More Digital blog

One of the UK’s biggest children’s charity organisations, Children in Need, has announced that this year they will be using social media in order to boost online donations. But how can smaller organisations and businesses benefit from using similar techniques?

The annual televised charity appeal has always been keen to incorporate innovative fund-raising methods. Back in 1980, Children in Need became the beneficiaries of the first BBC “telethon” event – a format that has been used since by this and other charities.

Undoubtedly, the entertainment aspect of this event will have a positive effect in connection with social media platforms. Twitter itself is occasionally described as being, essentially, just a group of people watching the same TV programme – something that Twitter’s ‘trending topics’ can sometimes seem to confirm. The integration of social networking websites with other forms of media is certainly worth noting in relation to small business success.

This year, Children in Need are taking it one step further by asking supporters to wear “a pair of virtual spotty ears” in return for a £1 donation. The difference between offering this internet novelty – as opposed to, for example, Comic Relief’s physical red nose – is that used will be able to share their ear-wearing picture online.

Those wishing to acquire the Pudsey-esque ears can simply visit http://www.pudseyears.co.uk/ to make their online donation, upload a photo, and then receive their virtual-ear-wearing picture. It might sound like digital overload, but the concept has already proved popular with football fans, who often add their club’s logo to their Twitter profile picture in order to show their affiliation.

Affiliation with particular interests and beliefs is hugely popular within the world of social media, as demonstrated by the popularity of Facebook’s ‘Become a fan of’ and ‘Like’ application. Small businesses that are able to benefit from this are usually those who have an attractive image or positive connotations to their brand name.

Allowing users to wear an ‘I’ve donated to charity!’ badge is not only an attractive prospect to many, but it’s also extremely easy and requires minimal effort on their behalf. Another company which is utilising the easily accessible nature of social media is clothing brand Gap, albeit for slightly less charitable reasons.

This is the fifth year of Gap’s Casting Call campaign, which allows parents of children aged 0 to 10-years-old to enter their children in a competition with the chance to star in either the store’s babyGap or GapKids window advertisements, and other promotional materials. However, this year Gap have launched an iPhone app to make the application process even easier.

Once again, this relies on digital media, with the concept being that you can take a photo on your iPhone camera and send it straight into the competition. After that, you’ll need to get friends and family to download the app too, so they can start voting for your child to win.

The child who receives the most votes will receive a $1,000 Gap gift card in addition to the photo shoot prize – which is probably a fraction of the amount that Gap will make from all the iPhone app downloads. But while the prize alone would be enough motivation for some parents, it is unlikely that Gap would receive quite so many entries had they not made use of the almost effortless entry process that is granted to them through such social media platforms.

Although these are both examples of large-scale business implementation of such techniques, they could certainly be adapted to be used by many small businesses. The undemanding nature of using social media to initiate client interaction and publicity certainly appeals to the digital generation, and it is one way in which any organisation might harness the public’s enthusiasm to publicly associate themselves with certain brands and products, and use it to their own advantage.

You may be thinking, firstly, who on earth is Justin Bieber and secondly why am I writing about him? Well, unless you are a tween reading this, which is unlikely, or have young daughters, you’re forgiven for not knowing who he is.

Justin Bieber is an internet sensation. In 2008, his music, which his mum had posted on youtube, was discovered by manager to the stars, Scooter Braun, who arranged a meeting between him and the singer Usher. The rest is history. Bieber went on to be signed by Island Records. His debut release My World went platinum in the US, he was the first artist to have seven songs from a debut album chart on the Billboard Hot 100. Then he released the single Baby in January 2010 and things really blew up.

But what does this have to do with social media you may ask? Well Beiber currently has 4,556,617 followers on Twitter and there are over 200 profiles devoted to the 16-year-old. So, I think it’s fair to say he is doing something right and, it turns out, a few things wrong, all of which business owners can learn from.

I’m going to take a look at what he does and see how it can be applied to your business, so you too can be a teen heartthrob with millions of girls following your every word. Maybe not that, but at the very least, become a small business with a big presence.

Get the big guns involved:

For a middle-class teenage boy who is only 5 foot 2, Beiber has some pretty cool friends. Not just cool, but ones who are hugely influential in the social media world, such as Kanye West (who has only had a twitter account for a few weeks but has already racked up 689,562 followers.) Following and being followed by these big names of the Twitter world, can only be positive. Having someone with a huge amount of followers @ing you or retweeting your comments brings you to the attention of a much larger audience.
Although this may be easy to do if you are Justin Bieber, if you are not you can still get in there with profiles that relate to you and have a large following. Twitter is all about flattery, so flatter someone and make their ego and profile bigger. Even JB does it, just two days ago he tweeted ‘@kanyewest me, u, and the chef 2gether on a song = EPIC. haha. might sound crazy 2 u but even having this convo is living the dream. thanks’

Talk to the ‘small people’

Although there has been plenty of stories saying Beiber is a brat, one thing can’t be denied – he makes a huge effort connecting with fans via Twitter, and there are a lot of fans. Instead of ignoring his crazed fans he will retweet their comments and engage them in conversation.
Beiber, or his management, knows that it is these people who buy his records, so it is them he looks after.
It has been said time and time again, but letting the customer know that you are not a faceless business is essential. A bit of time and effort will make them feel relaxed, trust you and be more likely to buy from you or use your service over someone that ignores them via Twitter or sends out generic messages.

Keep it relevant

This relates to the previous idea. It’s all very well having the followers, but to keep them you have to keep them interested. Beiber knows that the way to do this is to talk about the things they want to know, like his shows or where he currently is. He always directly addresses the people of that town and he will then thank them for their support.
Make sure your business profile isn’t talking rubbish. Before you hit tweet think about what you are saying, will anyone care? Will it make them want to be involved with you more? Always keep in the back of your mind that you are using twitter as a marketing tool, the idea is to get more custom from using it.

Don’t get twitter revenge

However angry you are do not seek Twitter revenge (Twengeance? Twit for Tat?), it not only makes you look immature but it shows you get hot headed in situations, a disaster for a business. People will be reluctant to work with you if you are seen to make rash or malicious decisions.
Just this week JB posted a teenage fan’s number on Twitter in revenge for having the fan having hacked the Twitter account of a friend of Beiber to get the star’s phone number. The boy, Kevin Kristopik, has consequently had to delete his Twitter page and change his mobile number after being inundated with calls.
Beiber, of course will not suffer greatly from his childish act, but if you are a small business you will. Word spreads like wild fire over the internet, so one mistake or one disgruntled text could marr your reputation beyond repair.

So what have we learnt from Justin Beiber? He’s not just a teen heart throb who can kind of hold a tune but he’s a social media, and especially Twitter, guru. Whether his fan base has grown since he joined the world of social media or his Twitter following is expanding as his fame escalates, is redundant because either way he has a huge following that isn’t going anywhere any time soon and that will continue to buy his music. And this is what all businesses want, loyal followers and a big Twitter following.