Snapchat Filters Make Marketing Fun

If you haven't received a photo or video on Snapchat with your friend in some ridiculous filter, then you’re probably not on Snapchat. If you’re not on snapchat, you probably have no idea what I’m talking about in the first place. Snapchat is a messaging and social media app that allows you to send photos and videos to your friends. The only catch: they only last ten seconds or less, then it’s gone. You have the options to send these photos and videos to specific other users, or put it on your “story” where anyone you are friends with can view it up to twenty four hours. Snapchat has some extra cool features as well. You can write comments on your images, place emojis wherever you’d like, draw, and put “filters” over your face for funny effects.

What do I mean? It looks a little bit like this:

These filters are all kinds of silly ways to express yourself. Some favorites include flower crowns, ones that turn you into bees, deer, and dogs, or a multitude of other insane things. One sort of filter that stands out though are those that are branded filters. These often have a movie or brand that they are promoting through an entertaining projection of yourself. These filters have proven to be a huge success for Snapchat and the brands, with a projected 1 Billion per year made by Snapchat from these advertisers.

I even took one of myself to show you guys:

They seem to be the perfect combo for millennials. It reaches down into their level, doesn’t yell too loudly about the products itself, and essentially allows you to make your own advertisement, since the picture within the filter can be whatever you’d like. Snap Filters almost provides a template for someone to provide a word of mouth suggestion to their friends, which seems incredibly unique. It also incorporates one of the most iconic aspects of millennial life: the selfie. Branded filters gives an excuse to take a selfie with a fun, interactive twist.

Sometimes the filters are just plain weird, like this one that turns you into a taco. But that just adds to the amusement. Some are also interactive, like this one that you must open your mouth to work. When you get to be part of the advertisement, it becomes far more exciting.

It seems to be working well for Snapchat, but it’s hard to tell the effect it actually has for advertisers. Because filters are so minimal on product facts, it likely does little beyond getting your name out there, but even that is worth a lot in the marketing world. Regardless, I am sure that this is the direction that marketing will be heading in for years to come.

Because of course, filters are fun for the whole family:

Wendy's Rocks the Groundswell

Let’s talk about Wendy’s. Yeah, you know that fast food place with the sweet little girl as their mascot? Well they’ve been burning people on Twitter like you would not believe. Making fun of those interacting with you may seem counter intuitive, but people are LOVING IT. Well, when you really think about it, it makes a lot of sense. What they’re doing, is diving right into their groundswell.

Li and Bernoff argue that Twitter can be a fantastic way engage customers, especially if they are not the kinds likely to engage in blogs, chat rooms, or other more in depth ways to get your customers talking. This would definitely be true for a wide spread, low cost fast food joint like Wendy’s. Their food is not particularly unique, there is not much you can do with it beyond eat it, and their customers have little connecting them beyond their love of burgers AKA EVERYONE (I know I know, vegetarians. But I’m making a point). What does work for a company like Wendy’s is a site that doesn’t let you post more than 140 characters about anything.

One thing that Li and Bernoff argue in Groundswell is that the first important aspect of twitter is to listen, but it’s another thing to talk. They state that “Talking on Twitter is easy. It’s also typically boring and useless unless done well”. What is the antidote to boring tweets? Groundswell explains that energizing your base comes from finding people who like your product and amplifying their voices. Well, Wendy’s has taken a slightly different approach to this. Instead, they energize their base by burning their competitors when potential customers question them. For example:

Yaaaaas Wendy’s! Wendy’s has found that these sort of “burns” get them recognition and shares. The initial people to be “burned” may have been embarrassed, but now people are tweeting Wendy’s just to see their snappy come backs. In the age of internet burns, Wendy’s realized that a few people potentially getting offended is worth the hundreds that will find it hilarious, and re-tweet. Also, it goes against the “banging them over the head” marketing strategy. This works to interest customers anyway because it’s become a uniquely Wendy’s thing to do, and the irony is heightened by the young girl as their mascot.

This is not the only thing that Wendy’s spends their time doing however. Li and Bernoff also argue that you always must be ready for a crisis if you’re willing to talk back on Twitter. Wendy’s uses their twitter as a way to listen and track poor quality in their restaurants and respond (of which there is a lot of in a cheap international chain). In fact, most of Wendy’s responses are requests for addresses where people had poor experiences.

Wendy’s is rocking it. Burning their opponents, and acknowledging genuine complaints at the same time. For now, they’re groundswell is all swell.

Mastering Social Media for Money

If you’ve ever surfed through the millions of attractive photos on Instagram, or spent hours staring at YouTube videos, you’ve probably seen something “sponsored”. It could have been  a “detox tea”, or a cocoa exfoliate, gummy bears that grow your hair or even morning sickness medication that requires FDA explanations (see Kim to the left). Sponsorships seem to be the new “it” thing in advertising, and it’s obvious why. We know that conventional advertising methods can often lose viewers attention quickly, and cost insane amounts of money. On top of that, many people have lost trust in advertisements, considering them to just be overdone, overused and too loud. Advertisers began to question how to utilize social media to gain new, loyal customers. The answer to that: sponsorships.

There are popular trendy people all over social media. These include instagramers, youtubers, bloggers, tweeters, and celebrities (The Kardashians being one of the prime examples of this). These are people that viewers often trust and feel connected to. If you watch Nikki Tutorials (above) videos every Wednesday, it’s likely you feel connected to her. She speaks right to you. Or if you follow, say, Annalovesu on Instagram, her constant beautiful photos and uplifting stories allow you to feel like you know and look up to her. Trust is built through mutual appreciation between the social media

star and the viewer quickly, because they are both presenting themselves as human beings looking to connect. By the time a social media star has built their site with thousands of viewers, they have also already built a rapport with their as someone trustworthy, likable, and potentially even inspiring. That’ why these people are ideal for new companies trying to get their name out there.

How it happens: Once a social media star has built enough followers, companies will reach out to them and offer their product for free and potentially some money. While on television they know an advertisement may be fast forwarded or muted, they see a persons following as a number who genuinely care and are interested in what the star has to say. This places social media sponsorships as a more effective and cheaper way to reach their audience. Sponsorships seem to be mutually beneficial for companies and social media stars, but are they for the consumer? That is for you to decide. You can learn more about the positive side to sponsorships here however:

Advertisements always seem to lead to criticism however. Many viewers speak out against sponsorships because they feel it lowers their trust in the social media stars. While many claim that they will only sponsor products that they personally like, it’s hard to trust coming from the seller. I know I personally am more influenced by a social media stars suggestion than an advertisement, even though I know that they are likely getting paid. I'm curious of what others think though. Is this a good way to advertise that ensures the products are truly liked by those reviewing them? Or is it no different than your day to day commercial?

All's Well With Groundswell

Don’t wait! A regime change in the US seems to be  the perfect time to learn about Groundswell. Not only do we see the Groundswell in political moments (thanks Rogue NASA), but businesses have also become caught up in the political groundswell of a new era. In Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff’s book Groundswell it may astonish you what the groundswell can do! In the first chapters, you realize that you’ve seen and been part of groundswell for years, but the power of it has often been understated. For example, the famous film Snakes on a Plane lost its PG-13 rating just to put one quote in the movie that fans demanded before it hit theaters. When the majority population are adolescent boys (who with the R rating would not necessarily see the movie), you realize just how intense the groundswell is.

One of the things I found most interesting in the first four chapters was understanding the demographics of the groundswell, and what ways they interact with the groundswell. I had never thought of all of the ways that I personally interact with companies, but after reading about creators,conversationalists, collectors, critics, joiners, spectators, and inactives, it made a lot of sense. It got me thinking about why certain companies become prone to certain groundswell actions.

One groundswell action that currently got me thinking was Uber versus its joiners. Uber is a taxi service that allows people to drive on their own time, and gives riders options about the way they ride (carpool, XL car, nicer car, etc.). They have been one of the most popular ride services, Uber has pretty much always been well supported and prosperous. That is until the CEO of Uber Travis Kalanick agreed to be part of Donald Trump’s Business Advisory Council. Oh, and while Taxis were on strike for an hour while anti travel ban protests happened at the JFK airport, Uber agreed to take anyone, free of surge prices. What Kalanick saw as a move to help Trump with his labor plans, the public saw as a direct support of Donald Trump. This, in turn, led to a country wide boycott and 200,000

people deleting their Uber apps in just a couple of

days. If you’ve read groundswell, I bet

you can guess where this is going. Yes, Kalanick pulled

out of Trump’s Business Council because it was so bad for his own business.

No matter what side of this story you are on, you gotta admit it, the groundswell is impressive. Uber seems to have understood that they must recognize and cater to their customers. For Uber, this means even though they have very little ability to attract creators, collectors, or other more involved customers, their joiners can still have a say in their decisions. Interestingly enough, Li and Bernoff may have seen this coming. According to them, Democrat leaning people are more likely to interact with companies in every way more than Republican leaning people so, the odds for Uber was not in their favor. Beyond that, young people are more likely to be involved in every aspect of groundswell as well. As young people are more likely to lean democrat, Uber has a double whammy against them when it comes to openly supporting a conservative republican president. Whether it’s right or wrong, it looks like Uber could have thought a little more about how Kalanick’s choices would affect the support of their young, democratic customers.