DJ Rage: Elevating Dance Floors Worldwide

DJ Rage

Section A:

Background:
Tagline: Elevating dancefloors worldwide
Hashtags used by DJ Rage: ‪#djrage ‪#ragenation

Justin Harper, aka DJ Rage is a popular DJ located in the Orlando area. He has been DJ’ing since 1997 and specializes in spinning remixes in area clubs, weddings and special events all around the world.

https://vimeo.com/140330800

DJ Rage strives to enhance the experience of his audience. To offer total immersion with his music during a set, DJ Rage edits video (aka video DJ) with remixed music and uses them for projected background visuals.

https://vimeo.com/70244523

DJ Rage is the founder of FTC Productions, which is an event company handling special event production. They provide lighting, AV equipment and audio (recorded and DJ) for weddings, corporate functions and special events.

The primary audience For DJ Rage is 20-30 year old, young adults that go to clubs and like to listen to house music for the “club DJ” side of the business. For FTC Productions, the special and corporate event production side of the business, the primary target audience is a little older — adults aged 25-35.

 SWOT Analysis:

Strength
DJ Rage is a well-known DJ within the Orlando area and has a very large audience on social media. He has done many events both large and small and has references to back his talent.

Opportunities
The main opportunity for DJ Rage is his talent and ability to travel. DJ Rage already travels many times a year for work and if he can get gigs in larger cities and clubs, he may be able to extent his reach. He has a large social media following and these channels are an excellent opportunity to connect with many more potential followers by engaging and encouraging interaction with DJ Rage.

Based on my SWOT analysis, an integrated marketing communications strategy would lead to the best possible outcome for DJ Rage. By implementing a consistent brand campaign, targeting audiences using traditional (postcards, ads, posters) and non-traditional (social media, emails, e-newsletters, SEO) DJ Rage has the highest potential for success in growing his business and gaining more consumer engagement on his social media channels.

In conclusion, I believe that with some finessing, DJ Rage and FTC Productions could increase ROI by utilizing a more robust IMC. As long as DJ Rage is consistent in messaging and the process is organized, refreshing the website, social media and blog would be very easy and could increase consumer engagement and experience dramatically. DJ Rage has a great product — himself and his special event ideas. He just needs to self promote a little more efficiently by using social media hashtags, proper messaging which encourages engagement, cross-linking across social media platforms and ultimately, keeping his content fresh. Once a little time is set aside to create a simple editorial calendar, it would streamline the creative process and make easier to market across channels and maintain consistency. Thank you for your time.

Epcot’s “November to Remember”

The below is a sample of social media content I would create if I were the social media manager for the Epcot Center in Orlando. I am not affiliated in any way with Disney or the Epcot Center and this social media calendar is purely a learning exercise for a graduate marketing class.

Goals:

• Increase overall awareness of Epcot
• Increase consumer engagement of the Epcot Facebook Account by 15%
• Increase consumer engagement of the Epcot Twitter & Instagram Accounts by 15%

In order to standardize my posts and to increase audience interaction by “training” them to expect certain posts, I am choosing to do a daily theme that will be used throughout November. Below is a list of the daily hashtags I will use as part of my plan to increase awareness and highlight events happening during the month of November in Epcot.

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Daily Schedule:

Monday:  Who says Mondays can’t be fun? (#EpcotMondayFunday) Tell us how you are enjoying your Monday in Epcot.  (Facebook/Twitter)

Tuesday: A Taste of Epcot (#TasteofEpcot) Tag your favorite foodie pics from all over Epcot #TasteofEpcot. (Facebook/Instagram)

Wednesday: Woman Crush Wednesday (#WCWCinderella, #WCWSleepingBeauty, etc. ) Who is your favorite princess? # pics with your favorite princess from Epcot to let us know who has your vote.  (Facebook/Instagram/Twitter)

Thursday: Epcot at night. (#EpcotNights) Tell us where you are enjoying Epcot when the sun goes down. (Facebook/Instagram/Twitter)

Friday: Flashback Friday (#EpcotFBF)—Tag your past Epcot travels. (Facebook/Instagram)

Saturday:  (#EpcotSaturdaySelfie)— Take a selfie anywhere in the park and tag it #EpcotSaturdaySelfie (Facebook/Instagram)

Sunday: Sunday Family Dinners are a tradition in many households. (#EpcotSundayDinner) Send in a pic of your family enjoying dinner at Epcot for a chance to be featured. (Facebook/Twitter/Instagram)

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November 1 – 7

Sunday, Nov. 1: We love Sunday family dinners. Show us your #family enjoying dinner at #Epcot. #EpcotSundayDinner #Food&Wine

 

Monday, Nov 2: Take back your Monday! How you are enjoying your #EpcotMondayFunday? #Food&Wine

 

Tuesay, Nov 3: The #Food&WineFestival is still here. So much #yummyfood. Tag your favorite food from all over #Epcot. #TasteofEpcot #Food&Wine

 

Wednesday, Nov. 4: Vote now! Who’s your #WCW? #WCWSleepingBeauty #WCWCinderella #WCWSnowWhite #WCWAriel  #Epcot

 

Thursday, Nov 5: Epcot comes alive at night. Where are you enjoying #Epcotnights?

 

 

 

Friday, Nov. 6: Check out our uniforms. #80flashback #EpcotFBF

 

 

Saturday, Nov. 7: It’s the weekend! Time for #EpcotSaturdaySelfies. Show us your best.

 

 

 

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November 8-14

Sunday, Nov. 8: Feeling nostalgic for Sunday family dinners. Show us your #family enjoying dinner at #Epcot. #EpcotSundayDinner

 

Monday, Nov 9: Make the other days jealous! #EpcotMondayFunday

 

 

Tuesay, Nov 10: Nom. Nom. Nom. So much to choose from. Tag your favorite food. #TasteofEpcot

 

 

Wednesday, Nov. 11: Eat with the Princesses at Akershus & tell us, who’s your #WCW? #WCWBeauty #Epcot

 

Thursday, Nov 12: Enjoying the fireworks. #Epcotnights

 

 

Friday, Nov. 13: Who doesn’t love robots and big hair? #EpcotFBF

 

 

Saturday, Nov. 14: #EpcotSaturdaySelfies. Wherever you are, take a selfie.

 

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November 15-21

Sunday, Nov. 15: Everyone put down your phones and gather round the dinner table. Show us your #family enjoying dinner at #Epcot. #EpcotSundayDinner

 

Monday, Nov 16: Who says Mondays can’t be fun? #EpcotMondayFunday

 

 

Tuesay, Nov 17: Decisions, decisions… Where should we eat today? We can’t decide. #TasteofEpcot

 

 

 

Wednesday, Nov. 18: Original Pricesses vs new Princesses? Who’s your #WCW? #WCWMulan #Epcot

 

 

Thursday, Nov 19: Four words. IllumiNations Sparkling Dessert Party. Make your reservations now. #YumandWow. #Epcotnights

 

Friday, Nov. 20: #EpcotFBF That time when @JessieandDave were vikings in #EpcotNorway. Send us your #EpcotFBF

 

 

 

Saturday, Nov. 21: #EpcotSaturdaySelfies. Smiles and #Epcot go together like peanut butter and jelly.

 

 

 

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November 22-28

Sunday, November 22: Remember to be #thankfulforfamily this week. Show us your #family enjoying dinner at #Epcot. #EpcotSundayDinner

 

 

Monday, Nov 23: Who’s ready to start the week off FUN? #EpcotMondayFunday  JaMMitors@FutureWorld

 

 

 

Tuesay, Nov 24: Would I like some cranraisin bread pudding in England? Yes please. #EpcotEngland #TasteofEpcot #RoseandCrown

 

Wednesday, Nov. 25: Come to story time at the Akershus Royal Banquet Hall. Who’s your #WCW? #WCWBelle #Epcot

 

 

 

Thursday, Nov 26 (Thanksgiving): After turkey, we are hanging in Epcot World Showcase tonight to watch fireworks. Where are you? #Epcotnights #Thankful #Family

 

Friday, Nov. 27: #EpcotFBF Where do we land this thing? Send us your #EpcotFBF

 

 

Saturday, Nov. 28: #EpcotSaturdaySelfies. Where else can you can eat lunch in Japan and dinner in Paris?

 

 

 

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November 29-30

Sunday, November 29: Take a a break tonight and eat with us. Show us your #family enjoying dinner at #Epcot. #EpcotSundayDinner

 

Monday, Nov 30: Make Monday a day to remember. #EpcotMondayFunday

 

 

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It’s not that kind of Dribble…

A Halloween illustration shared by a designer.

Dribble is a popular social community for designers, founded by designers Rich Thornett (software developer/product designer) and Dan Cederholm (web designer). Together the two formed Dribble as a side project but it now has now become a “hub” for designers “to show and tell, promote, discover and explore design.”

Dribble.com shots

Dribble was first conceived as an invite-only site, but now is open to all and is very easy to use. Designers from across the world take screen shots of their work and post it online. Other designers can comment, like, share or rebound (a way to interact with the designer posting work.) Members can find inspiration by browsing the work of creative teams, read the design-related blog, go to a local meetup in their area, connect with individual designers or find work by categorizing themselves as a prospect.

Individual designer’s post. The candy corn emoji is also for sale on the site.

There are all types of designers on the site from apparel designers, to web designers, illustrators, graphic designers, photographers, font designers and animators that are available to engage with and bounce off ideas. Every day Dribble posts a few of its popular highlighted works that are the day’s favorites on the site.

The design team feed.

Because of its simple design and easy-to-navigate site, Dribble is a great site for designers and has even been dubbed the “Twitter of Designers” by Mashable. It is easy to connect with members, learn more about their creative process and glean knowledge from them. I see members talking through color schemes or more experienced designers giving feedback to less experienced ones across the world. The community interaction is awesome and I haven’t seen anyone give inappropriate feedback.

The Dribble Blog, Courtside.

Dribble’s dashboard makes it easy to meet the designers on the site and also connect with them on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram or follow their blog(s). When you sign up, you give your account names for FB, Twitter, Instagram, and your portfolio web address and then connect with other users through your social media accounts. I think all of the major social media channels would work well with Dribble. Instagram, Twitter, Facebook are already utilized but including Vine and YouTube for some of the animations could be beneficial as well.

Designers can find meetups in their local areas to find other designers.

Since a big part of Dribble is the local meetup section of the website, proximity marketing could be helpful to facilitate the meetings. It would be a little harder because designers are providing a service and don’t have brick and mortar stores, but a Dribble app could be used to locate other designers in the area and facilitate sending messages. It could use the functionality of the 5Mile app but instead of buy/selling things you could use it to find like-minded people in a five mile radius.

http://www.wix.com/blog/2013/01/social-networks-for-designers/

http://mashable.com/2010/04/05/dribbble-twitter-for-designers/#ZMWuKDGsh8qO

IMC is the Golden Standard.

When it comes to creating and maintaining a successful brand, companies have learned IMC is the best way to build a strategic marketing plan. This week I take a look at some of my go-to brands — Fabletics, Starbucks and Whole Foods to see how IMC plays a role in their websites, blogs and social media channels.

Fabletics.com

First, I’m going to look at the youngest company in the mix Fabletics. It is a subsidiary of JustFab and is an athletic clothing company that was co-founded by Kate Hudson in 2013. It mainly sells clothing on its e-commerce site but has six brick-and-mortar stores across the U.S.

Fabletics Facebook

Fabletics Google+

Fabletics Instagram

Fabletics Twitter

Fabletics Pinterest

Fabletics uses IMC in all marketing from website,  Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, Google+, Pinterest to its Blog, emails and even traditional advertising such as packaging, print and TV ads. The company drives traffic across channels using links for purchase or to engage the potential customer with additional content on its blog or website.

Fabletics Social Channels:

blog

Google 2,470 followers

Facebook 2,229,392 likes

Twitter 15k followers

Instagram 197k followers

Pinterest 37.5K followers

On the Fabletics website there are links to their social media accounts at the bottom of each page. Every day Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and Google+ are updated with a new post containing the same copy message, image or video and link (bit.ly) back to their website for purchase or has a “shop now” button. Fabletics’ Pinterest page has multiple pins that are pinned each day relating to their apparel, working out, hair styles, gym to street attire and nutrition. All of the apparel pins link (bit.ly) directly back to the e-commerce site to buy. Most of the other pins like nutrition or workout tips link back to the website or the Blog.

When posting, Fabletics does use hashtags, but don’t use more than a few at a time. Most are #OOTD, #toneitup or #sneakpeak to build excitement. Most of the posts contain Kate Hudson and give an insider’s look into her life. I believe this is why they have been able to create such a buzz around the company.

Starbucks.com

Next I will talk about a fan favorite and master of IMC, Starbucks. Starbucks is the largest coffee company in the world and the company is considered the second most valuable fast food brand worldwide, second only to McDonald’s. It sells coffee, food, mugs, coffee supplies and etc. in its own brick-and-mortar retail stores, ground coffee and roasted beans in big-box and grocery stores, has an e-commerce site and has licensed stores.

Starbucks Twitter

Starbucks Instagram

Starbucks Pinterest

Starbucks Facebook

Starbucks Google+

Starbucks Social Channels:

1912pike.com

Google 4,195,490 followers

Twitter 10.2M

Facebook 35,933,671 likes

Instagram 6 million

Pinterest 215.2K followers

IMC is prevalent across all channels of Starbucks’ marketing both on and offline.

Their campaign is cohesive and social media channels such as Twitter and Instagram are updated daily Monday through Friday with the same messaging, picture or video. Hashtags are used frequently in posts with many that are used daily such as #protip or #PSL (drinks of the season). Twitter and Instagram use links back to the website or more frequently, their Blog, 1912Pike to engage it’s customers, invite them to vote for flavors, enter into contests or give recipes and link to Pinterest. Social Media links are at the bottom of every page on their website.

Facebook and Google+  are updated less frequently, but usually every other day.

Starbucks updates their posts daily Monday thorough Friday but goes silent on the weekends even though traffic is higher those days. They must have seen consumer enagement analytics on the weekends was low. Otherwise, I’m not sure why they would not use those days to drive traffic to their stores and to their media channels.

Wholefoodsmarket.com

Finally lets look at Whole Foods Market. They are the largest natural and organic food retailer with 427 stores in North America and the UK and consider themselves, “America’s Healthiest Grocery Store.” Whole Foods has brick-and-mortar stores and e-commerce.

Whole Foods Facebook

Whole Foods Twitter

Whole Foods Google+

Whole Foods Social Channels:

Whole Story blog

Google 262,609 followers

Facebook 1,803,472 likes

Twitter 4.74M followers

Instagram 566K followers

Pinterest 272.4K followers

Whole Foods uses IMC throughout all of their online

Whole Foods Pinterest

and offline marketing channels. They have consistent messaging in-store, on the website, blog, on all social media channels and in traditional advertising i.e. print ads. They update Twitter, Facebook, Google, Instagram and the company blog daily with consistent messaging (pictures, video, copy) on each feed.

Whole Foods Instagram

Every post features links (bit.ly) to the website, blog or recipes on their Pinterest boards to engage the customer and offer additional content or buying opportunities. They are active hashtag users, and use hashtags like #tailgating and #oktoberfest with emojis of BBQ’s and beer mugs to match. Social media links are at the bottom of every page.

Whole Foods ups their customer engagement by offering rich content like recipes and how-to videos on their social media channels. They drive traffic to their company blog as well as their co-CEO’s blogs thereby giving personality to the brand.

Overall, Fabletics, Starbucks and Whole Foods all adhere to the IMC practice by offering rich content and link across media channels. They update their social media sites regularly but with the same information, reaching multiple audiences in doing so.

A Perfect Mix of Push & Pull

Target is a master of consumer engagement through utilizing push and pull techniques. Although Target does have multiple campaigns running simultaneously to influence specific audiences, every media channel both on and offline are cohesive in creative and when seen together fit within the over-arching brand strategy seamlessly. In-store promotions have the same brand personality as ads, direct mail, weekly deals, website, Cartwheel App, A Bullseye View blog, digital ads and etc.

Target outdoor billboards.

A Bullseye View, Target’s blog.

Cartwheel App navigation and virtual map.

Weekly mailer featuring “It’s a Plaid, Plaid World” Campaign.

Target’s offline push advertising consists of TV commercials, direct mailers, print ads, in-store signage (including floor decals, window clings, in-store displays and digital hyper-walls) all aimed at influencing the consumer to purchase. All of their traditional media pushes consumers online to the website, Cartwheel app or in-store to purchase or to retrieve special offers. They also offer in-store service pushes like the Beauty Concierge and Baby Advisor services where knowledge staff members help customers with buying decisions.

“It’s a Plaid, Plaid World” in-store display.

Target In-store digital hyperwall with product display which features sales of the week.

Weekly mailer with QR Code linking to website.

A new print push technique Target debuted uses Shazam to add augmented reality to print ads running in Vogue magazine. By scanning the page with the Shazam app, pull strategies launch on your iPad or smart phone such as behind the scenes video, photos, special click to buy deals and blog posts. This particular campaign featured Target fashion highlighting New York Fashion Week (#NYFW) and was even meshed with the “It’s a Plaid, Plaid, World” campaign. (The #NYFW and “It’s a Plaid, Plaid World campaigns were also featured on Target’s Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest and Instagram accounts.)

A behind the scenes look atTarget’s “It’s a Plaid, Plaid World” and #NYFW on Vogue.com.

When you hover over the Vogue print ads with your phone or iPad, video pops up to augment the content. Here are some examples:

 

The company uses online push advertising with the Cartwheel app, e-newsletters and Target account email e-blasts and CSR pop up windows to name a few.

Pop-up customer service help

An online Push marketing custom skyline banner at top pops up on pages.

“A Bullseye View” blog email newsletter signup, as well as social media links.

Online push, Cartwheel custom email.

Cartwheel push message sent to users smart phone.

For Target’s pull marketing, they add to the consumer experience with fresh content of the A BullsEye View blog, user product reviews, Behind the Pin video DIY help guides, custom shopping lists, Blog e-newsletter, behind the scenes YouTube video, look books. Their social media channels include links as well to improve the user experience and share-ability.

Online pull content, “A Bullseye View” blog post related to #NYFW and “Vogue.”

As seen on Target’s Twitter feed. #NYFW party on Periscope again featuring #NYFW and “It’s a Plaid, Plaid World” campaigns.

Instagram post, “It’s a Plaid, Plaid World.”

Throughout Target’s website and Cartwheel mobile app are opportunities to not only follow the company’s social media channels, but also share to your own social media accounts.

Links to social media which run at footer of every page or along the sides.

In my opinion, Target does a pretty great job of utilizing many push/pull techniques in their touch points. Frankly, I’m surprised how well they do considering how many touch points and services the have. But Target’s goal of increasing the shopping experience is hard to miss. One recommendation would be for users to add images and video along with the online reviews, but that would entail extra monitoring by Target and could have potential problems. Amazon uses a similar technique in their customer review sections and has increased the online shopping experience. Another pull strategy could be to allow online groups, again like Amazon does, so you can connect to other consumers with the same hobbies and shopping likes.

In September 2015 Target launched LA25. A pilot program where they are building test stores to launch new programs, services and digital products to increase the consumers shopping experiences with the end goal to increase sales. Maybe after Target does some more in-store and digital testing we will see even more improvements for the consumer while increasing profits.

Source links:

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/08/10/business/media/with-visual-recognition-vogue-ads-link-to-target-products.html?_r=0

http://www.digitaltrends.com/mobile/shazam-digital-recognition-new-target-ads/

http://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/21/business/target-q1-earnings.html?action=click&contentCollection=Media&module=RelatedCoverage&region=Marginalia&pgtype=article

http://www.vogue.com/TargetStyleMarketing/target_desktop/index.php

https://corporate.target.com/article/2015/08/plaid-fall-look-book

http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/06/adam-lippes-is-the-latest-target-collaborator.html

http://nymag.com/thecut/2015/08/targets-fall-collaboration-is-full-of-plaid.html#

https://corporate.target.com/Carousels/2015/08/Plaid-Lookbook

https://corporate.target.com/article/2015/09/la25-announcement

My Favorite Brand

I don’t even need to tell you the name. You instantly recognize the brand identity — the red bullseye logo. Whether you call it by the proper name Target or by my favorite knick-names, “Tar-jay” or “Red Circle Boutique,” you know as soon as you enter the store where you are and what to expect from your shopping experience.

You know that you went in for toilet paper, but you will walk out with other things you didn’t know you needed. There are even popular videos and memes about the “Target phenomenon.”

Every touchpoint inside the store from uniforms, shopping carts and signage; to social media channels; to traditional print ads, TV commercials and billboards — the brand personality of Target resonates with acute clarity and synergy. Its voice is funny, a little quirky, modern, bright & cheery and always helpful —this is reflected with great ubiquity in any thing you see and hear about Target online and off. 

There are Target customer advocates from all walks of life, rich and poor, single and married, all with diverse backgrounds. A recent story became viral when Mike Melgaard, one of Target’s loyal customers was so dedicated to the company, he posed as a customer service rep on social media and responded to Target “haters” over new gender neutral areas in toy aisles. After Target discovered what was happening, they responded to the customer service troll in quick-witted Target form. Even while responding to internet comments, Target always maintains consistent message and tone with style and humor.

According to Eric Hausman, senior group manager of PR and social media at Target, the company doesn’t believe in hard-sell tactics and would rather build long lasting relationships with its customers. “Consumers want to connect with brands. They want to understand who we are and what our stories are, ” Hausman says. 

And with Target’s many social media channels, blog and mobile app, they try to engage the consumers thereby extending the consumer experience.

The newest addition to Target.com I recently found is the “Behind the Pin Series,” which features quick video and step-by-step directions on how to DIY some of your favorite pins from Pinterest without #pinterestfail-ing. They use catchy hashtags like #kaboom which help the posts go viral and are branded within the same Target style, voice and tone.

Behind the Pin Series, “pb & yay” How-to Video Click here to view.

#Kaboom How-to make fruit skewers. Click here to view.

A touchpoint which proves Target is a true brand leader is the commercial creative which runs on both TV and its YouTube.com channel. Many have gone viral over the years and some are even considered cult-classics.

One of which is my favorite commercial of all-time — still has me saying “glitter” with jazz-hands.

Here are some of the newest commercials aired online that have given Target the “rules the internet” comment on their feeds.

A popular engagement tool Target has chosen to launch is “A Bullseye View” its own online magazine. Target works with over 16 bloggers to write content for their posts. it has over 100,000 unique visitors a month.

“A Bullseye View” online magazine. Click here to view.

As well as print ads, billboards and TV,  Target has many online touchpoints which help the retailer achieve brand awareness and consumer engagement. Here are links to all of Target’s social media channels: 

Facebook 

Instagram

Pinterest

Target Pulse Blog

YouTube

A Bullseye View

Cartwheel Mobile App

Vine

Classic Marketing vs. Social Media Marketing

For modern retailers and brands the direction of their communications strategy is one of the most important decisions they can make regarding marketing plans. These days, in order to reach audiences across the board, brands must use an integrated approach of using classic marketing and social media marketing in their media plans. Most modern consumers are savvy and do not take classic advertising whether it be print ads, TV, radio or billboard at face value. They know a “a sales/ marketing spiel” from a mile away and most skip through the commercials, turn the page or ignore the ad entirely.

Grabbing the attention of the masses is harder and takes a broader, more robust campaign including multichannel and multimedia creative.[1]

The most beneficial aspect of this layered approach is that classic marketing and social media marketing support each other and can drive traffic back and forth between the social media channels. [1] A print ad only talks to you, but it can use a hashtag or give you Twitter, Facebook, Instagram or YouTube information, and let the consumer talk back. Social media can help a brand not only organically by consumers talking, tweeting, referring or posting, but a brand can also talk back to the consumer by responding to posts or advertising directly in the channel.

Most people are overloaded with marketing messages all day. Especially for millennials, they no longer want a brand to talk to them, but want to be immersed in an experience in which they can relate and even contribute to the content.

Take Lowes for instance, they gave simple How-To advice on Vine. Lowes uploaded 15 second videos with easy step-by-step information on how to do small projects then gave the user a hashtag to post their own videos on social media.

Lowes on Vine. Click to view.

GoPro uses a similar tactic to keep the consumer involved. A production team goes on location, shoots video and posts to their website and on YouTube. The videos go viral and in return, they ask their audiences on the website, YouTube, Instagram and Vine feeds to shoot their own video or photos and upload to multiple GoPro channels or use #GoPro. The audience vies for a coveted chance to be featured on the website or on one of the brands social media platforms.

GoPro original video featuring a whale breach. Click to view.

User uploaded images on the GoPro Instagram feed. Click to view.

The language in classic marketing is vastly different than the way you communicate on social media. Classic marketing can lean towards “catchy” phrases and even rhymes that try to be memorable. I think most people know the jingle from commercials, “The best part of waking up, is Folger’s in your cup” or how about “Like a good neighbor, State Farm is there.”  The sad thing is, it might give you an ear-worm, but doesn’t make you want to buy. Even if you do remember the name of the ad, these days, consumers still go online to research before buying. McKinsey Quarterly estimates that “TV only is only 35 percent as effective as it was in 1990.” Therefore, brands are smart to have a social media presence that is on-brand with their classic marketing as well as a good online reputation and can’t be filtered out. [1]

There tends to have a specific formula in classic marketing. Take the standard print ad. It consists of a headline, maybe a subhead, marketing body copy with “why you should buy,” a call to action (call now) and a logo with a big image in the background. The conversation tends to be more formal, sometimes even with legal-ease at the bottom. The savvy consumer knows this model and will not buy something solely based on an ad. This is why most print ads, commercials, etc. drive user traffic to a hashtag or back to a brand’s social media channel.

Social media marketing is much more conversational and not long-winded. Twitter is only 140 characters, Instagram and YouTube are more about the visuals and  marketer can speak directly to a consumer on a channel to personalize the experience.

Taco Bell seems to hit this out of the park on a daily basis with their Twitter feed. They use tongue-in cheek conversational humor as they reach out not only to other brands, but also their audience.

@TacoBell and @MensHumor Twitter exchange

@OldSpice and @TacoBell in a friendly Twitter “feud”

Oreo and Pizza Hut also use humor on their Twitter feeds.

Oreo’s “Lost Oreo” on Instagram.

@pizzahut on Twitter. To me, you are perfect.

Lowes, GoPro, Taco Bell, Pizza Hut and Oreo have huge social media followers that are brand loyal. The brands all still do classic advertising but have ventured successfully into the social media arena to shore up the brand message and to hit additional audiences that aren’t seeing traditional media.

In short, brands today can no longer rely solely on classic marketing media and expect to succeed in the marketplace. In order to get traction with their brand amid a cluttered landscape, a multi-media, multi-channel technique has to be the standard practice in brand communications.

Additional links:

1. Antony Young, Brand Media Strategy, Integrated Communications Planning in the Digital Era (New York: Palgrave MacMillan, 2014), 17, 18, 19

http://www.adweek.com/news/advertising-branding/check-out-2015s-shorty-award-winners-best-use-social-media-apps-and-video-163627

http://www.adweek.com/socialtimes/michael-patterson-10-brands-amazing-social-media/624169