Social Media Mistakes 6: Find your client’s best interest, not yours
Reaching out to your clients is no simple task, many companies favour various forms of interaction through contests or campaigns where clients themselves are requested to upload content; videos, ‘funny pictures’ etc. They then expect their clients to come running, but quite frankly: your clients are not waiting for your next move, they are not expecting your next contest either – in fact, less than 10% of the public would even consider entering a contest. Those who do enter, enter because the contest is simple enough or because they might gain something quite out of the ordinary. For example, Heinz Ketchup was extremely successful with their campaign “Make a Commercial for Heinz Ketchup”, the catch? They offered the winner $57,000…
Sheraton Hotels had quite another result; they wanted clients to upload a video to their homepage to draw attention. Results were meagre though, only 703 videos uploaded worldwide. Additionally, most videos had nothing at all to do with their key customers or what they wanted people to think of them. Poor targeting to say the least.
What is important is to figure out what you want from your clients: Interaction? A relationship with them? Or, do you just want to fill your site with content? The truth is that people around the globe are motivated, and are prepared to go to great lengths. The trick for you is to find where their motivation connects with your business. In the case of Heinz, the prize sum attracted many talented ad-creators and the result was deemed a great success. Compensating people for their effort will help your campaign; money is the easy way out to channel creativity and interaction. But it is certainly not the only way: Identify motivation! Not only your client’s, but your own as well!
Image by ~dip
ABOUT THIS AUTHOR
Reply