Author: Drew Neisser

For Twitter Newbies

Posted on by Drew Neisser

A number of my friends have been asking for help as they get started on Twitter. Having written a bunch of emails to them, I figured I consolidate my advice onto one page. For you veterans in Tweetland, never mind. If you are still wondering why to Twitter, read Chris Brogan’s guide for newbies.

1. Where to start

  • Register on Twitter.com and provide a complete profile since this will make it easier for people to decide if they want to follow you.
  • I recommend you use your full name since this is not about cuteness or anonymity but rather connecting with people you might actually want to meet or at least have a conversation with at some point.
  • The next thing I’d recommend is that you download TweetDeck and use this to tool as home base for all your twittering instead of Twitter.com. TweetDeck makes it easy to track the folks you follow, have direct conversations and to “retweet” which I’ll explain more about later.
  • When you start visiting other Twitter home pages, you will notice many of have interesting backgrounds or more information. Zugara has created an easy tool to customize your background if you are so inclined.

2. Finding twitterers to follow

  • The great thing about Twitter is that you can follow people from all walks of life and it is completely up to you the mix of people you choose to follow.
  • To get started, pick a personal passion and a professional passion and look for lists of Twitterers in those areas. You can search for names or topics on Twitter Search.
  • Send an email to your peers/friends and ask them if they Twitter. If they do, then go to their Twitter home pages and see who they follow (look for the tiny head shots on the lower right). Then click on some of these head shots and look at those people’s Twitter home page to see if their Tweets interest you. If they do, hit the follow button on the upper left.
  • Then look at who these people follow. Ultimately, you start to find the superstars of Twitter who have thousands of followers but only follow a select few. Here’s a list of the Twitter elite according to Twitter Grader. Also, Paul Dunay has compiled lists of C Level Twitterers that is worth reviewing.
  • Word of caution–be selective initially about who you follow. It takes a lot of time to follow a lot of people and it may overwhelm you to try to follow too many at first.  One quick means of evaluating a potential tweeter is the ratio of followers to following–beware of the ones who follow thousands but only have a few followers.

3. Read, retweet, share links then share thoughts

  • My recommendation is that you spend you first couple of days just reading Tweets to get the hang of it. If you are following people that say interesting things and post interesting links, you will find it endlessly fascinating.
  • Then start retweeting or RT. This is the equivalent to forwarding an email and this is very easy on TweetDeck. Just hit the retweet button and then post. Retweeting is a way of paying respect to the author and sharing goodness at the same time..
  • I spend much of my time on Twitter reading the articles that others share via links. Because tweets are so short, a whole industry (like TinyURL.com which allows you to create aliases for your shortened URLs) has popped up to reduce the length of these links. Tweetdeck has a built in tool for shortening URLs but sometimes I find it easier to use Twurl which sits right on my Firefox browser. You can download Twurl from TweetBurner which has a bunch of other useful tools.
  • Now start tweeting away. My suggestion is that you only tweet about what you’d want to read about. Keep the “I’m eating bagels for breakfast” tweets to a minimum. Honestly, no one really cares unless you’re Barack Obama or Britney Spears (for more celebs who Twitter click here.)
  • Once you build a following, you will find all sorts of ways to make Twitter work for you (see my blog post for a few suggestions).

4. Playing catch up

  • Twitip.com, Mashable and Twitfacts have tons of useful information about Twitter and will get you connected with all the latest uses, add-ons, variations and extensions.
  • Both Blackberry and iPhone have Twitter applications that make mobile tracking and tweeting a breeze.
  • Among the essentials add-ons is Twitpic for photo sharing.
  • If you are so inclined, you can update your Facebook, Plaxo status and your WordPress blog with your Twitter posts. I have found this to be useful since it simply extends the reach of my tweets and keeps those other pages fresher.
  • Once you get the hang of it and start to attract followers, I have found it useful to create an auto response to welcome followers. Some consider this bad form but for busy people it is far better than doing nothing. Tweetburner makes setting up an auto response fairly easy.
  • Since you will quickly notice a number of Twitter words like hashtag, tweme, tweetup, and twirt that may not make sense to you, you’ll find this twictionary worth bookmarking.

That should get you started. Have fun tweeps.

Dr. Pepper Comes Up Roses

Posted on by Drew Neisser

A couple of months ago, I had a conversation with Joan Voight for an OMMA article about a PR stunt by Dr. Pepper. The article just appeared in OMMA’s March 09 issue and is well worth reading. The basics gist is that Dr. Pepper promised a free soda to everyone in the U.S. if Guns N Roses ever finished their long awaited Chinese Democracy album (see AdAge). Well to make a long story short, GNR did release the album and Dr. Pepper did give away the soda  but all did not go according to plan.

Here are my rather extensive notes from my call with Joan which will make a lot more sense if you are familiar with the promotion already or read Joan’s article…

As far as I’m concerned, this is one of the best PR stunts of the decade. Most PR stunts have little connection to the brand essence and generate but one blip. This program, in contrast, has already generated 8 months worth of substantial press coverage that is consistent with the brand persona. DP at its best is a quirky individual with slightly offbeat tastes in soda and music. DP’s connection to offbeat music goes way back. DP’s connection to GNR is not forced. The brand people were true GNR fans. DP could act like a true GNR fan because they were GNR fans. The stunt reflected a true fans understanding of the bands 14-year struggle to get out a new album. The fact that the offer of free DP was not available to former GNR members, Slash and Buckethead, further demonstrated a true fans understanding and the quirky sense of humor that informed the whole effort.

The fact that their servers crashed and their toll-free number was swamped is further testament to the success of this PR grand slam. It seems that just about every media outlet covered the free DP offer back in March and then again in November when the album did come out. DP made the arrival of the long-awaited album more of an event that it might have been. DP cleverly inserted themselves into a bit of pop culture history. How amazing is that after making the announcement back in March, Axl Rose actually responded to a 2nd tier soda brand? When was the last time a pop culture icon engaged in a conversation with any brand for free? GNR had no problem with this stunt back in March. It seems clear they welcomed the support and appreciated the sense of humor behind the free soda offer. Only when DP couldn’t keep up with the demand for the free sodas did GNR express concern. GNR’s request for an apology from DP is yet another fortunate wrinkle in this stunt for DP. It simply extends the news value and gives DP another chance to engage in a public conversation with GNR. Now it is up to DP to capitalize on the situation with a tongue in cheek apology and perhaps another consumer offer that again would be carried by the media for free. I would think that another 24 hour window of free sodas should absolve them of any charges of over-promising.

From the beginning, this was a “win/win” situation for the brand. If the album didn’t launch, then DP got extraordinary press coverage that connected the brand with the plight of GNR fans all over the world. If the album did launch, then DP would have one of the most cost-effective sampling programs ever. As it turned out, DP delivered thousands and thousands of coupons at nominal cost. Ironically, the awareness and interest in the brand generated by this stunt is greater than any of DP’s recent advertising campaigns at a fraction of the cost. DP couldn’t have dreamed up a more cost effective sampling program.

This stunt is further support for the old credo the “all PR is good PR.” Ultimately people will remember that somehow DP was connected with a pop music happening. They will remember that DP is a true fan of GNR and has a quirky sense of humor. DP has tapped into something deep and would be smart to mine it for all its worth. Perhaps they can demonstrate this kind of insider music fan knowledge with another rock icon.

Sure some folks were peeved that they couldn’t get their free coupon and perhaps DP should have anticipated greater demand. DP responded by adding another 24-hour window which is probably more than most companies would have done. DP fans will not hold this against them. Non-DP fans might remain angry for awhile but that it is a small price to pay for such a salient PR bonanza.

Capturing email and addresses was another savvy move by DP. The recent Catalina Marketing study suggests that a very small percentage of users account for an inordinate share of consumption of any one brand. Having the email addresses of your heavy users is essential to efficient marketing. With all these names in a their database, DP now has the opportunity to isolate their heavy users from the riffraff who just wanted a free soda. Once they do that, they can have an on-going dialogue with their fans, pushing out content and offers that are both relevant and rewarding. DP generated this invaluable data base at a remarkably low cost thanks to all the free publicity which must be making the folks at Pepsi and Coke wishing they could “be a pepper too.”

Freebies for Foodies

Posted on by Drew Neisser

MediaPost did a great little round up of free offers from various restaurant chains in the last few weeks. What they noticed was that several of these brands were able to achieve similar results to Denny’s without having to buy a SuperBowl ad:

Quiznos gave away a million subs in three days after using only banner ads, Facebook and Twitter presence and some free local radio exposure.

International House of Pancakes just completed its third annual National Pancake Day on Tuesday, in which it gives away a small stack of pancakes and in return asks customers to consider donating to the Children’s Miracle Network or a local charity.

Since neither of these programs received much traditional advertising support, they exemplify the power of well managed social media programs:

Social networking and restaurants are a logical match, says Reggie Bradford, CEO of social media marketing consultancy Vitrue. “Food is naturally social,” he points out. “Where do you want to eat? Do you want to grab something here? This is translating to online conversations around restaurant brands. We’ve seen tremendous adoption of social media strategies among QSRs and fast-casual restaurants.”

Combine social media with freebies, and you’ve got marketing dynamite. “Giving away food in these uncertain economic times obviously resonates strongly with consumers,” Bradford says. “Huge gains are being made by brands who are reaching out to consumers with something tangible.”

Given the economic “nuclear winter” that we find ourselves in, free is one of the few words that will truly turn heads. Sure, any moron can give stuff away free. The question becomes, can you give stuff away in such a way that you attract and then maintain new customers as well as reward existing customers for their continued loyalty? Denny’s certainly tried by doubling up their wait staff and making sure that the chefs were up to the task. I can’t speak for IHOP and Quiznos but certainly with all the store traffic their freebies generated, they had the huge opportunity, an opportunity made all the easier via social media.

Don’t Brush Away Free

Posted on by Drew Neisser

Giving away free samples doesn’t have to be boring.  Colgate proved that by cleverly embedding their message in the very foods that can cause tooth decay.  Here’s what they said about it at Creativity

Colgate normally gives out small product samples at annual events like “Oral Health Month” to remind consumers, especially kids, to take better car of their teeth after eating sweets. This method does not drive strong results as most consumers tend to forget the message, even if they have collected the samples.

Instead of giving away product samples, ice cream and cotton candy were given out. The stick carrying the ice cream and cotton candy also carried a hidden message. Once consumers are done, the message printed on the tip of the stick shaped like a toothbrush reveals “Don’t Forget” with the Colgate logo. This simple message effectively reminded consumers to brush their teeth

With this clever promotion, Colgate is also providing a genuine service to its consumers.  Reminding someone to brush right after they eat something sweet couldn’t be more timely.  Put another way, it would be impossible for someone to brush away this helpful reminder.

Serving up Free

Posted on by Drew Neisser

So what do you do when you have been around forever and newer brands seem to have passed you by? And yes, bitching and moaning won’t help. First, of course, you’ve got to talk to your lapsed customers and find out what’s wrong. Then you’ve got to fix the problem, typically by upgrading your product or service. And then you need to do something dramatic, something newsworthy, something disruptive that causes your lapsed customers to become reacquainted.

“Nice theory Drew but does it work?” You bet your sweet hotcakes it does. Just ask Denny’s. Denny’s? Yes, the very same brand that you have been driving by everyday and probably haven’t eaten at for 10 or more years. Denny’s who very familiarity caused it to blend into the landscape. Eight years ago, CEO Nelson Marchioli described his company as “in a ditch.” It took him most of that time to fix the food quality, add new products and get the service up to par. And once it was fixed, he knew they needed to do something dramatic to get folks reacquainted with his restaurants.

Marchioli is quoted in USA Today as saying “I’d rather give something away than discount it.” He added, “if I’ve got something that I think is wonderful, I want to get it into the mouths of customers.” Thus was born their “free Grand Slam breakfast” campaign that was kicked off with a three million dollar ad on the SuperBowl. The results of their $5 million marketing investment are nothing short of astounding:

  • Denny’s served roughly 2 million free meals on Tuesday (2/3/09)
  • The campaign generated over $50 million in PR coverage
  • Denny’s and related promotional terms like “free Grand Slam breakfast” were 5 of the top 40 search terms on Google Tuesday
  • Denny’s sold enough high-margin beverages to pay for the cost of the food
  • Denny’s generated tremendous good will among many of the customers that visited

“Free is an emotional hot button. When free is concerned, there is not downside” says Duke professor Dan Ariely. So Denny’s used the promise of free food to get back on consumer’s radar. Smartly, Denny’s was ready for the burst of attention both online and in their stores. Denny’s purchased several keywords to make sure consumers could find their local restaurant as they searched online. In-store, Denny’s doubled their staff to make sure their new customers had a positive experience.

Time will tell if this was simply a blip on the radar or a new beginning for old Denny’s. In the meantime, feel free to serve up something free to your lapsed customers and see what kind of sizzling response you can cook up.

Denny's hit a Grand Slam with this free promo
Denny

AmEx Open for Service

Posted on by Drew Neisser

American Express has been committed to the notion of Marketing as Service for a long long time and their programs have been featured in this blog (many, many times). This commitment continues even in the current economy as reported by fellow Renegade, Trip Hunter:

Yesterday at the B-B breakfast I saw Marcella Shinder, the VP of Brand Strategy for Open from American Express speak about their marketing efforts during these troubled times. Aside from the fact that she was the only optimist of the group, what appealed to me most was how Open is using Marketing as Service to deepen their relationship with their customers. Marci explained that their mission is to provide tangible ways to help small business manage and grow that are appropriate to the times.

Sounds like a bunch of marketing speak until you visit openforum.com, a social networking/resource site designed to facilitate information sharing among small business owners. Besides the wealth of information that many small business sites have, Open Forum seems to go a step farther by creating a robust social network where members can engage with the best small business bloggers, or join forums concentrated around their topic of choice.

Home page of American Express Open Forum
Seems like a good time to me to be charged about Marketing as Service. Assuming small businesses continue to use this service and find ways to survive now, surely they will be that much more loyal to American Express when its time to thrive.