SMM 1: Sponsored Twitter Conversations | UGC Contests | Crowdsourcing Apps

Hi folks!

Have you been keeping up with social media trends lately?

If NO, here are the Top 4 Social Media Marketing trends in March: 

    

1. Sponsored Conversations 
Sponsored tweets are becoming more popular. Brands are recruiting well-known Twitterers to spread the word about a specific product or service such as celebrities or web personalities with a more targeted following.

[Online Community]

Disney partnered with Savvy Auntie, a family brand focused on aunts without kids. Melanie Notkins, who runs SavvyAuntie.com, tweeted about Disney's Pinocchio movie to coincide with its Disney anniversary release. 

[Sponsored Tweet]
#DisneySA

[Posts]
Melanie Notkins tailored her tweets around themes in the movie, often in question form, encouraging others to respond. For example:

Let's have fun! Confess a lie right here. We won't tell and maybe you'll feel better. #Pinocchio #DisneySA 

When You Wish Upon A Star...Will you share your wishes? Use #WishUponAStar Maybe it will come true! #DisneySA

[Conversational Marketing According to Notkins]

• Writing a Blog Post
• Tweeting Several Times in Variation
• Every Tweet is Authentic, Transparent and Honest
• Tweets are Conversational and Seamless

[Response]

• Followers tweet to congratulate Notkin on her Disney sponsorship
• Followers respond instantly to Notkin's tweets with hashtags #DisneySA and vise versa
• Notkins tweets were retweeted
• Followers participate in Twitter contest via tweet link: Disney clips for a chance to win the new Blu-ray DVD 
• Notkin got mentioned in a blog under Running List of Conversational Sponsorship  

Twitter followers knew Notkin was doing this for Disney, but because the tweets were appropriate for the audience, entertaining and authentic, the campaign was a success.

Next

2. UGC Contests

Contests structured around user-generated content (UGC) are all the rage today. They are extremely popular, engaging, and fun. You structure a contest built on participants contributing something in return for rewards. 

[Message]

Planning for retirement can be a positive experience. With Great Eastern Life, we have developed a suite of retirement solutions to cater to your diverse retirement needs.

[Hashtag]

#RetireGreat 

[UGC Contest According to Great Eastern Life]

SNAP, SHARE AND WIN

• Promote contest through offline and online channels e.g. MRT Poster, Website, Facebook, Instagram

• Instagram fans to upload a photograph of their dream retirement, with a caption, plus hashtags #RetireGreat, #greateasternlife and tag @greateasternlife 

• Participants to complete an online entry form with mandatory personal and contact information to qualify. 

• First 1,000 entries get a limited edition EZ-Link card! Winners get $1,000 shopping vouchers and a surprise gift!

[Response]

• Received 556 posts with instagram hashtag #RetireGreat

• Increased number of followers to Great Eastern Instagram feed @greateasternlife

• Contestants viewed other submitted entries; with friends and followers also tagged on the UGC contest stream

• With brand impressions, more customers visit website to find out more via GE distribution representative, the RetireGreat guide, as well as Retirement solutions and planning articles 

Next

3. Crowd-Sourcing Apps
What's gaining favor now are apps that use crowdsourcing - a model that introduce ideas and influence from outside the organisation to drive competitive advantage in companies today.

[Community Forum]

IdeaX is a forum for customers to 1) share, 2) vote and 3) discuss ideas to help make Best Buy better.

[Crowdsourcing According to Best Buy IdeaX]

• Get customers to be part of the online community and submit an idea
• Focus on sorting and prioritizing ideas, not generating ideas
• Measure ability to act on ideas and converting these ideas better relatively to competitor

[Response] 

• TELL US MORE! More than 499 ideas were feedbacked by customers and acknowledged by Best Buy
• WE DID IT! 50 ideas with significant rating were executed by Best Buy and services improved

Next

4. Blogger Outreach 
The most common form of social media marketing is the blogger outreach - which takes the form of identifying influencer bloggers, also seen as media properties, who have a following and reach targeted customers.

[Blog Advertising]

• Incentivize bloggers to write about brand or product I @simplyhookedsg Phone Cases 
• Invite them to events or store opening I LINE's #BFFNOMATTERWHAT at 313 @ Somerset
• Send them sample products or sponsor trial experience I Macho Moosely Granola Packs I The X'pect Xperience
• Providing them with prizes with which to run contests on their blogs I JBL Synchro Reflect BT

[Blog Following According to Sharon Nadine]

• Rapport: More than 1,800 Facebook friends, over 2,500 followers on Instagram, and growing 71,000 blog views  

• Labels: Users got to know about her blog, her interests, content type etc.

• Charisma: Title of Miss Supranational 2015, Miss Singapore International 2015 2nd Runner Up, Miss Tourism Singapore 2014 Best in Social Media

[Response]

• Consumers turn to blogs for opinions and reviews to influence their purchasing decision of products & services

• Friend-to-Friend recommendation conceivably can also lead to purchases of product

Different objectives or campaigns requires different social media marketing channels. Simple marketing like DVD release (with all pictures copyrighted) can still turn to a buzz via twitter conversation within a community; UGC contests, on the other hand, focus on selfies and leverage on visual marketing; whereas Crowdsourcing is a marketing strategy in itself to help improve existing products and services as well as creating new ones; and blog advertising serve as a source of product review and information for mainly lifestyle products and services.

Hope it helps! :)