JitterJam® Social CRM

Everybody loves a good viral video. Whether you are watching funny cats or the Old Spice Guy duke it out with Fabio, viral videos are sure to entertain. Companies consistently try to achieve viral status with their marketing efforts, as a single viral video can provide millions of brand impressions and a level of buzz unattainable through paid media. However, creating viral videos isn’t a marketing strategy, rather it should only be a goal. This is because the power to make a video or campaign go viral lies in the tweets and shares of millions of social users and not in the hands of marketers.

One danger to considering viral marketing a strategy and not a goal is focusing more on the video than the actual campaign. By this I mean allocating more time and budget to video production, special effects, and promotion channels than to the execution of the campaign strategy. To ensure the best chance of going viral, try allocating resources in the opposite manner. From what I’ve seen, simple videos documenting complex and creative campaigns go viral more often than complex videos documenting simple campaigns. Here are two such videos, which both went viral because of the creativity of each campaign, and not each video:

Tropicana Natural Energy: In France, Tropicana created a billboard covered in oranges with the words “Energie Naturelle” (natural energy) glowing on the front in neon. The catch was that the oranges provided 100% of the energy needed to light the sign, and this received a very positive reaction from the crowd.

Heineken Soccer (Football) Heist: After creating a fake classical music and poetry concert on the day of the biggest soccer match of the year in Italy, Heineken then recruited girlfriends, professors, and bosses to ask boyfriends, students, and coworkers to attend the phony concert. On game day the concert room was packed, and at game time the heist was revealed and everyone was thrilled.

Why did these campaigns go viral?
As you can see, marketing campaigns with the best chance of going viral use emotion to spark interest. Curiosity, joy, surprise, and awe are just a few of the feelings that Heineken and Tropicana successfully created with these efforts. The second reason they were so successful is that viewers appreciated the brands’ efforts to give something to them. In the Tropicana example, this was as simple as something neat and innovative for a Paris passerby to look at, while in Heineken’s case they gave people the chance to watch one of the biggest soccer matches of the year. Online viewers will likely remember these videos the next time they see a Heineken or Tropicana product. These memorable positive brand impressions are another reason that viral marketing can be so valuable and effective.

What other marketing campaigns have you seen go viral? In your experience, do these viral instances occur more often because of the creativity of the campaign or the video? Let us know what you think!

Videos via Adverblog and Guerrilla Communications

When I went out to dinner last night, I found that the restaurant I visited was fully decorated for Halloween and all the wait staff were in full costume. The menu had new “limited time” items for me to try, and they had fun activities and specials planned for this coming weekend. It was fun to see the restaurant get into the Halloween spirit, and it made me think about how businesses can utilize holidays to drive sales and customer engagement as well as provide a fun environment for their employees.

Do you encourage your office or business to get into the holiday spirit? Do you look upon holidays as a chance to have fun with your customers and employees? If not, you should consider doing both! Holidays are a great way to bring spirit, goodwill and fun into your business and share that with your customers and employees. While it’s an “excuse” to have fun, it’s also a great way to draw your customers back to your business as well as engage your employees in a more informal way. Here are a few ideas to help you integrate the holiday spirit into your business.

• Decorate! Put up Halloween decorations, Valentine’s Day hearts, Christmas and Hanukkah trinkets, Easter eggs, St. Patrick’s Day shamrocks and more. Get into the spirit and let your employees have fun as well.
• Contests, Promotions and Specials. Use the opportunities to drive more awareness and sales for your business. Create contests and promotions around holiday themes, and let the prizes relate to the theme. Make the contest entries public (post pictures, videos, etc.) and viral (encourage others to spread the word to get more chances of winning) to help drive engagement and publicity. Utilize the special promotions, events and “rewards” to drive traffic in the business for that holiday season. Provide value and fun, and you’ll be able to make the season special for your business, your employees and your customers!
• Reach Out. Use holidays to show your customers that you appreciate them. Send out greeting cards or hand-written notes. Pack a little something special in an order or the retail bag. Let customers know that you’re thankful for their business. Tie that outreach to the promotions that you’re running for the season, or just foster goodwill and get your customers to think about your business…again!
• Do Good. Does a holiday have special meaning to your business? Do you have special causes that you’d like to support? Use holidays or special occasions to highlight your causes. Do you have employees that have battled cancer? Do something company-wide to support National Breast Cancer Awareness Month. Is your company eco-aware? Get your company involved in some Earth Day activities and create a way for employees and customers to participate.

 
Remember to be aware of individual preferences and differences when you’re encouraging participation in holiday events with your employees. Participation in “fun” activities should always be optional!

I hope you have a happy and safe Halloween!

In an earlier Fun Stuff Friday post, we talked about learning how to be a better public speaker through opportunities like PechaKucha and Battledecks. PechaKucha (try saying that three times, fast) is interesting because you have to get your point across in 20 slides shown for no more than 20 seconds each. What was originally created in Tokyo as a way for designers to meet and share their work is now a phenomenon that has spread to events in over 300 cities. Sounds like fun, right? Or maybe a terrifying situation?

What I’ve noticed about a good presentation is that the visuals captivate and illustrate while the points are clear and concise. And one of my favorite sites to learn about and find examples of good presentations is Presentation Zen. Garr Reynolds, former Manager of Worldwide User Group Relations at Apple Computer, publishes a blog (and published a book) on lessons in presentation design. What I love about this blog is the mixture of principles and practice.

I was thinking about how we can improve our presentations at JitterJam, and I remembered this site. I’m going back through it to get some ideas on how to make my point effectively, more visual, more memorable. Can you think of one presentation that have you seen lately that was memorable? What made it have such an impact on you? How can you apply what you saw to what you do?

Want a dose of creativity every Friday? Join us for Creativity Coffee at our HQ in Bedford, NH.

Show and Tell - explaining the rain game, by woodleywonderworks on Flickr. CC BY.

Much of social media is a giant game of show and tell. Whether users are sharing photos on Facebook or brief anecdotes on Twitter, they are, to one extent or another, doing the same thing they did when they stood in front of the class in elementary school to explain why they loved their new Transformer toy so much. Businesses engaged in social media can use this predisposition toward sharing and storytelling to discover new, valuable information on consumers. The key is to get directive.

What if, once a week, your business encouraged its customers to engage in a game of show and tell with some specific parameters? Here are a few examples:

• A performing arts center might encourage its patrons to describe the best concert they’ve ever attended, and then use that information to tweak and modify the concertgoing experience accordingly.
• A health-conscious food company might solicit its customers for their guiltiest culinary pleasures, then post healthier alternatives that utilize the company’s products.
• An outdoor supply company might ask its following about the one piece of camping gear that’s saved the day more than any other over the years, then highlight that item (and items like it) more prominently in their online store.

Yes, this is what businesses are doing every day when they ask questions on Twitter, on Facebook, and on their blogs. But by framing the question as a game, by calling back to an activity that many customers will remember from their childhoods, businesses can develop intelligence on their consumer base in a fun, unique, and far less overtly sales-driven way.

What do you think? Let us know, then get out there and have an amazingly fun Fun Stuff Friday!

Recognized for Outstanding Advancements in Marketing / Customer Relationship Technology

Apr 30, 2010 (PRLog) – Bedford, NH – JitterJam™, a leader in social marketing software, was named a finalist in the 7th Annual MITX Technology Awards. The MITX Technology Awards recognize emergent and innovative technologies developed in the New England area, as well as the individuals and organizations responsible for driving these advancements. The Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX) is the country’s premier Internet business and marketing association.

“The MITX Awards showcase the most innovative companies and technologies in New England, and we are honored to be recognized for our achievements,” said Ric Pratte, President and CEO at JitterJam. “The JitterJam platform represents a significant advancement over today’s marketing tools and technologies. Our unique combination of social marketing tools, analytics and an intelligent contact database provide businesses with the ability to manage the complete consumer trust cycle—from initial touch to engagement, from engagement to advocacy. We are proud to be an innovator in consumer marketing and relationship management.”

JitterJam’s web-based social marketing platform enables companies to turn social conversations into trusted customer relationships. JitterJam integrates social media, e-mail, and mobile marketing with an intelligent contact database and the tools that turn social interaction into new opportunities for revenue growth. JitterJam’s groundbreaking combination of social listening and engagement, automated contact database development, multi-channel marketing tools and analytics brings true ROI to social engagement by enabling companies to develop the deep one-to-one customer relationships that consumers expect in today’s marketplace.

“Being named a finalist in the MITX Technology Awards is an important achievement,” said Kiki Mills, president of MITX. “This recognition translates into increased exposure with media, industry analysts and investors, and provides them a higher profile in their industry. We congratulate all of the finalists on their achievement and wish them luck in the competition.”

Finalists represent the spectrum of innovation in New England’s technology sector, demonstrated by eleven categories at this year’s awards, which include: Analytics and Business Intelligence, Cloud Computing, Devices, E-Commerce/Alternative Retail, Marketing/Customer Relationship Technologies, Mobile Application, Mobile Infrastructure, Online Advertising, Rich Media, Social Media, and Technology Enablers.

JitterJam will be recognized with the other finalists in the category of Marketing/Customer Relationship Technology at an awards ceremony attended by the region’s top technology and business professionals. Winners will be announced at the ceremony at the Boston Marriott Copley Place on Wednesday, June 2, 2010.

In addition to being selected as a finalist for their category, finalists are eligible for a ‘Best of’ award and for a ‘Promise’ award, which recognizes start-up companies whose emerging technology solutions show promise to make a significant business impact.

The MITX Technology Awards program is sponsored through the generous support of: The Atom Group, DLA Piper, LEWIS PR and PricewaterhouseCoopers. Creative partners include: Corey Machanic, Height&Hands, massAV, and PJ Moore: Brand Design & Strategy.

About JitterJam
Founded in 2008 as JitterGram Inc., JitterJam empowers consumer-facing companies in the mid- to small-business market by putting the sophistication and power of multi-channel integrated marketing within their reach. JitterJam, the company’s revolutionary product, is a comprehensive tool that integrates social media, e-mail, and mobile engagement with an intelligent contact database and the tools needed to turn social interaction into new opportunities for revenue growth. For more information or to instantly sign up for JitterJam’s services, go to http://www.jitterjam.com.

About MITX
The Massachusetts Innovation & Technology Exchange (MITX) is the region’s premier professional organization for the Internet business and marketing industry. Reaching more than 7,500 professionals in New England, MITX is the community for thought leadership, building business relationships and professional training and development. Members of the MITX community take advantage of events, sponsorships, speaking opportunities and networking to make business connections and exchange ideas. With more than 60 events annually, MITX provides its members with the opportunity to promote their companies to targeted audiences and provides a valuable forum for networking with other likeminded peers to source potential business leads, partnerships, ideas, and funding. MITX is headquartered in Cambridge, MA. Visit us at http://www.mitx.org.

JitterJam, JitterGram and Turning Conversations Into Customers are registered trademarks or trademarks of JitterJam.