American Express and Twitter: Why AmEx Sync Will Be a Hit

Below is an article I recently contributed to Digital Marketer. See the piece here and enjoy!

American Express and Twitter announced their brand new partnership this week that will allow tweeters to make purchases simply by doing what they do best... tweeting. At first glance it seems like a pretty painless process. You start by syncing your American Express card to your Twitter account. Once this is done you can purchase "special offers" by sending a tweet to your followers regarding the product that includes specific hashtags. AmEx then sends you a confirmation tweet. Once you respond your order is processed. Pretty painless (and pretty dangerous for impulse shoppers like yours truly).

While the program's features are incredibly striking, I'm actually more interested in the marketing strategy behind this. And this has digital marketing brilliance written all over it.

American Express seems to consistently be ahead of the social marketing curve as they have actively sought to engage social consumers. Just last March they launched AmEx Sync, originally a promotion that allowed buyers to receive discounts on items by tweeting certain hashtags. And they've continued to innovate ways to reach the social customer. I believe there are important and unique aspects to this program that we could all take a note from...

It taps into the consumer's desire to share their experience with others

AmEx knows we like to talk, share, and maybe even brag a little. Many people turn to Twitter out of habit to share exciting news or new information with their followers. I think most people will be happy to use Twitter to show off their snappy new purchases.

It socially markets itself

It requires the buyer to spread the word. And since these consumers will, for the most part, be excited about their new purchase- the tweets will be very positive ones. Adding validity to the program and positively marketing the products.

It uses the concept of  "special offers" and "trends" to make sales

AmEx knows that for many people it's hard to pass up on a deal (think on the success of Groupon, Living Social, and Facebook Deals). It's also difficult to pass up on a deal you see your close group of friends and influencers taking (let's be honest, we all like to keep up with Jones').

All in all, this is an incredibly innovative program and impressively shows off the companies ability to understand it's customer and adjust their marketing and product accordingly. I, for one, am impressed.

What do you think of AmEx Sync? Will you buy in?

How Sensation Pieces Kill Your Career

Well, maybe not your career in it's entirety, but it will at least shoot a hole in your credibility. And if done repetitively you may just kiss your online reputation goodbye. And once you lose that, well...you know what happens next.

Unless of course you're writing/tweeting/posting for a radical audiences. But I'm assuming you're not.

As mentioned in a previous post, I recently read this article on why no social media manager should be over the age of 25. I'm sure you can imagine the ruffled feathers this caused. Just look:

I detest this article. It a poorly constructed argument written from a barely-there-adult who has very little, if any, professional marketing experience. I understand and agree with most everyone's complaints after reading this. But I'll hand it to Cathryn, she sure knew how to make a post go viral. Which is what I think she was shooting for. 

To date her post has 635 comments, about 7.5 thousand Facebook shares, hundreds of tweets (if not more), and I can't imagine how many times it's been referred to on other blogs over the past few months. For some, this is all the social media success they are looking for. But for others, those social media managers who are making a living by helping companies market themselves well, we're actually looking for deeper results. We need people to agree with us. We need to start meaningful and friendly relationships with the online masses. Otherwise, we're wasting our time and resources. 

I would like to dive a little deeper into the the perils of sensationalism:

Controversy for the sake of controversy

The online reach harvested by sensational pieces may be amazing, but without proof to back up your argument or point you will shoot herself in the foot. You can bet most of job interviews for a social media management position will be conducted by someone older than 25. I'm only 28, but if someone walked into my office with this in their portfolio I sure as heck wouldn't hire them on the basis that their inexperience is so flagrant. 

Sure a little controversy is fine, but there's a difference between walking into a room full of people and telling them why most of 'em suck at their job and gracefully starting a discussion. Keep controversial posts friendly, showing you are willing to learn from your audience. 

Losing an audience's trust

Don't neglect creating content that will KEEP an trusting audience. Sure, it's tempting to get a ton of engagement from a juicy post. In fact, it'll probably drive a sh*t-ton of traffic to your website. The only problem is most of the people who read and engaged with this post will never trust anything you write again. Don't gamble your credibility away for the sake of some Facebook shares.

It's flat out lazy

Sorry, but it is. Creating a sensation piece so you can bask in your fleeting social media fame is shortcutting. It won't drive traffic in the long run, it won't make you an industry leader, and it's kinda embarrassing (I mean, really). Instead, take the time to write meaningful content that your audience will want to engage with over and over again. Even if they disagree with you some of the time, they at least won't feel undervalued. Take the time to research your point (and the counter points) and cultivate deep ideas that will be insightful to your readers. 

Sadly, some people haven't learned yet how to market on these channels (which, I'll discuss later, is what social media management actually is). I won't go so far to say they are all too young or that you shouldn't hire anyone under the age of 25- that would just be way too sensational a statement. I will say that you need to hire someone, or be someone, who understands the difference between conspicuous puff pieces and meaningful, marketable content. 

Cathryn's presence on Next Generation dropped off rather quickly after this post. I won't make any assumptions as to why exactly but I do think we should heed a warning when we see one.

Social Media Age

How true is that these days?!

After reading this article not only do I feel I have had an excellent look into the entitlement generation, but I have been so utterly disappointed with ignorant thoughts regarding social media marketing. After spending years perfecting marketing through different social media channels it is a complete laugh that someone would contend it is as simple as an generation who "gets it". I've been wondering if introducing my career would be appropriate here and I guess there is nothing like giving it a try to find out. So, if you like, I have decided to share with you guys a little of what I know of social media marketing.

I am a social media marketing manager for an online media company. I've been in the industry for quite some time and have worked with many different companies. I believe I have gained a bit of wisdom over the years. I, like Cathryn, grew up in the social media age (though I'm a little older than her age cutoff) and it has taken years to learn what really really works. There are a lot of things I would like to say to the college senior who wrote the above article, but I will save those frustrated outbursts for a later date ;)

I will be posting some thoughts or advice every so often. There's a brand new Social Media tab on my main blog page that all these posts will be catagorized into. Feel free to visit and share with me your thoughts, questions, stories, or more! I would love to hear!