Patterson/Bach Communications, Inc.

The P/B team decided to spice up social media this summer with a fun series to get people off their chairs— whether from uncontrollable laughter or a sudden urge to dance. P/B’s Sizzlin’ Summer Songs series gives followers and fans a glimpse into the summer playlists of our group here at P/B.

Each week a different team member is highlighted, sharing a favorite summer song and summertime activity along with a funny photo of their choice. So far, Tim has shown off his rock star personality with his summertime favorite Led Zeppelin IV’s “Going to California,” and Dan enjoys nothing more in the summer than listening to “Summertime” by Janis Joplin and strumming his acoustic guitar.

There are still many team members eager to share their summer jams!

“Like” Patterson Bach on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to see P/B’s Sizzlin’ Summer Songs in action.

Patterson/Bach is already hard at work on the research and branding phases of a complete advertising and public relations campaign for a new attraction in Orlando’s famous tourist district. Our account services include primary research; branding; creative development; media planning and buying; website design and programming; digital media; and public relations for the attraction.

Prepare yourself for an indulgent experience traveling through both the historic and delicious world of… Stay tuned as Patterson/Bach helps the new attraction unveil itself to Orlando and tourists from countries around the world.

Like most Americans, this Sunday I will spend the day celebrating the woman who raised me. It is the one day a year everyone stops and thanks these women for the time and effort they put into supporting their families. Due to my economic status—broke, college student—I usually make my mom a nice dinner and offer to do chores she spends her “spare time” accomplishing. After all, it is about giving our moms a special day, not necessarily the money spent.

However, others must feel differently or be in better economic standing than I, because Mother’s Day is one of our nation’s largest gift-giving holidays.  According to National Retail Federation, Americans are expected to spend $18.6 billion on the holiday this year, with the average consumer spending $150.

As a brand, standing out among your competition is one of the most important Mother’s Day marketing strategies.  This can be achieved through various tactics, but the key is to be creative and avoid falling into a typical advertising routine. Make sure to take advantage of the emotional appeal the holiday holds and the relationships the day celebrates.

Mother’s Day is the perfect time to use the social media sites your company—hopefully—already has.  Never under estimate the power of social media. Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube can be just as helpful as any advertising campaign.

As part of your social media marketing strategy, hosting a contest is a tactic that connects all your various forms of social media and can increase company exposure. Mother’s Day contests can vary depending on the product or service provided by your company, but there is a perfect contest out there for everyone.

Try hosting a ‘Why We Love Mom’ video contest. Spouses can help their children create videos sharing why their mom is so special and upload the entries to YouTube. Urge your following, on both Facebook and Twitter, to comment on their favorite video. Those participating in the contest will also be encouraging their own friends and family to comment. These friends and family members could be an audience your company has never reached before. The video with the most comments at the end of the contest wins and receives a special gift for their extraordinary mom. This gets your brand extra attention during the holiday craze. And depending on the scale of the contest, it may even generate media buzz.

Mother’s Day is a great holiday to start making use of the newest social media trend, Pinterest. People who use Pinterest most are females between the ages of 25 and 54—sounds like moms to me. If your company sells items or services moms would love, start pinning pictures of your offerings. Make sure each picture links users back to your company website. Mothers will then be able to like and repin your pictures for all of their followers to see.

Additionally, an inexpensive, subtle way to attract Mother’s Day shoppers is to create a blog featuring mothers. This can be done on your company’s website. By highlighting some of the mothers within your company and sharing what they want most out of the holiday, it will not only show customers your company honors moms, but it also gives shoppers extra ideas and showcases what your company has to offer moms.

Mother’s Day may only come around once a year, but that doesn’t mean you should use the same old marketing campaign. Utilizing social media outlets will provide your company with an inexpensive approach to reach your target audience. Take the advertising money you’ll end up saving and spend it on the special mom in your life.

Our public relations team frequently meets with clients to discuss social media initiatives and opportunities. We ask a variety of questions, including why clients want their organization to be on an online network, what they could achieve through an online presence, and how much of their resources are they willing to dedicate to this effort.

Clients’ answers to these questions are often surprising: from “…because our competition is,” to “…because we want to have a lot of followers and fans.” Many responses demonstrate a lack of understanding how social networking sites operate and the types of online communities that are available for their specific organizations. Clients also usually fail to incorporate their brand platform, mission, goals and core values into their answers; whereas, they rarely make this mistake with traditional media methods.

How would you measure success on a social networking site? The number one response we receive is that success should be measured by the amount of fans and followers an organization has. While it is possible to create programs that increase the number of followers/fans on FaceBook or Twitter and other networking sites, it’s not a solid, long-term strategy for the following reasons:

• When focusing on quantity, quality is lost. Concentrating on quality over quantity is critical to maintaining two-way dialogue. It’s difficult to maintain ongoing conversations when there are a multitude of different conversations occurring, all aimed at you.
• Inability to effectively listen to your audience. A key element of social media is sharing and listening. Proactively listening to feedback to hear what people say about your brand will allow your organization to create immediate resolutions to problems or criticisms. If your utilizing any social network, you should hear, read, listen, and respond to individuals; as well as implement change and organizational operating strategies when necessary.
• Short-term promotions should be incorporated into a long-term strategy. When the promotion ends, these fans often disappear too. Your social media activities should not be solely focused on short-term promotions. The focus should be on building long-term relationships that lead to loyal brand followers. Promotions can help build this concept, but should not be your only strategy. When you focus on your relationships, you will receive a greater response when you create a short-term promotion and call to action.
• Talk with me, not at me. If your followers/fans just wanted to hear you talk, they would visit your Web site, which is an online portal for your organization to do just that—talk only about itself for a never-ending period of time. Your web site doesn’t allow for real time, two-way dialogue. If customers didn’t want to provide you feedback, your Web site would be the most popular online presence.

Long-term social media plans should be well-developed strategies and tactics that support your organization’s goals. A goal on a social networking site shouldn’t be to have numerous supporters, because your organization will have a weak relationship with each individual. Build a great foundation so that it will grow, and when it does grow, people are having a really positive experience. If you implement social media correctly for fans 1 through 100, then you will have set a great precedent for the rest of your fans/followers.

Our clients’ social media programs focus on the strength of their relationships within online communities. When an organization is new to social media, our goal is to provide a good foundation that enables a business to commit to a long-term plan. If you need a partner to start or grow your social media efforts, contact me at Ashley (at) pat-bach (dot) com.

Social Media, also known as User-Generated Content (UGC), allows organizations to connect with key publics in Web-based communities. These communities, which usually require registration from each user, allow for real-time interaction among organizations and their current and potential clients.

There are universal benefits to participating in social networks and increasing your brand’s online presence: it’s free and provides 24/7 access to your brand, real-time information dissemination, exposure to unlimited potential customers, and an ability to deliver prompt customer service to clients while managing relationship expectations.

Prior to charging forward with a social media campaign, an organization must first understand the minimum commitment necessary to deliver success. Like most efforts, you get out of it what you put into it, and it’s better to have no social media presence than a poor one.

It’s important to recognize and use social media tools for your specific organizations or risk losing profitable business opportunities. A crucial, initial step for any organization wanting positive ROI from social media is taking time to research and evaluate Internet-centric media applications against its mission, vision, core values, target audiences, goals, and product or service. It may be difficult to choose appropriate online networks and tools for conducting business and increasing brand awareness. A simple, effective way to begin your research is to survey your target audiences regarding which networks and tools they use.

Once your organization commits to actively participating in a social media community and has identified which tools to utilize, you must set guidelines for all employees who are participating in your social media effort.

Last, but certainly not least, it is critical to provide valuable, relevant information about your organization and industry on a consistent basis in any online network. Understand how to engage users and develop trust and credibility.

Patterson/Bach can help you determine your minimum commitment, research your audiences to identify the most appropriate and effective tools and applications, develop employee guidelines, and generate valuable, consistent content. If your organization needs help getting started or increasing your social media efforts, contact Patterson/Bach.