Still need further proof that social media influences trends in traditional media? Look no further than this clip from TODAY. Our work with beauty blogger, Lilliana Vazquez, from The Cheap Chica’s Guide to Style resulted in our client, Conair, being featured in a recent celebrity beauty segment. We know how to find and influence the influencers! Around here, we call it the “Trickle-Up Theory!”
By Stephanie LaDue
As a new parent, I know I’m a marketer’s dream. Getting ready for my baby meant my wallet was wide open, ready to purchase a nursery full of new goodies. I wanted – and still want – everything that will make my child’s life better. Like other new moms, overwhelmed by decisions and new responsibilities, I look to the Internet and friends for advice on the best products for my new bundle of joy.
As a marketer, I know the importance of reaching the right people at the right time and the value of trustworthy recommendations. Word of mouth from “a person like me” is still the most trusted source of information and social media…via bloggers and social communities like Facebook…is like word of mouth on steroids. Recommendations/influence is taken from one-to-one to one-to-many (thousands or even millions).
At RL&A we have an arsenal of top bloggers at our fingertips and we work closely with them to become brand advocates for our clients. Our social media PR efforts, on behalf of the brands we represent, help to continually populate the Internet with positive brand reviews that are reinforced with strategic keywords and images which also ultimately effects search engine optimization. And when dealing with the consistent churn of new parents in the market…our continual outreach and creativity in positioning brands is critical to maintaining relevance.
Brands we work with are in the right place at the right time, providing answers and populating search with recommendations from “a person like me.” So, for example, when a new parent, like me, is wading through the barrage of baby brands…they’ll find the solutions they need in pages upon pages of positive reviews from trustworthy sources…a marketer’s and a new parent’s dream.
By Anne Carlantone
Most companies want their customers to be happy, right? A recent study revealed that 95% of companies (from consumer and beauty to OTC and healthcare) believe that satisfied customers are very or extremely important to their company. That’s not surprising. What IS surprising is that the same study revealed that while 48% have what they consider an active presence on Facebook, only an estimated 23% of companies are actively addressing customer service issues posted by fans on their brand’s Facebook wall!
As a social media marketing agency, our goal for a brand’s Facebook page is to do more than create another venue for marketing messaging. The goal is to create a brand community, one that fosters discussion, sharing and a brand identity. It also offers unprecedented direct access to consumers, and vice versa. And — as we know — in any community, not everyone is happy all the time. To imply otherwise on a Facebook page by ignoring, or worse, deleting dissension off the wall conveys a lack of transparency…one of the biggest no-nos in social media PR.
Complaints on your brand’s Facebook wall can be troubling. But handling them also presents opportunity. It provides important, real-time insight into what’s working and not working. Acknowledging someone on your wall and publicly assisting them in resolving their issue demonstrates a commitment to customer satisfaction that other fans can see…and makes your brand a pillar of its “community.”
Is your social media marketing optimized for mobile? Should it be? In a new story this week, Drug Store News tapped our very own Alyson O’Mahoney, RL&A partner and EVP, for her perspective as an OTC, health and beauty social media marketing and PR expert.
See what Alyson has to say about leveraging mobile for social media here: http://www.drugstorenews.com/article/customizing-store-experience
By Nicole Egan
It seems like just this week my Facebook newsfeed has been taken over by the latest fad meme – funny depictions of various jobs and their misconceptions, everything from scientists to librarians to coaches.
Prior to this influx, a friend – who also works in PR – posted this image on her Facebook page before I saw it featured on Mashable.com. I instantly loved it and shared it with our entire agency. Everyone here has had the challenge of trying to explain what we do to people outside of the biz – especially our parents (that’s one constant in this industry, our parent’s have no idea of what we do)!
The funny thing is there’s a little truth in all these scenarios because our industry is constantly evolving and our responsibilities can be really complex. One thing’s for sure; we’re always on our toes. Here at RL&A, each of us is responsible for a little bit of everything such as pitching editors, producers and bloggers, copywriting/content creation, planning events, directly engaging consumers and creating and maintaining client Facebook pages and Twitter handles, and the list goes on.
Although we sometimes have the days of “What I actually do,” the “What my friends think I do” days are fun when they happen…I’ll let my friends continue to think I have those days everyday!
By Robin Russo
Don’t get me wrong – I’m a huge proponent of Facebook, but this little thing called an IPO is starting to bug me – a lot. And I doubt I’m alone in this. “Fans” of Facebook – expected to reach a billion this year – can’t possibly “Like” the Facebook IPO, rumored to happen sometime in the next few months. That’s because those of us loyal Facebook users – who helped make Facebook a success – will not have a chance to take part in what is being called the largest public offering – ever (it already is the largest Internet offering).
So who will get to take part in this record breaking IPO – which stands for “initial public offering” – a term that technically might not apply to Facebook, since it’s been heavily traded for some time in the secondary markets where “private” shares are bought and sold (by the big investment firms that push it toward their own big clients, many of which are foreigners)? In addition to these and other investors in the company, Facebook employees who’ve been anxiously awaiting a chance to sell their shares on the open market will also benefit from the IPO. The “public,” the rest of us, won’t have a prayer of getting our hands on this IPO.
Many of these people will become millionaires from this IPO and don’t get me wrong – I’m all for capitalism and I understand that this is the way it’s done. But something smells fishy to me, and it isn’t just that Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg went on national TV and said to the world that he had no intentions of going public – I get it. Facebook has just gotten so big that it’s taken on a life of its own and even he can’t stop it from its true potential. And I know I shouldn’t be surprised, that it was inevitable that this multi-billion dollar innovation would become a public company.
Maybe I’m just a bit naïve, but what’s really bothering me is that this IPO was very calculated – it wasn’t just “Oops, we have more than 500 investors now” – the way it’s being reported. If Facebook goes public by the end of May – as is being reported – early shareholders will be able to sell some shares before the end of the year and, notably, before the expiration of tax cuts instituted during the George W. Bush administration. Now isn’t that a coincidence.
by Alyson O’Mahoney
Here at RL&A, we are a bit obsessed with social media marketing reporting, tracking, monitoring – ultimately, gauging the daily impact of a conversation started, commented responded to, etc. So when Facebook launched a new interactive marketing metric – “Talking About This” – not so long ago, and made it an incredibly prominent feature directly under a page’s fan number, we were a bit like babies staring a shiny object…mesmerized. However, over time, we have grown a bit disenchanted with this number and by telling you this, we hope you will, too (and ultimately, we hope Facebook does away with it!).
From what I have read, this figure is supposed to gauge the past week of a page’s activity related to conversation and interactions, including:
• liking a brand page
• posting to a page’s wall
• liking, commenting on or sharing a page post (or photos, video or album)
• answering a question on a page’s wall
• RSVPing to an event
• mentioning a page in a post
• tagging a page
• liking or sharing a check-in deal
• checking in at a place.
I don’t see advertising mentioned in this list…..but it seems to be the most influential in raising/lowering this number based on our experience. Here’s our own example: two client pages – one has been around for about six months (red box) and has had nice, ongoing organic daily interaction, growth, etc.; the other is a brand new page (blue box) that has invested a modest amount of spending on CPC social ads for its first week of its launch. You can see the existing page has a much smaller percentage of “Talking About This” compared to the page spending advertising dollars in Facebook. You would think the larger fan base would have a higher “Talking About This” figure, but the fact is, this particular week, that brand, though a much larger fan base, had no CPC spending…so is that the key difference here?
A social network, to us, should be measured mostly by organic interaction…and the success of a true social media marketing campaign should reflect this. Based on our own experience, the “Talking About This” snapshot, frankly, seems to be more of a measure of a brand’s cost-per-click (CPC) paid social ad efforts in Facebook and not really the brand’s social conversation prowess. CPC on a social network is not social media, it is advertising in a social media setting, which we highly recommend, but it should not be a number used and displayed second only in importance to total fan base.
By Nicole Egan
After securing many print placements over the years, I never get tired of seeing the fruits of my labors in major consumer magazines. It’s like unwrapping a shiny present…you’re not quite sure what it will look like. There is an indescribable excitement to seeing the name and/or picture of the products that were pitched. Recently, our client Certain Dri was featured in the September issue of Women’s Health magazine in a beauty article as the WH antiperspirant “pick.” Definitely a surprise that I loved!
