I'm a #TeamScorpion member. If you've been following my Twitter account from time to time you will see me re-tweet something with that hashtag or create my own post with it. Basically it means I'm a huge fan of CBS's show Scorpion.
Here's why I bring it up on this blog. This week in class we have been talking about brands knowing their target audience and not being so "interruptive" in their marketing tactics. As I was driving in to work today I got to thinking about how sometimes social media becomes an interruption. The official Scorpion account quite often repeats tweets, especially on show days where pre-programmed messages are aired at certain times during the east coast showing and then the west coast showing. It doesn't matter whether the show is a repeat or a new episode, the tweets always come. (Like recently when a pre-programmed tweet from an episode's first airing made reference to one of the actor's birthday - and the birthday had already passed during the 2nd airing of the show.)
We all know those companies that tweet something and then repeatedly tweet the same message every day for a set period of time. People often use the acronym "ICYMI" which means "In Case You Missed It" as a way to resend the same message, image, or link out. ICYMI seems more for the individual than the brand where brands just resend the same message.
But isn't that an interruption as well? We may already know about the upcoming "insert holiday here" sale or the contest to win tickets to a major concert or sporting event. So we really do not need to see it repeated many times in our Twitter feeds like it is a new thing.
I was most affected by this a couple years ago when another CBS show I was a fan of, Intelligence ran a contest for several weeks within a month where you just had to "favorite" and "retweet" a post the show's official Twitter account posted. Simple enough, right? And, of course, those of us who were fans dutifully chose to favorite the tweet and retweet it to all our followers. So, several times a day throughout the course of the promotion this account would post the same message, encouraging people to enter the contest.
However, there was a problem. If you clicked on the rules link (which was also in the tweet posted) you were only allowed to enter once a contest period, and you were disqualified if you entered more than once.
So, since it ran multiple times within a month, how were you supposed to know that you already entered that week's game? Were you expected to go back through your own tweets to see if you did what was required already? Did you just have to remember that you already chose to "favorite" the tweet and you already retweeted it?
With some web-entry contests, there are ways to keep track of that type of information. So if I entered something today and then tried to enter again on Monday, it had some sort of database that would know, "Hey Jennifer, you have already entered this contest. You can't enter again." But entering a social-media based contest does not have the same feature.
The interruptions from repeated tweets will continue. And we will have to either remember that we already entered something so we don't get disqualified...or contests run through social media need to be more flexible for the person, like me, who may not always remember whether I already entered a contest or not.
Maybe that in itself is another way of knowing the target audience.
Hi Jenn,
ReplyDeleteGreat observation. I've been critical of contests on social media for years. The biggest issue I've found however, is that organizations don't know how to manage them. There's a great opportunity for contests to be a part of the digital conversation, but a strategy that includes consistent messaging is critical.
I must add, though, that I have been able to take advantage of poor strategies with social media contests a few times in the past. Just recently, a non-profit ski jumping organization in the Northeast posted a contest on its Facebook page to raise money. It was an online auction for a weekend all-inclusive ski vacation at a posh resort. They asked people to post their bid in their comments. Well, one person started off with the minimum bid. Then I went the required increment higher. Then, guess what? The organization never reposted, retweet, or sent any other communication about the contest. The post became buried in everyone's news feeds, and three weeks later, when the contest ended, guess who won?!
I had completely forgot about the contest. What a steal I got, too! But, I actually feel a little bad that the organization failed to really help itself with an opportunity to raise a lot of money. Oh, well. See you on the slopes!