The beauty of social media is its versatility and wide range of applicability. Creativity is highly encouraged within the social realm and evidence of it often determines success or failure. Qdoba’s social media efforts focus on “fan” involvement and incorporate creative games, contest, and promotions to meet this goal.

Recently, I spoke with Doug Thielen, head of non-traditional marketing for Qdoba. During our conversation, we tackled the topics of a starting strategy, audience monitoring, and responding to negativity. Below is our interview, which highlights the key points of our conversation.

How did you immerse social media with your existing marketing?
During the election we started a marketing campaign called Taste Bud Politics. The campaign involved a quiz that connected certain Qdoba foods with a political party or candidate. From the quizzes, we created Facebook pages/groups so that the participants could post videos and engage with one another. Through this marketing initiative, we were able to get a better feel for social media and it also became our activation piece.

From your initial step, how did you decide where to exert your efforts?
Listening was one of the most important parts when making our transition into social media. Using a social media monitoring program, we listened to the conversations occurring in order to see what was being said and where it was happening. With the results of this “digital snapshot,” we made a decision to focus our efforts on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. After getting involved in social media, we realized the importance of extending our efforts with each regional franchise.

How were you able to maintain continuity among franchises?
Before extending our social media initiative to regional franchises, we wanted to empower them with tools to succeed. In order to provide continuity, training was necessary, so we created “Social Media 101-A Guide to Social Media.” Along with the guide, we also included the colors, logos, and backgrounds needed to create a profile, page, etc. With continuity in place, each franchise was then able to become more relevant to their local audiences, but also remain connected to Qdoba as a whole.

How much time do you spend on your social media efforts?
Currently, I am the only one running our social media campaigns. As our fan base has developed and response increased, some of the opportunity was being lost because I was unable to interact as much. Since this increase, we have decided to hire an additional member to facilitate this social demand.

How do you measure the success of your campaign?
Our goal is to engage with people individually, so we often monitor which posts elicit the best customer responses. On Twitter, we utilize hashtags to measure volume and mentions. We also refer to our “digital snapshot” to gauge our progress. This snapshot allows us to measure the ratio of positive to negative comments and to see if our influence has increased.

How do you respond to negativity?
There isn’t one specific way, because it is often dependent on what kind of response we are dealing with. I have found that taking negative comments off isn’t a good practice, because it will often fuel the individual’s anger. If it is a specific complaint about the service or food, we often respond directly to that person to resolve the issue. I have found that responding correctly to a negative situation can often turn a customer into an advocate for the brand.

Qdoba’s most recent campaign, Craft for Life has become quite popular and was even mentioned on Jimmy Kimmel.

*Qdoba is not a client of Starkmedia

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The New Year has begun, Christmas trees have been taken down, and resolutions have been made, but it’s hard not to forget the holiday experience. Whether you’re remembering the ball drop as you counted down to the New Year, the glow of Christmas lights, or the taste of sugary treats; it’s these experiences that create a fondness and anticipation for the next year’s festivities. Creating an online experience is an important part of gaining a loyal customer base, growing purchase opportunities, and acquiring prospects. Since the web doesn’t offer such tangible holiday experiences, improve your online experience by utilizing the following:

Clean, Clear, and Direct
Appeal to the visitor by providing a clean and aesthetically appealing site. Upon the visitor’s arrival to the site, provide them with a clear call to action. Let the user know what you want them to do: whether that means signing up for the newsletter, contacting the company, or applying for a job online. Instead of using indirect terms to reference specific information, provide a clear and easy to follow message on your site. Allow the user to access information directly instead of taking them through a maze of links to reach their final destination. Minimizing obstacles will prevent user frustration and increase the chance of a re-visit.

Updating Resources
Keep the information on your site current. Make sure your blog posts refer to current news within your industry. Build your blog into a resource for those looking for information on related topics. Become a thought leader so that the information you provide is valued and visited.

Engagement & Interaction
Incorporating engaging material will entice the visitor to return to your site. Social media lends itself to both interaction and engagement, whether using a widget to spread information across the web or a blog to build a community for users to engage and communicate within your website. Create a Facebook page and Twitter account, and add links for each to your homepage. Get involved socially and begin to build relationships on both Facebook and Twitter. Interaction can often translate into unique visits to your site.

E-Commerce Made Easy
Ensure that the visitor experiences an easy transaction with every e-commerce interaction. The purchasing process should be as short as possible, taking the user through the least amount of steps. If your site is primarily retail, it is important that you give the visitor the ability to create an account, so that each time they visit the site their information can be easily accessed and processed quickly. Creating an in-store experience by welcoming the frequent visitor with a personal greeting and giving them buying suggestions based on recent purchases will give them reason to return.

Geo Targeting
Communicate information that is relevant to the user. Geo Targeting allows you to display content dependent on where a user is accessing your site. PM Bedroom Gallery communicated information to local customers that encouraged foot traffic into their stores, while also providing visitors from outside their local area with ordering information. Instead of scanning a site for pertinent information it is targeted information to increase the chance of purchase.

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Google Social Search and what it could mean for your website’s search results

Google is at the forefront of web search thanks to its ability to innovate and stay a step ahead of its competitors. Due to the surge in popularity of social media sites, their most recent experiment utilizes our social media connections for more useful, personal search results! Just days ago Google came to an agreement with Twitter and will now be displaying tweets and other social commentary in their search results. Google has recognized the importance of our social connections and integrated them into search.

How it works:
In order to activate social search you will have to complete a Google profile and allow Google to access your social accounts and Gmail account to bring up your social search results via contacts. When you type in a query the normal results will be displayed and then as you scroll down you will discover information from your social contacts related to that search. The result? A personalized answer to your search query!

Its impact:
Thus far social media has been an effective marketing tool; however many companies have been reluctant to dive in. Improved search engine results may just be the payoff for companies who have built a strong online community. All the connections that you have made within Twitter, Facebook, etc. will be enhanced and your position as an industry leader solidified. If you have been reluctant about becoming involved in social media, it will be important for you to jump in and get your toes wet or be left in the wake. The shift in search solidifies the importance of a strong social presence.

What to do:

• Explore new areas in the social realm
• Connect with new people
• Maintain connections through sharing valuable and relevant information

Are you in favor of search becoming social? Comment below.

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Facebook Marketing Pages

Opportunity

With over 200 million users, Facebook has provided companies with a powerful resource for social networking. Many companies are utilizing the power of Facebook Brand pages to build their brand awareness and increase their overall products and services recognition.  By aggregating groups of people with shared interests into online social networks, Facebook creates the perfect opportunity for businesses to appeal to a much broader clientele.  The opportunities for acquiring new clients and achieving higher name recognition are almost endless and can be accomplished through using existing Facebook applications to build a micro site, or something simpler such as:

• Customizing content
• Providing a product buying guide
• Loading html or flash content

Response

Many companies have taken advantage of this resource and applied it to build upon their brand. By allowing visitors to preview new products and gather promotional information, GE Generator Systems’ Facebook site is an example of the opportunity available for promoting the brand. Also, this provides a passageway to the official web site, expanding their online audience.

Increased Availability

Facebook’s newest feature released on Friday, June 14^th allows customizing user names; which can become a great online marketing tool for any business. This capability provides companies with new ways to enhance web traffic, allowing easy and direct access to and from their Facebook pages. Now, via a simple and memorable address, your clients and prospects can be easily directed to a specific Facebook page.

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Briggs & Stratton’s Interactive Battle of the Bands Contest

June 24, 2009

Recently, Starkmedia created an interactive contest for Briggs & Stratton that allowed them to unite their passion for music with their brand. Through the development of the Battle of the Bands contest on MySpace, Briggs and Stratton was able to:

• Expand the knowledge of their brand
• Uncover new avenues to build their brand
• Integrate music and marketing

Undercover Rock Stars
Although Briggs and Stratton is known as a company that produces air-cooled gasoline engines for outdoor power equipment, music has always been a part of their corporate culture. Encouraged by their CEO, who is lead guitarist in the corporate rock band and also holds a position on the board of directors for the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame, Briggs and Stratton’s employees have always exhibited a passion for music. Knowing Starkmedia’s personalized approach to satisfying clients’ needs, Briggs contacted us with the idea to develop an online marketing strategy that would incorporate their musical interests.

Engine-powered guitars
In March, we launched The Battle of the Bands Contest on MySpace, providing a unique marketing opportunity and also expanding the reach of Briggs and Stratton’s communication. Traffic was directed to the campaign through ads placed on MySpace, Google, and Facebook. Once on MySpace, one could gather information about the contest, while also being introduced to the Briggs and Stratton name. The page provided musicians with the opportunity to compete and become recognized, while also familiarizing a diverse audience of music fans’ audience with the Brigg’s brand. To create an appeal Starkmedia added stimulating graphics, audio capabilities, and provided a clear source of communication. Through the creation of this dynamic page, a viral communication outlet was born. The page’s first communication may have been with local and loyal customers, but as interest in the contest increased, others outside of their targeted clientele became familiar with their brand.

Appealing to the Masses
With 1.2 million votes and nearly 1,000 posts, the contest drew a large fan base, helping Briggs to acquire 1,370 new MySpace ‘friends’, and expanding the knowledge of their brand. During the three-month long “battle”, the contest had even gained competitors from Europe. On June 28th, the winners - The Run Around- will play at Summerfest, on the Briggs & Stratton Backyard stage, which will be a great testament to the integration of music with their brand.

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