Posts tagged as:

business

Hashtags and TV

by Tinu

I just finished reading an article called Why #hashtags Belong on TV.

In case you don’t know what hashtags are, Twitter says “The # symbol, called a hashtag, is used to mark keywords or topics in a Tweet. It was created organically by Twitter users as a way to categorize messages.”

Here’s a quote from the article:

With on-screen hashtags, networks are tapping into existing conversations. TV shows regularly appear in the Twitter trending topics during prime time. Special events, such as awards shows (#oscars) and sporting events (#sb45), are especially popular for live tweeting.

My comment:

Cable networks with smaller audiences like Bravo have been heavily promoting hashtags, and have gone so far as to have 15 – 30 second spots during commercial breaks featuring what was taking place in the Twitter stream during the commercial, as far back as 2009. And though it seems like it’s not a significant enough portion of America that uses social media at that level, the viewers who gather around those hashtags make much more of an impact on the shows with smaller audiences.

But it’s even deeper than that. A few short years ago, if network executives wanted to take the temperature of the market, they either had to

  • wait for the market to respond – usually in an unfavorable way,
  • organize in-take research such as focus groups, or
  • get third-party data from organizations like Nielsen’s TV Ratings

The one thing all these research methods have in common is that there is a time delay.

With hashtags, even if the segment of the market they’re measuring is small – they can now get immediate feedback. People will tell them how they feel about the show while they are watching.

Think about how valuable it would be to your business, to get access to real-time research on what your prospects and customers think about your product and services as they are using it. Think about how much faster you can improve your products, make changes, provide support, respond to, or even predict market trends.

We’ll come back to that momentarily. There’s another point we have to review first.

Through developing Twitter communities, Bravo is also developing more rabid fans – there’d be a furor if any of the Real Housewives shows were to go off the air unexpectedly. (Well, except Miami and DC. Boring incarnations – but again, guess how they figured out the market reaction.)

Twitter is how they found out what the viewers were thinking. And don’t think Twitter doesn’t know how powerful the hashtag is for TV.

[click to continue...]

{ 0 comments }

We Fix $6 Traffic Gimmicks

by Tinu

Have you seen the new commercial from Office Depot about the Barber? It was recently featured on AdWeek, and made me think of how much we all have to offer in our businesses.

Recessions and other hard times we control come and go and the first thing many entrepreneurs want to do is cut their prices. Some of my partners on various projects wanted me to, just like the barber in the commercial. But I know what it costs to do a quality job, and our margins are thin enough already. If anything, we should be raising prices, but I refuse to do that until we can’t help it, at least until we’re clear of the recession.

So many people think you have to cut prices to compete, but experience has taught me that people who are only concerned with cost are not the greatest customers in the world. Not to mention that most of the time, to cut costs, you also have to cut quality.

If you want to compete, there are other things to compete on besides price. Like what?

Well, if you didn’t watch the commercial above, let me explain what it was about and you’ll see for yourself one obvious place. Quick summary: a local barber is charging $15 for quality haircuts. A chain moves in offering $6 haircuts across the street from him. He creates a banner to hang on his shop that says “We fix $6 haircuts”. The competition is run out of business.

You got it: quality.

You can compete on quality, speed, customer service, variety of selection, personal service, automated check-out, catering to certain demographics like Work at Home Moms, or personality types, like techies who don’t want to stand in line at the store and can order your widget online.

The only problem you may have is in finding that audience. If you do, call us up. Or email. Or reply to the blog post.

You get the picture. :)

{ 0 comments }