Having toiled in the marketing and social media trenches for several years now (perhaps you know me from the Landing Page Makeover Series I did on Copyblogger), I’m now turning my experience, laser-focused eye on what works and doesn’t work in the social media marketing world.
Prepare yourself for my well-known, direct, sometimes amusing, but always informative, short-form analyses of items collected from Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube and other popular and offbeat social media channels.
I certify that all examples are genuine true and gathered by me or my trusted assistant. (If you see a social media marketing goof or good idea, please email me and I may include it in an upcoming post.)
PETA Takes On DKNY via Facebook Assault
You may already be aware of the dust-up created when PETA roused their anti-fur fans to action last Fall, encouraging them to post their bunny fur protest directly on DKNY’s Facebook page.
Did it work? Did it create enough of a stir? Did it change minds and hearts? Was it ultimately effective?
To my thinking, the campaign was anemic and self-indulgent, but it was PETA’s first real use of a social media “attack” to galvanize awareness. I expect to see more activist organizations using this kind of tactic for their own awareness campaigns with increasing frequency and sophistication.
What worked?
- Unique approach
- Committed membership ready to respond when called
- Lots of viral opportunity (PETA loves publicity and knows how to get it)
What didn’t?
- Execution was only so-so. Considering PETA’s energy and experience, I’m surprised how flat this campaign was.
Suggestion:
Don’t just talk about murdered bunnies. Show ‘em, too. 
I give this one a B.
PR Guy Needs a Gig. Gets Noticed with a Facebook Ad
I found this story from last year on Bad Pitch Blog, Recent PR grad wants to find a PR position and spends a few bucks on a personal branding ad.
I did some research to follow up on what this guy is doing since. His Facebook page is either down or hidden, but you can check him out here. http://www.grantturck.com/development.html. (FYI – I find this effort a lot less effective than his ad.)
What works?
- It all does. Direct, to the point and sincere. Nice photo, too.
Suggestion:
It might have been fun to do some testing of images as well as headlines. Grant casual. Grant smiling or not. (Quick tip: If you have to test one element for your Facebook ad campaigns, test the images and test a lot of them. The click-through rate differences will astound you.)
This earns an A- from me.
Worst Facebook Profile Pics Ever Video
Speaking of images, I wanted to find examples of some of the worst profile pics from dating sites – talk about your social media marketing exercise, right? – but there were way too many bad ones for me to choose from.
Instead, I let this clever video do the job for me. Although its focus is on Facebook profile pics, the thrust of the information is the same. If you want to attract positive attention from a prospective date on Facebook or any of the popular online dating sites, you want to think seriously and carefully about your profile pic and what it says about you.
What works?
- Beyond being entertaining, the video identifies the main problem with each of the less than effective profile pics identified.
- Includes a few clever tips how to achieve a better, more effective pic (and hence, more dating opportunity.)
What doesn’t?
- Video is geared to folks in their 20s. Trust me, youth alone can make someone seem attractive. I would have liked to have seen a selection of people in their 30s, 40s, 50s and older. (The largest audience for online dating sites? Boomers, baby!)
Suggestion:
Think beyond the dating site use of profile pics and consider what your own site and/or ad imagery is saying about your product/service to your visitor, and not just the obvious stuff either. Don’t think just because your cell phone has a camera that the pix it takes are advertising worthy. You may want to spend some bucks and have a real live photographer make your widgits sparkle for a dazzling bottom line.
I give this one an A-
Lastly, our #TweetFail of the Month
Back in September 2008, a Rocky Mountain News reporter, Berny Morson, used Twitter to provide live event coverage of a child’s funeral.
http://twitter.com/RMN_Berny/status/916644056
Remember, if you see a great example of Do/Don’t Do social media marketing effort, I’d love to see them.
About the Author: Roberta Rosenberg is The Copywriting Maven at MGP Direct, Inc. She blogs and is a contributing writer and Makeover Specialist for Copyblogger.com. Find her @CopywriterMaven on Twitter. Roberta has helped numerous B2B and B2C companies increase their website traffic, pop their search engine rankings, and get bigger, better click-through and conversion rates for their landing pages, PPC ads, email and related marketing programs. She can be reached at roberta@mgpdirect.com.
