Brands should slow their marketing role, Facebook Live gets a second wind, and a modern cowboy has become a light on social media.
Your weekly digital marketing matchbox to kindle creative content.
April 3, 2020
Solve, Don’t Sell
Wondering how to market during the coronavirus pandemic? Step 1: Don’t. A recent survey from Edelman revealed just how badly brands could suffer if they don’t adjust their messaging and campaigns during this unprecedented time. Seventy-one percent of those surveyed say if they think that a brand is putting profit over people, they’ll lose trust in it — and not just now, but forever. As people look to companies to solve problems, rather than sell products, brands have (hopefully) long since halted or adjusted all marketing campaigns. Of course, your brand can’t stay radio silent forever. So take advantage of social listening in your industry to gauge when the time is right to slowly reboot your communications again. And when the time is right, do so with compassion and facts. Because if anyone ever had doubts that brands matter, this new data reveals their power and obligations, as well as the need to act and speak thoughtfully in times of crisis.
Let’s Experiment
Maximizing the performance of your ads isn’t a one-and-done scenario — it takes time, creativity, and a little bit (and oftentimes a lot) of testing. To make this process easier, Facebook introduced a new Experiments section to its Ads Manager. While Experiments doesn’t add new functionalities, it combines the Test and Learn and Split Testing features, giving marketers a streamlined interface for all their A/B testing. By tracking all ongoing ad tests and results in one place, brands can far more efficiently pinpoint what works and, more importantly, what doesn’t. This means less time digging through data and more time testing and implementing effective marketing strategies. And as they say: If at first you don’t succeed, test, test, and test again.
Ah, Ha, Ha, Ha, Goin’ Live
The rise of COVID-19 cases has cancelled events, meetings, and in-person soirees, but it’s also given new life to virtual hangouts through services like Facebook Live. The once struggling livestream capability has not only risen in popularity by 50% over the past two months, but it has also added new tools during the surge in demand: closed captioning, audio-only consumption, and fundraising streams, to name a few. The most noteworthy update? The launch of Live Producer. This allows brands to improve their streams through third-party technology and tools to facilitate better discussion. What’s more, brands can "Create a Clip" and record a 60-second snapshot to share on social, promote their live broadcasts, and boost interest. This abundance of new tools poses the perfect opportunity for brands to maximize their audience outreach for good and create connections during a time when people need camaraderie the most.
WHAT LIT US UP THIS WEEK
Hashtag John Wayne
This week, the internet was introduced to a hero we didn’t know we needed: Tim Tiller, the security-guard-turned-social-media-manager of the National Cowboy and Western Heritage Museum in Oklahoma City. Since the museum shut down earlier this month due to the coronavirus, Tiller has shared Instagram and Twitter posts of various displays and artifacts complete with charmingly hokey captions. And what many may consider a social media faux pas, Tiller’s misuse of hashtags — literally spelling out “hashtag John Wayne” in several captions — is what caught the attention of thousands and catapulted the museum’s accounts to viral stardom.
By now, this modern cowboy has realized his hashtagging mistake, and he’s turned it into his signature, signing off each post with #HashtagTheCowboy (followed by “Thanks, Tim”). While his social media prowess continues to grow, so does the fandom. Despite zero social media experience, Tiller has grown the Cowboy Museum’s Twitter following more than 2,637% to 274,900 followers and its Instagram has more than 84,000. The museum (and Tiller’s) presence has become a bright spot on social media, bringing a little light-hearted humor and positivity to audiences during a heavy time — while reminding us that sometimes the best social media marketing is the kind that comes from a real voice and a genuine personality, stripped of the advanced planning, best practices, and calculations.
