#X - AT&T Steps Up "It Can Wait" Campaign

This year, AT&T started their "It Can Wait" campaign to attempt to knock out texting while driving. The campaign encourages drivers to tweet/text/Facebook #X before they start driving to let people know to not text or call them until they arrive to their destination.

AT&T is doing everything they can to make #X catch on. They've gotten several celebrities to join them in this fight including Demi Lovato and Pete Wentz. Having high profile people tweet and explain what #X is has been a large part of getting this campaign more attention. AT&T also created an app called DriveMode. So how does this app work? Basically, if you're driving, and you go over 25mph, your phone will not receive texts, emails, or phone calls. The only problem with this app is that it's only available to AT&T Android or Blackberry users. It isn't compatible with IOS, which I'm sure is a very large portion of smartphone users. So for iPhone users (or people who didn't download the app), the idea is that you should send #X over social media or text it to your friend before you drive. This is a great idea as long as people happen to look at Twitter or Facebook after you send that out or you remember to text your friend before you start driving. If your followers don't happen to see your tweet or Facebook post or you forget to text your friend, then #X is pretty useless because most likely you'll get at least one text while you're behind the wheel. Hopefully you'll wait to look at it, but it's still very tempting.

AT&T is doing a good job of at least getting people to talk about the problem of texting while driving, but how could they make this campaign better? First on all, I think they need to make their DriveMode app available for IOS users. If I could get the app on my iPhone, I probably would because honestly it's hard for me to not look at a text while I'm in my car when I see it pop up on my phone. Secondly, they need to make their celebrity endorses less obvious, if that makes sense. To me it's very clear that they aren't tweeting their support for free so it all seems a bit phony. It comes off as a way to just get more attention for AT&T as opposed to genuinely trying to combat texting while driving. 

What do you think? Will #X become "a thing" soon?  

"Boring" Companies. How To Make Social Media Work for You

I got a new vacuum cleaner about a week ago. I've never been one to love cleaning very much, but let me tell you, that new vacuum has changed my life. My roommates and I have never had one that actually sucks (in the right way), so this was a big step for us. I've never vacuumed our house as much as I have in the last week.

This new love of my vacuum cleaner got me thinking about how a company like Shark uses social media as a marketing platform considering there's not much to talk about when it comes to vacuums. They clean your floors and carpets, maybe your drapes or couch, but for the most part, vacuums are boring. I looked up Shark's twitter account to see what they're doing on social media to get people talking about their brand, and they're doing a good job at sharing relevant content. They tweet helpful cleaning tips, new products they have coming out, and have giveaways each week. They even used Shark Week on the Discovery Channel to their advantage. It's very clear that they know what market they are targeting.

I think the key to using social media to your advantage if you're a "boring" company is to not let people know that you think you're boring. Establish who you are as a brand and make sure you identify your target market. Know who you're talking to. If you're a vacuum cleaner company, don't try to talk to the teens (they don't care). Talk to moms or dads or self-proclaimed neat freaks. Another good way to help your "boring" company utilize social media is to do giveaways (if possible) or trivia. Everyone likes games or contests. Including this in your social media strategy is a good way to increase engagement. Also, make sure that the content you're sharing is adding value to your brand identity. Stay on topic. If you're a soap company, don't tweet random pictures of cute cats (unless, of course, the cats are using your soap in the picture...then I guess it's okay?). Just make sure what you're sharing is relevant to your brand.

So, if you find that you're in charge of using social media to market what some might think is a "boring" company or "boring" product, just remember that there are ways to make it more exciting. You just might have to be more creative.

There she is... Miss America

I wouldn't call myself a "pageant person" by any means, but I do usually watch Miss America every year if I'm not busy. I think I mainly like to be there just incase someone says something insane during the onstage question or falls while walking in those 7 inch heels (but that's beside the point). I noticed this year that during the competition little fun facts or trivia about a contestant would pop up on the screen during her time on stage. I didn't realize it, but those little fun facts resulted in thousands upon thousands of tweets going out about this pageant (300,000 tweets and 48 million Twitter impressions according to Nielsen). But oddly enough, the pageant only pulled in about 6.7 million viewers which was a 22% drop from last year. So what gives? Why was Miss America one of the most talked about things on Twitter Sunday night, but one of the least watched programs? I think that people need something to engage with if they're going to spend their time watching a show live when they know the best parts will be online the next morning. Unless you're a pageant fanatic or one of those "I saw it first" kind of people, there's really nothing that enticing to draw you in to watching it. This year was a good step in the right direction with the pop-up facts they included in the broadcast. Twitter is a great way to get people engaged, and the Miss America pageant might need to embrace social media a bit more and find more ways to incorporate it. With those ratings, they're going to need some help.

The girl on the right didn't win...

Twitter Begins Testing "Buy" Button

Today, as I was mindlessly scrolling through my Twitter feed, I came across a tweet that piqued my interest. Twitter had tweeted (yeah, you can follow Twitter on Twitter...) that they were beginning to test commerce on their site and mobile app. Basically, they're testing out a new way for users to discover and buy products through Twitter. I think this is actually a pretty cool step. Instead of just seeing an advertisement for a product on your feed, you'll also see a button that says "buy." I think this new "buy" button will lead to more spontaneous purchases because of Twitter's "real-time" component and could also be a good platform for limited time offers. They've started testing this out with a small group of artists, brands, and non-profits such as Brad Paisley, Burberry, GLAAD, The Home Depot, RED, and several more. So what do you think? Do you like the idea of being able to buy things straight from your Twitter app, or do you think it's too in-your-face? If you're down with it, what would you be interested in buying? 

Wait, she has HOW many followers?!?

Have you ever thought about how it seems that certain people's amount of twitter followers doesn't add up to his or her real life persona? Well, if you're like me, you have. "Who is that? How does she have 100,000 followers? She's literally in ninth grade." "How could Justin Bieber have over 54 million followers...there's no way. Who cares that much?" Well, it turns out, there is such a thing as BUYING Twitter followers (and Instagram followers, Facebook likes, YouTube views, etc). It's weird, but it's real, and it's not a very new thing apparently. After a simple Google search of "buy Twitter followers," I found out I can get 1000 followers for $2 and 10,000 for $5. That's cheaper than my meal at Chipotle even without getting guacamole (which, yes, I know is extra).

THERE'S THE PROOF ^^

There's a website called StatusPeople.com created by a social media management company in London that can ascertain how many of your followers are fake or inactive. So, here's the fun part. More than 75% of the accounts following Justin Bieber aren't even being used. I'm not trying to single out Justin (nothing like kicking someone while they're already down) because even the beloved, innocent T-Swift has about half of her followers that seem to be fake and more than a quarter defined as inactive.

 
So what's the deal? Did they buy followers? Who knows, but it's definitely something to think about. Honestly, I think buying social media followers is kind of cheating, but I can see the positives to having some extra "fans" to boost your street cred. What do you think?