns the 'rivers' of comment that come from the 500 million people on Facebook and 200 Million on Twitter. Tapping into these rivers has been dubbed "stream marketing," by a certain Mr. Lazerow. Mind you, we do have to bear in mind that his company helps brands use Social Media to best effect, but even with this in mind what he says does ring some bells.

He reckons that what goes into those ceaseless rivers including updates and content from fans and friends, is some of the most powerful and important creative that we're going to see. What's more this content is 'talking the way that your customers talk', for the simple reason that it is your customers talking!

This however gives writers a bit of a problem as it requires a different set of skills to what most of them are used to produce. Gone is the 'promote or die strategy', this perhaps being changed to 'promote and die' as it seems people don't want to talk brands, instead they just want to chat and not be sold to while they are doing it.

"May the 4th Be With You."

An excellent example of something that worked (and surprised all when it did) was the message that BlackBerry used to celebrate Star Wars day. The Tweet turned out to be one of the most effective they have ever sent. The Tweet actually reached 150,000 people,and 98% of responses were positive. They were also mostly seen as a positive association with the brand, and what's more increased followers by 15%. Not bad for Tweeting something that had nothing to do at all with the brand in the first place.

As Mr Wallace of Blackberry said, "You need to be skilled at understanding how a seemingly random-type message can -- in the end -- contribute to the company brand."

Redefining relevance

It seems marketing executives all over the world are having experiences like Blackberry and Mr Wallace. In the past marketing was all about 'Relevance', but the rise of Facebook and Twitter looks to be forcing a change and redefinition of what is Relevant in the first place.

It seems that people using social networks don't actually want to read and talk about your products, they it seems just want to talk. The experts will tell you that promoting a brand using Social Media has always required that conversational touch, but many are surprised by just how conversational.

In fact there is increasing evidence that the most effective kinds of Social Media marketing are simple, random, even banal posts and Tweets.

Examples of ones that have worked are 'What are you doing this weekend?' or 'What is your ideal holiday?' Simple posts like this commonly receive in the region of 8,000 likes and 500 comments.
Reaction to these posts far outpace other conventional ones which concern product tips.

Perhaps the time when you spend a lot of money and time on creating and approving messages is over, it being replaced with very simple questions, like 'What's your favorite film.'

So your content should lean towards the conversational

The experts are now saying that 66% of a company's Facebook content should be conversational, but saying that the exact ratios will vary depending on the market place. Also with the whole area being so new there is little data around to tell anyone just how conversational posts compare to promotional ones in terms of marketing success, but much evidence is clear.

Some data from Facebook shows that 'conversational posts' produce eight to 12 times the response of brand oriented ones. It's not always about your brand, it is all about the fact that people are there to connect with other people and not you. Getting them to connect with you means getting them to like you.

And at last the Cookies I mentioned in the title

Oreo Cookies in the USA are masters in handling the balance between brand promotion and conversation. Examples from some of their recent posts and the responses are:

1. "Ever try dunking an Oreo cookie with a fork or anything else?" 8,200 likes and 2,300 comments
2. "Pick a flavor, any flavor! If you could create a new Oreo cream flavor, what would it be?" 7,100 likes, 12,500 comments

So it seems that using Social Media is more complicated and unusual than many thought, it is certainly going to lead to 'Interesting Times'.