RyanShell.com

Marketing, public relations, social media... and a little of this and that.

Coke Prepares it’s Larges Social Media Project Ever

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According to a recent Advertising Age article Coke is, “ gearing up for its largest social-media project ever, one that will test its own internal flexibility and force a number of its global markets into the digital and social-media space.”

That’s exciting stuff – it’s almost like the nerd version of a kid in a candy store.

Here’s a little more from the article about exactly what Coke is going to do,

“Expedition 206 will send three 20-somethings to 206 countries and territories where Coca-Cola is sold in 2010. The trio sets off on their 275,000-mile tour from Madrid on Jan. 1, stocked with laptops, video cameras, smartphones and plenty of other gadgetry, in order to document for the masses their search for happiness.”

The group will be using Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and www.expedition206.com to share the adventure.

This could be great for social media marketing because we now have yet again a major brand getting involved. Kudos to the team at Coke for coming up with a fun idea.

Facebook vs. Twitter. Which is “more” Important?

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I sent that Tweet earlier today and a few folks asked me to elaborate.

The reasoning is pretty simple – it has more active users, it’s used by a much broader audience and provides brands with ways to advertise their presence.

And to be clear, I’m a fan of using both Facebook and Twitter, but this discussion is about which is “more” important.

[Note: this is very high level and lacking lots of detail.]

The Scenario

Let’s imagine, for a moment, that you’ve come to me and want some help building an online community for [Insert your name] Coffee Shop in Greensboro, NC. The catch is that you only want to use one social network and are deciding between Facebook and Twitter.

Here are a few reasons I’d suggest Facebook over Twitter.

By putting your coffee shop on Facebook you can not only (quickly) connect with people you know, but you can also create a Fan page that allows you to interact and share information with people that become a fan. Once the page is created we can also run some ads promoting the page which will help attract people to the page. That isn’t an option on Twitter.

You’ve already mentioned that your target audience is the 25 – 54 demographic, and by using the ad console I can tell you that there are 96,080 people in Greensboro using Facebook that fit your target. For a very low cost we can run a series of ads on the site that will help attract new fans to your page.

You also mentioned a special promotion that’s planned for October and that it only targets females. After taking out the males from the previous number you are left with 54,820 people; we can run a new series of ads that specifically targets this group. Again, targeting these folks isn’t really an option on Twitter.

Oh, and you also might like the fact that you can create a group on Facebook that will allow you to schedule and invite people to events. Groups also allow others to help promote your event – another feature you might like. This isn’t an option on Twitter.

You should know that I’m a big fan of Twitter and think it can be used to benefit your coffee shop, but in terms of the biggest impact for your time/money I think Facebook is your best option.

Ok, feel free to stop playing the part of coffee shop owner.

Facebook, in my opinion, simply has more options. There’s no doubt that Twitter is a great tool, but this conversation is about which is “more” important.

PS – I would have explained how you could easily used both Facebook and Twitter had this been a real scenario.

Is Social Media Helping Local Businesses? Panel Discussion Tomorrow.

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The Linking Greensboro panel titled, “Local Business & Social Media: Is it Working?” is being held at Studio B at 7:30 tomorrow night. These are just a few of the questions that the panel will cover during tomorrow’s event,

What social networking site do you update frequently?

What social networking site do you update frequently?

What are some successful practices you have seen or used to ensure that your social media strategy aligned with business objectives?

How have you been able to measure ROI (Return On Investment)?

Where should I spend my time if my goal is to build awareness for a company, or cause?

I’ll be on the panel along John Robinson, editor of the Greensboro News and Record, Stephanie Skordas, program manager at BCBSNC and Sue Polinsky, owner of Tech Triad.

It’s going to be a great event that should be very beneficial to business owners and anyone else interested in social media. I hope to see you there!

Why I feel Hungry Again

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spin1I previously told you about my plan to help alter my bad eating habits, save $200 a month and to potentially start losing weight.

The concept of paying myself (transferring money from checking to savings) when I don’t eat out has worked well thus far. In addition to trying to eat better (believe me, there are still flaws) I’ve also started working out again.

Tuesday Morning after taking a spin class at the local YMCA something happened that I realized hadn’t happened in a really long time. I was hungry. Not just that “yeah I could probably eat right now feeling,” but more of the “I’m starving feeling.”

Seriously, when is the last time you actually were really hungry? The realization made me feel a bit… blah. The feeling has come back time and time again this week and it’s almost like I can feel my metabolism increasing. Woot woot!

I’m no health expert by any stretch of the imagination, but I do know what works for my body when it comes to working out. I’ve had a pretty intense workout schedule this week and thought I’d share it just in case you are trying to get motivated.

Monday – Lifted weights with a focus on chest, back and abs
Tuesday – 6 am spin class, 5:30 pm ab class (20 min long), 6:15 spin class
Wednesday – Break
Thursday – 6 am spin class, 5:30 pm spin class, biceps/triceps weight workout, sauna for 15 min
Friday – Will do 20 min on the bike tonight as a warm-up and then 30 minutes on the elliptical

Again, I’m no expert, but this is a schedule that works for me. By doing lots of different things it helps this become more of a lifestyle and not just a random workout every now and then.

Email Marketing: One Easy Mistake to Avoid

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e-mail_iconEmail marketing is a great tool, but there’s very little wiggle room for making mistakes. In an instant you can do something that makes someone think, “This has no value to me,” and then they click that lovely little “unsubscribe” button.

This came to mind today when I received an email from an organization that I’m a fan of; their emails are all over the place and have lots of opportunity for improvement. I know the person running the show and previously offered up some tips (after asking if he/she would be interested in hearing them) on ways the email could be improved.

One of the tips had to do with their email subject line. In the past it has been horrifically long… and unfortunately it still is very long. I’m not going to share the subject line so the organization can remain anonymous, but the subject line for their latest email had 25 words, or 145 characters (with spaces).

The rules vary on subject length, but I prefer to keep them around seven to eight words max. There are two main reasons for doing so:

  • Long subject lines can upset finicky spam filters
  • The more words you include the higher your chances are of using keywords that trigger spam filters to kick your email down the wrong path (free, quote, sample, access, etc)

Email marketing can do great things for an organization, but the fundamentals simply can’t be ignored. I’ll be doing additional posts on this topic so stay tuned.