New method for Social Media Marketing … have the Social Media BE your marketing!
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/03/skittles-twitte.html
Skittles revamped their web page to show streaming Tweets about #skittles. This experiment may or may not have boosted Skittles’ appeal to their target market, but it certainly caused a bit of a raucous on Twitter.
Some people blamed the Skittles stunt for slowing Twitter functionality. Many, many people sent notes with the Pee-Wee’s Word of the Day included so that they could get some free airtime on both websites. Others sent both positive and negative comments about the candy itself.
Did Agency.com accomplish any marketing ROI for Skittles? Yupper - Increasing the number of times a potential customer thinks about the product certainly is success! By getting people to type #skittles into their tweets, they added a kinetic element to their advertising. Also, the rumor of added airtime spread like wildfire among Twitterers and their friends – totally viral advertising. Way to go Skittles.
Will this last? Will it spread? Well… it probably won’t take too long before the posts are too raunchy or negative to send Skittles packing. Censoring the posts may work, but may turn off Twitterers. People are probably going to get bored with seeing Tweets on the Skittles home page announcing that “Ron Hubbard Hates Skittles.”
On the other hand, many people will continue to be willing to type a product name over and over for 15 seconds of social-web fame.
With a product as popular as Skittles, the advertising-by-microblog may not actually sell more candy. Most of these blurbs don’t remind the market how tasty or refreshing skittles are; some of the posts are downright negative. Re-posting social media may work better for products that need to create broader awareness.
Newer products could probably benefit more from capturing streaming Tweets. For instance, this may be more effective if M&M Mars were to launch a new type of candy or a twisted candy (like chocolate skittles). Visitors encouraged by the Twitter posts may be encouraged to 1) remember the name of it 2) type their own post 3) tell their friends about it 4) try it.
I also think that time limits will be needed. It is important to keep the Twittersphere hopping. Things that are constantly available get old, and old is no good for social media. Trends are so important that bloggers should know that they can only abuse this outlet for a limited time.
--- Quick update! Skittles still has a link to the Twitter feed called “Chatter,” but the main page is now the Wikipedia definition for Skittles --- J
http://latimesblogs.latimes.com/technology/2009/03/skittles-twitte.html
Skittles revamped their web page to show streaming Tweets about #skittles. This experiment may or may not have boosted Skittles’ appeal to their target market, but it certainly caused a bit of a raucous on Twitter.
Some people blamed the Skittles stunt for slowing Twitter functionality. Many, many people sent notes with the Pee-Wee’s Word of the Day included so that they could get some free airtime on both websites. Others sent both positive and negative comments about the candy itself.
Did Agency.com accomplish any marketing ROI for Skittles? Yupper - Increasing the number of times a potential customer thinks about the product certainly is success! By getting people to type #skittles into their tweets, they added a kinetic element to their advertising. Also, the rumor of added airtime spread like wildfire among Twitterers and their friends – totally viral advertising. Way to go Skittles.
Will this last? Will it spread? Well… it probably won’t take too long before the posts are too raunchy or negative to send Skittles packing. Censoring the posts may work, but may turn off Twitterers. People are probably going to get bored with seeing Tweets on the Skittles home page announcing that “Ron Hubbard Hates Skittles.”
On the other hand, many people will continue to be willing to type a product name over and over for 15 seconds of social-web fame.
With a product as popular as Skittles, the advertising-by-microblog may not actually sell more candy. Most of these blurbs don’t remind the market how tasty or refreshing skittles are; some of the posts are downright negative. Re-posting social media may work better for products that need to create broader awareness.
Newer products could probably benefit more from capturing streaming Tweets. For instance, this may be more effective if M&M Mars were to launch a new type of candy or a twisted candy (like chocolate skittles). Visitors encouraged by the Twitter posts may be encouraged to 1) remember the name of it 2) type their own post 3) tell their friends about it 4) try it.
I also think that time limits will be needed. It is important to keep the Twittersphere hopping. Things that are constantly available get old, and old is no good for social media. Trends are so important that bloggers should know that they can only abuse this outlet for a limited time.
--- Quick update! Skittles still has a link to the Twitter feed called “Chatter,” but the main page is now the Wikipedia definition for Skittles --- J
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