Chris Preston is executive vice president and creative director for the Preston Kelly advertising agency based in Minneapolis, Minn., and Peter Tressel is the agency’s interactive director. In this post, Chris and Peter discuss how the “new web” is for all businesses and explain why it’s important to engage customers with it.
Q: What do you do tell clients who don’t know what Twitter is or how it can help them?
Peter: We get them familiar with it. First, on a personal level, then for their business. We tell them to create a personal account and listen for a while. As soon as they get their feet wet, they dive right in. My favorite thing to do during a client meeting is to pull up Twitter Search and type in the name of their biggest product. They see all the tweets about their company and instantly recognize the value.
Chris: They’re just blown away, saying, “Hey, they can’t say that about our brand!” or “There are this many people talking about our product?” After that, they’re itching to get into the conversation.
Q: What are the questions that clients ask you about Twitter and social media?
Peter: Our clients typically ask three questions, “Why is this necessary? How do I engage in this? and What’s my role?” We tell them, “You just have a chair at the table.” People have been having conversations about brands for decades, but we haven’t been able to listen. Twitter is an invitation to come sit at the table and join in the conversation. However, joining the conversation means listening first. After you understand your customers, you can better understand your role. A good basic Twitter strategy is “Don’t be stupid.” Thankfully, our clients are really smart marketers and they get it pretty quickly.
Q: Can you tell me about a success you’ve had with social media?
Chris: We really saw the power of the new web with our Minnesota Zoo site called whopooped.org. Rachel Maddow, from MSNBC, came across it on the PR Newswire and tweeted about it. At the time, she had 600,000 followers and she even talked about it on her show. All of the sudden, exposure grew exponentially. Even if just one-tenth of her followers ReTweet her message, it makes a noticeable difference. They might only have 30 followers each, but it spreads quickly. In the first two days we counted a couple thousand tweets about it. They also got 45,000 visits to their site the first two days compared to a standard 400-500 visits per day.
Peter: We won five of the 25 awards for the “Best Zoo and Theme Park Advertising” this year at the Brass Ring Awards. Those five campaigns will only be a drop in the bucket compared to the whopooped.org website and the Tweets about it. It has actually given the Minnesota Zoo a chance to grow their reputation on a national level.
Q: What do you tell clients who understand it but say, “I don’t have time for this because I’m busy running my business.”
Peter: They make time for it. Once they see the conversation happening, they want to be a part of it.
Chris: Initially, clients have many concerns. They’re worried about how it’s going to work. They think we’re going to be managing their social media forever and it’s going to cost them a ton of money. They want to know their ROI and so on. We actually manage their accounts for a little while, which alleviates those fears. We help generate content for the first month and the clients usually take over half way through.
Peter: We advise them to check it at the beginning, middle, and at the end of the day. We really urge our clients to offer their followers things of genuine value. If there is value in what they say, like coupons or interesting conversation; the customer is rewarded and they will want to go visit their Facebook page or Twitter page.
Q: At the heart of it, this new web is all about human connection. It’s a medium to bring your customers to your brand, product, or physical location, and making them a part of it. Do you agree?
Peter: Definitely. Almost every campaign that we do here has, what we call, an “Iconic idea.” The idea is an umbrella that supports everything, so Twitter and Facebook are just another outlet.
Chris: If you’re a business wondering how to get into Twitter and Facebook, I’d advise you to get a personal account going. Just be yourself and speak for yourself, not your cafe or shop. Once you’re comfortable with the conversation, create your business account and join in … One of the frustrating things for businesses is not understanding how to function in a certain space … Businesses have to make a commitment for at least six months and participate regularly. You don’t have to post things all the time, but you can still listen.
Peter: I think you should be honest, when posting to Twitter and Facebook, and it should also be useful … think about the brand persona that your company has and stay within that character.
Q: How do you use Twitter to share something new?
Chris: We are big believers in iconic ideas that hold multi-media campaigns together. We have Iconic Thursdays, where we ask our followers who or what is iconic in Minneapolis. It could be a sports team, political figure, or historical building. We really try to develop a conversation that is relevant to our business philosophy.
Q: Should businesses share their innovations on Twitter?
Peter: It really depends. Our clients have really exciting new products and businesses ideas. Although, you want consumers to help shape them, we like the element of surprise and coordination. If you’re a mom-and-pop shop, it makes a lot of sense because you’ve already got that local feel. If you’re trying to influence 15 competitive markets, then it probably isn’t a good idea to leak innovations before you’re ready to make the full splash.
Q: How do you feel about companies being transparent on Twitter?
Chris: Transparency is fabulous, for the most part. It makes consumers feel like they’re part of your brand. It gives your core fans information that helps them become better evangelists.
Q: What do you tell clients about approaching conflict on Twitter or Facebook?
Peter: We tell our clients to use their discretion. They’re experienced marketers and understand that dealing with issues on Twitter is like other situations, except it’s public.
Chris: One of our clients, Roundy’s, has had very positive results dealing with issues one on one. They’ve managed to turn disappointed customers/bloggers/ into evangelists. Their customer base is huge and it’s inevitable that one of them will have a bad experience. If someone posts something negative on Facebook or a blog, they usually reach out one on one… we have typically seen more success when our clients do something like send a replacement (product) instead of just talking about it or apologizing.
Q: What is your final advice for businesses trying to embrace the new web and generate buzz?
Chris: My advice to start would be to pick something that you’re well known for, something people are truly passionate about and build your entire program around it. It probably can’t be what you want (your customers) to be passionate about . . . your customers are going to pick what they like and make it (their own).
Andy Santamaria writes a blog, CMT, about businesses in the Twin Cities area. His blog is dedicated to helping people find and achieve their goals in business. It also focuses on helping businesses use online tools to better reach their customers and community. You can find more about him on his blog and by following him on Twitter: @andysantamaria.
