REI Proves That Good Content Leads to Good Search Engine Results

In the days before the Internet, the only way a company could reach its target market was through what David Meerman Scott (2012) referred to as “interruption-based advertising techniques” (p. 363).  Essentially, companies would bombard us with a variety of ads, either through television and radio commercials, direct mailing pieces, magazine ads, billboards, signs, etc. in the hopes that a product or service would catch our eye and eventually lead to a purchase.  These techniques are “interruptions” because they are often strategically placed in the middle of an activity, such as watching a television show or traveling from one place to another, thus interrupting that activity.  Scott considered such techniques “annoying for customers (and harmful to the brand if overdone) but also increasingly ineffective” (p. 363).

The rise of search engines, such as Google, Bing, and Yahoo!, has changed the marketing dynamic.  Now customers can actively look for a product or service to satisfy a particular need by using keywords or phrases.  According to Scott (2013), search engine marketing “is remarkable because, unlike almost every other form of marketing, it does not rely on the interruption technique” (p. 363).  Many companies are now using search engine optimization (SEO) to help drive traffic to their businesses by “ensuring that words and phrases on [their] site, blog, and other online content are found by the search engines” (p. 364).  Good content designed for a specific audience in online forms that they prefer will be “indexed by the search engines” and  “given the highest possible ranking in the natural search results” (p. 364).

One such company that delivers great content that is effectively indexed by search engines is outdoor recreation retailer, REI.  REI excels in delivering branded content in a variety of forms, including articles, photographs, and videos through its blog site, Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Pinterest, Instagram, and of course, REI.com.  Content is delivered on all of these platforms daily, especially on the blog site, which not only hosts a multitude of different forms of content, but also allows users to filter that content based on their particular interests.  For instance, a user who might be interested in hiking can go to REI’s blog site, select the filter for hiking content and review blogs about hiking the Appalachian Trail, or review tips for drinking backcountry water, or even watch a video about selecting proper hiking footwear or hiking packs. 

In addition to the blog and social media, REI’s website is a repository for all kinds on information on choosing outdoor activity equipment, with whole learning pages dedicated to educating customers on selecting the right gear for certain activities.   All of this content serves to establish REI as an industry leader and expert in not only hiking, but all of the outdoor activities in which they specialize.

So how is REI using key words and phrases on their website and in their content to optimize search engine marketing?  Using the keywords “hiking gear” on Google brings up REI as the first natural search result after the advertising results.  The same results occur on Bing and Yahoo!  A search for “best climbing shoes” brings up a top ranked natural search result on Google for a page on REI’s website on how to choose climbing shoes.  A search using other key phrases that a customer might use like “choosing a snowboard” or “buying a bicycle helmet” again brings up top ranked natural search results for REI.  REI is delivering the content, and the search results speak volumes to the effectiveness of this strategy.  Companies looking to develop effective search engine marketing would do well to study the things that REI has done to drive its own search engine marketing.

References:

Scott, D.M. (2013). The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, blogs, news releases, online video, & viral marketing to reach buyers directly. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons  

Social Media: The Double-Edged Sword

Social media has been likened to “the world’s largest cocktail party, where anyone can listen to others talking and join the conversation with anyone else about any topic of their choice” (Kerpen, 2011, p. 6).  For many, social media is a powerful tool that offers individuals limitless ways to share their ideas, thoughts, beliefs, and personalities in two-way conversations with diverse groups of friends, casual acquaintances, and strangers.   As they say however, with great power comes great responsibility, and for those fail to appreciate the reach and influence of social media, it can be a double-edged sword.

While it is possible for anyone to exercise poor judgement in their use of social media, such gaffes are magnified when they are committed by popular or high-profile individuals.  College athletes are no exception to this rule.  Scrutinized by the media, especially if they are gifted in a particular sport, or are a key contributor to a successful sports program, college athletes have found that the high standards expected of them on the field, also apply to their activities off the field and on social media.

Let’s take for example the story of Ohio State Buckeyes quarterback Cardale Jones.  A year before helping to lead the Buckeyes to the first ever College Football Playoff National Championship, Jones was a third-string freshman quarterback.  In a fit of frustration at having only gotten a B on a sociology exam, Jones infamously tweeted the following: (Ward, 2014)

The fallout from the ill-thought, impulsive tweet came quickly, as it immediately went viral before finally being deleted, but not after sports news outlets, including ESPN and The Bleacher Report, picked up on the story and reported it.  While there was a smattering of support and sympathy for his plight, comments from the online community about tweet varied from mostly mocking and poking fun at Jones to outright insulting and disparaging him.  Ohio State would go on to suspend him for one game, issuing a statement reminding their students who use social media to be “respectful, appropriate and aware that their communications can impact many people” and to “remember not to post or tweet anything that could embarrass themselves, their team, teammates, the university, their family or other groups, organizations or people” (Cardale Jones: Classes pointless, 2012).  In an instant, Cardale Jones had gone from a promising young athlete to an internet punchline.  Ole Miss went so far as to use Jones’s tweet in a textbook for its freshmen students as an example of what not to do on social media (Watson, 2013). 

To his credit, however, Jones appears to have taken the lessons of his poor experience with Twitter to heart.  According to Buckeyes head coach, Urban Meyer, a full two years after the incident, Jones was now “one of the most improved players I've ever been around.  The correlation between handling your business off the field and on the field, he does a good job in the classroom now. It wasn't pleasant his first year here ... but he's changed.”  And in Jones’s own words, "You know, I can take the heat from people from the outside looking in. But I was more worried about the fact that I embarrassed the university, the football program and definitely my family. That's what I cared about. Just growing up, I'd say that was one of the steppingstones" (Ward, 2014).

So what are the solutions to this problem?  Should Ohio State go so far as to ban the use of social media for their athletes in order to protect their reputations and the reputations of their sports programs?  How about monitoring students' social media usage?  Personally, I think such methods are reactionary and do little to address the heart of the problem, which is properly educating students in the use of social media.  Colgate University encourages its student-athletes to actively participate in social media, but also educates them “on what should be said as opposed to what shouldn’t be” and using the platforms in positive ways to market themselves and make themselves more attractive to recruiters and potential employers (Grasgreen, 2013).  Likewise, monitoring companies like Varsity Monitor and UDiligence can help manage and respond to incidents quickly, but the key to preventing social media mistakes starts with educating the users.

References:

Cardale Jones: Classes pointless [article]. (2012, October 6). Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/college-football/story/_/id/8466428/ohio-state-buckeyes-cardale-jones-tweets-classes-pointless

Grasgreen, A. (2013, August 20). Tweet smart, tweet often [article]. Retrieved from https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2013/08/20/instead-telling-athletes-not-tweet-colgate-shows-how-social-media-can-work-them

Kerpen, D. (2011). Likeable social media: How to delight your customers, create an irresistible brand,and be generally amazing on Facebook (and other social networks). New York, N.Y.:McGraw-Hill

Ward, A. (2014, December 23).  Infamous Cardale Jones tweet a 'steppingstone' [article]. Retrieved from http://espn.go.com/blog/bigten/post/_/id/113177/infamous-cardale-jones-tweet-a-stepping-stone

Watson, G. (2013, October 22). Infamous Ohio State tweet ends up in an Ole Miss textbook [article]. Retrieved from http://spo

rts.yahoo.com/blogs/ncaaf-dr-saturday/infamous-ohio-state-tweet-ends-ole-miss-textbook-173609574--ncaaf.html

Marketing to the Right Audience

According to Scott (2013) in chapter 11 of The New Rules of Marketing & PR, the success of online marketing and PR begins by “identifying one or more buyer personas to target”, and that “building buyer personas is the first step and probably the single most important thing that you will do in creating your marketing and PR campaign” (p. 164).  Indeed, developing accurate buyer personas can help an organization “create specific marketing and PR programs” that can be tailored to each persona, as opposed to “guessing about what to say or where and how to communicate” (p. 168).

For this week’s discussion, consider the business goals of your own organization and:

• Identify or develop two buyer personas that would have a “specific interest in your organization or product or [have] a market problem that your product or service solves” (Scott, 2013, p. 164).  Briefly describe what kind of methods you would use to determine who your buyer personas are and what is important to them.
  
• Construct a short biography for your buyer personas (consider things like their goals and aspirations, problems, media they rely on, best ways to reach them, words and phrases they use, publications and website that appeal to them, etc.).
  
• Describe specific social media marketing and PR programs you would use to reach your buyer personas.

In preparation for this discussion, be sure to complete the assigned readings for Week 4.  Your initial posts (responses) are due by EOD Wednesday, February 11, and should be published to your own blog site. 

Thanks everyone.  I’m looking forward to a great discussion.

References:

Scott, D.M. (2013). The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, blogs, news releases, online video, & viral marketing to reach buyers directly. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons

How Canon is Creating Loyalty Through Social Media

Canon Inc. has been producing cameras for over eighty years, and for many the Canon brand represents the highest quality in imaging and optical devices.  My own experiences with Canon products have been nothing short of outstanding, and I’m happy to say that I, like thousands of other photographers and videographers, both professional and amateur, am a loyal Canon user.

Based on Steyn’s (2007) definition of adaptive PR strategy, which adapts the organization to “values, trends, events, issues and stakeholders in the environment”, and “focuses on relationships, symbolic actions and communication, emphasizing attitudinal and cognitive complexity among diverse stakeholders and societal interest groups”, we can study how Canon employs adaptive PR strategy to cultivate strong brand loyalty via their social media tools.

Canon has a robust social media presence, utilizing several social media accounts, including Facebook, Twitter, Instagram , YouTube, LinkedIn, and Vimeo, in order to communicate with its audiences.  It also interacts with its customers through the Canon Community, a forum where Canon users can ask and respond to questions from other Canon customers, and through the Canon Digital Learning Center, a site where users can go to educate themselves on camera and photography techniques, equipment, events, projects, etc.

Canon is heavily engaged in all of its social media accounts and on its customer websites.  The Canon Community forum boasts dozens of boards on a variety of topics, with most boards featuring thousands of posts from community members.   The Canon Digital Learning Center includes blogs from a rotating selection of professional photographers and movie makers, hundreds of articles about a wide range of camera and photography related topics, DIY content, registration for workshops and classes, and a calendar of events.  Not even counting their engagement on the social networking sites, these websites alone already allow Canon to be “full and active participants in the community” and “provide ideas and advice on a wide variety of subjects and topics” in the photography and film making field (Scott, 2013, p. 69).

  

With over 1 million “likes,” Canon’s Facebook page is updated daily with engaging content that encourages followers to participate by submitting their own photos, or to peruse content posted at the Canon Community.  Canon’s Twitter feed, which has over 83,000 followers, offers a good mix of promotional and interactive tweets.  It’s Instagram account, which has only been active since August 2014, also has a little over 83,000 followers and is hugely effective at showcasing photographs taken using Canon equipment, the majority of the images earning thousands of “likes” and dozens of comments.  Canon’s YouTube channel has over 72,000 subscribers, with original video content on a wide range of topics like tutorials, reviews, testimonials, and events, being added weekly.

According to Kerpen (2011), “If and when customers or prospects acknowledge that you’re listening, you immediately strengthen your relationships with them” (p. 15).  Canon is very receptive to feedback from its community, and responds quickly to questions posed to it through its social media outlets.  A quick scan of comments made to Canon through Facebook show that the vast majority of them are actually photographs shared by Canon users.  The few customer service issues that came up were acknowledged or addressed immediately.  Looking through the forums in the Canon Community, one notices the same attention to customer care.  Forum moderators address customer issues and offer suggestions or solutions if possible. 

The voice that Canon projects across its social media is also quite personable, and is void of the “bland corporate mantra” that Kerpen (2011) warns about.  By listening to its customers, speaking with an authentic voice, and engaging in two-way conversations, Canon succeeds in creating a “likeable” social media experience that nurtures its relationship with a rabidly loyal following of consumers.

References:

Kerpen, D. (2011). Likeable social media: How to delight your customers, create an irresistible brand, and be generally amazing on Facebook (and other social networks). New York, N.Y.:McGraw-Hill

Scott, D.M. (2013). The new rules of marketing and PR: How to use social media, blogs, news releases, online video, & viral marketing to reach buyers directly. Hoboken, N.J: John Wiley & Sons

Steyn, B. (2007). Contribution of public relations to organizational strategy formulation. Retrieved from:  http://www.prconversations.com/wp-content/uploads/2007/08/excerpt-excellencebook.pdf