While the auto world has been chatting up a storm over a video put out by the fine folks at Hennessey Performance, they’ve been lapping up the exposure. While you folks are in for another motorsport marketing example from me, and this won’t be the last but I’ll at least keep it short. They pitted their latest beast of a creation, their Cadillac wagon vs my personal favorte, the Nissan GTR. They ran the car on slicks against last years Nissan which is what has most people bickering about all over the web. Moral of the story? A little controversy that pits people against people will always drive traffic and branding your way. The story has been picked up on Autoblog.com and Jalaponik, two of the biggest auto industry blogs there are. Not to mention that, but Twitter and just about every related car forum is linking and chatting up a storm. All I can say is, way to go Hennessey and keep up the great work! Our CEO is saving his pennies for your Venom GT and he has very sexy dreams about that car every night!
Viral Marketing
Hennessey Performance: Cadillac Wagon vs GTR R35
Facebook Marketing Win Via The Olive Garden
I’ve been wanting to showcase some excellent Facebook Page marketing examples by large brands and this opportunity came to light whole browsing today. The Olive Garden is currently running a Facebook contest that blew me away, mainly because of the sheer brilliance of how they’re doing it. This example should be looked over hard by companies struggling to grow their Facebook Page, especially ones with a large marketing budget.
I have been nagging and annoying the hell out of our clients to get more socially involved. A lot of them don’t see it as a marketing method worth going after hard…and this drives me nuts. I’m very well aware of the coming change in search trends, and more and more people are sticking on Facebook. This means organic search traffic is not going to be the only player in town, and it certainly might even become the market companies focus on the most.
The Olive Garden has recently hit a milestone of 1,000,000 Facebook fans which is down right amazing for any company. We only have one here in the west coast of Canada, so it’s mostly Americans they’ve tapped into although they got my like! To celebrate the achievement, they have decided to run a contest that is going to send them quickly on their way to another few hundred thousand more followers.
If you’re a social media manager for a big brand, I’d take note of how many followers they grow by the end of the month. The Olive Garden hopefully will respond to my email request to interview their marketing team about Facebook and Twitter marketing. I also see they’re doing a great effort with Foursquare which is just fantastic. I wish them the best of luck, but by the looks of it they won’t be needing any of it!
Antoine Dodson’s Sex Offender App Commercial
While I’m all over the map when it comes to branding your business, I’m trying to keep up with all the tactics going on these days. Youtube “sensation” Antoine Dodson has somehow become famous, and I’m sure you’ve seen his face at one point in time within the past month.While this guy somehow is still popular is beyond me…I even saw him on TMZ the other day although I don’t like to publicly admit I watch the show from time to time. The company behind The Sex Offender Tracker App pulled a good move by hiring Antoine because it will entertain the fans, and it will annoy the hell out of everyone else! Any press is good press, so when Forbes.com started bitching away they helped sealed the success of this app for now, as well as a little help from me of course. This is another great example of branding that brings in all sorts of citations from Twitter mentions, thousands of links from blogs and of course links from the biggest and most authoritative news sites on the web….bravo! If you’re company is still just trying to build anchor text link after anchor text link then wake up and realize more needs to be done.
Lane Bryant Banned Commercial = My Favorite Viral Marketing
Sex sells, and I’m quite fine with that. Lane Bryant seems to know its niche well, and when you’re in the lingerie business, it’s not hard to sell sexy. Combine that with a racy commercial that gets banned and a 40% discount, and you got yourself a viral marketing hit. This commercial wasn’t allowed on the air by Fox or ABC, but Youtube has it currently at 1.7 million views and counting. This is another clear cut example of how regular television just isn’t effective, and surely fears this style of marketing. This commercial will most likely see another million views and will have surely paid off itself a few times over.
This is proof in action that content is king, and if you’re in the position to create content like this for your brand don’t hesitate. You can only imagine the type of links they’re receive from this campaign. CNN, blogs, news sites, social networks and video sites galore have all got it mentioned which has resulted in a next level boost in targeted traffic. I thought this campaign was a great example of viral marketing that was still somewhat fresh and in the mix.
I have no clue why they were banned but I don’t think I would have cared all that much if I were doing their marketing. They’re actively engaging the situation via all social media channels, and I commend their efforts! You can see from a nifty little web tool called Twitterholic that within a year they’ve managed to leverage a nice targeted social media following. I hope you folks take this example in deep, because it is a perfect example of getting brand awareness and maximum link acquisition in one go.
Link Fish Media
I’ve got my plate full this month with clients and I wanted to start blogging about other companies that have got my respect, as well most of the industries as well. I am kicking off the new section to this blog entitled Link Building Companies, and it will showcase other great people who can get the job done right. First up is no stranger to the SEO and link building world and they go by the name of Link Fish Media. I always like to mention that this post was in no way paid for or suggested by Link Fish Media and is written out of respect for industry leaders who I think would be great to handle your campaign.
I first heard about the company through one of the owners, Julie Joyce, whom articles can be seen all over the web including Search Engine Land. It’s always good to familiarize yourself with a company before making the plunge, and going with people who are loud in the community gives you the opportunity to make a smart decision. The other half of Link Fish Media brings another well respected member to the table…I’m sure most of you have heard of Jay Young. You may have seen him speak at SES London, or read something on the SEO Blokes Blog.
Link Fish Media handles all aspects of link building from the initial building blocks right up to getting your viral content linked all over the web. Remember that these two have years of experience and what I like most is they take a unique approach to your link building campaign, and not just some cookie cutter directory submission and social bookmarking. So if you’re looking for professional link building then please get in touch with Link Fish Media.
