How this Famous Oscar Photobomb Defines Twitter for Marketers

Last Sunday, Oscar host Ellen Degeneres broke Twitter with the most epic of all selfies. The picture was retweeted more than 1.3 million times in less than an hour, breaking President Obama’s 2012 victory photo which had 780,000 retweets. The star-studded photo included famous actors like Brad Pitt, Angelina Jolie, Meryl Streep, Julia Roberts, Jennifer Lawrence, (half of) Jared Leto, Channing Tatum, Kevin Spacey, Lupita Nyong'o and surprisingly, Lupita Nyong'o’s non-celebrity brother, Peter. The media was ablaze shortly, calling attention to Peter’s photobomb. What Peter did in this opportunistic moment happens thousands of time each day on Twitter, as the “normals” interact directly and in conversation with the celebrities of their field. That’s the power of Twitter and marketers can take a lesson.

The Shared Experience

Ellen’s tweet created a shared experience with millions of people around the world. Like Peter, we felt we were participating in history because we were doing this together, even if most of us have never met one another, let alone Brad Pitt. Famed media analyst, Brian Solis spoke about the phenomenon of the shared experience in an early 2013 interview:

“Shared experiences form an influence loop that is connected to each moment of truth. It’s what people find that guides them. It takes more than Google now. People are talking and connecting. Experiences are shared in tweets, posts, videos and reviews. You’ve optimized search, your website, your mobile app, but you haven’t optimized for shared experiences. Shared experiences affect customer impressions and next steps in each moment of truth. Shift from impressions to expressions.”

Marketers can leverage this concept by creating opportunities for fans from around the world to participate together. For example, recently Lay’s Potato Chips crowd-sourced a Do Us a Flavor, contest to determine the next flavor of Lay’s Chips. Nearly 3.8 million submissions were created in 2013 and more than a million votes were cast to select Cheesy Garlic Bread as the winner. This not only engaged millions of Lay’s fans together, it also generated hundreds of marketable assets and press (and one tasty bag of chips).

ShareBloc recently attempted a similar tactic, creating a contest to determine the Top 50 Content Marketing Posts of 2013. In our first two weeks of our company’s launch, we saw more than 600 people vote more than 7,000 times to determine the winner. We’re planning a similar contest in March for the Marketo The Marketing Nation Summit so go to www.sharebloc.com/contest on March 11 for more information. The winner of the contest will get a FREE ticket to The Marketing Nation Summit on April 7-9.

Ask Your Audience to Share

When Ellen boldly asked the audience for her tweet to break the retweet record, fans around the world complied. Ellen asked people to share so we did. Hubspot’s social media scientist, Dan Zarrella, studied 2.7 million tweets and found asking your followers seven simple but powerful call-to-actions on Twitter materially increased the reweet-per-follower ratio. Asking your followers to “please help” was by far the most effective, showing a 160% increase from the average. Famed marketer Jeff Bullas suggests three additional calls to action in addition to a retweet: Ask for a download, Ask for a follow and Ask for a reply.



We employ a similar strategy at ShareBloc. We tweet twice a day the top posts from @ShareBloc, most of which are the best posts on social media, content marketing, SEO and technology. This garners dozens of favorites and retweets from different accounts each week, most of whom we suspect are automated. We track to see if any new accounts engage with us on Twitter and ask them to join ShareBloc with calls to action like “don’t forget to join” or “check out ShareBloc”. So far, the engagement percentage is encouraging with more than 10% of our conversations clicking through the link.

We are all Peter Nyong'o Now

When Peter Nyong'o photobombed Ellen’s selfie, it was not dissimilar from when fans insert themselves into a conversation between two known celebrities. For example, Arby’s famously tweeted at musician Pharrell Williams during the Grammys about his now infamous mountain hat. Thousands engaged with the celebrity and fast food franchise.



Twitter is also the ideal medium for reaching directly to your user base. While some personalities have gotten in trouble with this type of outreach, often times it can create engagement and new marketing assets. For example, Taco Bell’s twitter account is famous for its fun attitude and timely retweets. They’ve recently run a campaign for their breakfast menu with the hashtag #TacoBellBreakfast and have gotten even celebrities like Ashton Kutcher to participate.
At ShareBloc, we encourage a dialogue with our users on Twitter. Oftentimes, we’ll tweet at the author or the person who posted a top content post to let me know they’re reaching our Twitter following (not a lot for now) and our registered users (a lot more). Here’s a recent example of our interaction with SEO expert, Brian Dean of Backlinko.



























If you’d like to insert yourself into Ellen’s selfie, here’s a website that lets you do that. Also, don’t forget to check out www.sharebloc.com/contest on March 11 for more information. The winner of the contest will get a FREE ticket to The Marketing Nation Summit on April 7-9.

Content Marketing Minds: Empowering the Ultimate Content Creation Team

Fellow content creators, let’s swallow a big honking reality pill together. The things customers say about our brand runs circles around the prose we produce.

According to Nielson research, 77% of consumers are more likely to buy a product when they hear about it from friends and family.

Got advocates?

Maybe you call them ambassadors, fans, or evangelists.  Call them what you will, but understand when people support your brand it means money. More advocates, more sales. And nothing scales quite like word of mouth. Even if you get just a small percentage to plug your products, the ripple effect can be immeasurable. 

When you win over customers and help them share your brand’s story: 

• Your programs get amplified.
• Advocates create content for you—for free.
• Anticipation for new products increases.
• Positive conversations spread across online media.
• Web traffic increases.
• You win new customers.

Where do you start?

Tap into those apt to become advocates.

The first phase of a brand advocacy program calls for finding your current friends—those who buy your products or tune into your communications. You want to identify the socially active set, especially those that express themselves passionately.

Launch your advocacy program to your fans first. Roll out a red carpet of sorts with special incentives to join the party. Engage your advocates via the medium where you found them. 

#CMMinds
Let's hash this stuff out together. Use #CMMinds anytime to make comments or counterpoints, add your ideas and ask questions. I'm listening. 

Promote the program.

Put the word out about your program.

• Use all of your owned channels that are appropriate: the company blog, Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Pinterest, etc.
• Email news about the program with links to more information.
• Feature it prominently on your website.
• Promote it in-store (if you can).
• Fold it into traditional media (direct mail, business cards, brochures).
• Spread the news via partners with a vested interest.

Tips for fueling the fire. 

Fifty years ago, Ernest Dichter, an Austrian-American psychologist and marketing expert known as the "father of motivational research" suggested customers share for four reasons: 

1. They love the brand.
2. It makes them look good/smart.
3. They want to help others.
4. They simply like the content.

Keep these tips top of mind to motivate potential advocates to share your brand story:

Make it easy—Increase the likelihood of earning word of mouth (or word of mouse) by making it ultra-simple. With your online efforts, ensure it takes just one click.

Provide a starting point—Give potential advocates a starting point such as a topic or theme. You might simply ask a question or make a suggestion such as “share a photo of your family using our product.”

Set them free—Encourage sharing and conversation, but avoid dictating the message. Advocates will be more willing to engage and more credible when you allow them to express themselves freely and in their own voice. 

Fun it—Your ambassadors will flock to the fun stuff, so engage them with images, video, and stories that are playful, lighthearted and whimsical.

Stay fresh—Keep creating new things. Try different ideas and let your customers know about them.

Offer variety—Different customers will consume and share different media, so don’t be a one-trick pony with your media tactics. Cover the gamut with images, video, offers, games, etc.

Recognize the players. 

Even though advocacy may come naturally, you’ll enjoy a longer and more fruitful relationship with your volunteer sales force when you recognize them.

A simple thank you tweet or Facebook update could be the right gesture to spread the love. However, you might take the idea further with special recognition programs on your website and in various media. 

Consider offering your active advocates exclusive access to content. You might invite them to participate in special programs. View new campaigns first. Cast votes. Enjoy savings.

Be creative with your recognition programs and the recognition itself is likely to foster word of mouth. Think about the rare instances where a company thanked you for your business in a special way. Chances are it became a story you share with friends.

A big bonus for small budgets. 

Content creators constantly cite a lack of time and money for creating quality content. Empower your customers to do it for you—and presto—the problem subsides. And, of course, your brand gets far more than more content; it gets more credible content.

Advocate content receives 10x more engagement than branded paid content.* 

…and… 

It receives 7x more engagement than content posted to brand owned channels.*

(*Source: Social Chorus eBook: Advocates as Content Creators)

When your brand advocates create and share content you’ll want to extend its reach by repurposing it across multiple channels, including: social media, your website, advertising, sponsored posts, and print.

Happy customers + talking customers = new customers.

According to Social Chorus, 90% of social media engagement is driven by 3% of your audience. Your challenge is to engage and inspire the passionate minority. Make them happy. Give them reasons to “talk” and the result will be new customers.

Mark Collier, social media strategist and author of “Think Like a Rock Star: How to Create Social Media and Marketing Strategies that Turn Customers into Fans,” offers 10 tips for creating your ambassador program:

1. Spread the word internally and externally.
2. Do research to discover your brand advocates.
3. Start small and allow for organic growth of the program.
4. Offer exclusive memberships.
5. Connect with advocates and create ways for them to connect.
6. Reward them.
7. Give them direct access to your brand and people.
8. Create a feedback loop for them.
9. Give them tools to create amazing content.
10. Release control to the ambassadors.

In the informative infographic below, BzzAgent cites research from the University of Rhode Island and highlights the fact that brand advocates are prolific content creators. They write and share more than 2x as many online communications about brands. They’re 3x more likely to blog and are usually seen as a solid source of information by the people they communicate with.

In other words, brand advocates are the most powerful members of your content marketing dream team. 

[NOTE: CONTENT MARKETING CONTEST! Do you love Social Media Today? Do you read my posts regularly? Please help vote for "Content Marketing Isn't for Everybody"... as the top content marketing post of 2013 on @ShareBlochttp://www.sharebloc.com/posted_links/content_marketing_isnt_for_everybody ]

Content Marketing Minds is a weekly Social Media Today column written by Barry Feldman about content marketing at its best and its worst. Look for the future installments on Thursdays.

A Simple Take on Social Media Influence

There’s a fine line between actually influencing people and having the right type of social media presence that makes it look like you’re influencing people. Unfortunately, there are too many services and techniques used today that allow people to inflate the perception of their influence, often in an attempt to appear more influential than they really are in order to get work, particularly in social media itself.

Sometimes, people just like feeling important.

In the infographic below, MGL Media examines the very basic concepts of social media influence. Honestly, there’s nothing new here for anyone who already has a basic understanding, but if you don’t know anything about social media influence, here’s a good place to start.