I Ate The Bones!

A new boneless chicken ad campaign has been recently launched by KFC with the tagline, "I ate the bones!" KFC believes this new tagline and hashtag are certain to go viral. So confident in fact, that they are spending an estimated $50 million on this promotion! Although KFC is still the #1 chicken chain in the country, they're feeling some serious heat from the #2 competitor, Chic-Fil-A and are hoping this campaign might help bolster their lead. To be honest, we have to agree that the two new commercials we have seen touting #iatethebones are pretty hilarious -- take a look: [youtube=http://youtu.be/foGgNP2DgT8]

Although most companies with a knowledge of the power of social media understand the importance of including a hashtag in a marketing campaign, one must approach with caution. Hashtags are a mode of aggregating content on Twitter, Instagram and other platforms. They are not only used to measure engagement on a platform, but to also be the glue in conversations between users. Whether a company chooses to create their own hashtag or simply enter into a conversation that is already taking place to 'own the moment,' it can greatly effect the overall success of a campaign.

From our experience, it's best to keep hashtags short, easy to remember and seamlessly integrated throughout other marketing channels. It should be top of mind for users -- an immediate connection between the product being sold and the company at hand. Sadly, there are many brands that currently promote social hashtags that are either too long, complicated or are unrelated to the overall initiative. These companies miss out on a very simple and easy engagement with users, therefore eliminating the chance that one would remember the original brand messaging at a later time, preferably around the time of purchase.

Thankfully, we're confident that #iatethebones will be quite the success for KFC. The commercials are funny, relatable and make you want to say "I ate the bones" tagline out loud. With electronic devices at a user's finger tips around the clock, it's no wonder that the hashtag #iatethebones was taken directly taken from the main line in the ad to be promoted on social. It's a natural transition from the offline ad to an online experience.  And although the campaign is still new, we believe that these factors make the overall campaign memorable and highly engaging!

What other companies do you think have had success with hashtags?

- Mike & Samantha

$50 and 90,000 Followers Later...

I came across a very interesting article yesterday on how easy it is to become internet famous with a few hours of work and a couple bucks. A man named Kevin Ashton used his internet prowess to create a fake online celebrity known as Santiago Swallow. Kevin documents how, after only 2 hours of work and $68, he was able to create a web presence that scored a 754 out of 1000 in consumer influence according to Kred, one of the largest companies that claim to accurately evaluate online influence.  Kevin used methods from creating a fake twitter with auto-generated tweets and 90,000 purchased followers to registering a full Wikipedia page and website.

Kevin didn't even think of the name Santiago Swallow himself, he used an online name generator. Now I don't think it is going to shock anyone to hear that there is some dishonest activity being perpetrated on the internet. However, what did surprise me was how easy and cheap it was to do what Kevin did. If he can do it, what is stopping anyone else from doing it? Are the people or companies you follow on Twitter really as influential as they seem? Is Justin Bieber really the king of Twitter with 38 million followers or did he buy a couple million of those? We may not see flat out deception like we do here with Santigo very often, but I would bet this form of "reputation enhancement" is more prevalent than we think. For the full article please use the following link:

http://mashable.com/2013/04/18/become-internet-famous/

-Mike

Facebook Everywhere!

The most recent big news coming from the giant that is Facebook is the release of Facebook Home.  You have most likely seen the commercials by now but still might be wondering what exactly Facebook Home is bringing to the table. Facebook Home is not actually a new OS for your phone, it is simply a new home screen that adds a few new features. We have gone through all the new features and have listed what we love about the new interface and a few things we are not so crazy about. The most obvious change to your phone running Facebook Home is going to be the home and lock screen, called Cover Feed. Your lock screen will be a full screen shot of your cover photo with a smaller bubble of your profile picture, that is used to navigate through your phones options by swiping.

I will admit this is a sleek looking design, but I am not sure how I feel about looking at the same picture of myself every time I want to access my phone.  This Cover Feed will also display all your notifications from Facebook, email, missed calls, etc. The full notification functionality will only work on the HTC First, which is the first phone being released to have Facebook Home stock. Everyone else who decides to download the Facebook Home software onto a different phone will only get their Facebook notifications on the Cover Feed. While the functionality of this notifications system looks great, the fact that everyone without a HTC First will only get their Facebook notifications may create some unhappy iPhone users. I also have a feeling people are going to have to put some serious filters on their notifications or they will be inundated by notifications every time they access their phone.

Perhaps my favorite feature is what they are calling Chat Heads. This allows for messages from your friends to pop-up on your screen over other apps. This means if you are in the middle of an article online, or you are about to break your high score in Angry Birds, you do not have to exit out of that app and navigate to your message app.  It will simply pop up onto your screen with a small "Head" of the person sending the message and the message itself. These Heads can also be moved anywhere on your screen so they do not interfere with more important business.

It will be interesting to see how consumers take Facebook Home. Sure people love Facebook, but is this just too much? Personally, I am not sure 90% of the notifications I get from my Facebook are important enough to have staring at me every time I check my phone. I do, however, really hope the Chat Head idea takes off and we get more versions of this floating message service available.

-Mike

Going Social After the Boston Bombings

As a woman who was born and raised in the great city of Boston, there are no words that can accurately summarize my emotions after hearing and seeing yesterday's bombings at the Boston Marathon. The images and first person accounts that were shared will forever remain in my heart – a horrific incident that hit way too close to home.

But, it's tragic events like these that I find interesting within my own social space. Personally, I saw friends tweeting #prayforboston within the first few minutes after the story broke and as expected, my Facebook wall was slammed with posts expressing extreme sadness and anger toward those responsible. But professionally speaking, how does an event like 9/11, the Newtown shooting or the Boston bombings effect larger brands on social platforms?

For once, they make brands go silent.

Although there is some debate around what a major brand should do on social during/after a large tragedy, a brand’s reasoning for going quiet is done with both good intentions and a bit of selfishness. On one side, we recognize the loss and sadness associated with the life-changing event. Our content simply wouldn’t make sense to share, nor would it resonate with fans, especially during a time when the nation is grieving. On the other hand, some brands believe in posting consistency with a main goal of beating Facebook’s EdgeRank and showing up higher than competitors within newsfeeds -- but, no one really wants to be the one brand actively posting in a newsfeed filled with content surrounding a tragedy. For those brands that saw this as an opportunity – or accidentally had posts pre-scheduled to go live during this time frame – many were met with a negative backlash from fans and non-fans alike for being insensitive.

From a community manager of a few large brands, it’s often the safest decision to cease all social engagement until a 24 hour period of bereavement has been allowed. Unless you have a meaningful and direct connection to the tragedy, this means no posting, no tweeting, no Instagraming and more. Yes, a brand’s messaging will be not top of mind for fans for a day or two, but this overall respect for the emotions of fans will resonate louder than a product-centric post.

Although you may not see every brand following this recommendation, see if you notice those that do. Then, respect them a bit more for giving fans their space during this terrible time.

What do you think is the appropriate move for brands after a national tragedy?

xx Samantha

Who Actually Uses Social Media?

If you were asked who uses social media, most people would probably be OK with the answer: everyone! While it may seem like everyone in the world is on social media right now, it can be interesting to actually break down the statistics and take a look. Besides, who doesn't love a good infographic? Most of this information may not shock you, but one stat that surprised us was the By Household Income. According to this research, the lowest income bracket (30K and less) has the greatest percentage of social media users, 71%. This may be counterintuitive due to the fact that most people would assume the more household income, the more digital devices to use social media with.  However, like we posted recently, more people are reported to have mobile phones that toothbrushes these days, regardless of income.  Does lower income cause greater social media user, or does more social media use cause lower income? The 21st century version of which came first,  the chicken or the egg.

-Mike

Bad Breath: A Global Epidemic

Some research reveals that there are 4.8 billion mobile users but only 4.2 billion people with a toothbrush. -Jeff Bullas

So apparently there are 600 millions more people on this earth that own a mobile phone than a toothbrush. That's quite the interesting, albeit scary, fact. At least this means you can call these people rather than speak to them face-to-face, since no one likes morning breath.

-Mike

#music

Following the recent addition of Vine, Twitter has stepped up their game once more with its new music service. Although there has been no official announcement from Twitter execs, a buzz has been growing primarily off of quotes from Ryan Seacrest. Apparently chosen as one of the priveledged few to give this new service a test run, he tweeted last thursday: “playing with @twitter's new music app (yes it's real!).” The new service was rumored to be launching yesterday, but the true functionality has yet to be seen. Going to www.music.twitter.com will bring you to the new login screen, but unfortunately  loops you back to the original login screen. It seems Twitter still has a few kinks to work out, but based on their history of success, it is only a matter of time before  this new service is up and running with the big boys.

It will be interesting to see what the finished product looks like and how it functions. Although there are existing music discovery websites and applications out there, none of them come close to the reach of Twitter. Initial reports are pointing towards an embedded music player within the tweets which we believe will be a key factor in its success. If users are forced to click on links, therefore opening up a third party service, that will certainly hamper Twitter music's advancement in the market.

This new service has the potential to revolutionize the music industry. Not since the days of MTV's TRL has there been a centralized platform for trending music reaching millions of people. It is safe to say that we are excited for this new service and cannot wait to get signed up and try it out!

-Mike