How to effectively use Twitter and other social media tools to boost sales and brand loyalty?
That’s the million dollar question that has companies investing large sums of money on social media marketing efforts. The recipe to success is still unknown, but while we wait for someone to crack the secret code, we’re able to experiment with a lot of really interesting social media marketing ideas. One of the most interesting I’ve heard about recently is actually very simple, but it could prove to be very successful.
Tasti D-Lite is a frozen dessert chain. In an attempt to boost both brand loyalty and brand awareness, Tasti D-Lite is running a program where members of the Tasti D-Lite rewards program can earn additional rewards points by connecting their rewards cards to their Twitter profiles. Each time a participating customer makes a purchase with his rewards card, a tweet about Tasti D-Lite (along with a link to the brand’s Web site) is automatically published in his Twitter stream. The program also works with the mobile social networking tool Foursquare. Members can also post their own updates to their Twitter or Foursquare profiles (separate from the automated updates that occur when they make purchases) to earn additional rewards points.
I think this is a great social media marketing effort that integrates well with offline marketing activities for Tasti D-Lite, and it could work for a wide variety of brands and businesses (both large and small). I like that the effort works to raise both brand awareness and loyalty at the same time. It’s this type of creative thinking that reminds us that social media marketing is about more than just talking at people. You have to engage them and give them something useful and meaningful to want to share and discuss further with multiple audiences.
This social media marketing effort by Tasti D-Lite could integrate seamlessly with ads in various media, special discounts, contests, and other promotions, event marketing, point-of-sale collateral, and more. It’s a perfect example of creating a simple marketing effort that can grow to surround consumers with your brand messages.
Could you create a similar social media marketing effort for your brand? It might not be that difficult to do, and the ‘rewards’ could be significant.
What do you think?
Source: BrandWeek; Image: Flickr
Susan Gunelius is the author of 10 marketing, social media, branding, copywriting, and technology books, and she is President & CEO of KeySplash Creative, Inc., a marketing communications company. She also owns Women on Business, an award-wining blog for business women. She is a featured columnist for Entrepreneur.com and Forbes.com, and her marketing-related articles have appeared on websites such as MSNBC.com, BusinessWeek.com, TodayShow.com, and more.
She has over 20 years of experience in the marketing field having spent the first decade of her career directing marketing programs for some of the largest companies in the world, including divisions of AT&T and HSBC. Today, her clients include large and small companies around the world and household brands like Citigroup, Cox Communications, Intuit, and more. Susan is frequently interviewed about marketing and branding by television, radio, print, and online media organizations, and she speaks about these topics at events around the world. You can connect with her on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, or Google+.
