Influential Marketing Blog

5 Ways To Use Twitter's New List Feature For Marketers

There is no denying that Twitter has had a huge impact on how marketers are thinking about using social media tools for marketing. One thing that is most interesting about it, however, is how the site has managed to avoid overcomplicating itself with more features. Twitter is simple, and it just works. Of course the one overused word that has been used recently to describe Twitter is that it is a "firehose" of information, shooting out at a speed and volume that has threatened to make it unusable for many people. So when I had a chance to try out Twitter's new Lists feature (which I had been looking forward to seeing for some time), I was not only surprised, but also excited about what this will mean for all of us who use the site. Here are just a few reasons why I think lists may revolutionize how you use Twitter.

1. You can segment your firehose. The #1 criticism of Twitter is that if you follow thousands of people and see all their tweets appearing in one interface, it's tough to manage. Searches in third party tools like Hootsuite or Tweetdeck have made this more manageable, but those usually only work based on keywords, which is inefficient. What if I wanted to just see all the tweets from my colleagues at Ogilvy? That was tough to do. Now with lists, I can create my own group of colleagues and just reference that.
2. Offers a more meaningful metric of influence. You'll notice if you have a Twitter account that in the spot where it used to just list the number of tweets you have done, it now shows how frequently you are "listed." This is a new metric of influence that sits somewhere between followers and retweets - but one that indicates how frequently other Twitter users who are creating their own lists are including you on their list. In short order, I imagine that number (along with retweets) will become more influential than having hundreds of thousands of robot followers when it comes to measuring influence on Twitter.
3. Allows you to easily follow a trusted group of individuals. One of the biggest issues I have had in the past with Twitter is that it is difficult to follow a group of users all at once. Of course, you used to be able to use services like Tweepml to do this, but that was incomplete and the lists were often anonymously posted and so the data may not be as trustworthy. Now with Twitter Lists, you can create a list of all the attendees at a particular conference, for example, and with one click anyone can follow them.
4. Lets any user of Twitter segment who they actually read. Up until now, the greatest compliment you could give someone who you follow and read on Twitter was to retweet something they posted. Now with Twitter Lists, you can add them to a list and not only make your own experience of reading content on Twitter better (see #1 on this list), but you can also send a subtle reminder to the person you are following that unlike the other thousands of accounts you might follow, their's is one you actually pay attention to.
5. Gives brands an opportunity to aggregate multiple accounts. Many brands have multiple accounts - for example hotel brands that have a master account and then separate accounts for separate regional properties. This phenomenon was becoming more widespread, but now with Twitter Lists, brands can aggregate all their accounts together in a list - and best of all, if each Twitter account does this, the lists will show up on the sidebar linking anyone who sees one branded account to all the others.

Clearly, I'm excited about what Twitter Lists has to offer for marketers. What do you think - is this a big deal for marketers or for anyone else?

PS - Follow me on Twitter at @rohitbhargava

UPDATE - Check out my first Twitter List of Marketing Authors on Twitter >>

9 Marketing Lessons From The Pink Ribbon Breast Cancer Campaign

If you have watched any television or been inside a retail store at any point this month in the US, it would have likely been hard to miss the omnipresence of pink where it wasn't before. From pink clothes, to laptops, to banners to shoes and gloves on your favourite NFL players, the marketing blitz of pink has just about taken over the retail landscape. The color and ribbon are the symbols of the fight against breast cancer, and may easily represent one of the most widespread cause marketing campaigns in terms of partners since the RED campaign offered custom branded products to support finding a cure for AIDS.

Here is a presentation that takes an inside look not only at some of the best marketing lessons that this massive cause related effort offers, but also a caution against what is commonly being called "pinkwashing" (corporations using "pink" inauthentically simply to jump on the bandwagon without any real contribution to the cause).  Check out the lessons, let me know if you have any others to add to the list, and most important ... don't be a pinkwasher:

Do You Know Someone Who Loves Your Brand?

For years in the automotive industry, marketers have known that getting someone to actually purchase a car depends on much more than the features and latest gadgetry. No one buys a car solely for the face detection alert software - though certainly something like that can influence the decision. What really sells those cars, though, is a person's prior experience with a brand and the opinion of others that they trust when it comes to experiences with the car or brand. Word of mouth and prior experience, those are at the top of the list.

Unfortunately, we don't often see automotive advertising and marketing focused on these two things. It's tough when each new campaign is for a different car, and time is limited to make the sale. With Honda's new campaign, however, they are squarely targeting consumers with perhaps their most formidable asset ... their reputation. The new campaign has a tagline presumably inspired by overhearing consumers talk about Hondas: "everyone knows someone who loves a Honda."

At the end of the ad, they direct you to a Facebook fan page instead of a campaign landing page and invite people to help "connect the world through Honda love." To date, over 133,000 people have accepted the challenge. 

Honda isn't the only automotive brand that could have done this. People love many different types of cars - the problem is that so often it is easy to focus on the car itself and not the affinity customers have with the underlying brand. With this effort, Honda manages to remind us that by getting people to declare their love for a brand you are not only reminding them of what they love about your products, you'll also get them to raise their hands among their social network as an advocate who could influence their connections as well.

Rural Audiences Say Size (Of Packaging) Matters

There was an interesting story recently in the Wall Street Journal talking about how computer manufacturers are heavily pushing into rural parts of China to convince more customers outside of major metropolitan areas to buy and start using computers. One particular campaign from Lenovo* uses a slogan featured in the WSJ piece of "Buy A Lenovo PC, Be A Happy Bride." As one of the regional marketing managers from Lenovo notes:

"They [people in rural China] like to give desktop PCs because the boxes are large. They deliver the computers to brides' families on trucks, which everyone can see. In these cases, the bigger the box, the better."

If you were marketing PCs to an audience like this, you might be tempted to talk about product features, such as power management built in so that the computer won't get fried by variable currents and electricity spikes (a common occurrence in most rural areas around the world). You could focus on special software for trade industry groups such as farmers that could increase efficiency of what they are already doing. You might even focus on the packaging in terms of how it brings the brand to life and potentially creates an emotional response for a buyer.

What would it take, however, for you to focus on size? When it comes to the rural market - size is important for two big reasons:

1. Size can be equated with importance. As the PC and wedding gift example shows, the size of the packaging and overal gift is what will be viewed by the recipient (and those watching) as important. With this, it becomes critical to make sure your packaging carries through on the experience you are trying to create.
2. Micropackaging makes consumable goods affordable. When it comes to those rural and low-income customers, one of the challenges for them is to continually afford some of the more basic consumable goods necessities such as toothpaste and shampoo. More and more large retailers such as Unilever and P&G are offering their products in "single serving" style packaging where customers can just buy a week's (or even a day's) worth of products at a more affordable price.

Flickr Photo Credit: MckaySavage

The most interesting thing about these points, however, is that they don't just apply to rural audiences. Soft drinks are now sold in half cans to avoid wastage. Bulk shopping stores like Costco and Sam's Club take the opposite approach to micropackaging by packaging huge quantities of everything from food to toilet paper together. The lesson this all points towards is that sometimes the most important thing you can do is to focus not just on what you are selling, but also the packaging that you are selling it in.

*Full Disclosure: Lenovo is a past and current client of Ogilvy PR and I have worked on projects for them in the past - but have had no involvement in the campaign mentioned in this post or in their marketing activities to rural China.

Blog Action Day: 10 Great Climate Change Marketing Campaigns

Today is Blog Action Day, a global movement of bloggers to all discuss a single issue on one day around the world. I have been a fan of this concept since the first one back in 2007 when my contribution was a post about "7 tips on eating differently to impact climate change."  This year again the topic is an environmental one - specifically about climate change. In reading and researching for this post, one of the things that was apparent was the growing sophistication of social change campaigns online when it comes to climate change. There are a lot of really smart people passionate about this cause and willing to pour their time, energy and creativity into making a difference.

As an individual, I believe in the mission and purpose behind these and that they are important to help promote. Perhaps equally importantly for readers of this blog, however, is that I believe there are some great marketing lessons in some of the best efforts out there right now and below is a presentation highlighting 10 of the best campaigns that I highly recommend checking out and supporting:




Useful links (including those) mentioned in this presentation:

• http://www.blogactionday.org
• http://www.rolighetsteorin.se/en/
• http://tcktcktck.org/
• http://www.blackle.com/
• http://www.ecofont.eu/ecofont_en.html -
• http://www.kids-vs-global-warming.com/Home.html
• http://www.globalinheritance.org/blogs/read/140/environmentaland-opens-her-doors-at-hollywood--highland
• http://totoroforestproject.org/
• http://www.ebaygreenteam2.com/
• http://www.climatecounts.org/
• http://www.desmogblog.com/
• http://www.grist.org/article/series/skeptics/
• http://www.parkvisitor.com/odwalla/
• http://reforestcalifornia.com/
• http://www.naturerocks.org/

Blog Action Day - #bad2009

This post is part of Blog Action Day 2009, a worldwide initiative started by Envato founders Collis and Cyan Ta'eed, now being run by Change.org. Blog Action Day exists to change the conversation on the web for one day by uniting thousands of bloggers around one important issue - this year, Climate Change. It's not too late to register your blog and participate.

The Women Of Personality eBook: Second Edition Launches

About six months ago, I created an ebook based on a surprising truth that I had uncovered in the year since my book had come out. Over that time, I received emails from many people talking about how they had found Personality Not Included to be useful in solving their own marketing challenges. Within them I noticed a trend ... that the majority seemed to be coming from women. Clearly, I thought, the idea of using personality to stand out in business is an idea that somehow women entrepreneurs not only understand, but were also actively using intuitively.

Wanting to explore this a bit deeper - I invited 20 visionary women to each contribute a few paragraphs sharing how personality has helped them to achieve their personal success and what advice they might offer to up and coming female entrepreneurs about achieving similar success. That turned into the first edition of The Personality Project: Women of Personality, a free eBook which was released in April of 2009. Today, I'm proud to share the second edition of that ebook, with another 20 contributors bringing the total stories to 40. It's still free and available for download at www.thepersonalityproject.com/wop2.

I am also embedding it below and if you follow the links to see it on Slideshare, you can get a downloadable PDF version:

I'm really proud of this effort and though I realize it is self serving in that it promotes the idea of personality in business that I wrote a book about - but the eBook is free and the ideas and stories in it are still very inspiring. If you enjoyed this ebook, please share the link to either this post or link to download it from the online page. I'll also be compiling a list of links and mentions from the contributors and others below - so if you do happen to write about this or share it, please use the tag "wop2" or "wop" so I can easily find your post and include it here!

Posts About WOP2:

• Lynne d Johnson - "The Personality Project: Women of Personality Second Edition"
• Girls in Tech - "The Personality Project Highlights Our Founder"
• Biz Tips Blog - "Women of Personality ebook (sneak peek!)"
• More coming!

9 Fatal Flaws of Doing PR With Social Media: Exclusive Webinar!

When it comes to social media, it sometimes seems the only thing more plentiful than free advice is bad advice. Anyone with a newly minted blog and a Twitter account with a couple thousand followers seems ready to self-describe themselves as "social media guru" (which I feel like I should find offensive both as a social media pro AND an Indian). But the point is, there is no shortage of people that are willing to charge you for half baked advice.

Several weeks ago I spoke with the team at Bulldog Reporter about putting together a webinar that would stand out. One that would share real insightful tips that people haven't heard before. I'm happy to share that I will be conducting that webinar THIS FRIDAY AT 1PM EST focused on the 9 "fatal flaws" of doing PR with social media and real advice on how to really put together a social media plan that will stand out, get results, and make you look GREAT to your boss and rest of your company in the process.

In this session, you'll learn why giving up control is a bad idea, why only amateurs allow comments on YouTube videos and a new idea for using Twitter as part of your pitch process without resorting to fitting every pitch into 140 characters or less. More importantly, unlike many of my other sessions - I have agreed with the organizers to not post the lessons and content from this one online, so the only place you'll be able to get this is through signing up for this webinar. Here's how to get a much more detailed description:

DOWNLOAD 2 PAGE PDF DESCRIPTION OF "9 FATAL FLAWS WEBINAR" >>

Finally, as a special offer - the first 50 groups to register for this webinar will receive a FREE signed copy of Personality Not Included. Visit Bulldog Reporter online to register ...

REGISTER FOR THIS WEBINAR ON 10/16 AT 1PM AND GET A FREE COPY OF PNI >>

Southwest vs. United: Why Authenticity Wins, Even In TV Advertising

Over the course of two days, I saw two stark examples of what could easily be considered the best and worst of airline advertising messages encompassed in two ads done for domestic US-based airlines. Let's start with the worst from United:

What makes this ad so ineffective? First of all, the call to action to experience their first and business class has almost nothing to do with the visuals and storyline of the animated character. She could just as easily be in economy class. Or on another airline. And the last thing I want to think about is all the creatures in the sea when I'm on a transcontinental flight. If I'm lucky, I won't see any - which means my plane stayed in the air where it belongs. The beautiful animated characters and music have little relevance to our lives and have been a random choice for as long as United has been running this campaign.

The choice of Gershwin for the music has become a signature for United and most consumers would recognize it as their "theme song" - but again there is no built in message or purpose for this beyond brand awareness. And as one of the largest airlines in the United States, I think it is safe to say that awareness isn't really what United needs in the first place. Ultimately, as a United customer, I end up watching that ad and wondering to myself what else they chose not to spend money on so they could produce this ineffective message and buy expensive media time to show it (it first aired during the Beijing Olympics).

In contrast, here's the Southwest ad:

What makes this ad so effective? The first reason is that it is topical. At a time when most domestic US airlines have started charging passengers to check their bags, Southwest is one of the few that has not done this. The ad smartly focuses on one attribute that actually DOES set Southwest apart from their competitors: that your bags fly for free. The execution of the ad is strong as well, featuring a man who is presumably a real baggage handler smiling and generally looking happy to be taking care of your bag. The voiceover humanizes your bag - noting at one point that your bag can even bring its "little bag friends" for free. I love my bag - so I respond to that message. Chances are, you do too. At the end of the ad is a simple, yet effective call to action to pack your bag and go on that trip that you might have been planning for some time, because you'll save money with Southwest and your bag will fly for free.

Clearly the audiences for these two spots are different. Southwest is going for the leisure traveler on domestic travel while United is targeting the business and first class crowd for international travel. Yet their different approaches underscore the shift that is taking place in marketing today. The more authentic message focused on something people actually care about will trump the artistically created piece of fluff that lacks any strong insight or message any day.

The irony, perhaps, in this post is that because I live in the Washington DC area - I travel all the time with United and rarely on Southwest. In the past I have often pointed to United as the brand that I would most like to work with because they have such a clean slate of possibility. If they could rethink their entire approach to marketing, add more personality and use social media more effectively - they could completely reinvent people's perception of their brand.

There are some early signs that this is starting to happen - including United starting a twitter account. What it truly needs is a vision from the highest level of marketing to rethink their advertising and pour more internal support into the nacent social media activities starting within the company that have such big potential but are likely underfunded and underappreciated. In case United is listening, drop me a line ... as a loyal customer and hopeful marketer, I'd be happy to help.

The World Business Forum Highlights The Power Of Passion

Earlier today the World Business Forum, one of the largest business events in the world, kicked off at the Radio City Music Hall in New York City. It was a fitting venue to host a range of visionary speakers that could rightly be called "rock stars" for their varied achievements in the world of business. I was invited as part of a cast of about 50 business bloggers to cover the live pulse of the event and managed to participate in a blogger meetup the night before the event started, as well as a few hours today.

As regular readers of this blog know, I tend to make it to a lot of events and many of them are focused on such niche topics as the future of social media and how Twitter is changing business. I expected, after receiving the invite to WBF, that it would be illuminating in a completely different way about the world that we all work in. My hope was that it would offer a chance to contemplate a future of business in which social media was just one piece of the puzzle and not the whole story. In that respect, the first day of WBF certainly delivered.

The speaker lineup for today included Harvard Management Guru (and bestselling author) Bill George, T. Boone Pickens, Jeffrey Sachs, Saatchi & Saatchi CEO Kevin Roberts and filmmaker George Lucas. Reading the stream of tweets from the dedicated bloggers at the event (hashtag/keyword #wbf09), it was clear that there were a lot of great soundbites coming out of the event. As I wasn't able to be at the event for the whole day, these tweets were the method by which I could partake in the live pulse of the event and as I read them it struck me at the "bloggers" the event had invited to cover it were largely choosing to do so through the real time 140 character limited tool of Twitter.

As a result of these many tweets, as an outside reader piecing together the story of the event through these short bursts, it occurred to me that for my recap post from Day one, I would focus on what I felt was a trend that had emerged from all of these micro-observations: the importance of passion. Passion isn't necessarily a word that we typically equate with business. Yet listening to the stories of each of the leaders - passion was a common thread in how they approached their careers and achievements. Passion, to a degree, was what made them great at what they did ... and what they looked for in the next generation of people they hired.

Each of the men presenting today (and yes, unfortunately it was all men) - recounted as part of their point of view their own story of how their personal passion has driven them to do more. George Lucas shared his passion for storytelling. Kevin Roberts on his passion for creating something that people can't help but sharing. Even David Rubenstein (by far the most pessimistic in the group with his sobering presentation about the recession economy) preached being passionate about what you do and choosing something you love.

In the surround-sound media environment of today, there is no shortage of places you can go to see an expert's view of business and where it is headed. What I took from the first day of the World Business Forum, however, was just how important passion is as a common thread in the people (and their organizations) who are accomplishing something. The future of business isn't about leveraging Twitter or weathering the storm, or even finding the next great groundbreaking product. The ones who really change our world for the better will be the ones most passionate about doing it.