Bigelow Gets Personal - From "The New Pepsi Generation"
By Jean Erickson
September 2009
Social media is all about being personal, and the companies that have succeeded best in this space are the ones that are not afraid to let their employees, or customers, speak in their own voices, says Justin Kownacki, director of social media for Creative Concepts, a public relations and marketing firm. His firm produced a video for client Bigelow Tea, a big embracer of social media, in which company president Cindi Bigelow hit the streets of New York to talk tea with passersby. They opted to leave in the video comments from people who said they’d never heard of Bigelow Tea. The resulting video, which appeared on YouTube, garnered kudos from influential bloggers for its authenticity and the fact that the video was not padded with fan testimonials, Kownacki says. This helped Bigelow stand out as a personal company, rather than simply “a label on a box,” he adds.
The move to more digital communications translates into people’s attention being increasingly focused on “non-tangible’ information, according to Kownacki. As a result, companies like Bigelow Tea are experimenting with online coupon codes and giveaways on Twitter and their blog, in an effort to get people to read more about their products, he says.
An added benefit of social media-based promotions is that successful ones are subsequently re-promoted by the audience itself, Kownacki says. Facebook, Twitter and other social media tools are full of people sharing, re-posting and re-tweeting information and links that they find interesting, compelling or which they think serves as an expression of their individual personalities, often from business or commercial news services, he explains. So companies should work on developing promotions that appeal to highly-connected individuals and/or highly-targeted communities within the social media sphere, who will then pass along that information to their own followers, saving the parent company time and effort in the bargain, Kownacki adds.
Creative Concepts itself began by assisting clients with their blogging and Web site needs, but over the past few years, its repertoire of services has increased with the ever-growing social media toolbox, says Kownacki, referring to MySpace, Flickr, Facebook, YouTube and Twitter. The tools themselves will always vary in popularity, he continues, noting that MySpace was king four years ago, while Facebook and Twitter are the current darlings. He calls it a mistake to marry a social media campaign to one set of tools. Successful companies, he says, will focus less on the type of tools they’re using, and more on ensuring that they’re reaching their audience, regardless of where that audience migrates to online. – JE
