A Big Waste of Time?!?!?!?

Tweeting your Social Media

In the wake of Social Media Empire's fickle following now companies are utilizing Social Media in new ways to reach out to their potential clients and hopefully tap into new clientele and achieve more business.  One such case is Social Media Savvy companies reaching out to High School Seniors to get at some of the $1,139 average that is spent per family on prom per yer.  Per family per year.  Think about that a minute....  thought about it?  Good.

So say we have 200 people in a graduating class, and 80% of that number go to Prom, for our sake we will exclude the possibility of people who are not part of this schools graduating class from our numbers.  So we are looking at about 160 students attending Prom out of 200.  So these 160 people will spend an average of $1139 per person.  What does that mean?  Well in layman's terms it accounts for about $182,240 spent on one night.  This money is of course divided up amongst all expenses, so we have Prom Tickets, Dinner, Limos, Flowers/Courasages, Tuxes, Dresses, Hotels etc etc etc.  But the kicker really is that that is just one school, one Prom, and one Graduating class, yet we see over $180,000 of potential income.

Now let's consider that according to Better High Schools Org in 2004 there were 18435 high schools averaging about 768 students.  Supposing that 25% of those students are Seniors we are talking about an average of 192 Seniors per High School.  If we stick with around 20% not attending we have about 153.6 Seniors who will go to Prom.  That's about 2,831,616 Seniors going to Prom, not to mention if they bring any outside guests or go to multiple Proms, this also excludes any underclass-men proms, such as Junior Proms.  No the kicker, this equates to about $3,225,210,624 of potential revenue for businesses associated with Proms.  Pretty crazy right?  Just wait until you read the article at goo.gl/BCgd0.

Weapons of Mass Distraction

Social media is such a focus in our everday lives that we sometimes mistake everything that we read for truth, without checking the facts.  Recently there have been breaches in secuirity for Social Media accounts belonging to various Firms and Organizations, such as the debacle that the Associated Press dealt with last week when their account was hacked and the results of the fraudulent posts caused panic and stock market prices to drop.  As a result the Commodities Future Trading Commission is looking into imposing regulations and rules, and holding companies and firms responsible for their Social Media output, especially in the event of their security not preventing a breach, as stated in the following link goo.gl/3aH5W,  proving that Social Media can be used to the end users goal, whether that is for good or malevolent purposes.

Tweet Twit!

 

Social Media is unavoidable if you are looking to work in or create a business.  Effective use of it is crucial to the success and reputation of a business.  It is the first line of defense, a way to connect and a way to promote and brand your product, but we have said all this, now it is time that we practice it a little.

I have made a twitter account for a Photography Business that I am looking into getting up and running in the Cleveland Area.  It can be found at goo.gl/Jn0u2.  The page is basic right now, containing the name of the business and the Facebook page link, again it is important to use multiple channels to communicate and brand your business, as well as optimize your exposure to potential clientele.

Duck, Duck, Goose!

One organization that utilizes Social Media effectively is the Duck Tape Company, goo.gl/pPuli.  They create interaction with their potential clientele by alerting them to joint ventures, contests, specials and even just random surveys about your favorite Duck Tape.  This kind of attentiveness is great for the short attention span of today's Social Media users.  Along with the various aspects of their marketing plan, such as scholarships for those who make their prom outfits out of Duck Tape, their efforts have not gone unnoticed.

With that I am signing off for this post, tune in next week were we will further discuss Social Media Networking and Social Media Marketing, as well as take a more thorough look at Marketing plans that utilize Social Media and how to grow your business through Social Media.

 

 

Marketing

Marketing is a beautiful thing and can be a power tool to get your brand out there, but it can also be treacherous waters and it is best to proceed with caution.  It is said that one who does not heed history is doomed to repeat it, and it is with that mindset that we will proceed.

The video above illustrates some of the marketing mistakes that can be made when a proper research and development is not put into a marketing strategy.  Many of the fails above were brought on by a companies shortcomings, whether this is shortcomings in design (Ford, Honda), misunderstanding customer need/want for their product (Coke), bad research (Ayds, Snickers), giving a bad perception to your business (Skittles, Burger King) or just plain alienating your core business (Netflix).  All these companies have lessons that are to be heeded because they can be applied to any marketing plan.

I have not failed. I’ve just found 10,000 ways that won’t work.

~ Thomas Alva Edison

Failure is the Key

Failure is the key to success.  We do not need to fail to succeed, however we do need to heed failures, be aware of how we can fail and learn from them to succeed.  These failures do not need to be our own failures, we can learn from others, the important thing is that we learn of the failures.

Marketing Success

Failure is the key, but Success is our goal.  To become successful we must understand failure, but we also need to understand what successful companies are doing to gather their business.

Adobe Marketing Cloud

Adobe has a great marketing plan for their Adobe Marketing Cloud.  They have a series of videos which throw in a slew of technical Jargon, but does not isolate their clientele that they are trying to attract.  They make their videos memorable by adding humor, while at the same time cutting the through different levels of terms in Marketing, starting with some of the more advanced jargon and going to the more basic keywords that everyone is familiar with by the end.  The high production quality, humor and simple and message that they offer a service that has no "BS"  is effective, I know that they offer the service for my website.  The one thing that they do not really convey to me is how they are better than some of the other competitors out there, as a consumer I want to be educated, I want to know what I am buying and why I am buying it.  I want to know the technical stuff, the jargon.  I don't want to walk into a room, or talk to someone and not know what I am getting, and I don't think Adobe does a good job of relaying whether they offer some of that with their service, the simplicity and explanations, or if that is a pursuit that their clientele has to pursue on their own.

Southwest Storage Solutions

 

This video is a little bit longer, and a bit ridiculous, but it illustrates a point for a very specific market.  In need of a more efficient way to utilize the storage space in your warehouse?  The product that is being sold, which yes it is a real product, is one that can aid business that are looking to become more organized and have limited space.

Creative Marketing (GenArts Motion Graphics & Design Reel)

Humor works wonderfully, and it is a great method to attract your audience, but it is not the only method which can be used.  A creative and styled approach can be a wonderful way to entice your audience and grab attention, and when coupled with humor you can wind up with a very powerful, memorable and effective marketing tool.  This video shows a couple different styled approaches that have been used by different companies.  What's different about these videos?  The visual component.  The previous videos had a large focus on an audio component, it wasn't just what was being seen, but what was being said that made the product or brand stand out, with this last video we are deprived of that stimulation, and our focus is left to that of our eyes to interpret the message.  What do we see in this video?  How does it call the product to us?  How is the brand promoted?  The way in which this is successful marketing is that it is styled, it is intriguing because of the way in which the idea is extraordinary and different from the common.  

What is the Message?

What is your message and how will you convey it?  Ultimately your medium is your message, all aspects of that medium.  A successful message will utilize that medium to the fullest extent, pushing the boundaries of every aspect of it.  In the case of videos, such as the examples previously shown, these need to be both visually stimulating, as well as mentally stimulating.  Essentially fun or interesting to watch and listen to, while still conveying the message in a straightforward way that creates awareness about your brand.