sweepstakes

Social Marketing Mondays: Back to School

Back to School
~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

Back to School

It’s almost Fall, kids are going back to school, and brands got the message. This weeks picks includes an interesting mix of approaches to using social media marketing for a back to school audience. Going into this research I was faced with the idea that everything would be marketed like on the Today Show with free haircuts, penny pencils, healthy lunches, angry bird backpacks. You get the idea. However I was pleasantly surprised at how these brands were thinking outside the box.

Biggest Takeaway: There is no single approach to marketing for back to school nor just a soccer mom audience anymore. 

Here’s what happened on social this week:

Twitter: Back to School

Knowing your audience

Who is on Twitter? According to Quantcast the majority isn’t moms or children, the highest age demographic is between 18-34. This demographic tone is easily recognizable in these two Twitter back to school campaigns.

MediaBistro’s #TeacherStories

Having taken numerous MediaBistro classes, I am definitely a supporter of their classes and teachers. Thus I was happy to find out about MediaBistro’s Twitter contest which asks users to Tweet @mediabistro and share a story about your favorite teacher or best teacher experience using #teacherstories. It’s not targeting to moms or teens but instead anyone who has an inspiring story to tell about a former teacher.

MediaBistro Twitter Contest Teacher Stories

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon #MyCrazyTeacher

In contrast, Jimmy Fallon uses humor as his weapon of choice, while asking fans to Tweet something funny or weird about one of your teachers using #mycrazyteacher. It isn’t that these two twitter campaigns can’t target teens or parents but I get the thought process behind it. Both are tapping into an experienced yet still youthful audience. Both want stories from people who have had a number of experiences with teachers worth remembering and sharing.

Here is the video of the best #mycrazyteacher submissions.

Jimmy Fallon #MyCrazyTeacher Tweet

Facebook: Back to School

Below are four different example from brands that demonstrate multiple approaches to Facebook Marketing. Target’s Give with Target campaign uses Facebook as a landing page to support schools in need. Gilt City has a Back to Fall Sweepstakes. Mashable is surrounding learning through their editorial content, and The Container Store threw up a Facebook post on customers shopping for back to school supplies.

Target: Give with Target

Give with Target Facebook Campaign

Gilt City: Back to Fall Sweepstakes

Gilt City Back to Fall Sweepstakes

Mashable: 10 Must-Have Apps for Successful High School Students

Mashable Back to School Apps

The Container Store: Facebook Fan Appreciation

The Container Store- Store Customers Shopping Back to School

Inbox Overload: A Weeks Worth of Email Marketing

Flavorpill Email Newsletter
~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment

This is a look into a weeks worth of email newsletters.

I have had to do similiar competitor research at an internship for an online publication where emails are the core to their business. I used to look into everything from advertisers, contests, events, to even design work. Admittedly, I miss that weekly research report. It was so interesting to see what others are doing out there.

So naturally I let my emails pill up just to explore a weeks worth of newsletters.

Publications explored included: Flavorpill, DailyCandy, Urban Daddy, and Tasting Table.

An Email Subject Line:

First things first, it doesn’t matter what you’re selling or if you have the best peice of content you’ve ever written. If no one clicks to open your email, all that stuff doesn’t matter anymore.

Make it count by providing a subject line your readers will be sure to make the next move on.

Here are recent examples that have caught my attention lately.

DailyCandy’s:

  • Draw Men Naked

Any and all from UrbanDaddy my favorites are: 

  • There’s a Stranger Making Dumplings in your House
  • When You Think of Guacamole, Think of This
  • Murray Hill’s Best Hope Yet
  • 24-Hour Beer Delivery to Your Doorstep

Tip:

  • Be funny. Be creative. But most importantly know your audience and who you’re taking to.

Tip:

  • Try A/B split testing. This allows tracking such things as subject lines. Two different subject lines that you want to test out will be sent to a certain percent of your audience. The results of which subject line performed better, based on open rate will be sent back to you, go with the better one.

Continue reading →

Social Marketing Mondays: Typography and Image Edition

DailyCandy's August Summer Picks Guide
~ Nicole Monahan ~ Leave a comment
Back from vacation and back into the social goodness.
My first pick for this week goes out to Seamless’ Lunch for a Month Sweeps. I am personally a sucker for typography and lunch. When you combined the two it looks like a classy meal I can’t help but enter to win.
Seamless Lunch for a Month Contest
Second pick goes to DailyCandy’s August Things to do this Summer. Again the typography is what really drew me in first, I am a visual person and it worked. Plus I am a huge fan of DailyCandy’s content and the way they curate it, very tailored and polished while hooking you in.
Daily Candy 31 Days of Summer
DailyCandy 31 Days of Summer List
Third goes to Tom’s Shoes. Visuals for the win! While quickly scrolling through my Facebook news feed, this sunset really caught my attention. The timing was just right, as I saw the Facebook post at around sunset my time. As Tom’s asked their fans, “what’s the view like from behind yours?”,  the whole concept was certainly intriguing and engaging. I also noticed this post got many likes (around 7K), something I haven’t seen from them in recent posts.
Tom's Shoes Sunglasses Facebook Post

Takeaways:

A great takeaway from this week’s examples is that visuals are key and will hook your audience in. Combined that with the right timing based on your content and audience, makes for a sure fire way to successful engage with what you’re marketing. For example the Seamless was posted right before lunch time at around 11am. I noticed DailyCandy’s guide a week ago just as I was searching for last minute end of summer things to do. And as I mentioned, Tom’s I noticed yesterday at around sunset.