Archive for Social Media Marketing
The All New “Bum” Marketing in 5 Easy Steps
Now…I should preface this post with the following: I do not believe nor imply that this was a blatant marketing stunt. But…if it was it was pure genius! And a great example (template, perhaps?) of how to build buzz in the era of the social web.
Step 1 - Launch a website
Entrepreneurs Sean and Dave Diamond recently launched www.UTours.ca. UTours.ca produces DVDs that help prospective Canadian university students choose a university that best fits their academic and social goals. From their site:
UTours showcases 5 and ½ hours of
video content founded in our research allowing students to match their
own personalities with the right university. Seeing what the campus has
to offer from the perspective of current university students brings out
information never previously possible. Be entertained while we take you on a tour showing you everything you need to know about your future school.
Step 2 - Know your audience
The UTours.ca DVD product helps answer a specific problem faced by many in the 16-24 age bracket, specifically “what university should I attend?” That audience is also the most likely to be heavy users of social networking sites and consumers of social media . They also tend to be more resistant to traditional “push” marketing approaches and seek to be entertained online.
Step 3 - Get an interview on a live television program
Admittedly this may be the hardest part of the entire process, but if you’ve got something unique or newsworthy any capable PR person should be able to secure you a spot in some small local or niche market. The beauty is that you don’t have to necessarily get on Oprah for this to work - any small show will do and this is a perfect example of how the web is democratizing media.
And as any smart guerilla marketer would do, make sure every marketing piece you do is documented, recorded, and saved so that it can be reused or repurposed in the future.
Step 4 - Recruit some buddies or college kids to MOON the host during the live interview!
Achannel Morning News anchor Kurt Stoodley puts it best: “Once in awhile
things happen on a live television program that you have no control
over.” Yes, that is true…I’ll let the video speak for itself:
http://my.break.com/content/view.aspx?ContentID=387920 - Watch more free videos
Step 5 - Enter the social web!
Get those same buddies to post the video to a social networking site. Start spreading the word.
Step 6 (bonus) - Rinse and repeat
Have someone contact the same show and mention that the video is being spread all over the internet.
In this case the video landed on break.com, which ended up getting a ton of publicity for itself in a…yes…FOLLOW-ON SEGMENT about the mooning segment!
Morning Show Mooning Revisited - Watch more free videos
Results (to date):
Almost 400,000 views of the original
Almost 350,000 views of the follow-on segment
Another ~30,000 views on YouTube.com
Do the math and it adds up close to 1 million people, mostly in the sweetspot (for this business) high-school and college age demographic are now aware of utours.ca. And all from a small local television news segment.