About Twitter Promote Mode

With over 350,000 tweets sent out to Twitter every minute, how are businesses supposed to push through the clutter? Well, just a few weeks ago, Twitter provided a solution for small companies to fight the clutter with its new ad subscription tool called “Promote Mode.”

What is it?

While Twitter has offered a paid advertisement option (similar to Facebook and Instagram) for most business accounts, it has yet to offer something like Promote Mode. Promote Mode is an account function available to all business accounts for $99/month that automatically blasts all tweets to non-followers’ timelines. Instead of managing individual Twitter Ads campaigns, Promote Mode automates the promotion of all tweets, and the account itself, with no additional maintenance needed from the account owner.

Promote Mode is intended to steadily increase an account’s influence on Twitter, however it can be temporarily disabled for a period of time that doesn’t need to be promoted. One of the best features of Promote Mode is that it provides consistent analytics on your account and its activity.

What it measures:

Twitter Promote Mode provides users with an impressive dashboard of analytic information including:

  • How many additional users were reached by tweets
  • How many followers were gained
  • How many users visited profiles that month

Why should luxury hoteliers use it?

Promote Mode is intended to give small companies a voice in the cluttered social media world, so a better question would be, why shouldn’t hoteliers use Promote Mode?

  • Users can post and promote an unlimited amount of times each day, rather than paying for each individual ad campaign
  • Hotel Twitter accounts would require less maintenance with Promote Mode, as campaigns do not need to be monitored or created
  • Not only is your content promoted, but you also receive detailed analytics for an incredibly inexpensive cost (Sprout Social costs $99 per user/month vs Promote Mode $99/month, unlimited users)

After learning about Promote Mode, one large question remains- will this subscription just further clutter the feed? While we can’t tell for sure, we do think that this new function will help small hotels get the traction they need with their target markets!

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6 Surprisingly Awesome 6-Second Ads

In last week’s blog we talked about the shrinking attention spans of the modern world. Well apparently advertisers are well aware of this trend. According to a recent article by Adweek the next “big thing” in advertising is 6-second ads!

It’s hard to believe that you can fit an entire commercial’s worth of content into less time than it takes to post a selfie,  but after watching these examples you’ll see why ultra-short form advertising might be the wave of the future.

Loveletter – YouTube Advertisers

YouTube released a series of 6-second ads that told stories. They aren’t really advertising a product, just more of a promotion for the 6-second ad concept itself. This first stop sign video is a feel good example!

YouTube Advertisers – Hamlet

Another YouTube concept ad, this one is a modern retelling of Hamlet… in 6 seconds.

Old Spice – Sweat |#smellegendary|

Deodorant giant Old Spice stays consistent to its absurd/in-your-face brand with this quick and to the point commercial.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=znGQlB_e9KA&list=PL9Xlh2Jq9l7V0JE-Nu95h9rWRbN69DBjz

Mercedes-Benz Singapore – The New Mercedes 

It’s pretty amazing how well this ad creates the feeling of speed with just some text and a very short video clip. We’d be curious to know how small of a budget this had.

YouTube Advertisers – Free Bacon

Who doesn’t love bacon? This YouTube concept ad crams a lot of action into a very short span of time.

Stella Artois – Slate 

We can’t tell if it’s the patient cadence of the voice-over or the fact that it’s pretty much a still shot, but Stella Artois somehow makes this ad feel a lot longer than 6 seconds.

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120-Year-Old Brand, Modern Marketing

Whether sandwiched between two graham crackers or hardened over fresh strawberries, Hershey’s chocolate has been a household favorite for a long time-120 years to be exact.

With such a long history rooted in tradition, it might come as a surprise that Hershey’s decided to adopt a modern strategy when launching its Cookie Layer Crunch candy bar. Lauren Johnson from Adweek highlights the most effective parts of Hershey’s digital campaign:

  • Facebook became Hershey’s platform of choice when launching the campaign due to its ability to reach large volumes of people with quick, high quality videos
  • One week before the launch day (National Cookie Day, of course) Hershey’s released a teaser video on Facebook that mimicked the futuristic style of Apple tech
  • On National Cookie Day, Hershey’s utilized Facebook’s live streaming feature to officially launch the candy bar, with the video reaching over 2 million views!

With a successful digital campaign under their belt, Hershey’s proved that social media’s not just for the young. Even a 120-year-old company can use this new technology effectively.

To read the whole story and watch Hershey’s digital ads, visit Adweek. Until next time, be well.

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Grilling Makes You A Better Marketer

Fire up your grill AND computer this July! With cookout season in full swing and marketers itching to leave the office, it’s hard to believe that grilling and marketing could have anything in common. Well here are three concepts that are just as important for good marketing as they are for good grilling. WARNING: Don’t read this article if you haven’t eaten recently, it’ll probably make you pretty hungry!

High Quality Ingredients

As you prepare for your summer cookouts it’s important to find the best steaks, burgers and buns. While you might not be buying 10oz sirloins for your clients, quality “ingredients” should still apply to your marketing strategy. A marketing campaign is only as strong as its weakest link. If you have a killer website but a lame Facebook presence or put together an awesome ad but have a website from the 90s, your overall marketing will suffer.

Marketing Tip: With the growth of technology, an online marketing presence is crucial at every point on your audiences path. Take time in creating your website and social media accounts so that they effectively communicate your brand. Black Negative is a great example of a high quality website that displays several modern features and concepts any business could implement into their own digital platform.

Grilling Tip: When choosing a protein to grill, it’s important to consider its level of tenderness- even the best chef in the world cannot successfully cook a juicy chuck roast using a hot grill (it needs to be cooked slowly at a low temp). Check out this infographic to determine which ingredients will produce the highest quality result for your next cookout.

Just the Right Amount of Seasoning

As cookout and grilling natives, we all know that the amount of seasoning can make or break a good piece of meat. Too little seasoning results in a tasteless burger and too much results in your guests gulping water. The same problems can happen in marketing. Underutilizing your social media can result in outdated pages and uninformed clients, but sending an email four times a day can be equally detrimental. It’s important to find a good balance and “season” your clients with just the right amount of content.

Marketing Tip: According to CoSchedule, it is recommended that businesses post once per day to Facebook and LinkedIn, and tweet an average of 15 times per day!

Grilling Tip: Avoid harmful MSG this summer and instead make your own grill seasoning with this great recipe!

It’s All About the Experience

While food is definitely a major player in grilling, a true cookout wouldn’t be enjoyable without the music, people, swimming, etc. The surrounding atmosphere is what makes a cookout such a great experience. In the same way, marketers must create an experience and relationship with their clients- sending small gifts, follow-up emails and providing above-and-beyond customer service.

Marketing Tip: Every year, McConnell Marketing sends creative gifts to clients as a way to say thank you and to maintain positive relationships. This past year, clients received MM travel tumblers. Remember, even if you have the most slick marketing presentation in the world clients won’t remain clients if they don’t like the experience of working with you.

Grilling Tip: When planning your next cookout, use some of these great ideas for crafty invitations and decorations. 

Think about some of our tips next time you go to flip a burger or post a tweet this summer! Until next time, be well.

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Inspiring Outdoor Marketing Campaigns

“Go Outside and Play!” In honor of summer here are some interesting outdoor marketing campaigns sure to inspire you to shut down the desktop and get some fresh air!

Courtyard Canfield – Hot Air Balloon 

Our first entry is from a hotel right in our backyard. For their grand opening a few years ago the Courtyard in Canfield hired a hot air balloon to give guests a great view of the hotel and adjacent golf course.

Reebok – Are you Fast Enough? 

Reebok used pressure sensors and a display in the busiest street in Stockholm to promote their new ZPump 2.0 shoes. The campaign challenged users to see if they were fast enough for the shoes. People who achieved a certain speed would be able to unlock the display case and grab their free ZPumps!

The Economist – Idea 

Simple but effective, this billboard for the economist magazine was a bright idea (pun intended)! The light bulb turns on every time someone walks underneath it.

JetBlue- Steal This Poster

JetBlue’s personality shined through with this clever campaign that encouraged people to steal the airline’s  bus stop posters and then redeem them for prizes.

Burger King- The Scariest BK 

A New York Burger King dressing up as the ghost of their main competitor is flat out brilliant!  With an idea this cute we think even McDonald’s probably enjoyed it.

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