Hey, it’s been a while. Catching up on some posts… here’s a good recap some recent B2B social media marketing and a big part of the reason there’s been a lack of posts. Enjoy!
Category Archives: Best Practices
NetFlix Culture Presentation
Great presentation about corporate culture from Net Flix that I’ve recieved from multiple people recently. This is a great example of viral presentation style that has had a positive impact on the NetFlix organizational brand.
Old Spice Ad
Great ad from Old Spice and great example of extending the reach of an ad campaign through digital and social channels with over 8 million views on YouTube.
The 4T: (Twitter Top Ten Tips)
- Keep it short and tweet. Leave space for a RT and commentary
- Link it. Always include a link if you can
- Neat it. Keep it interesting with links, news, funny things likely to get retweeted
- Hash your tweet. Use hashtags, more people will find your tweets increasing the chance for a RT
- Simply ask. Ask for a retweet, if there’s something you want to share with many people ask them to retweet. (Add “please RT” to the message)
- Timing is of the Tweet. Think about what time messages are sent, what is the best time for your audience to receive your message?
- Keep it fresh. Add new info, don’t rehash the old
- Vanity doesn’t RT. Don’t talk about yourself showcase partners or customers
- Use the mavens. RT influencers, they will often do the same for you
- Say thanks. Send immediate thanks after they retweet you
Additional services to try:
- PleaseRT.me
- Tweetmeme (a BizSpark co.) – allows you to RT and track it
A few good links on ReTweeting:
http://twittertips.org/how-to-get-more-people-to-retweet-you-on-twitter.html
http://www.useit.com/alertbox/twitter-iterations.html
Ultimate Ski Bum Blow Your Mind Contest
Ever dream of giving it all up to live the life of a powder hunting ski bum? That’s exactly what the folks at Kootenay Rockies Tourism have promised in their recent social media contest titled “The Ultimate Ski Bum Blow Your Mind Contest. The contest urges hardcore ski bums to submit a 90 second video that outlines why they should be considered the ultimate powder junkie and have a chance to spend 3 months in an all expenses paid trip through the Powder Highway, a stretch of Kootenay mountains in British Columbia with the most cat and heli ski operations in the world.
Check out the promotional video:
Don’t get too excited the winner has already been announced but part of duties of being the ultimate powder hound to document all ski adventures on the Powder Highways ski blog. The contest is an example of social media marketing at its finest. Videos that are submitted become the driving force behind the campaign, generating thousands of views for the contest and the Power Highway website.
Contests like this can be a tremendous way of gaining awareness for your product at very little cost as it leverages the marketing power of the community. These types of social media activities tend to also reach target audiences in more impactful ways, just take a look at a few of video submissions and you’ll get an idea of the length these would-be ski bums go to get the gig.
Here is the winning video:
Top 50 Companies Using Facebook
Check out this article from thebigmoney.com on the top 50 companies using Facebook to do social media marketing. Two of my favs are mentioned in the top 20 (Starbucks and the NBA).
Steve Jobs Presentation Secrets

There’s a new book out there for all you marketing, sales, and product folks who do a lot of presentations. The Presentation Secrets of Steve Jobs: How to Be Insanely Great in Front of Any Audience, In the book author Carmine Gallo reveals the techniques that Jobs uses to create and deliver mind-blowing keynote presentations. Here’s a quick recap of the key elements:
1. Always have a headline. Steve Jobs positions every product with a headline that fits well within a 140-character Twitter post.
2. Always have a villain. The idea of conquering a shared enemy is a powerful motivator and turns customers into evangelists.
3. Keep the slides simple. Less is more, Steve Jobs has a total of seven words in 10 slides. Stay away from cluttering up your presentation with wordy and complex slides that the audience won’t be able to digest.
4. Keep them engaged with a demo. Neuroscientists have discovered that the brain gets bored easily. Steve Jobs doesn’t give you time to lose interest, ten minutes into a presentation he’s demoing a new product or feature.
5. Have a “holy smokes moment.” Every Steve Jobs presentation has one moment described as an “emotionally charged event.” The emotionally charged event is the equivalent of a mental post-it note that tells the brain, Remember this!
6. Sell dreams. Charismatic speakers like Steve Jobs are driven by a nearly messianic zeal to create new experiences. When he launched the iPod in 2001, Jobs said, “In our own small way we’re going to make the world a better place.” Where most people saw the iPod as a music player, Jobs recognized its potential as a tool to enrich people’s lives.
Read the full article here, check out this slide show and watch a video interview with Carmine Gallo about how he researched his book. And have fun with it!
Facebook Fan Pages
Have you thought about creating a Facebook Fan Page as a way to connect with your customers, provide updates, share promotions. Here are 3 examples of facebook fan pages that I follow, these groups have large followings and use facebook in unique ways to build stronger connections with their communities.
Starbucks
With over 4 million fans, Starbucks uses facebook to let their community know about promotions and free Starbucks giveaways. They also use facebook for humanitarian causes and fundraising activity such as world AIDS day. Follow Starbucks
Metallica
With 2.3 million fans the legendary heavy metal band continues to rock using facebook to update fans on shows with pictures recent events. This takes the virtual groupies to a new level where metal fans can stay connected with their icons and re-live their concerts virtually. Follow Metallica
NBA
With 1.5 million fans and growing the NBA gets bball fans excited with posts of throwback clips of memorable NBA moments that typically stir up a lot of fan commentary and interaction. With the NBA season just underway, look for more hoops action for fans to follow. Follow the NBA
I find it useful to learn how other businesses and groups use social media to do marketing and connect with their customers. Let me know if you have some examples of your own of good uses of social media marketing on Facebook that you follow.
Thinking Out of the Box
I recently saw this TED video that was posted from a friend on Facebook. I wanted to share the video as it has a great view on the importance of work/life balance and how taking time off can impact our approach and introduce new ways of thinking out of the box. I think this perspective can be applied to many disciplines within the business world (not just design) watch the video to see a few interesting design examples and outcomes as a result.