Bikeshare Olympic Campaign Takes Silver

 Since receiving this assignment, I have had my eyes and ears peeled for social media campaigns in bus shelters, train stations, radio broadcasts, window decals and podcasts.  Aside from some podcast hosts closing their broadcasts asking listeners to check them out at their handles, I did not notice any social media campaigns, for a couple of weeks! I was really surprised. I thought social media was everywhere, and everyone was hustling for followers. It was not until I deliberately walked up to a Divvy station to see if their social media channels were listed. It turns out their Facebook and Twitter profiles were posted very inconspicuously at knee-level, blocked by a bike. After finding Divvy on Facebook, I discovered the campaign #DIVVYGOLD in which Divvy is challenging their followers to power through winter. 

This February, Divvy, IDOT’s local bikeshare program, is enacting its annual challenge to followers to keep riding and pedal through the harsh Chicago Winter with their #DIVVYGOLD campaign. Much like a loyalty card awards points, the “Winter Medalist” challenge gives bronze, silver and gold medals to cyclists that log their ride by sharing and tagging through March 4th. Winners receive digital metals and an invitation to a victory party at Emporium Arcade Bar. Divvy promises weekly updates, so riders can keep tabs on their progress. To make things interesting, Divvy has released a limited-edition gold Divvy bike, prompting riders to snap photos of and chose this unicorn bicycle for their trek, hence the hashtag: #DIVVYGOLD. Divvy-ers are also encouraged to post pictures of their pre-ride prep, cold weather gear and other tips to inspire fellow riders. 

Initially my impression was that Divvy’s social media presence was pretty weak. However, they have over 12,000 Facebook followers and close to 15,000 Twitter followers, all following the #DIVVYGOLD campaign. It appears the campaign is doing what they had planned. Followers/riders have accepted the challenge and are excited to claim their bragging rights. They are engaged, sharing, using the hashtag and tagging their friends. Because of that, it seems effective. Divvy is also very active in commenting on riders’ posts. 

However, this campaign does not make me any more or less likely to use the bikeshare and definitely not in the winter. I am more of an indoor person during this season. Riding a bike would be more of an inconvenience for my business professional daily routine. I would be interested in taking advantage, and biking to work, but arriving sweaty with frizzy hair is not an option for me. Also, my bag with my laptop is large and weighty, not conducive to cycling. I think the target market for this campaign is active urban commuters and explores with a more casual lifestyle that do not mind the cold, and possibly already use the service.

Ultimately, I think Divvy’s campaign could be more effective by posting the challenge description at the point of service, or at the very least, include the hashtag on station signage. This could possibly draw in their riders that are not followers yet or encourage passersby to follow and then become riders and maybe Winter Medalists. They could also have done more to leverage relationships with the party venue and or cold weather gear brands. For example, Divvy could have posted a feature on their Facebook for Emporium Arcade drawing in the bar’s followers, or tweeted at Under Armour to see what their suggested products are for keeping warm on the roads, thus getting attention from the brand’s followers. For the most part, it seems like an effective campaign in the early stages of an annual program. 

Integrating Radio Advertising with Social Media

    As someone that has a past in the radio industry, I have seen many different forms of advertising and marketing campaigns. In fact, when I was in charge of the advertising campaigns, I also integrated the advertising with our social media pages. While the radio group that I worked with was not large at all, our clients did see quite a bit more business with our social media posts, along with their air time.

    While this did take quite a bit of convincing, I was able to get my old boss to sign on a sponsor for our weather updates. These simple 5-15 second readings were able to make money with something that we were doing anyways, and took very little time for us to include in the broadcast. In addition to this, we also wrote weather updates on our Facebook pages, which would also include the companies name, and a link to their website. We did try to keep the sponsorship relevant to weather, and we ended up having a local outdoors shop as the sponsor. This ended up bringing more people into the door for the shop, and they continued to sponsor the weather updates until I was finished at the station.

    With something like a weather broadcast, it is relevant to everyone. Even with this, we still targeted the advertising to someone that would be getting outdoors and enjoying the weather, or dealing with the elements. Since we tagged the store in our social media weather posts, we were able to get exposure through their social media sites as well. This drove people to our stations, and also to our other advertisers. This ended up being quite effective, and beneficial to both parties.

    While the reach for this campaign was very limited, we were able to see more traffic to our social media pages, even if it was just through a simple weather update. The only way that this could have been more effective, would be if the weather sponsorship would have been with a larger radio station with a larger broadcasting range. This is what the store ended up doing, and I can only imagine that their business has only benefited from this. For someone that is into outdoors such as myself, hearing a shop like this advertising on weather updates, I would probably check it out. It is not a very sophisticated form of advertising, but it is quite effective.

Uber: A Viral Approach to Social Media Marketing

As referenced in last week's assigned reading, word of mouth advertising can be one of the most powerful tools a business can use to drum up sales.  While imagery in advertising is meaningful, a recommendation from a friend almost always trumps an unknown company's billboard, radio, or television ads.  Uber harnessed the power of social media to expand their user base by giving riders free rides when they shared discount codes which were used by friends.

These efforts were not cheap but they were effective.  As social media users share more and more details about their lives and their life actions, the word Uber has become synonymous with the action of going somewhere.  Phrases like "I'm going to Uber there" have become mainstream and reference anytime a person is planning to use a ride sharing service to get to their destination.  While Uber is not the only ride sharing company to attempt this type of viral social media marketing, they have in my opinion done the best job.  For example, when is the last time you heard someone say "I'm going to Lyft home tonight"?

Uber's social media efforts have been effective because they had a clear goal of who their target audience was from the start.  Uber's business model works well in urban and suburban environments with people who both trust and lever technology to simplify their daily lives.  Their business model is predicated on saving consumers money by creating a more efficient livery system.  In order to use Uber an individual must have a smart phone with the Uber app installed.  What other apps do people have on their phone?  If you have the Uber app installed on your phone, open your phone and look at the surrounding apps.  I would bet within one to two apps proximity of the Uber app you will find Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, or some other social media apps.  By allowing people who already want to lever technology to save money on a service they already planned to use by simply clicking on a page they were already looking at and sharing a code with friends they already insist on sharing information with, Uber successfully had their customers perform their marketing efforts for them.  

A New Age

The technological age has changed the tactics in which marketers do their jobs in mostly every industry. Well, not only marketers but other professions too. Take an Artist in  the music industry for example, with physical sales of music declining as a result of the new technology. Bands, rappers, instrumentalist and so forth are receiving most of their revenues for live shows. Still, though the path is slower, revenues can be made off of song streams and online purchases- not to mention merchandise. Just like finding the perfect venue, the Artist most know where and how to stage the product (song, album, etc.) for the best customer experience.

Now that there are streaming services like Apple Music, Spotify, Youtube, and Tidal access to large libraries of music has worked in the favor of thr consumer but puts the artist in an sticky position. Consumers can now get a subscription for $10/month and receive over hundreds of  dollars worth of content. Streaming services are seeing a lot of traction with this move and artist are seeing the audience, but not so much the dollar...at least not yet. Streaming artist get a percentage of a play, that's price is based off what type of subscriber has listen (Trial user or Full-time Subscriber). In the sense of marketing, an artist would want to have their content on these services for better visualization, and hopes to convert a consumer over to their own direct-to-consumer web page.

It's the conversion opportunity artist should look for when deciding how and where to stage their content. Apple - a marketing genius- trolls you almost every time you open the it's music app about joining Apple Music or using the trial-month. The social influence that comes with Apple products as well should peak the interest of those choosing to use Apple's platform for product placement. Everyone, from grandchild to grandma seems to have an apple something, and that something most likely has an music app asking you to sign up for Apple Music.

Taking this audience and have them literally, turn from consumers to fans of your music by converting them from Apple Music to let's say, "www.willienelson.com" will have them purchasing directly from the artist and increasing engaging ability that would've been less effective otherwise.

Long Live The Artist,
Dione Goree

Wendy’s is more interesting than you

I feel like I’d be doing a disservice if I didn’t bring up Wendy’s and here’s why. Wendy’s social media campaign is very interesting and unique. Specifically, Twitter. They’re snarky to the competition and also find unique ways to joke around with customers. All in all, they get people talking. As of right now, they’re a part of the most retweeted tweet ever. On January 4^th of this year they came up with the holiday “National Roast Day”. This was because someone tried insulting Wendy’s on Twitter the year prior and their response was so harsh (in a comedic way) it actually caused the person to delete their Twitter account. The next year, that account had people asking Wendy’s to insult them. This gets people talking and interested in their account. That’s the first step. Once people are interested in what Wendy’s has to say and enjoys it, Wendy’s can develop brand ambassadors just from their Twitter. It’s completely different than McDonald’s for example. McDonald’s has more of the standard campaign that can be a bit boring. Twitter is supposed to be fun and Wendy’s found a unique way to interact with customers, get them interested and involved in their business.

As far as it being effective, yes, I would definitely say so. Customers are asking Wendy’s Twitter account for advice on different things unrelated to food. They have become interesting to people because they’re not just tweeting out advertisements. People see past that. The target market is definitely geared towards millennials. It’s the largest generation (http://www.pewresearch.org/fact-tank/2016/04/25/millennials-overtake-baby-boomers/) and they’ve found a way to get them interested with a social media tool that they use. There are articles written about Wendy’s Twitter campaign which means it’s getting other people talking. (http://www.adweek.com/creativity/10-things-we-learned-about-wendys-twitter-from-its-reddit-ama/) As far as being more effective, they probably could by involving a celebrity in a faux twitter war or something along those lines. There are always opportunities for improvement, but they are definitely fun to keep track of. Take a look if you don’t believe me. https://twitter.com/Wendys?ref_src=twsrc%5Egoogle%7Ctwcamp%5Eserp%7Ctwgr%5Eauthor

How do You Choose Healthcare?

Advocate Healthcare: Inspiring medicine changing lives.
Advocate Healthcare: Tomorrow starts today.
And of course, the purple cross is media that is easily recognized across the greater Chicagoland area, because it is everywhere! Watch a Cubs game, you’ll see it on the wall behind home plate and in banner ads at a Bulls game. Billboards, busses, benches, TV, radio and of course social media; Facebook, Twitter, Instagram nothing is excluded from the barrage of Advocate branding.
I feel although it is a bit excessive, it works. Seeing ads that feature people attending to their own healthcare, hearing patients and their families tell stories of the miracles and care they received is, well, something you can’t ignore. Testimony and word of mouth are powerful in a way that reaches into the heart and strikes a connection. Advocate or any healthcare provider for that matter, can spend millions telling you they have the best doctors and it will not compare to the effect a patient or their family has describing their experience with the same team of doctors. That personal message from someone like you sharing a similar story is invaluable; not only from a marketing perspective, but also the patient perspective.. The target market is families and individuals; anyone with a pulse has healthcare needs. Whether for prevention or treatment, targeted ads such as these, help develop a relationship and put Advocate on people’s minds. The use of personal narrative is truly the most effective way to gain consumer confidence. The next time you see the signs or hear the message, will it become a part of the media clutter in our lives we pay little attention to, or will you act on it and choose Advocate Health?

Connecting People as a Product

The Product I am writing about isn't something you hold in your hands, but something that you connect with mind, body and spirit. It is music and how the marketing has changed since the arrival and use of the Internet

If you are a touring, professional musician, one of the most important aspects of your career is getting folks to come out to your shows. Back in time it was the sole responsibility of the venue owner to get the word out, post flyers around town and in the venue, to alert people of who would be coming to town to do a show.

Granted, the artist could tell friends where he was gong next and they could call their family and friends and alert them of an upcoming performance, but that has all changed, as the Internet and Social Media has grown.

For a touring musician, this is THE most effective way to get the word out about performances and CD sales. First it was with email and the web page that performers gained a forum to share their music and schedules. At concerts there would be a paper out on the CD table and fans could sign it, add their email, to get updates about the when/where/how of the music. 

It no longer became just the responsibility of the Venue to get the word out, but the Musicians began letting fans know when they would be in town. The target market could get an email the next time the performer was coming through town and ticket sales increased.

This quickly became a very effective practice. By example - where the Old Town School of Folk Music used to have weekly ads in the Sunday Chicago Tribune, that slowed down and today has all but stopped. The rise of social media and web pages make getting the information to fans in a new and better way...and less expensive.

Today, you can go to Facebook or Twitter or any Social Media site and you will find links to the performers and the venues. You can LIKE a page and then get posts when shows are happening and be on top of who is coming and setting your calendar so as not to miss them. One of my favorites is blues musician Keb Mo. Below is a link to his Facebook page, check it out. His web team uses social media very well and is very responsive to the fans, answering questions and keeping us up-to-date on his tours. And while a touring musician still may need a manger, that job description has changed and knowing how to use Social Media is at the top of the list of requirements. 

And, if Keb Mo is coming to town, DO NOT MISS HIM! 

Bryn, the music junkie and writing fool 

https://www.facebook.com/kebmo/

Social Media, Marketing, and Beauty made Simple

In a "I want it now" world, and with an economy that shows promising growth, companies more than ever target consumers through social media. It's no longer about "the hard sell", it's more about the slow temptation that drives the public to a particular brand.  For example, I took a look at Pinterest and noticed a multitude of beautiful women who wore Maybelline Cosmetics. Does that mean if I purchase Maybelline Cosmetics  I will be as beautiful as the women who showcase this brand of makeup? Or will I transform into Cinderella instead of looking like one of her evil stepsisters? I had to try my hand at this eye shadow! Low and behold, I fell for the marketing scheme Maybelline uses to peddle its wares.  I made a mad dash to my neighborhood Walgreens because social media has drilled it into my head that this chain of stores is customer focused. As I scoured the cosmetic isles looking for my magic in a compact I happen upon many other brands that do not suite my fancy. I am discouraged until I  finally find the item that is going to revamp my look and convert me into America's Next Top Model. I couldn't wait to get home so that I could have a makeup session and look as good as those that modeled Maybelline Temptation eye shadow on Pinterest.

The Maybelline Cosmetics campaign utilizes visualization to maintain and increase its customer base on social media. I find that this campaign is very effective considering the fact that the women were already beautiful before using this brand of makeup. I was so engrossed in the beauty of the images on my laptop screen that I really did purchase this compact. Although I am under the impression that Maybelline's targeted audience is the younger generation, I feel this company can be more effective by targeting women as a whole, not only by the beauty youth brings. With an array of makeup lines to choose from, Maybelline's marketing campaign on Pinterest is definitely an easy choice and is what I call beauty made simple.

For the assignment you will summarize, for your classmates, how a company (can be a national campaign or something local) uses social media for marketing.  There are lots of examples out there - look for them in bus shelters, train stations, radio broadcasts, etc.
In your post, describe the use as well as reflect on your impressions.

• Does this campaign make you more or less likely to purchase the product/service?
• Why/why not?  Is it effective? 
• Who do you think their target market is? 
• Could they be more effective? 

You will be able to review the blog posts of your classmates by viewing the links in Weeks 3 and 5.