Just Because it Tweets Like a Duck...

I mean, what is this!?

I realize that for consumer brands social media is all about invoking meaningful engagement with customers; that it should be conversational and not 100% promotional.

But to carry on as if you’re just another (human) connection reaching out for compassion and relate-ability?

How can a business have a case of the Mondays?!

I could see validation in this tweet if it were posted by a small, single-unit shop – a hair salon, for example.

Picture a staff of 5-10 stylists and manicurists who, through the process of early morning chit chat, come to agree they all feel a bit sluggish. THAT type of situation might warrant such a tweet (and even then, should STILL coincide with a promo):

Are we to assume that McDonald’s first distributed a corporate email to vet their claim?

That a majority of their team (HQ and restaurant staff a like) agreed to having a “case of the Mondays?”

As a socially connected patron, should I be prepared for compromised customer service or food quality because of this corporate-wide “off” day?

If I roll up to the drive thru and express empathy will the order-taker appreciate the sentiment or go on the defense and snap at me?

I’m being a bit ridiculous, I realize – but hey – a bit of satire does the body good.

Besides, the basis of my argument is true.

Do this (not that):

First, let me just say that I love how Dunkin’ Donuts uses the “DD” any chance they get, parlaying brand elements into the conversation.

More importantly, instead of expressing synthetic emotion and asking open-ended and ultra-vague questions about their patrons’ weekends, this tweet opts to engage (and soft-sell) followers with multimedia content.

DD doesn’t pretend to be just another human tweeter in your feed, but a conduit for sharing the brand experiences of other human tweeters.

Why doesn't Ronald tweet?

Just a thought, but if McDonald's wants to tweet in a one-to-one fashion, why not employ one of their beloved characters as the "author?" I'd talk to Grimace or the Hamburglar!

I realize Ronald has taken a bit of a backseat role in branding at McDonald's, but "chatting" with a character would feel more real than doing the same with a corporate logo.

I don’t mean to pick on McDonald’s.

In truth, both companies post some pretty lame tweets now and again.

As Social media continues to evolve within the marketing mixes of B2B and B2C brands alike, striking the right balance between pushing business and sharing experiences remains TBD.

Both McDonald’s and Dunkin’ seem to be at the forefront of what’s right (most of the time).

Maybe the joke is on me.

While I maintain that the “case of the Mondays” tweet undermines the intelligence of the McDonald’s fan base, it appears it got great traction:

 

Retweets, Favorites and Replies (not included).
Who are the users engaged by this type of drivel?!

Perhaps my gripe is with them… ;)

Fries: Who Slings 'em Better?

I got to thinking about positioning the other day.

Perhaps the most vital (and fun) part of the marketing process, positioning is when you stop thinking about your product as if it existed in a vacuum and begin to frame up how it fits in the grand scheme of (competing) things.

Suddenly you're faced with selecting words and deploying phrases that best communicate how your widget differs from – no, is BETTER than – all the rest.

In that same spirit, we introduce you to a new segment we like to call:

“Who Wore it Better?”

Cute. Now, what is it again?

Example:

Think about the taglines embraced by two leading luxury car manufacturers here in the US:

Mercedes-Benz: The Best or Nothing
Lexus: Pursuit of Perfection

Both are “wearing” the position of “luxury automobile.”

But who “wears” it best?

Whose aura resonates most with its intended audience?

We could go on for hours interpreting the intent behind these taglines, dissecting their interplay. We could look beyond words, and pick apart creative and channel.

Instead, we’ve elected to stick with something we know (better than we care to admit).

 
The French Fry

When you think about traditional fast food, what comes to mind?

A burger and fries. That’s right; the “burger” comes before the “fries.”

Not always the case with advertising.

More recently, both McDonald’s and Burger King have been touting the hamburger’s gilded sidekick. And why not? While burgers are one choice of many sandwiches and come with limitless variations all their own, the fry is an industry staple and key point of comparison among all brands.

Do we want fries with that? Of course!

Take a look at two more recent fry-slinging ads.

Who wears it better?

If you ask us, it's hard to say. Both companies make French fries work; wearing it in a way that accentuates each brand’s best features. 

• McDonald’s is the responsible, mature (yet equally clever) older brother; well-established and refined. Their ad touts “best fries on the planet” in a bold yet respectful, marquee way.
  
• Burger King plays the ever-subordinate and neglected, attention-seeking little brother. Finding it impossible to escape Ronald’s shadow, BK enlists shock value to ensure its message gets heard. Their ad (quite literally) sticks it to the man.

Both campaigns stay true to their brand and most definitely resonate with the target markets each are looking to attract.

Whose message resonates with you most?

Deconstructing Social (Again)

Only this time, with charts!

I know what you're thinking. Who is 30k Feet to tell me how to conduct my life in social media?

Granted, there is no 'golden rule' for how and who you choose to connect with on the web.

The way I see it, there are two types of people using social media.

1. Those that annoy their followers.
2. Those that get annoyed by their followers.

If the first would stop, the second would cease to exist.
But if we're being totally honest with ourselves, we're probably each guilty of instigating annoyance from time to time.

Let's talk about what we can do to fix that.

Too many choices!

Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and Foursquare.

Blogger vs. Wordpress vs. Tumbler.

Oh, and what about Instagram, Path and Pinterest?

Whether you’re on all of these (and then some), or only a few, here’s how I try to think of each major platform holistically:

Customer Segmentation?

Exactly! It's Marketing 101. You have different things to share with each audience. When you think about it in these terms, you’re really engaging in (social media) target marketing.

Now let's take it a step further and discuss when you should and should not content across platforms.

Sensory overload, but fairly self-explanatory.

Something to remember about photos:

Disclaimer: I’m a HUGE fan of Instagram (especially as of late). Please forgive and take no offense at my passion-filled rant.

Instagram photos and mobile uploads to Twitter or Facebook are two very different things.

As broached in the first slide, 

Instagram IS visually stunning art and snapshots of everyday life. It's capturing moments spent with family and friends, nature's unyielding beauty, and the dramatic detail of architecture.

Instagram IS NOT you capturing a guy’s ass crack hanging out at the bar. It’s NOT the jewel case to the latest Resident Evil game for your XBOX. These are mobile uploads for Twitter or Facebook.

(And in BOTH cases, ALWAYS include a caption explaining why the hell you thought the image was worthy of sharing in the first place.)

The Two 'Nevers:'

Foursquare to Facebook

We discussed this a bit in our Facebook Resolutions post last year, but it bears repeating.

Nobody wins when you sync the two. If we want to know where you are, we’ll follow you on foursquare. If we’re already following you on foursquare, we don’t need to see your check-in on Facebook as well.

Fundamentally, foursquare is a game. People check in for points and to alert friends where they are. No one wants to see you bounce from point A to point B on Facebook with no further elaboration. It’s infuriating! 

Twitter to Facebook 

Why build a following on both just to be redundant?

New approach: Picture the various Social Media applications as different ticket packages to the same event – your (social media) life.

Twitter is front-row, exclusive/all access. These are your diehard fans; they can’t get enough of you.

Facebook is nose-bleed with obstructed view. These seats don’t get to see it all; they are adequate for followers with only a modest interest in you.

The people that sit in each of these sections expect very different experiences.

So give Facebook friends less and Twitter followers more; feeding only the BIGGEST of news to both.

Who's your AOR, Space Exploration?

NEWS FLASH:

So last week a friend sent me this article. Pretty cool, right?

“I don’t know, I guess?”

That was my response.

Shocked at my apathy towards space exploration, my galactic-obsessed pal demanded to understand why.

I don’t care because no one is telling me to care.

I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again – space exploration needs better marketing – any marketing, really.

I know, I know – as a Congressional-controlled budget, NASA isn’t afforded the luxury of a robust team of branding professionals. (Have you seen a logo more in need of a refresh?!) Still, let me rant hypothetically.

Space should be far more popular than it is.

Why? --

It’s cool:

Did you know that the light hitting the Earth right now is 30,000 years old? Or that some scientists predict our galaxy to be moving at more than 330 miles per second? Or how about that Saturn is so light that if placed in water it could float?

It’s useful:

Much of what we use every day can be traced back (in-part) to space exploration; the GPS in our cars and watches, hand-held power tools and cell phones, shoe insoles, even water pitchers.

-- But no one knows it.

50 years ago, people knew it.

President Kennedy was the space program’s biggest advocate. “Put a man on the moon before the decade is out” – that’s what he said. A decree turned mantra with a sprinkling of Cold War politics and patriotism and voila! – a marketing strategy that everyone could get behind was born!

We got to the moon. Hoorah! Mission accomplished!!!

…Now what?

From a marketing standpoint, the lunar mission was such a perfectly executed campaign that people had a hard time seeing past it. It was as if the Apollo program was the embodiment of Space exploration in total and nothing beyond existed.

A wildly successful product or idea makes marketing easy – unless it carries a certain expiration date. In such instances, marketing is burdened with the task of figuring out how to keep up the momentum once a marque product has reached its end.

Without Marketing,

The aging public once preoccupied with getting to the moon remains under the false pre-tense that we’ve accomplished the bulk of our goals. Younger generations are left with only the news from which to form their opinions. Here’s what I gather:

It’s expensive, it’s slow, its goals are often based on conjecture and it doesn’t always work when it gets there. And, at its worst, it kills. (See Challenger and Columbia)

If I were NASA’s AOR…

I’d recommend an awareness-generating campaign. One that re-educates the public on all the things they take for granted that are only possible (in part) by space exploration. I would build out a series of vignettes that depict everyday tasks absent specific modern-day conveniences – calling out the dent in productivity left in their absence. Each would end with a similarly constructed tagline:

[Everyday Luxury X]. Brought to you by space exploration. What more can we discover?

Some of the biggest blockbusters have been sci-fi. Aliens or not, there’s an inherent interest in exploring the unknown. NASA just needs a little help reconnecting with its civil advocates.

When you think about it, the blasé image of all government-run institutions is sad. Take the USPS for example (you remember, the United States Postal Service?). Absent competition for years, they needn’t bother infusing the magic of marketing. And now, the Post Office is dull and lethargic – they didn’t have a chance when it came time to competing with the likes of UPS and FedEx in the free market.

You’ve been warned, NASA - breathe some life into that brand of yours before private sector players like Virgin Galactic stake further claim!

Ok. Rant concluded. Happy Friday, everyone! ::steps off soapbox::

12 Facebook Resolutions for 2012

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