If Twitter consisted of 100 people

I recently saw this post and graphics on Mashable: If Twitter consisted of 100 people.

The fantastic research and graphics are from the Information is Beautiful blog.

If this is applied to your Twitter followers, what's the true percentage of your target audience that wants to hear from you and engage with you? It's likely a small percentage of your overall followers, as many people are only following your account in the hope that you'll follow them back so they can broadcast to you. It can feel like everyone has a megaphone and no one is listening.

That being said, it is possible to reach your target audience via Twitter and engage with them for mutual benefit. I suggest using HootSuite to find your audience by the subjects they are likely to be discussing and politely adding to the conversation and following those people.

Place your emphasis on quality, not quantity. There are Twitter users who have upwards of 100,000 followers, but they are all talk, all the time and people are most likely ignoring them. I'd bet there are other Twitter users with 100 followers who are actually getting more results from their efforts because they placed their focus on quality.

Mobile Internet access to eclipse desktop access by 2013

Here's a graphic that shows that more people will be access the Internet on mobile devices than on desktop/laptop computers by sometime in 2013. Thanks to the folks at the Hubspot blog for this.

So, have you started thinking about mobile in your branding strategy yet?

How mobile phones are changing social media

This very interesting social media graphic was placed on the HubSpot blog. Very interesting to see that mobile social media users are more sociable...my wife often tells me I'm being anti-social when on my iPhone.

Successfully changing perceptions of the Old Spice brand

If I asked you a year ago what came to mind when I said "Old Spice", what would you say? For me, it would be a reminder of my grandfather, a coal miner - a "manly man" - who would put on Old Spice aftershave when he cleaned up after a hard day at work. The brand was very effective during his generation; however, over time, the brand began to shift from being associated with manly men to being associated with old men.

Old Spice and its agency, Wieden + Kennedy, were faced with the challenge of shifting that perception for a new generation of customers. They developed a brilliant branding strategy that utilized actor Isaiah Mustapha speaking to women as "The Man Your Man Could Smell Like". Very clever commercials grabbed attention and began to reclaim the Old Spice brand's position as being associated with today's manly man. They are very effective, but they didn't stop there.

Next, they developed a hilarious social media campaign with great viral appeal that further advanced the brand strategy. They actively used Facebook and Twitter to engage with potential customers and produced a series of YouTube videos, like the one below, in response to questions or comments received through those social media channels. Some responses were to celebrities like Alyssa Milano, Christina Applegate or Ellen DeGeneres, but many were to regular folks.



The results? As I write, they have built a social network of over 61,000 followers on Twitter and over 589,000 fans on Facebook. Plus, their YouTube videos have had millions of views. We don't know the sales impact yet, but they've definitely had success in re-shaping the brand perception of Old Spice. And many men and women will be thinking of Old Spice when they buy men's personal products. Well done!

The right social media channels for your business

"We need to set up a Twitter account and a Facebook page for our business."

Really? Why Twitter and Facebook? What are you trying to accomplish? We are hearing comments like this more and more from our clients, so we thought we'd share some guidance on the topic.

What social media channels should you use for your business?

The answer has two parts:

A. The one your customers and potential customers are using (with a proviso that they are open to talk business on that channel), and

B. The one that you can commit to using consistently to provide value to your customers and potential customers to increase the likelihood that they'll bring their business to you.

If you're in the B2B arena, it's less likely that you'll need Facebook, but should be considering LinkedIn and blogging. If you're in B2C, you could likely benefit greatly from Facebook and possibly MySpace. These are general statements and each business will be different, but make sure the social media channel meets both of the criteria outlined above.

In our business, we use a blog, email newsletter, LinkedIn and Twitter. (We have a Facebook page, but more for search engine optimization purposes than social networking - our clients may be on Facebook, but not for talking business). The email newsletter (using content from the blog) has actually been the most effective for business development, but all four channels are set up as integrated components of our branding strategy.

For some additional guidance on using social media to build your brand, check out this past blog post.

[Note: Cartoon image source: blog.hubspot.com]

G20 Protests: completely ineffective for communicating a message

Thousands of people, many of them good intentioned people seeking to peacefully get their message across, marched in Toronto during the G20 Summit this past weekend. What was the cause that mobilized so many people? I have no idea...and few people do. The protests were completely ineffective for getting their message out.

Some of the protesters have complained that the media only places focus on the violent acts, which always seem to accompany gatherings of world leaders. But this is a lame argument; the media will focus on whatever is going to catch the attention of their audience. Burning police cars and the masked, black-clothed anarchists are going to get the attention every time...they're remarkable, albeit in a bad way. The message was lost, and the protest organizers should have expected that based on past summits.

So how to get a legitimate protest message out? In the very same week as the G20, a group called Avaaz.org launched a very successful protest to defeat a proposal to legalize a commercial whale hunt at a gathering of the International Whaling Commission in Morocco. They used a graphic image (shown here) and an effective social media campaign to spread awareness of their cause internationally. At the vote date, they had an online petition of over 1 million names and created global outrage. And the proposal? Defeated.

Turning a negative into a double positive

Yesterday I was at a Starbucks in Halifax, ordered my venti skinny vanilla latte for the drive home to Cape Breton, and waited, and waited... After 5 or 6 people who ordered after me received their order, I asked if they had forgotten mine. They had. It was fine, I said, I was in no hurry. But after quickly rectifying the situation and giving me my order, the barrista handed me a certificate for a free coffee saying, "Sorry for your wait. Next time, it's on us."

It was a simple mistake and I was OK with them just rectifying the situation, but they went farther.

A couple years ago I heard a presentation by Pete Luckett of Pete's Frootique who said he loved it when a customer complained. Loved it?? Yes, he saw it as an opportunity to turn a negative into a double positive. Whenever his shop received a complaint, he would assemble a huge fruit basket and personally deliver it to the unhappy customer. He said this was an opportunity to show the customer that they were very important and their concerns had been listened to. And how many customers told people about Pete visiting them personally? I'd bet many.

You and the people who work with you are going to make mistakes and lapses in judgement from time to time, but it's how you rectify the situation that counts. Turn the negative into a double positive and your customers will remember that personal touch far more than the screw up.

The power of starting with "Why?"

I recently came across this presentation by Simon Sinek that speaks to the huge importance of starting with "Why" and defining your purpose in a brand transformation process.

Most companies, politicians and people who try to lead begin by answering "What" or appealing to our sense of reason. You have a need, we have something to meet your need. It's very logical and focused on things like features and benefits...and the logical portions of our brains tells us that this approach makes sense.

However, as Simon points out, we aren't moved by "What", we are moved by "Why". We make decisions to purchase products or support a leader or believe in something based on our emotions. We then justify the emotional decision with logic to support the "What", but make no mistake, our behaviour is controlled far more by emotions than by reason.

Take a look at the presentation to learn more about the power of starting with "Why?"

A talented person to help you achieve success online or in-house

We’re thrilled to introduce you to Jody MacArthur, the newest member of the ICON team. Jody’s been helping organizations craft their brand messages and tell their compelling stories for more than 12 years.

Need to improve your brand positioning online?

Jody’s done that.

Need to craft a strategy to get your internal team communicating a consistent message?
Jody’s done that.

From previous positions with MT&L Public Relations, ISL Web Marketing & Development and the Greater Halifax Partnership, Jody has done a lot! And now she’s here to use that experience in helping you grow your business or organization.

Contact Jody to discuss your needs at 902.539.0044 or jody@iconzone.ca

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Kayak.com selling tickets aboard "LOST" Oceanic Flight 815

In a previous blog post, I discussed the need to be remarkable in building your brand. Well this is being remarkable.

Kayak.com is offering a one way flight on board Oceanic Flight 815 from Sydney, Australia to Los Angeles on September 22, 2010...replicating the famous flight from "LOST". It is advertised for the low price of $4839 US, but when you click to select the flight, you are taken to a Lostpedia page about the show and the flight.

As Seth Godin states in his book, Purple Cow, being remarkable means worthy of being remarked about. This tactic by Kayak.com is something that people will talk about and spread through social media, thus creating greater awareness of the Kayak brand.

To find the flight, I had to do some searching on the Kayak site and I found out how easy it is to use, how many flight options are available, how many airlines they include, etc. I got a great introduction to their platform and, although I've heard of the company before, this was the first time I visited their site. The next time I'm booking travel, they are likely to be top of mind as a vehicle to try. They don't have a sale, yet, but they have my attention. Mission accomplished for that tactic.

For the record, I heard about this via Guy Kawasaki on Twitter @GuyKawasaki. He provides a steady stream of cool and thought provoking content.

Brand building is like dog training

To effectively build your brand, you have to deliver a simple, consistent message, reinforced over and over again until it sinks in with your audience and they come to understand it intuitively.

In dog training, when you say "sit", you have to say it the same way, with the same patterns and reward at the end, so a dog eventually knows exactly what you're communicating and knows what to do to get what she wants - the treat. But mix up the pattern a little bit and the dog gets confused and you don't get the result you're looking for.

The same holds true in building a brand.

I've been buying the Gilette After Shave Gel for Sensitive Skin for a number of years and have given them loyal sales. It's not the type of product that you jump up and down with excitement about and want to tell everyone about it, but for someone with sensitive skin, it simply worked...and I kept coming back.

But things changed in recent months. First, the product became harder to find and I could no longer buy it at my local supermarket as I always had. There was a newer Gilette product, which I tried once, due to some degree of loyalty to the overall brand, but I didn't like it. Wanting the consistent results, I looked for my product at local pharmacies, making special trips for this one product and eventually found it. However, when I did get it, I was disappointed that the product seemed to have changed. The consistency was not the same, the aroma was not the same. I can't really put my finger on it, but when you use a product for years, you notice small changes and it was clear that this was either a bad batch or they changed the formula. With these inconsistencies, I've decided the product is no longer worthy of a drive out of my way to find it and I'll just pick up a l'Oreal alternative the next time at the supermarket.

Gilette had me. They were consistent. I was trained. Then, for whatever the reason, they changed their approach and I'm not responding the same way I always had. Not only that, but it will be much harder for them to get me to listen to them in the future.