It all started in the bathroom… This brand boosted its online presence with the help of user-generated funny stories! [Thursdays: FYO!]
What’s one funny or memorable experience you’ve had in the bathroom?
Singing—or should we say, screaming at the top of your lungs—while taking a shower?
“Chasing” soap on the floor for more than 5 times because it’s too slippery?
Accidentally dropping your phone in the toilet bowl?
A lot of our fond embarrassing memories happen in the bathroom, and household cleaning brand Clorox isn’t about to let that kind of material slip by.
How did Clorox increase its website traffic and boost its online presence?
By creating an online BUZZ—aka “buzz” marketing!
According to Clorox’s internal research in 2012, about 75% of consumers use their gadgets while in the bathroom. This information compelled the brand to create “The Clorox Lounge,” a social media campaign that turned bathrooms into “laugh rooms.”
The call-to-action of this strategy?
Convince online users to like Clorox’s Facebook page and visit the brand’s website!
Through its Facebook page, Clorox engaged with consumers using “clean potty humor,” comedy contests, games, and user-generated bathroom stories.
An example of a funny bathroom story?
One mom shared she saw her 7-year old son playing with sanitary napkins in the bathroom!
Funny and… shocking, we must say.
Because of stories like that, a lot of Facebook users got hooked on Clorox’s campaign and even shared posts with their friends and relatives. This enabled the brand to reach a wider network in the online sphere while having fun.
Such an interactive way to get people to FIND YOU online!
What are the advantages of creating buzz-worthy ads or campaigns for your brand?
- Free advertisement.
- INSTANT interaction with your target market.
- Ambassadorship.
- Brand recognition.
What else could be better than having your target market promote your brand for FREE? That’s one of the best-case scenarios any business would want to experience!
Through “buzz” marketing, you’re opening an opportunity for your brand to reach more consumers in different parts of the world, so give it your best shot every time you market your business on social media or other online platforms.
Who knows? These prospects might turn out to be your loyal customers someday!
An online buzz uses the internet to create rapid interest and raise awareness about your business.
How?
By grabbing your target market’s attention, sparking curiosity, and generating social media shares!
Since a lot of people are on social media nowadays, making a viral advertisement is possible. As long as you know what’s “in” among consumers and how to make your content relevant to them, you’ll succeed in your marketing efforts.
Once your online campaign gains traction, you’ll see consumers doing much of the indirect advertisement for your brand later on.
They will share your posts on their own social media accounts, tell their family and friends, and even encourage them to spread the word about your business.
What else?
If these people reach the end of your sales funnel, there’s a high chance they will use, wear, or eat your brand’s products―basically becoming a “walking advertisement!”
“Buzz” marketing fosters brand awareness through its “fast-and-far” reach.
As the buzz continues, awareness will lead to recognition, which can also usher in engagements, leads, and finally… sales conversions!
Once a customer makes that first purchase, they can be your brand ambassadors by sharing their recent purchase experience with their family, friends, and online community.
Now that you know some of the benefits of an online marketing buzz, here are a few tips to help you create a buzz-worthy ad for your brand:
- Widen the reach of your product through communication.
- Your product satisfaction level should match the campaign hype.
- Emphasize your brand’s uniqueness and superiority.
- Use online channels wisely to optimize reach and sales conversions.
Let’s go back to The Clorox Lounge…
Wondering if all that online buzz actually contributed to the brand’s engagement and sales conversion rates? Here are some results of the social media campaign:
- The Clorox Lounge garnered a 13% engagement rate by the end of February 2012.
- After the campaign, the brand’s Facebook page saw a total of 153,022 visits―53.7% of which were return visitors.
- In February 2012, Clorox’s website had around 407,173 unique visitors who spent an average of 2 minutes browsing through its web pages.
- Due to the buzz of the campaign, the brand generated 1.4 billion social media impressions.
- A total of 35,390 online users liked Clorox’s Facebook page after the campaign.
Clearly, a good kind of buzz helped the brand boost its presence in the digital world!
Thanks to the Internet, marketing has become more competitive and dynamic in recent years, offering more ways to connect brands with their target market.
No longer do brands have to settle for conventional and traditional marketing strategies ALL THE TIME. With the networking power of social media, almost anything is possible!
While it’s not all the time that your online ads will generate a huge buzz, with proper execution, you can create “viral excitement” and cleverly get consumers to help promote your brand through conversations with their own networks and communities.
When that happens, you and your brand have a higher chance of acquiring new customers, growing your business’ online traffic, and increasing sales.
Consider creating buzz-worthy campaigns and see the results it will yield!
About The Dynamic Marketing Communiqué’s
“Thursdays: FYO! Find You Optimization”
Why should you stop thinking SEO and start thinking FYO?
We’re not saying that you should abandon Search Engine Optimization (SEO).
Don’t get us wrong, of course, we know this is something very important, especially in today’s digital marketing age.
The internet landscape is vast, and a world of its own. You really need to distinguish yourself and make your brand/company/website known and easily searchable.
Better yet, get to the top of page one for Top Results on Google or any other search engine.
However, what is the purpose of SEO? It’s that customers Find You!
That’s what matters. So, while SEO is one factor of FYO… it really is only one, and we ought not to abandon all the myriad of ways digitally and offline for improving your FYO.
How can we look at this from a different and better perspective?
Let’s say you have it in the bag! You and your team are experts in SEO. Awesome. But did you ever wonder what else you could do to push it further and give your SEO skills a boost?
FYO! Find You Optimization!
You need your target audience to FIND YOU—your brand, product, service, or offer. This is SEO plus other tools that increase visibility online (and offline).
Every Thursday, we publish content on how you can get your target market to find you, beyond the typical “type and search.” There are other things you can do along with your SEO to give your online advertising process a boost.
Try considering other tactics beyond it—WOMO (Word Of Mouth Optimization), RO (Referral Optimization), and “All-Other-Means-Of-Getting-Your-Target-Market-To-Find-You” Optimization (AOMOGYTMTFY, if you’d like a long acronym).
Part of a great marketing strategy is knowing how to adapt new methods and make use of different types of marketing and promotion that best fit your business goals and which give you the results you want.
Hope you’ve found this week’s insights interesting and helpful.
Stay tuned for next Thursday’s FYO!
Cheers,
Kyle Yu
Head of Marketing
Valens Dynamic Marketing Capabilities
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