Blog
07.01
HCK2 INTERNally: A conversation about gum
Facebook. Twitter. YouTube. You name it. I’ve probably spent some time on it… today.
My name is Victoria Sharwarko, and I am addicted to social media. (Editor's Note: Odd how her 12-step program began with blogging at HCK2.)
However, this craze hasn’t just infected my generation or my communication-obsessed colleagues. Even the straight-laced CEOs and business owners are finding social media to be a hard habit to kick due to the marketing value it provides. With social media tools, organizations can stalk …er, I mean talk to their customers and truly open the door to brand engagement. This creates less of a dependency on traditional marketing strategies like television and print ads with the fast paced world of social media.
Companies, such as Ford, Mercedes Benz and Mentos, have shared similar successes in launching new products using their customer connections through social media.
Stuart Elliot of the New York Times recently wrote an article detailing how Mentos "The Freshmaker" is currently marketing their new line of gum, UP2U. Before the gum was released onto the market, a Facebook fan page was set up to attract customers, and the first 1,000 fans received a free pack of gum.
Ughhhhh, I was not one of the lucky people. They have 96,000 fans and counting.
Most marketing professionals would count this as a successful campaign. The utilization of Facebook by Mentos has not only allowed the company to gather customer information, but also has begun a conversation between Mentos and their fan base.
I think that it is crazy how successful social media marketing can be. Companies don’t have to spend thousands of dollars on primetime TV commercials anymore. They can just create a free fan page and reach millions of people. If this trend keeps on going, will commercials during the Super Bowl even exist? Gosh, I hope so.
That’s my favorite part of that night, unless my Philadelphia Eagles make it to the game.
(Another Editor's Note: Send all hate mail to her. She's great at PR. Promise. Not so much on the football team selections. That is all.)
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