Photo by Mediterraneo

When brands execute a campaign, they often use myriad outlets for promotion. If it is retail, campaign information might be included on point of sale materials, product inserts or signage. Other promotion outlets include email, direct mail and of course, social media.

A brand, which executed a new product campaign quite well was Starbucks. Starbucks has a sensational Facebook fan page with over 5 million fans so when they have something to say, they can rest assure someone is listening. A few months back, Starbucks introduced a new ice cream sold in supermarkets and used a Facebook application to distribute free ice cream coupons and give consumers a free sample. The carefully thought out and executed campaign did an excellent job of creating an awareness for the new product, educating consumers about the product, and building the Starbucks email and direct mail list by collecting data through their Facebook application. The contest was promoted through their Facebook fan page, Twitter account and on their Website homepage.

The basic concept was that the user filled out a form on the application, which included their email and mailing address, and the option to send the promotion to a friend. A few weeks later, the user received a direct mail coupon for a pint of the new ice cream. The only part, which was lacking, was an additional call to action on the pint to bring consumers back online for feedback.

Another example is the Acer 8+ Hour video contest, which promoted their new 8 hour battery in the Acer laptops. The contest has a separate microsite for video submissions and uses a Twitter account to relay additional information and help promote the contest and a Facebook “friend” page for promotion.

Since the microsite is the campaign’s main source for the contest, the social media sites should drive at least 20-30 percent of the site traffic. Since social media users tend to be more likely to participate in contests, their social media traffic should be generating a decent amount of content and sign-ups.

As of Dec. 31, 2009, Acer only has about 15 entries (one is their own entry), but the videos have a good amount of views (either the site is getting great hits, which aren’t converting or those who submitted are marketing their own videos quite well). The prizes include a trip to Las Vegas, an Acer laptop, a Lucian Piccard watch, and two all access passes to Consumer Electronics Show (pretty sweet deal). For a contest like this, there should be more than 15 entries. Maybe it is their lack of enticing promotion, which is hindering success? Let’s evaluate their social media use…

The Twitter account is mostly just tweeting automated information (sign-ups) and has 30 followers. The Twitter account should be more proactive by tweeting about contest prizes, deadlines and entries, and should have more than 30 followers for it to be effective. Acer could have searched key terms such as “video contest” or “new laptop” using search.twitter.com to identify those who might be interested in submitting, and followed those accounts.

The Facebook “friend” page is actually a violation of Facebook terms and it should be a Facebook fan page. The fan page should have over 152 fans and feature videos, images and other unique selling points regarding the product. The account should also be more interactive by featuring updates such as “If I had 8 plus hours today, I would…” and encourage user-generated feedback. The one-way communication model is not, and will never be successful when using social media.

If social sites tend to drive qualified traffic, why isn’t Acer maximizing these outlets for traffic generation and pushing submissions?

Social media can serve as a great way to drive promotion traffic and contest interaction, if it is executed correctly.

Jen Cohen is a social media and marketing maven knocked down many times in 26 yrs. Something Creative http://somethingcreativemarketing.com

Tags: Business, community, content, Marketing, Social Media, social networking, Strategy, the right way