360DigitalInfluence

2009, defined by the deep recession, forced consumer brands to do more with much less.  However, this stressful environment drove  marketers to try non-traditional and less expensive channels, fostering the development of some unique engagement programs in social media.  In this series of posts, I’ll revisit a few of the more interesting campaigns from the past year and explain how these programs can guide our 2010 engagement strategies.

Social media can be used in a variety of capacities; so instead of your standard Top Ten list, I’ll look at campaigns based on their strategic approach. Some of these initiatives could fit into multiple buckets, but for the sake of this blog post, I’ll only focus on specific components of an overall program.

Empowering Brand Advocates Through Social Media

One could argue the easiest method to earn digital relevance and recognition is to take advantage of a brand’s advocates that are already active in social media and give these people a more influential voice.  As Nielsen  reports that consumers trust their friends’ opinions over corporate marketing messages, countless brands are attempting to corral their top fans and focus their enthusiasm towards potential consumers.  One component of this strategy is to leverage the strong connection these fans share with the brand’s personality and the community on whole. In 2009, two companies did this particularly well in completely different ways.

Boxee, 2009 International CES Team Member Contest
…or how to excite your fans in 72 hours or less.

Background

All the way back in October 2008, Boxee was a small start-up that just won a free entry to the 2009 International Consumer Electronics Show (CES) for producing the world’s first “social” media center. Without getting into too much detail, Boxee is a cross-platform software application (and now hardware component) that allows you to link media hubs, such as your computer, Hulu, and NetFlix account to your television; you can then share those viewing experiences across a social network.

Similar to other innovative start-ups, Boxee has a very passionate and cult-like fan base. The company blog receives over 50,000 unique monthly visitors and blog posts can easily generate 100, if not 200 comments. Boxee advocates are very vocal and love sharing their opinions with others.

But, again, similar to most start-ups, the company only employs a handful of people and certainly not enough to man two booths at one of the largest electronics trade shows in the world. Boxee needed a quick way to increase their presence at CES and generate excitement within their community.

Strategy and Execution

On a Thursday afternoon just one week before the start of the conference, Boxee CEO, Avner Ronen, posted on the company blog that Boxee is only able to send a few of their employees to CES and they’ll need some help from fans. Mr. Ronen asked people to take some time during the weekend to shoot and submit a one-minute video of themselves explaining the software as if they were at CES. After a vote, the winners would be flown out to Las Vegas and join the Boxee crew.

Over the course of Friday and Saturday, fans from across the country presented their best Boxee pitches to both the company and community in hopes of securing a spot on the team.

On Sunday morning at 8am, Boxee posted 20 finalists, and by the afternoon, Boxee fans tallied over 750 votes. The next day, Boxee announced four winners and on Wednesday, the four were on their way to the conference.

In less than seven days, a campaign critical to the brand’s reputation was launched, executed, wrapped-up, and its results implemented.

Impact

At the conference, the Boxee booth was one of the most popular of the entire show. Visitors appreciated hearing directly from the knowledgeable Boxee fans, which freed up time for the developers to speak with their many media engagements.   The team took home plenty of awards including CEA iStage Winner, G4’s Best of the Best, and CNet’s Editor’s Pick.

On their own, the four contest winners actively shared their experience in Las Vegas with the Boxee community through Twitter, videos, and photos.  One advocate is now even featured in the main video on the Boxee homepage.

Why It Worked

Through this advocate activation campaign, Boxee connected their last-minute need for additional help on the conference floor to the desires of a highly engaged community. It didn’t hurt that the top prize was any Boxee fan’s ultimate dream: share a product they love at a key industry event, as part of a team they admire. Boxee’s community loves engaging directly with the brand, and the entire process kept not just the winners, but everyone involved from the start, whether it was creating content, judging other members, or hearing directly from the Boxee fans at CES. This campaign built on the link between the advocates’ personal interests and the brand, which in turn generated excitement within their base community in addition to creating positive exposure to potential consumers.

Now as simple as the Boxee example seems, it only will work for certain styles of brands. Sometimes a brand’s personality requires a more exclusive and intimate experience.

Enter Marmite.

Marmite, The First Circle of the Marmarati
…or how to use preferential treatment and exclusivity to target advocates.

Background

Since the late 19th century, this sticky, dark brown vegan spread has been known to stir up heated passions. People seem to either love this product or completely hate it. There are multiple Facebook groups representing both sides, the largest of which claims nearly 250,000 fans. In 2009, Marmite invited their biggest advocates to decide the newest flavor. This campaign certainly isn’t the first to crowd-source a new product, but this social media strategy uniquely activates Marmite advocates by intimately connecting them with the brand’s English/Victorian personality.

Strategy and Execution

Marmite asked people to describe why they love the spread in 12 words or less. Roughly 700 entries were uploaded in the form of Facebook status updates, Tweets, and audio and video clips. 40 fans received a phone call from “William Fotherington-Smythe,” a fictional character with a distinct elitist accent and he invited them to join the First Circle of the Marmarati. The new members were then brought to the secret society’s inaugural event at a posh restaurant in downtown London.

Upon arrival, the 40 Marmarati were provided champagne and briefly allowed to mingle with the “elders” including Marmite’s CEO who portrayed “Lord Marmarati,” in full costume. Soon enough, a master of ceremonies swept back a curtain to reveal an elegant banquet table. After a brief history of Marmite, he made each of the Marmarati recite a secret oath and blindfolded them before they could taste the three different flavors.

After the tasting, the fans sipped Marmite-flavored cocktails while the master of ceremonies told them about a “secret” Facebook page and instructed them all to wait for further instructions.

Impact

The Marmarati returned to their everyday lives, blogging about their mysterious experience and shortly, food blogs and pop-culture sites in the United Kingdom, Australia and the United States picked up the story and shared this clever campaign with their readers.

Within a few weeks, the Marmarati members were contacted to recruit others for the Second Circle of the Marmarati, which is now scaled up to include 160 new members. As of this writing, the Second Circle members were just announced and the new Marmite flavor, “XO” is said to hit shelves in March 2010.

Why It Worked

Compared to Boxee’s advocate activation campaign, the Marmarati campaign required a great deal of planning and execution. However, this strategy of a secret society and luxurious experience fits perfectly with the brand’s image, passionate following, and English/Victorian history.

What Does This Mean?

Both these campaigns highlight a key point that is essential to advocate outreach: strategy must fit brand personality.

Whether you are marketing a cutting edge technology or a delicatessen spread, your tactics may be different, but your initial approach to advocate activation should be the same. Your brand’s biggest fans identify with your brand’s image; they relate their interests to the brand’s personality. Our job as social media marketers is to leverage and expand on this existing link between the advocate and the brand. The stronger you build the bond, the more likely your advocates will share their brand experiences with potential consumers.

[This is the first post in a series revisiting some of the more unique social media campaigns by consumer brands in 2009 and how these programs can guide our 2010 engagement strategies. Click here to read the full series.]