Engaging the Masses- Simple but effective Social Media campaigns that we should learn from

As a final year uni student  there should be a time when you come to really appreciate what you're studying- no more of the; 'get the degree over and done with' attitude. It's a time to be practical with what you see in the world and develop a critical point of view- that is applying the theory.

I'm so excited to finally be able to do this and interpret the text book stuff with real life context.  Recently I have been observant of companies and their Integrated Marketing Communication strategies. Everything just makes so much more sense! Just stop and think about how the advertisement caught your eye or how you got so engaged in a brands social media efforts. How are they integrating that message across their Facebook page, twitter and website?

An effective IMC strategy is getting a creative message across in a consistent and compelling way. The message is strategically exposed through different communication channels to achieve the 3 following goals:

 Create audience engagement.
 I say engagement because its one step further from just getting an audiences attention. As social marketers we are pass that - getting attention from an IMC message is something that a good marketer can achieve, but creating engagement is what a great marketer can create.Creating such engagement in itself is creating a social offering. The next step after the establishing the product offering and generating attention through exposure, marketers now need to come up with a social offering that generates attention around the product. Social media campaigns begs the question; What is worth sharing?

An awesome example of creative IMC that created engagement through twitter is the

 Kraft Macaroni & Cheese Jinx campaign.

This campaign was hugely successful and allowed Kraft to not only generation word-of -mouth buzz but also a in a sense interactive engagement with their (v.simple) product - mac and cheese. The campaign worked on the principles of the game Jinx.


Streamlined across social media channels
When two people tweeted 'mac & cheese', Kraft would send a link to each of them - first person to reply back gets a free T-shirt and hey hey some mac and cheese - to eat obviously but maybe to share with friends and talk about it on Facebook? a very likely scenario to very clever campaign. Facebook was the partner in crime for this campaign, it drove the message a step further and facilitated an interaction system for both the winners and losers of the mac jinx game.

Create a brand image that is bigger than it really is
The underlying success for this campaign was that the marketers were able to create a larger than life appeal for Kraft's mac and cheese. It is only mac and cheese- but then you can argue after all this buzz that NO! IT  it is not JUST mac and cheese its more than that and I LOVE it!

To top off a splendid IMC strategy, that message is on giant mac and cheese (literally bigger than life) reaching the masses and creating more conviction to buy it because: "you know you love it"

Postcards I've scattered on Pinwheel

Painting By Numbers

Its safe to say that my last job interview did not go too well and the absent call back set that in stone. So with this rejection comes a stage where you have to access what went wrong - what I did well, what I didn't do and most importantly what will I do next time. This process applies to all learning -for the  first couple of days rejection will hurt your self esteem but then an uplifting surge of acceptances comes and life goes on. For this case I noted that painting by numbers helped me to get perspective.

"These shapes often don't make sense individually, nor look like anything "real", but put together as a group they create the image. " Paint By Numbers

How does this apply to my interview failure? Maybe because I wasn't able to perform the minor techniques that brings the interview together.  If I broke by interview up and really critic and fix the minor techniques, mayby next time my interview will be a complete flowing conversation of my strenghts and skills.Every sentence that describes how i think, solve problems and react underpressure will be strong and succint.

So at the moment I'm working on this Under the Sea painting by numbers kit and I work really hard to fill in each number- getting the tones and shadows right. Them I step back and see creatures would  immerge. I realise that minor details are key to unifying a painting, design work and helping me nail my next job interview.

I'm not the greatest student but I am a great learner. There is a difference

I'm not the greatest student but I am a great learner. There is a difference.

In the context of university, getting High Distinction grades reflect that you are are great student- attending all lectures, tutorials and dedicating extra study time. Students are good at learning theory and applying it in written reports and perform well in exam conditions.

Learners are just ok at this - they somewhat may lack the patients but are nevertheless seeking other ways to learning and improving. For learners personal management and finance are gained  through part-time work, cultural studies at the uni bar and drama in the Role Play Club. Learner are students that can't sit still in a three hour exam, they know the work (or maybe not) but feel exam conditions restrict creativity with questions that ask you to strategically plan and put forth recommendations to a fictional company and their fictional problems.

So if your not a great student its not the end of  the world. Be a life long learner, always seeking ways to improve yourself -your own way.

What makes Pinterest so Interesting.

I've just added the 'Pin It' button to this blog and feel that everything about Pinterest is just so easy . The social pinboard is growing fast and strong with pinners simply installing the browser  plugin - the pinboard becomes a very efficient bookmarking tool. The site drives more traffic than LinkedIn, Google+ and Youtube COMBINED.

Piterest's immense popularity is driven by the our changing lifestyle and the demand for quick information. Again the site makes everything sooo easy- a click of the pin-it button. One pin says a thousand words. Everyone is taking advantage of this, and if you're not, then get going. At the very  lease everyone can get a quick fix on the Humor Pins.

This info graphic by Sandbox goes into details.

InTRO Graphics. You saw it here first.

This is my Intro Graphic. An visual representation of the highlights on my resume. I made this because I was told that you have 30 seconds to leave an impression and get the attention your resume deserves.

 You'll be noticed because you put in the time to save them time.

People are busy so if you can save them the effort of reading a cover letter then you're one step ahead.

It directly becomes your portfolio piece.

By making this intro graphic it shows that you can translate a paragraph of text into one picture. The intro graphic is there to see -its tangible and it proof that you can creatively highly your strengths.

So start picking out the highlights of your resume and show it visually, simply and creatively.

Teaching Timmy

Let me introduce you to Timmy. He is a three year old cutie who just amazes me by how he learns. Timmy was at my house recently and he runs up and down the hall way to my room to show me objects that he  finds around the house. Everything just amazes him and he is enthusiastic to share it with anyone who will  give him the attention. Timmy's curiosity leads him to venture all around the house and away from this mother, yet occasionally he would be worried that she would leave him.

As I observed Timmy I was witnessing a the dual display of the 'wonder and worry' mechanisms. While Timmy was being naturally curious he was also keeping an eye out for danger and  threats.  In the article,
Wired to Wonder by professor of psychology Todd Kashdan discusses how curiosity and threat detecting systems work together to equip us with optimal decision making skills. 


What happened next demonstrates that under threatening circumstances the combination of both curiosity and its worry counterpart allowed excellerated learning. In this case Timmy learnt very quickly how to open a door. Prior to this Timmy would  continuously demand my attention, grabbed my hand and lead me towards the door to open it for him. At first I did not  mind but Timmy kept returning, close the door behind himself and later annoy me to open it for him. After the fourth time I refused to open it for him. Instead I demonstrated how he would open the door by showing him the hand movement as I opened an imaginary door. Timmy's curiosity had spurred creativity and he knew the context of my acting. As he became worried about he's mum leaving he made the choice to learn. 


He watched me, then thought about it  and even moved his hand the way he had observed me doing it. On his first attempt he was not successful -pulling on the handle without turning it. I showed him again this time emphasising how to turn the handle. On his second attempt he was close but was frustrated, even fearful that his mum had abandoned him. There was little chatter between the parents outside indicating to him threatening situation. On this third attempt Timmy opened the door. After jerky movements he was able to do what he had seen. Observation learning allowed  him opening this door. In other literal sense this type of learning will open many other doors for him in the future. 

One reason children are such fast learner is because they allow themselves to be curious, over being cautious.Timmy's urge to explore overpowered his worries and demonstrates that  although our brains are hard wired to worry  it is important also let ourselves be curious. Being curious creates opportunities to acquire new knowledge and skills. In observing Timmy, I noticed the fine balancing act between the worry-wonder mechanisms. While curiosity creates new situations, the threat detecting system is there to prompt us to act accordingly and make that new situation into an memorable experience.

So always be curious and embrace uncertainty, because our worry-wonder nature blesses us to be great learners.