The problem with marketing on social media is that the campaigns that work are viral in nature. And you can’t create a viral campaign. You can only put your campaign out there and hope it is catching. Here’s recent example of a Twitter campaign:
On a Friday night not long ago, Amanda Palmer, lead singer of the alternative girl band, Dresden Dolls, was sitting at home, alone, when she idly posted the following tweet (without the asterisks):
“i hereby call THE LOSERS OF FRIDAY NIGHT ON THEIR COMPUTERS to ORDER, (this next word I’ve left out for PG reasons) .”
Just the sort of idle, remark you might make on a solitary Friday night.
But, as an Indie musician, Amanda happens to have thousands of followers on Twitter (over 70,000 at last count) and quite unexpectedly her tweet became a rallying cry. Within minutes, replies came pouring in. They created an impromptu group, designed a logo, created a hashtag (#LOFNOTC) and wrote a brief set of declarations and demands (no taxes on coffee or vodka).
Within the hour the #LOFNOTC hashtag was the most popular term on Twitter. People started asking for tee shirts with the hand-drawn #LOFNOTC logo on them. Amanda’s webmaster put up a quick storefront and, by the end of the second hour of #LOFNOTC’s existence, over 200 tee shirts had been sold at $25 each.
That is the lure of social media for marketers: Lightning quick results for very little effort. The reality is that marketing successfully with social media is a bit of a crapshoot: Success is viral – so your campaign either goes viral and succeeds, or doesn’t, and dies. Still, what marketing medium, new or traditional, doesn’t entail more misses than hits?
Here are a few useful links:
For the full story on #LOFNOTC: http://twitter.com/amandapalmer
For the Harvard Business School take on social media: http://hbswk.hbs.edu
For a nice pie-chart on social media marketing: http://www.beingpeterkim.com/2009/03/smm-wiki-analysis.html
For a list of social media case studies: http://www.interactiveinsightsgroup.com/blog1/social-media-examples-superlist-17-lists-and-tons-of-examples/
About Hartland Ross
Hartland Ross is an online marketing strategist, entrepreneur, and founder and president of eBridge Marketing Solutions - an online marketing agency and consulting firm catering to technology companies.
An expert in the principles of marketing, strategy and business development, Hartland began his entrepreneurial career in the building materials industry as a successful franchise owner and operator. He followed this up with a stint in the pulp and paper industry before landing positions with two different internet marketing startups in the online advertising sector. He then took his online success and moved on to become VP of Sales and Marketing for a national training and development company.
Considered a pioneer in the online world, Hartland has been working in the sales and marketing of web based technology companies since 1999. He is well recognized and regarded in the hosting industry and to date has worked with over 150 web hosting companies providing business growth, marketing strategy and industry direction advice and recommendations.
With 15 years of business development experience, plus over 10 years experience in working specifically with technology companies, Hartland is a sought after speaker and online authority who is often interviewed and quoted in various industry related case studies and articles.
Corporate philanthropy is also top of mind for Hartland who believes it's important to give back to his community. Hartland is a past board member of Young Entrepreneurs Association and is an active mentor for Junior Achievement helping our youth become the business leaders of tomorrow.
A graduate of UBC, Hartland holds a Bachelor of Science degree and a Master degree in Business Administration with a focus on Business Strategy.
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