Is it impossible to advertise on Reddit?

As I come back blogging after some time away, I decided to focus on a subject I have had in my head: Reddit. The social network ranks among the best websites in the world (56th in the world and 21st in the U.S according to Alexa.com). But this website seems to remain free of direct marketing, and the companies that risk the adventure often suffer some major drawbacks. So why is it so difficult to advertise on Reddit, and what are the keys to penetrating this social fortress?

First and foremost, some history. Reddit was created in California in 2005. The website is a social media dedicated to entertainment, with a key concept that explains its success: the moderation of its content. Once a registered user posts some content, it will be judged by the rest of the users (or at least by people who stumble upon it) and will be up-voted or down-voted according to its relevance and general popularity. This system made the website one of the fastest growing networks in the world (especially with the success of memes and other funny content), and even created trends among content on the Internet. Some other websites are following its path, like 4chan or Imgur, created in 2009 and that ranks 49th in the world and 14th in the U.S. (Imgur will have its own article I promise) . 

So the first thing that comes to the mind of any online marketer, once the fun of the discovery dissipates, is how can I advertise on this platform? The solution may seem obvious but it is not. Reddit offers a service of paid advertisement that allows you to target your audience, a system widely used by other major social media. This option would be the easiest and the one with the highest chance of fail. Why, if I spend money I should see results! Not necessarily and if your campaign fails, it is because you forgot a key element: Users of this kind of website hate marketing. A good sales speech with some money will not produce a good ROI, and your business would be missing an opportunity.

Reddit can be a very powerful marketing tool as long as you can handle it correctly. The first step would be to sign up as an individual, not a business. It is pretty self explanatory-an individual will be better accepted than a business. Then comes the hardest part: the content. You want people to like what you post, and to bring you to the front page where most of the traffic is. For your content, you can apply the same recipe as something you would post on any other social media be honest, be funny, have a fresh idea, and think outside the box. 

 Actors and Artists in general use Reddit source https://www.authma.com/

Reddit offers a really cool feature that would make really good tools to improve your brand awareness. If you work for a non profit or you have a particular experience, create a Subreddit (personal Reddit page) following the AMA trend (ask me anything, an open forum where everybody can ask you anything). You can also ask question about a certain market you may be targeting, and Reddit will turn into a very powerful survey tool that will allow you to communicate with your target audience directly.

 

Even President Obama created a AMA subreddit. source Marketingland.com

So is it impossible to market on Reddit? No, not at all. Once you have in mind that Reddit users hate sales speeches and direct marketing (who wants to see an ad when you browse funny pictures of cats right?), you can build your strategy. Content creation is a good way to get some exposure (avoid memes unless you know how to use them, nothing can discredit you faster than a misused meme), but you can also adopt a more pragmatic approach and talk to people, ask questions, answer questions and get some precious information about your market and your products. At the end of the day, the key is to be social. But isn't what social media are all about after all? Take it EZ.

About Saint Patrick's Day...

When we think about St Patrick's Day, we think about Irish traditions and celebrations. St Patrick himself was a bishop in Ireland. Even if the day has been turned into a commercial event for beer (Guinness used this day to promote its beer), it is also a celebration for all the Irish heritage all over the world. At Marketing MadEZ we wanted to wish to all our fans and followers a happy St Patrick's Day. Drink responsibly and don't drink and drive.

You can find more info about Social Media, SEO and marketing in general on our website or by follwing us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Google+, YouTube and Tumblr.

Is Link Building outdated?

Recently, link building has been in the heart of debates around the SEO sphere. Is it outdated? Should I keep on building my inbound links ? What should I do? The epicenter of this phenomenon is Matt Cutts, Google's head of Webspam. Many things have been said and the apparent policy of Google is to lower the importance of links, which should profit to content creation. But does it mean necessarily the end of link building and that all the work you have put into link building is now worthless? Absolutely not.

Google seems persistent in creating videos dealing with the subject of Link Building. The trend that started last year seems to keep on going in 2014. First of all it was a question of old websites versus new websites. How come that some new websites are ranking better than websites established for years (meaning that the old strategies are obsolete compared to "new" trends). Then in a second intervention, the article directories were under the lights, and basically their efficiency was contested. Then finally a last video dealt with link building, but this time regarding the grammar and its influence on rankings. The idea behind this link building "crusade" is to reduce the amount of spam on the internet, which is a good idea. They already stroke hard last month with their article and video regarding guest blogging, which is according to Matt Cutts' blog " it’s become a more and more spammy practice, and if you’re doing a lot of guest blogging then you’re hanging out with really bad company."

It is understandable that Google wants a cleaner and sharper internet, where all content is a sharp and precise answer to a search engine request. The idea is amazing, but these messages are creating confusion. So what should we do to improve our ranking and still use link building? The answer is very simple: quality. Link building is not necessarely obsolete as long as you are not categorized as spam. The best way to avoid to be "spammy" would be to be relevant in the links that you create or post, and link to sharp content. A mix between old and new would be the solution . Link building is not against the law (yet?) and doing it the right way is the key.

Link building should be used as a component to increase your brand awareness, the same rule that applies to content creation and social media marketing. The idea is to avoid to be categorized as spam, because once reported as spam by Google, your SEO results will plummet, and your ranking will follow them.  To summarize, quality is one more time the cornerstone of this subject. You don't have to give up all your links , they still work for your rankings. Get rid of the bad ones, focus on good links related to good content and your ranking should keep their heads up. Be real, create quality content and links, and take it EZ.

How to use Instagram for your business?

You may, as many marketer and business owners, have opened an Instagram account , which was on your list of social media. But the account has been "abandoned" by now, or neglected because of low visible ROI. Instagram, as a reminder, is the the social network that allows you to take pictures with your smartphone, and to share them directly with people in your own network. You can even add filters to your pictures to improve their look. But what is the use for my business? I used instagram before and I didn't see any increase in sales.

First of all, as all social media, Instagram's first use for a business is to work on your brand awareness. What is so important about brand awareness? Brand awareness is the "aura" that surrounds your company and that will make it the customer's choice when the time to purchase has come. So in simple terms, brand awareness is the cool factor of your business, which increases the potential of sale. So basically it brings money. In this quest of brand awareness improvement, Instagram is a perfect way to improve the image of the company by communicating directly the image you want your audience to have of your business. And with more than 150 million users, the social network now part of Facebook is not a rookie player. 

Brands like Nike (1st on Instagram), Starbucks, Ben and Jerry's and Ford are ruling instagram, with pretty similar strategies. Nike is posting pictures of sporting events, showing their products in action, when Starbucks posts pictures of coffee environments, and Ford has pictures of cars. The concept seems simple but the key to an efficient Instagram campaign is in the user involvement. On top of showing your products and your company in beautiful pictures, you need to take advantage of the user experience. Get your followers to post pictures related to your business. A picture contest on Instagram is the best way to create engagement. Get your followers to post pictures of your products in situation on instagram, and you will see your brand awareness increase.

Nike Instagram Page:

Starbucks Instagram Page:

Ford Instagram Page:

Last but not least, the use of hashtags is primordial on Instagram, to categorize the pictures you post in the good category. Use the hashtags to create engageemnt and broadcasts promotions, like a discount for the person using the hashtag, or even a gift for any purchase. Instagram, as well as Pinterest, are very graphic social media because they are based on the pictures the users are posting. The advantage of Instagram is that it is in the instant, one click on your smartphone and you have fresh content.

To summarize, creativity is what will bring you the key of an Instagram success. It is the most creative social media and, with the right funny/trendy approach, it can really improve your brand awareness and improve the ROI of your social media efforts. But keep in mind that this kind of social media is mainly used by a young audience, which explains the "fun" aspect required to make it work for your business. Be young, be fun, be trendy, post pictures, and take it EZ.

Happy Valentine's Day

Valentine's day is lovers' day. Get together with your other half and do something that matters to the two of you, celebrate your love. Even if this event is often a way for the flower and chocolate industries to boost their sales, the meaning is important nonetheless. Marketing MadEZ wishes to all the lovers a Happy Valentine's Day. 

Follow us on Twitter, Facebook, Pinterest, Tumblr and our blog for always more info and news about SEO, Social Media and Marketing in general.Take it EZ.

The dangers of real-time Marketing

This year, the game of the Super Bowl will not stay in our memories like the most spectacular game ever (I was kind of bored by the game itself). The stars of this year are the companies advertising during the many commercial breaks. The war of the brands was fought on TV, of course, with a very nice selection of good commercials, but it was also online, on social media. Oreo started last year what we now call real-time marketing, a tactic involving a constant flow of tweets and posts, as a live coverage for the event.

Hey guys…enjoy the game tonight. We’re going dark. #OreoOut
— Oreo Cookie (@Oreo) February 2, 2014

This year, Oreo decided not to tweet during the Super Bowl, maybe they were well inspired because this year has shown one of the biggest fail as a matter of Social Media. One brand went viral with tweets full of typos and basically unreadable : JCPenney.

Who kkmew theis was ghiong tob e a baweball ghamle. #lowsscorinh 5_0
— JCPenney (@jcpenney) February 2, 2014

Toughdown Seadawks!! Is sSeattle going toa runaway wit h this???
— JCPenney (@jcpenney) February 3, 2014

These tweets went viral right away with more close to 40 000 retweets, a dream for any online marketer. But even if they tried to fix the apparent mistake by creating the hashtag  #TweetingWithMittens and explaining that the typos were due to the fact that the marketer was typing with mittens, the damage was done.  But is there really a big problem with these tweets with typos or is it turning into a very efficient Twitter campaign?

Oops...Sorry for the typos. We were #TweetingWithMittens. Wasn't it supposed to be colder? Enjoy the game! #GoTeamUSA pic.twitter.com/e8GvnTiEGl
— JCPenney (@jcpenney) February 3, 2014

The first reaction of the brand reminded the one from Chipotle last year, claiming a hack of their Twitter account. They claimed that because of the weather, they were typing with mittens and that would explain the typos. The typos themselves would not have been a problem if they have been seen and corrected. The bad trend started when brands like Coors Light and Kia answered the tweet, making fun of JCPenney. It has been managed the best way by the marketers of JCPenney, but the damages on the brand's reputations will be hard to fix.

.@JCPenney We know football goes great with Coors Light, but please tweet responsibly.
— Coors Light (@CoorsLight) February 3, 2014

Hey @jcpenney need a designated driver?
— Kia Motors America (@Kia) February 3, 2014

Big corporations started it, and more and more businesses are following the trend of real-time marketing. The trend is attractive because it creates engagement, direct reactions, and discussions on social media. The idea is to be always on the edge of any news, trends and be the first to tweet. Time is the main component of this strategy. But if on one hand it will bring animation and movement to your social accounts, then on the other any mistake will be fatal. By being always on knife's edge, there is no checking of the content itself, which can lead to a problem like the one JCPenney is facing. A company like JCPenney will be able to recover from it with time, but it would be way more destroying if it happens to a small business.

To summarize, these tweets are the symbol of the new trend on social media: the real-time marketing . This strategy creates engagement and discussions on social media and it is a good way to increase your audience and brand awareness. But no mistakes are permitted, and any typos or misspelling can be turned into a joke, go viral and produce the opposite effect. So keep on tweeting fast, take a minute to spell check the tweet, and take it EZ.

The impact of Super Bowl's Commercials

At this time of the year, everybody in the U.S. is talking about the Super Bowl, the annual championship game of the NFL, the American National Football League.  This year, the big event will host the Denver Broncos against the Seattle Seahawks. It is a the biggest event for sport fans, but it is also the commercial event of the year for a lot of brands that will advertise during the multiple commercial breaks. Even if the fans are most likely located in North America, the Super Bowl is the most-watched sporting event in the world with more than 111 million viewers in 2011 (source Wikipedia). This popularity makes its commercial airtime very valuable and the cost per second of advertisement is among the highest in the world.

But there is another dimension to this event, a more social media related dimension. The commercials of the Super Bowl have to be unique, and companies like Pepsi, Volkswagen, M&M's are working very hard to come up with a commercial that will be broadcast only for this event. A lot of viewers are even becoming more interested in the commercials than the game itself, setting up very high challenges for the marketing teams of the different brands. The idea behind this race is that the brand with the best advertisement, the funniest and most clever commercial will be remembered. It is a one shot opportunity to make history for a company.

Where is the relation with social media here? It is in the sharing of course. According to an infographic from Crowdtap, 61% of the Super Bowl viewers will share the commercials on social media, which means that the most popular commercial will go viral. It is certain that the trophy of the game played by brands during the Super Bowl is viral content, with one of the biggest audience you can imagine. And this year, to make sure that viewers are ready and to let the audience know that this brand will have a nice commercial, most of the companies that will advertise released trailers of their ads. Social media are of course a central part of the campaigns, with for example the Pepsi #Halftime America show, a real live show during the half-time break in Milligan, Nebraska, a town that is supposed to be in the middle of the U.S. (the hashtag #halftime will be very popular during the game).

You will find below a short selection of the Super Bowl commercial teasers, starring Pepsi, Volkswagen, M&M's, Audi, GoDaddy and Bud Light (because there is no football without beer). Take it EZ and share your favorite ad.

Pepsi:

Volkswagen (the most popular one so far):

Go Daddy:

M&M's: 

Audi:

Bud Light:

And Bonus Two Bud Light commercials starring Arnold Schwarzenegger: