emarketing

Last January, Twitter was in the beginning stages of going mainstream.  Fast forward a year later and just about everyone uses Twitter for various reasons.  Zappos.com uses Twitter to keep in touch with their customer, while Dell saw a large profit from its @DellOutlet account.  Although many marketing managers/directors were skeptical about integrating social media into their marketing mix in 2009, that all may change in 2010.

Consumers are accepting social media at a growing rate.  Facebook has seen tremendous growth from the 30-55 year old age group over the past 9 months.  Local news networks promote both Twitter and Facebook pages.  Video game manufacturers are now rolling out systems with Twitter and Facebook built into their online capabilities, and celebrities love to send ill-advised tweets to their followers.

Companies are now setting aside social media budgets.  PepsiCo has put $20 million of what they would normally spend on the Super Bowl into social media marketing.  Pepsi realizes contact and interaction with their customers is crucial.

Interacting and communicating with your customers will be key to campaign success.  Business goals will be focused on and strictly monitored throughout the social marketing campaign, while surveys on the back of receipts will soon become a thing of the past.  ”Tweet Us Your Thoughts” or “Leave Your Opinion on our Wall” will soon appear on receipts and menus.  Marketing managers want to get a better understanding of their customers and want to improve products as well as customer relationships.

2009 was the year of the “social media learning curve”.  2010 is the year for action!

Not too long ago, I wrote a blog post identifying how social media and PR are connected.  Just yesterday, I came across an Twitter account that was the name of a well-known company, but some brand enthusiast was the person operating it. The user posts links to the company’s numerous product websites, and nothing else.  No dialogue with other people, they have random followers and seem to randomly follow other people, and the background is standard.

Because things like this were happening to celebrities, Twitter started verifying celebrity accounts.  People started talking to the real person and the accounts soon became trustworthy.

With the increase of companies and company representatives on Twitter, do you feel verifying business accounts should be the next step?

Naked Pizza is a New Orleans pizza shop that uses Twitter and Facebook to promote specials, in-store events and to boost their sales.  With over 6,800 followers on Twitter and over 1,000 Facebook fans, it looks like their social media strategy is working.

From opening in 2006, in a hurricane Katrina flooded area, to putting a sign in front of the store with their Twitter address on it, the pizza shop has seen a substantial ROI.

Just a few days about, Naked Pizza ran a Twitter special and tweeted that they ran out of dough.  The tweets and wall posts that followed by their customers were nothing but praises.  Naked Pizza offered to run the same special the next day which received even more kudos.

Their blog, livNaked, makes the Naked Pizza brand even stronger.  Adding to their mission of providing healthy food, livNaked addresses and educates readers on additives, ingredients , and healthy alternatives to foods.

Why does social media work for Naked Pizza?  They took a pizza shop with a good product and let their customers talk about it.  The feedback received made other want to check out what Naked Pizza had to offer and word spread like wildfire.  With owners engaging in the social media conversations, it made people feel like they could connect with the business in a different way.  Add a few social media only promotions into the mix and the rest is history.

Not all their customers are comfortable wearing a shirt with LivNaked screen-printed on the front out in public, but they aren’t afraid to eat the pizza and Tweet about it.