Week 5 Post: Social Listening

Week 5: Social Listening

Bless Up DJ Khaled

Over the past few year's DJ Khaled has become one of the most popular and influential people on Snapchat. Because of his Snapchat usage, Khaled has built his personal brand and the brands he supports. Khaled posts videos every single day chronicling everything he does. He gives his fans and followers a backstage view into the life of a wealthy hip hop artist. He snaps while he's out on his jet ski in Miami visiting P Diddy, he snaps while he's walking through a hotel and being mobbed by fans, he snaps his workouts with his trainer, and just last week he snapped the birth of his son.

DJ Khaled has even turned his Snapchat usage into endorsement deals for certain products. Earlier this year he was Vegan for 30 days and started using Silk. He shared smoothie recipes made with SIlk and some of his snaps were featured in their new ad campaign. I'm not sure if the snaps or the endorsement came first, but Silk was able to leverage Khaled's brand endorsement into a real celebrity endorsement and turn it into an traditional ad campaign.

DJ Khaled's Snapchats get over 3 million views because he is authentic. He shares every facet of his life and doesn't hold much back. He promotes his music and his music label, but he also talks about how much he loves flowers and the beauty of his home. You get the sense through his Snapchat story of who he actually is. When he's on tour, he tells fans where he is staying and Snapchats himself walking through the lobby greeting his fans. He doesn't hide himself away from fans and paparazzi, instead gives them full access to his life. He's so open on Snapchat that he shared the birth of his son (starts at the 7:30 mark). In a world when celebrities secretly have babies in fancy hospital wings, Khaled is Snapchatting it live to anyone who wants to tune in.

Many marketers are confused at how to harness Snapchat, but DJ Khaled seems to have it figured out. I think it is an opportunity for companies to share behind the scenes footage of their products and companies. It's a huge opportunity to be authentic and transparent about your business and how your products are made. I think the opportunity is huge for marketers.

 

"The sky is beautiful"

DJ Khaled Lost at Sea

Marketing Case Study: Bombas Socks

Bombas Socks

Bombas is a company that sells socks. It was founded by in 2013 two guys, David Heath and Randy Goldberg, with a mission to create the world's best sock while doing good. They have an altruistic business model where one pair purchased = one pair donated.



Heath & Goldberg saw a statistic that socks are the number one requested and needed item at homeless shelters across the US. Because of the transient lifestyle, clean socks are really important to homeless people. Heath & Goldberg designed their business around this need, while also setting out to create the world's best sock. This past month, Bombas donated it's millionth pair of socks, which means they also so their millionth pair of socks. They created the below video to highlight their story and talk about the company. I saw this video on Facebook through a sponsored post from the company.

Bombas is a company selling a niche product to a clientele with an otaku. There are a lot of companies making socks at all sorts of quality and price points.  Bombas comes in on the high end of price and perceived quality. The average price for a single pair is $15. Bombas sells a lot of different sock varieties in a number of materials all at a premium price point (for socks anyway). People who care about socks are willing to spend money on Bombas socks.

Bombas' value proposition is making the world's best sock. They are doing good along the way, but I don't think that is necessarily part of their value proposition. I think that is a fringe benefit for the company and helps the consumer feel better about their purchase. I'd be willing to spend a little bit more money on a pair of socks for myself, if I knew the company was also donating a pair of socks to a homeless shelter for someone in need.

If I all of a sudden decided to get rid of all the socks I currently own and was shopping around for a new sock, I'd probably give Bombas a try. Right now though, I'm pretty happy with my sock drawer, but in the future who knows. Because I saw their video about giving away their millionth pair, I now know about this company and feel positively towards them. When I do need socks, or hear someone talking about how they need socks, I'll probably tell them about Bombas.

I find it interesting that I hadn't heard of Bombas until I saw their video on Facebook. I was targeted somehow, probably based on my age, gender, and region. On Facebook, I don't follow any clothing companies or celebrities, so I don't think I was targeted that way. I think the company could benefit from more outreach stuff like this. For the money spent to produce the video and sponsor it on Facebook, I think the benefit is worth it. They could also run ads on Instagram. They do have an interesting Instagram feed. They not only share photos of their socks and people doing different activities in their socks, but they also share photos of the outreach they do with the homeless community. Below are 2 examples of this.

Link: Selling High-End Socks by Giving Them Away

Week 2: Social Listening

Topic 1: Social Listening

My Favorite Murder is a comedy podcast that was started in January of 2016 and is hosted by Karen Kilgariff and Georgia Hardstark. Every week on the podcast Hardstark & Kilgariff exchange stories about different murders that they researched the week before. The podcast has grown in popularity since it began and is currently the #1 Comedy Podcast on iTunes.

My Favorite Murder offers a unique take on the subject of gruesome murders and serial killers that sets it apart from other "crime" podcasts. For those of us interested in true crime, My Favorite Murder is a pleasant break from the heavy handed and darker podcasts like Sword and Scale, Criminal, and Serial. Hardstark & Kilgariff created the podcast because as friends they discovered they both had an interest in true crime, and wanted an outlet to share the murder stories they were the most obsessed with. It turns out, there are a lot of people, including myself, who share the same sentiments.

My Favorite Murder has become very popular on social media. There is a very active Facebook fan page and regularly post on Instagram and Twitter. On their accounts, they share news about the Podcast as well as updates on true crime stories in the media. On Instagram, a search of the hashtag #MyFavoriteMurder brings up a lot of pictures. The most prominent posts are of people sharing selfies of themselves wearing the newly released branded apparel. People often share arts and crafts that are inspired by the podcast. Also popular, is people sharing when they are listening to the podcast. Below are examples of these posts.

#1: A user shares a selfie of herself in her new t shirt for the podcast

#2: A user shares a photo of a mug she designed that was inspired by a popular quote from the podcast

#3: A user shares a photo of a time when she was listening to the podcast

If I were the brand manager, I'd at the very least be reacting to these photos by liking them. If appropriate, I'd leave a comment. As the brand manager, I'd reshare these photos onto the official My Favorite Murder Instagram page, which is actually something that they do a lot. Since podcasts are a product of the "social generation" I think it is important that the hosts engage with their users through Instagram and other social media outlets. They often repost artworks that people have made based on things they've said on the podcast, and I think they should continue to do that to engage their audience. The more people are posting these photos, the more popular the podcast will grow.

Topic 2: Marketing in the News

Tomb Raider Experiential Billboard

Out of Home America Wilkins Media and Liquid Advertising erected a 64 foot tall billboard in New York City to celebrate the release of "Rise of the Tomb Raider," a new Lara Croft game for Playstation 4. The billboard features a Jeep Wrangler hanging from the side of the building and produces fake snow. There is a competition associated with the game where fans can post on Facebook, Twitter, tumblr, and Instagram with the hashtag #PrizeoftheTombRaider for a chance to win the Jeep on display in the billboard.

The challenge here was the get people excited about a new Lara Croft game after being around for almost 20 years. Times Square is plastered in advertisements, so this one really needed to stand out. Putting a 2000 pound Jeep Wrangler on the side of the building definitely fits the bill. The snow produced by this billboard gets people looking up, where they take in the entire scene. Patrick Runco, VP and Executive Creative Director at Liquid Advertising said of the scene, "the Jeep is in a parking spot that maybe only Lara Croft could possibly get."

This ad speaks to the importance of standing out in the crowded advertising market. People are used to seeing bigger and brighter ads. This definitely raises that bar. It created something unique that got people looking at it and posting about it. creating a way for your audience to engage with you and your product is important. The tie in with Jeep for this billboard is really why it stands out. This was created because the game makers want people to post about this. Every time this photo is shared, more people see it and share it. This billboard creates buzz and word of mouth marketing.

Liquid Advertising
#PrizeoftheTombRaider

Week 1

Topic 1: Who's Who in BA 223

I am taking this class to wrap up my Graphic Design degree at LBCC. Lewis Franklin recommended this class as an alternative to Figure Drawing, which I have no interest in. I have previously completed a BA through the University of Oregon in Journalism with a communications focus and a business minor. I thought a marketing class would be helpful in my professional life. My family owns Mazama Brewing here in Corvallis, and I do a lot of our existing marketing. Outside of the one marketing class I took at Oregon for my Business Minor, I don't have much formal education on the topic and am really looking to broaden my formal knowledge. I am looking forward to learning techniques to reach audiences and how to implement a marketing strategy and then to evaluate it to see how/if it is working.

I've always had an interest in design and the media and in my free time I find myself reading AdWeek, Architectural Digest, watching a lot of television. I love food and love cooking at home for myself, family, and friends. I think I'm a decent cook... at least great at following a recipe. I'm working to improve at cooking from scratch without a recipe and using ingredients I already have on hand. I enjoy being active and have recently gotten back into running after recovering from an injury.


Topic 2: Marketing in the News

Who Is Louise Delage? The Troubling Truth Behind an Overnight Instagram Success

This article is about an account on Instagram that grew in a matter of months to have over 16,000 followers. The account belongs to a young, French woman, Louise. Louise is a pretty party girl living a fabulous life traveling and partying around France. The Instagram account is a lot like those of other young and fashionable people making us all jealous of their fortunate existence.

After a few months, the account released a video revealing that Louise was not a real person. Instead this account was created for the organization Addict Aide to raise awareness of addiction and to show users that addiction is often hardest to spot with the people we are closest to. The production company Francise Framboise helped Addict Aide in creating Louise and this account. They had a 4 pillar strategy to get her follower numbers up. Photos were posted several times a day during high traffic times, popular hashtags were used to attract more people, efficient bots were used to like and follow influential people in the fashion industry, and they used teenage Key Opinion Leaders who had between 20,000 & 100,000 followers to share Louise's profile with their followers.

This is a really interesting way to target young people. Everyone is influenced by the people they interact with and see everyday, so the marketing team used this to their advantage. Louise lived a great life and her followers voyeuristically lived that life as well. Based on her pictures and after reading some of the comments, people didn't catch on that she had a drinking problem. Addict Aide wanted to raise awareness that addiction is hard to spot in the people we are closest to, and I think they achieved that goal. Sometimes we only see what someone wants us to see and Instagram is a perfect tool to illustrate that.