jones huyett Partners

‘Tis the season for charitable donations and spreading support for those people and causes that make a difference in the world. This year, don’t be afraid to promote the causes that your business supports. A 2008 Barkley Cause Survey found that consumers not only respond positively to businesses that give back, but 91 percent of Americans want companies to tell them how they are supporting causes.

When looking to adopt a cause for your company, try to support a cause that is relevant to you or your industry. This will be more meaningful to your business and to your customers. A powerful example of cause marketing is TOMS Shoes. For each pair of shoes sold at TOMS Shoes, one pair is donated to a child in need.

Alternatively, consumers are turned off by businesses that attempt to deflect bad publicity through calculated cause marketing. A coal-burning power plant, for example, would be unbelievable as a “green” movement leader unless it can demonstrate increased research and funding for development of “green” alternatives to coal.

It’s important to remember that consumers may not be aware of a cause that your business supports, so you will need to promote the supported cause. Post pictures and write a blog about charitable events your business attends. Include information about your cause of choice on the company web site and social media networks, via newsletters, on packaging and in-store. Here are some examples of businesses who successfully promote their support:

• Dawn Dish Soap TV Spot supporting wildlife conservation.
• Swiffer dusters created limited edition packaging supporting breast cancer research.
• jhP posted this video to social media networks to support the United Way kickoff.
• Chase credit cards is using a Facebook application to select more than 100 charities that receive at least $25,000. Facebook fans log on and vote for their favorite nonprofit organization.
• Campbell’s Soup integrates their support for labels for education into their web site tool bar.

What types of cause marketing does your company engage in? What examples have you seen that are particularly note-worthy?

Bookmark It

Filed by the Partners at 2:19 pm under General Marketing
Comments

Post engaging content, and your fans will see it – that’s the theme of the latest round of Facebook updates. Post content your Fans want to see, and your brand will find it easier than ever to maintain active relationships with them.

The once overcrowded and noisy newsfeed has been replaced by two different content feeds: News and Live. The Live Feed provides real-time updates of what your friends and/or Fan Pages are doing. The content still includes the status updates, photos and links you’re accustomed to but now it also includes notifications of new Friend/Page connections, tagged photos/videos and events others are attending. This allows the Live Feed to be more viral than the previous newsfeed. Now you can see when your friends join a group or Fan Page, and easily join too.

The News Feed is similar to the old newsfeed, but now with a popularity contest element. This Feed only shows updates, photos or videos that Facebook thinks you would like. These posts are typically determined by the interaction others have had with the content – for example having many views, comments or “likes.” Unlike the Live Feed, the News Feed is not in chronological order, so it’s possible for a post from two days ago to show up at the top of the page. It all depends on how Facebook’s algorithms perceive the relevance.

So far, there aren’t statistics showing which feed users are choosing to view. Either way, remember that interaction is key. The more your brand communicates, the more often you will show up in your follower’s Live Feed. Post quality content and your Fans will choose to interact. And the more interaction, the higher your chances of the post being included in your Fans’ News Feeds.

Bookmark It

Filed by the Partners at 11:36 am under Social Media
Comments