This week saw the fast food lovers in South Africa ablaze with Wimpy’s promotional offer of a free breakfast. The offer simply put was that Wimpy restaurants were offering their streaky bacon breakfasts for free between 7am and 8am on the 19th of January, 2012.

This however is not what I want to write about; I would rather like to talk about the stroke of guerrilla marketing mastery from Virgin Active.

Their offer broke on Twitter :

This tweet was sent out short ly after breakfast and encouraged non-Virgin Active clients the opportunity to take advantage of a free workout at any Virgin Active (bar Classic Clubs) and work off the extra calories they just took in with the free breakfast.

This is sheer brilliance because of the following :

1. It cost Virgin Active NOTHING.
2. When non-members go to a Virgin Active club, they need to sign in and give their phone and email details – thus making a FREE list to which Virgin Active can market.
3. It piggy backed on a lot of FREE exposure that Wimpy had paved the way for. There was a lot of buzz about the free breakfast and Virgin Active slid in right on top of that.

The only criticism that I have is that Virgin Active could have used this opportunity far more than they did. The Virgin Active tweet went out on the 19th of January – the same day as the Wimpy special. Wimpy started making noise about their special a few days before the special and had a few media punting it. (This memeburn article highlights which media they used.)

I feel that Virgin Active ran their response as a quick fire way to jump on the bandwagon and failed to realise how powerful it could have been for them.

I would be really interested to hear from Virgin Active if they have any Online Mention tracking in place to see how far their tweet went and then further to that see how many receipts were handed in from the free Wimpy breakfast!

I am not generally one of those who get up on their soap box and start sprouting negative sentiment until the cows come home. I am also aware that some of my followers and readers of this blog are not fans of “brand trashing” through social channels. But (as there always is) this time I feel that I have been seriously betrayed by a much loved and admired brand in South Africa. Not only that, but there is a major example here – real life – of how brands can damage themselves should they not be adequately prepared.

The story goes like this.

Last week Tuesday I needed to get a R 100 Christmas present for a friend of mine as we were having a get together Christmas party on Saturday evening. I started scouring the internet to look for ideas and the thought struck me to try Woolworths. I had seen their offline ads about their shopping portal and how super simple it was to use. I had also seen the Woolworths SA twitter profile @Woolworths_SA making a lot of noise. So I gave it a shot.

I went online and looked around at the men’s section. I browsed until I was blue in the face and eventually found something that I thought my friend would like. He likes hats; so I found him a hat!

I hit the equivalent of “add to cart”; filled in my delivery address and selected my method of payment. I indicated my delivery time for Saturday morning between 10:00 and 13:00. It was smooth; it was almost nirvana! I proudly sat back thinking, “wow, when online shops like this work, it makes it so much easier – I will be back to do this again!”

I went and spoke to a colleague who was also looking for something and told her to go and order from Woolworths – which she did!

Shattered dreams!

Now the reason why I included the screenshot of the product I was going to buy; and please note that this screenshot was taken on the morning of writing this article, not 4 days prior – when the following transpired.

Friday afternoon at about 16:20; I was sitting in traffic when my cellphone rings with an unknown number. I hesitate before I answer thinking it is going to be someone selling me another cellphone contract; nevertheless I answer.

The gent on the other end of the phone proudly announces that he is calling me from Woolworths EASTGATE (my first suspicion something is about to go wrong). I miss his name as he mumbles it out before plunging in to tell me that the item I ordered from the store is not in stock.He continues to tell me that they cannot source another cap for me as there will be no time to do this before my requested delivery time. My blissful Woolworths dream is about to come crashing down.

After further interrogation; I tell him to cancel my order as if Woolworths cannot supply what I ordered; then I do not wish to proceed with anything further. After a few uhms, he says that he will get the call center to call me and officially cancel my order; after which he promptly puts the phone down (without saying good bye).

Being a proponent on online and social media; I decided to Tweet Woolworths to alert them of my dissatisfaction.

 To date I have not heard anything from them in response to this Tweet.

The plot thickens.

I didn’t think terribly much of this until earlier this afternoon. I was speaking to a colleague (the same one who also placed an order last week) and was telling them about my misfortune with my online order. To my shock and horror on Friday afternoon she also received a call and was told that her order could not be fulfilled! Surely this cannot be a coincidence? Two separate orders both getting the same response?

The only difference with her dealings with the call center agent is that she received an email confirming her order cancellation (something I am still waiting for).

I love the quip in brackets about them hoping it was not something that they did!

What went wrong?

For my money there a few things that have gone wrong here :

1. The online brand promise is not being fulfilled by offline promises.
2. There seems to be a supply chain issue if the Eastgate store is calling me about an order when my closest store (which I indicated) is Fourways Mall.
3. Staff monitoring the Woolworths online social presence are not properly trained in dealing with all their mentions or their monitoring techniques need some revising.
4. The stock control for their online store is not sufficiently updated in real time with the in store POS (point of sale). (i do realise the complexities here and understand how difficult this point is to get right).

So here is the thing. I was walking through the shops this afternoon; Sandton City to be precise. And a thought dawned on me as I watched everyone buzzing around; “What makes us think that we are so damn important”?

This particular blog is going to move away from my usual writing for a little while and talk about a social issue, which can tenuously link back to social media as well. For the most part though, this is truly just a social commentary tainted with my own social thoughts and ideals…

So here is the deal… While walking through the shops, I took note of a few things :

Now I realize that there are a lot of generalizations in this article, and I realize that it is completely tainted with my own bias – but that is what makes an opinion!

I believe that we are very quickly coming to a point where our very humanity is coming under threat. I use the term flippantly, but where the very thought of “Ubuntu” is foreign in whatever language you phrase it.

We, particularly the current generation of “up and comers” are so lost in our own self importance that we forget that there is a world that lives and breathes in spite of us and not because of us.

With the technological developments of the recent years, the “always on” lifestyle, and the access to an audience of eagerly listening followers, who would not get an overly inflated ego?!

But at what cost have these developments come? What have we had to give up and lose in the process? I am not asking that we go back to a time when we could not connect with peers in distant lands, where we were forced to listen to what “the Powers” told us to listen to…

Having an opinion is excellent… Having a voice is brilliant… But merely having a view on something does not automatically make your view the right one…

I am certain of the fact that we can all stand to learn an inordinate amount from being connected through social media and from each other in that way; but I am equally certain of the fact that we need to be incredibly careful that we do not forget what brought us here in the first place.

Steve Jobs, Donald Trump, Richard Branson, Barack Obama; these are all great men who have achieved extra-ordinary heights in their own personal lives and in the community at large. They grew up with values and ideals that do not date. Honesty, hard work, respect, loyalty and trust are no less important today than they were when these leaders of men were still at school.

This is the crux of what I am trying to say here. We must not allow access to a voice to share our opinion to change who we are as people, to forget what it is that makes us human, and how those were not as privileged as we are today learnt the value of hard work and earning the right to be heard…

So you’ve decided to start sharing your wealth of information with the world. You’re determined to position yourself as a thought-leader, dishing out profound and witty insights and accumulating flocks of followers; but when it comes to actually writing, it’s like beating your head against a wall.

That’s where video blogging can become your best friend.

What is video blogging?

Video blogging – vlogging – is essentially taking what would have been a written article, and presenting it as you would to an audience. It’s speaking into a camera and connecting with the world. And it’s flexible; you can use video, images, cartoons, graphics or nothing more than your pretty chatting mug. The trick is to be as clear and compelling as possible with the message you want to get across and then illustrate it with verbal imagery that your audience will connect with and remember.

Who is doing it?

Everyone! From tea-cozy wearing hippy herbalists to tie-toting industry emperors. Vlogging works really well for a range of users.

As an entrepreneur, you can use it to bolster awareness of your brand, product or service. You Tube’s advertising model assists exceptionally well with this. Bloggers fit into this category as well, as they are trying to position themselves as experts in their specific fields. Vlogging gives you a platform to work on your personal brand. It can also be a powerful sales tool.

What should I be doing?

Here are some principles and guidelines for getting started:

1. Have a reason.

You need to have a reason for creating your vlog. There needs to be some value that you want your audience to see and take note of. Simply put: you must have something to say and they must get something out of watching you.

Granted, some of the most shared videos have content that is asinine and of no real value to the audience, but that stuff doesn’t build businesses. The real value in the medium lies in sharing great content that is of benefit to your target market, and which will build your brand and entice people to your offering.

2. Prepare your content.

This is the most vital part of your entire YouTube strategy. The look of your channel is important, but the content that you put together is paramount. This is why people are coming to your channel; not to see you but to benefit from your ideas; and it is what will ultimately make them decide to use your services or not.

Here’s where the magic of social media comes into play: If your content is good; really good; your audience is going to want to share it and comment on it. The more thought you put into making it worth sharing, the more successful your vlog will be.

This engagement and sharing is what marketers all over the word are striving towards. Engagement is incredibly important because it allows your audience to give you feedback on, quite literally, what they want. The sharing that goes on among your viewers is important because it replicates your messages, sometimes exponentially.

Always take note of the feedback your target audience gives you, because you need that input to make changes to your offering and improve it.

3. Name your vlog.

The same rules that you would usually use when naming an article, a product or a child still apply here! The name needs to be catchy. Vlad the Impaler lives on in history. Neil the Impaler just wouldn’t have cut it.

You should also factor good Search Engine Optimisation methodologies into your name. Simply put, it needs to feature the keywords that your audience would be searching for when looking for what you have to say. For instance, “Ways to make the audience take notice of you,” would not be found in a search for “public speaking tips”. A better idea would be to name the video: “Public speaking tips to make your audience take notice of you!”

Always ask yourself what keywords people would logically search to get to your type of content. You will get the opportunity to add these keywords to it when you load your vlog onto www.youtube.com.

4. Got the look?

Your outfit and the background determine the marketing tone of your vlog. Fortunately, vlogs can be relatively informal. You don’t need a film crew (the camera on your computer will do), and the background can quite acceptably be your study. Just bear in mind that a gym vest, a barking dog and a clock hanging skew won’t serve your brand well. Put some thought into what your target market will ultimately see; it informs their first impression of you.

One simple tip is to turn on the houselights, even during the day, for a rich, well-lit look.

Simply put, remember that there needs to be some syncronisation between the real you and the vlog you. Ultimately, you want these people to meet you in real life; and if there is no sync; trust and repeat business will be thrown out the window.

5. All the usual communication rules apply

Top of the list: You have to be interesting. Sure, a vlog is essentially a way of marketing yourself or your offering, but always put the value up front and the advertising at the end. You should aim to hook interest early (in the first 10 seconds), hold their attention with solid content, outline your ideas with brevity and impact, and then conclude before it gets boring. Your personal energy in the delivery also helps.

Leave them hanging and wanting more; this will start to breed a following for your vlog.

6. Doing your first one

Film it on your PC (or a camera, if you’d like to go a little higher quality). Save it on your computer. Open a YouTube account, and click on ‘Upload.’ Then follow the prompts. When you upload the video, it will give you the opportunity to add ‘tags,’ such as ‘Public Speaking,’ or ‘Leadership,’ or whatever will logically drive viewers in your direction.

You can get fancier with editing equipment if you’d like, but some very successful vlogs are simply an expert talking to an online audience about a topic that interests them.

7. Keep it up!

If vlogging is part of your strategy for being found, then you need to take a long term view. It will work if you keep at it. The more content you have, the more you can be found, and the more likely it is that your videos will have longevity and translate into business.

This means that you might consider dividing your points into a series of vlogs, and rather do ten individual vlogs of one minute each than a single ten minute info dump.

That said, there’s no real time-limit to a vlog (apart from YouTube’s 15 minute maximum for standard channels). If you’re interesting, they’ll keep watching. If you’re not, they won’t. But short, sharp and snappy tends to work most effectively.

8. The most important part?

Start! Start today. Vlogging is not the kind of thing that takes months of preparation and over-thinking. Search for some vlogs according to keywords that interest you, watch them, and evaluate what you do and do not enjoy. Don’t copy them. But ask yourself what works for you and try it out.

Here is an example of one of our vlogs, on the topic of Positioning Yourself as an Expert:

Remember: positioning yourself as an industry expert is a combination of knowledge, personality and sustained publicity. Keep your quality high. Use your personality to make it engaging. Keep it up!

Now go try it for yourself.

Happy vlogging!

Follow Jonathan on Twitter: @jingo27. Follow Douglas on Twitter: @Douglaskruger, or see his motivational speeches and skills-development articles at: www.douglaskruger.co.za

I was having a chat with a friend of mine the other day, when he highlighted a problem that he and his organisation were having with their product versus their competitors. On the surface the problem seems quite simple, but when you sit and think about it for a little longer, the problem is one which a lot of us are faced with each and every day when we are faced with buying decisions of our own.

Face value decisions.

Every day when we are faced with two opposing products, we very often make a snap decision and choose the one that looks the best. We, as consumers, forget to look past the marketing hype upfront and delve into the real detailed comparison of the features and benefits of each product.

This highlights how important it is for marketers to get involved in product development. While features and benefits are very important to all consumers, very often a good looking product will fly off the shelf faster.

Make it look good!

Let’s use my buddy’s example of a well written piece of software. Their software package is literally head and shoulders (not the shampoo) above their competitors; it is simple to understand and does twice as much as you really need it to at the end of the day. The price is extremely competitive, but they have fallen behind in making sure that their GUI looks as good as their competitors. Unfortunately it looks like it was built by a developer, and not by a designer.

The User Experience with a piece of software is especially important! Think about when you are giving a demo on a software package. If you are not showing how simple to understand and use your program is, then you are losing the war no matter how much better the software is.

The graphic above basically shows how and where the user experience can be influenced as the human brain and eye do not look at each element individually, but rather as part of the whole. This means that every element from programming, to interface design, graphic design and finally language all influence how the user will perceive your product.

Real world example

There are a multitude of tablets on the market at the moment; from Apple to Samsung to Motorola and everyone in between. Now there are those who will agree with the following example, and there are those that definitely won’t (but that illustrates my point even further)!

The Apple iPad is not the best tablet on the market in terms of features and functionality. In terms of design and user experience however, it is! The devise itself is pleasing to the eye as well as to touch; the OS is smooth and incredibly easy to use and that is what makes it an absolute winner with its market. Yes there are glitches and small bugs and the issue that it can’t play flash, or that there is no USB port, but users are very willing to overlook that because it is beautiful and beautifully designed.

The Apple brand does play a major role there are well; and Apple’s market is incredibly loyal and passionate about the brand; but the base line is always the same.

Apple products are impeccably designed because it matters!

Klout.com has been getting a lot of flack lately, with many blogs and bloggers saying that it is only as important as you want it to be. But has Klout’s latest move shed some light on their intentions of where they are wanting to take the platform?

In the early days of Klout, and indeed up until a few days ago, Klout seemed largely to be a measure of how much noise a person made online. There was a slight bonus as it let you know what the user was most vocal about and had a few metrics in place to measure how often conversations about certain topics were had as well as measuring how often messages were retweeted or shared, but largely the more you spoke, the higher your Klout score.

So what’s new?

Klout have started rolling out a new aspect to the much talked about platform. Now you can easily identify who is influential on a specific topic. This new dimension to Klout indicates that they are beginning to get to grips with some additional aspects of social marketing and online reputation management.

Essentially, now you can identify users of the popular platforms like Twitter, Facebook and Google+ who you should be following as they are influential on the topic that you are interested in.

Klout have called these new features “Topic Pages” and they allow you to also see content that has been shared frequently.

Essentially their measure of influence now has a purpose which goes a little further than just small bragging rights!

Whatever your opinion of Klout, I think that as The platform continues to develop, it is going to become one of the many platforms that “experts” are judged on when their peers as well as potential clients look at exactly how recognized their opinion really is; not to mention the potential for recruiters looking at finding that special new employee.

This is a bit of a departure from my usual theme of writing, but I am sure I will touch back on to marketing a little later in the post. This is a not a “how to avoid the double dip article”; this is not a “where we went wrong article”. This is a look at where the double dip will be felt the hardest (in South Africa) and where businesses can already take action before it hits them.

First off : What is a recession?

A recession refers to a country’s GDP (gross domestic product) being negative over a quarter or two following a quarter of positive growth. A Double dip recession is when there is a period of brief relief between quarters of negative numbers.

What are the signs of a Double Dip?

America and Europe are the early warning alarms for South Africa and there are already a great many signs screaming that the double dip is looking less and less like a theory and more like a very true reality in the next quarter.

Some of these signs are pretty self evident for the average man (like me) in the street to see :

1. Inflation – with the cost of goods such as fuel and staples increasing on a monthly basis quickly erodes consumer confidence. The rising cost of goods means that the average consumer has access to less and less unless they are willing to dip into their available credit lines.
2. Investments are yielding less return – the stock markets are what helped bolster the markets out of the initial stages of the depression; but when these self same investments stop yielding as much of a return then the market starts getting edgy again.
3. Oil Prices – I have mentioned the increase in the price of fuel already, but this is directly linked to what a barrel of oil sells for. The cost of a barrel is technically supposed to drop as the economy slows down. This then enables business to continue to transact and afford fuel when times are tough. At the time of writing this article, the cost of a barrel of fuel was : US $108.75
4. Unemployment – The South African unemployment rate was sitting at 25.7% at the end of the second quarter.  The recession conjures up RETRENCHMENT in the minds of every working human being. As profits begin to fall and costs begin to rise, sadly this does become one of the last resorts of businesses to remain operational. On August 23rd, UBS (Switzerland’s largest bank) announced that they were cutting 3 500 jobs.
5. Cost of housing – the cost of housing is considered to be a bit of a lag indicator by many financial professionals, so when the price that buyers are willing to pay drops way below what the sellers are asking for then this becomes a sign that there is economic trouble ahead. Banks and bond originators play a large role in this arena as they control how large a line of credit they are willing to give and thus determine how much willing home buyers can actually afford.

There are many other factors that can be hallmarks for a profit of doom screaming economic Armageddon, but these are the more obvious ones that can be easily understood by economic laymen like me.

How does the recession really affect your business and you?

Whether we are economist or not, everything that we do in our daily lives is intrinsically linked to the economy and ultimately our economy is linked tothe rest of the world – a butterfly effect if you will. Essentially this means that you and your business need to safe guard against being hit too hard and being caught off guard when the double dip eventually does hit.

This means that some things that need to be borne in mind are :

• unnecessary spending needs to be kept to a minimum
• unnecessary hiring needs to be avoided
• dipping in to lines of credit is a large mistake
• manage supply chains very carefully and ensure they are optimised

While this will not prevent the recession from affecting you and your business; it will certainly help you feel its effects less severely.

A map of South Africa and Brazils GDP over the last 17 years

The above graph compares the South African GDP with that of Brazil, another developing nation. While the graph does not extend to present day, you can already see the dip in GDP Brazil took to start 2009.

Entrepreneurs are arguably the lifeblood of a thriving economy. They are idea people; innovators; inventors and are driven by results (with a bit of cash thrown in for good measure. What an entrepreneur is not (by and large) is a marketer! The way that the internet has grown and developed has made “socal media” the biggest and greatest buzzword in marketing since the advent of the slice of bread. Entrepreneurs need a little guidance as to how to position themselves online, particularly if they are their brand.

How Do I become an Expert?

The name of the game here is “personal branding”. Simply put this means that the entrepreneur needs to understand what they stand for and ensure that everything they are pushing out via their social media profiles adheres to this philosophy.

A good friend of mine, Douglas Kruger, has crafted a motivational keynote presentation which highlights the basic “rules of engagement” when looking at how to position yourself as an Expert in your industry. Now the theory is simple and Douglas packages it with these 4 bullet points :

• Craft a struggle story
• Gain and maintain high visibility in the key outlets affecting your industry
• Distinguish yourself with a unique voice and philosophy
• Craft messages and outgoing Comms using the “expert positioning” model

LinkedIn – the professional network

LinkedIn  is not a “social network” by design; it is quite literally a professional network and therefore should only be used when you are publishing professional content! It is not the place to upload photo’s and asinine comments. LinkedIn is the ultimate place to position yourself as an expert to people who are looking at your with their business hats on, not their clown (read: social) ones.

 Facebook – where good friends meet (or people you’ve never met before)

Facebook is the grandfather of the social media networks; but it is not showing its age just yet; unless you have been converted to Google Plus! This is the social network where you are allowed to be as outrageous and obscure in your messages and postings as you want to be. This is traditionally where you connect with people who you know incredibly well; your closest friends and family. They know you well enough not to misinterpret your last update to literally mean that you want to move to Siberia for the rest of your life!

Facebook does however allow you to profile and ring fence (not circle, that’s another network) your “friends” so that you can control to a degree what they have access to on your profile. In other words, you can allow potential clients to be your friends on Facebook, just be sure that you have a specific permission level setup so that they can’t see the stupid stuff you get up to!

Google has recently entered the foray into Social Media Marketing with their Google Plus offering. Google’s social media platform is in direct competition to Facebook and will probably see a lot of unhappy Facebook users migrate to this new platform. At the moment, Google has recommended that businesses don’t claim a profile on Google Plus, so that can only mean that there is something extra special in the works for businesses on Google Plus.

The take out from all of this is that you cannot use your various social media profiles with a spray-and-pray, one-size-fits-all approach. Each network has specific audiences and mechanisms for connecting people. Understanding these and using them to your advantage will ensure that you get the most out of your social media platforms and your networks!

I was at the Heavy Chef Session at Deloitte last night and I was privileged enough to listen to Rich Mulholland speak on the misnomer that is ‘Social Media’. What follows here is my interpretation of his talk, as well as a hypothesis of my own, and some problems that we may encounter in the future with this “social” world that we live in.

What went down!

Rich was talking about the lack of context int he social media world; about how there is a lot of content being generated about any topic that you can think of, but if you take a break from being online and interacting in social media networks like Rich did for a week you will quickly realise at least 2 things : (I am paraphrasing a bit here)

1. You will not miss the conversation
2. The conversation will not miss you

Now this epiphany is rather ground breaking; especially if you are lucky (read popular) enough to have a couple of hundred odd followers; these people that hang on your every word for a drip of wisdom to fall from your lips (erm… fingers)!

But there is the kicker! These followers don’t know you; they “know you”, but they don’t really know you. They follow you because you ,at some stage, had something of value to say and they were, at that moment, impressed enough to take action on what you said and clicked on the all powerful Follow Button!

Where am I going with this?

What this boils down to is context! There was context between what you were saying and what they were looking for. A correlation between a supply and a demand at that moment in time. Sadly though this was, in most cases, a fleeting meeting of minds, likes and dislikes.  There is no relevant or credible reason as to why this person who follows you would now be interested in your choice of deserts, holiday destinations or advice on which car to buy. All that they will now be getting from you, when following you, is a lot of content that is not in the slightest bit relevant to you.

So does this mean that we should only follow people that we know really well and would have more than one small thing in common with?

No.

Our social media networks need to converge to give the world a holistic image of ourselves and not an image fragmented by space and time with different algorithms scratching and pasting together bits of info about us.

Perhaps the answer is not within social networking; but rather in context networking. A network that (borrowing from Richard again) underpins the wide range of networks we are currently a part of and gives us true value by showing us information from sources who know us for more than a fleeting second because we both happened to think an orange sofa was hideous!

Context is key and context is, for my money, the future of media – and not just the social kind!

If you read this article and forward it, like it or comment on it; you will not win an iPad, a Galaxy Tab or a PlayBook. There is a nasty trend that is developing throughout marketing – both online and offline – and that is the trend of giving away new and popular technology goods to “potential customers” who take action from the and either by liking on Facebook or following on Twitter.

What’s the point?
Giving away a “cool” product that is totally unrelated to your brand will definitely increase your following! But is it a following of potential customers? The simple answer is : no.

All this does is create a large following that is solely interested in winning something or getting something for free! They are not loyal followers who are interested in your product or service, they are fickle and self-serving.

Sure you might maintain a few of them after your campaign is done – but they are th lazy followers who still wouldn’t buy your product.

This is not building your brand adequately and in fact will probably do more harm than good. I am not averse to promotions and giveaways, but I am averse to wasting your time and money to literally just give something away. Rather use this money for some CSI initiative that can do some good if you really feel compelled to give something away.

Followers are NOT everything!
Having a large following or friend list is not the be all and end all of why you are engaging on social media! Social media is there for conversation and servicing a consumers needs. Having a large list who are not engaging with you does nothing for your engagement and even less for your brand.

Rather spend your time and money building a loyal following that is going to engage with you and help you to make your business better!