The Quisenblog

(This is the second in our series of Social Media posts for the month of October. We look forward to your feedback on this series.)

There’s the legend of the old train conductor who spent years working the rail line between the financial district of Manhattan and the suburbs of Connecticut. As the legend goes, the man retired a multi-millionaire, thanks to the stock tips he overheard from brokers while punching tickets and arranging for cocktail service. These were not conversations in which he was a participant. Passengers spoke freely as if he wasn’t there, yet he was able to benefit from the content of those conversations.

This is a perfect metaphor for Social Media.

There are literally millions of conversations going on online everyday, and we’re free to “listen in” on whichever ones catch our attention.

So how do you get the people you are interested in attracting to “listen” in on you? If you (as a person or company) are continually creating valuable, relevant, and compelling content, your customers and prospects will want to have a conversation with you. (“Content” here is defined as anything you create, re-purpose or publish that will entice web users to want to spend time with you, and hopefully, to come back for more.) They will stay “opted-in” and anticipate hearing from you again, and being part of the communication. They will freely pass information you send on to others in their social circles. Successful conversation marketing is predicated, above all, on sound relevant content.

Here’s an example that might help illustrate. On its Facebook page, Red Bull builds engagement with its followers by entertaining them, with fresh content such as its “Drunkish Dialer” series (where you can listen to actual voicemail messages left on Red Bull’s 800-number) and a series of Red Bull-themed video games (like this soapbox racer) to test your mad gaming skills.

Is this content serious? No way. Is it filled with “facts” about Red Bull? Nope. But it is “fun,” which is totally consistent with the Red Bull Brand Vision. And it’s how Red Bull visitors want to be engaged.

Developing and sharing relevant content is about understanding the needs of your target audience. What value can you add to what they are already doing? How can you enhance their experience? Through the content you publish and make available, you are in essence creating a “story” about who your company is. The sharing of that “story” creates opportunities to communicate with customers and prospects. And how do you know it is relevant? You hear back from them.

For clues as to what’s “relevant,” check out your own email inbox and browser bookmarks. What mailings do you remain opted-in to? What sites do you go to over and over again? Are there newsletters with articles you enjoy? A “hot sheet” of deals available from an online retailer? A joke-of-the-day?

The key is to stay relevant. This is what it takes to build trust. And trust is the high bar of marketing (Imagine being referred to by customers and prospects as “They are the ones I trust.”)

As always, we look forward to your feedback on this series. Feel free to submit questions or comments (they will be visible to all visitors). We’ll do our best to answer them.

Posted by Mickey

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Mickey Social Media brand vision, Red Bull, relevant content, target audience

Remember Jolt Cola? It was the original energy drink.

Created in 1985, the brand was touted as the soft drink “with all the sugar and twice the caffeine” and proud of it. In essence, it was the first “energy drink” (before anyone knew what that was) to come onto the American scene more than 20 years before anyone heard of
Red Bull.

Today, as Red Bull sells more than three billion cans worldwide (yes, billion), Jolt is little more than a novelty. How was it that the brand that essentially created a category and had a two-decade head start fell so quickly into the realm of irrelevance? While there are many factors that one could point to to explain the runaway success of Red Bull, for me it fundamentally comes down to the fact that management of Jolt Cola did not understand which business they were in.

Positioned as the “highly-caffeinated cola,” Jolt saw itself as competing in the soft drink category. It was a cola
for people who wanted a little more of a rush. That meant going head-to-head against behemoths like Coke
and Pepsi.

Its bet was that the brand could siphon off enough iconoclastic Coke and Pepsi drinkers to create its own space within the soft drink category. Its uniqueness never proved to be enough to carve out a niche in the über-competitive, shelf-space stingy, price-sensitive soft drink category. Though it grew a limited yet loyal following in some markets, primarily such social “misfits” as of nascent hackers, computer programmers, gamers and bike messengers, Jolt could never make meaningful inroads into the mainstream. They were always just another cola alternative.

Red Bull, on the other hand, created a category.

Everything about the product screamed, “we’re different,” from the cranberry red appearance to the funky taste to the signature small-sized metallic cans. Seeing someone carrying around a Red Bull can was like the first time you saw someone with those tell-tale white iPod earphones. “What is that?” you can’t help but ask.

Another key marketing difference is that Red Bull didn’t restrict itself to appealing to a limited audience. In the words of Norbert Krailhamer, Red Bull’s Director of Group Marketing and Sales, “(We) did not define a specific demographic segment as (our) target market; we have only people who are mentally fatigued, physically fatigued, or both.”

It takes a lot of guts and a lot of resources to venture out and create your own category. Red Bull recognized there was a quantifiable market for “a drink that gives you a boost.” As such it did not need to compete with The Big Boys of the beverage category.

Bottom line, Jolt was late to come to the realization that there was a mainstream market for energy drinks, and by the time it had dawned on them, people were programmed to see them as a soft drink. Red Bull, on the other hand, was never seen as a “soft drink.”

So this word of caution: Just because you’re first, doesn’t mean you’ll be #1.

Posted by Mickey

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