Category: Media

The Great Twitter Challenge: A Review

The Great Portland – Vancouver Twitter Challenge is now history. When I started working on this, I wanted to see if Twitter could work as a marketing and promotions tool.

My conclusion: yes, but it’s not ready to play a major role in most companies’ marketing plans.

The negative: numbers, and tracking.

Numbers first — there just aren’t that many people using Twitter right now. Most of my co-workers don’t use it. To the best of my knowledge, none of my customers use it. And, based on the conversations I’ve had with them, they don’t see why they should. When I started promoting the contest, I saw a significant increase in the number of people following me — but I started with 40 followers, and wound up with 147. Until Twitter becomes much more widely used, it can’t be more than a tiny blip in a marketing campaign.

It’s also not particularly trackable. Although I know I had 147 followers, there was no way for me to tell how many of those 147 were actually looking when I sent out each question. There are no “page view” or “click-through” stats to examine.

In some cases, I’d get an answer back right away — the VanderVeer Center skin care products went in two minutes, as did the Oregon Athletic Club membership and the Portland Nursery stoneware pot. Other prizes took longer; in one case, I received an answer back two hours after sending out the question. All of this makes sense — if, say, twenty of the 147 were on Twitter at any given moment, and none of those twenty had any need for what I was offering at that moment, the question would be ignored. Which makes it like any other advertising medium.

The positive: the promotionwas easy to set up, and didn’t cost a dime. A Twitter account is free, and once I installed Tweetdeck (also free), it was simple to administer. I found nine local merchants who were delighted to provide some great prizes. It was also easy for people to enter. There were a few challenges in coming up with questions that I could communicate in 140 characters, but eventually I got the hang of it.

I don’t have access to the sponsors’ web stats, but I’m guessing they got some extra viewers, too — and some of those may turn into customers. I do know that this blog got nearly double its usual Friday traffic.

The network of people who know Phil Bernstein’s name has grown by 107 in the past ten days. That can’t be a bad thing.

If you participated in the contest, or just lurked as it went by on Twitter, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Leave me a comment below, or send me a tweet.

Special thanks to Tara Bloom for inspiring this. And thank you to Awakening Business Solutions, Green Lubrication Solutions,  Market Accelerators, Maternitique, Organizers Northwest, Oregon Athletic Clubs, Portland Nursery, Shindaiwa, and VanderVeer Center for being part of the First Annual Great Portland – Vancouver Twitter Challenge.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Great Twitter Challenge Prize #8

 

 

green-lubrication-solutions

PRIZE MUST BE PICKED UP IN PORTLAND

Green Lubrication Solutions is providing a Motorsilk engine treatment, gas treatment, and transmission treatment — a $77 value. On the GLS website, CEO Randy Hufford says,

In these expensive times, whether you are looking for better gas mileage or protecting your budget from costly vehicle repairs, MotorSilk can do both.  One simple treatment will work in your vehicle for 100,000 miles and can improve fuel mileage up to 15%.

The Great Portland – Vancouver Twitter Challenge is Friday, January 23, which just happens to be my birthday. I am all aflutter — aren’t you?

We’ll get going at 9am, or thereabouts if my phone rings at an inopportune moment. The only way to enter the contest is to sign up for a free Twitter account, and then follow me. You’ll find me at www.twitter.com/philbernstein.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Great Twitter Challenge Prize #2

 

READ THE CONTEST RULES HERE

PRIZES MUST BE PICKED UP IN PORTLAND

shindaiwa-jacketshindaiwa-shirt2

Prize #2 in the Great Portland-Vancouver Twitter Challenge: A snazzy windbreaker and shirt combo (one jacket, one shirt, both size XL). The jacket is black, and the shirt is an off-white — I think they call it “stone” in the catalog. Thanks to Mike Nichols of Shindaiwa.

And please note that Shindaiwa Outdoor Power Equipment is the first to start and the last to quit.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Join The Great Portland – Vancouver Twitter Challenge

I’ve been among the skeptics on Twitter, but two recent events are causing me to take another look:

* During the recent terrorist attacks in Mumbai, many witnesses, victims and hostages used Twitter to communicate with the outside world. While the event was going on, Twitter was as important as CNN in trying to figure out what was going on — in fact, Indian authorities begged witnesses to stop tweeting because they suspected that the attackers were using Twitter to follow troop movements.

* According to the New York Times, the Israeli Consulate in New York recently held a Twitter-only news conference.

If the Israeli government thinks that it’s worth communicating with the Twitter audience, who is Phil Bernstein to argue? So it is with great pleasure, and some curiosity, that I announce my first major Twitter initiative:

The Great Portland/Vancouver Twitter Challenge

It’ll work like this:

Portland/Vancouver area businesses will provide prizes worth $50 or more. Five companies have already agreed to participate — I’d like to wind up with eight.

Each company will also provide a question. The answer to each question will be on the participating company’s web site.

On Friday, January 23rd, at 9am, I’ll send out the first question via Twitter to my vast army of followers. Along with the question, I’ll provide a link to the sponsor’s web site.

Entrants click on the link to the sponsor’s site, find the answer, and tweet it to me. First correct answer wins that hour’s prize.

At 10am, I’ll send out a new question, with a new link and a new prize.

Once an hour, I’ll tweet a new question, until I run out of prizes.

The only way to compete in the contest is by following me on Twitter. You can sign up for Twitter here — it’s free. You can find me at http://twitter.com/philbernstein. If you’re already on Twitter, I’m @philbernstein.

One other note: if you win, you’ll need to pick up your prize in person at my radio station in Portland, Oregon. This is deliberate — I’m doing this to help Portland/Vancouver area businesses, which means that this is a Portland/Vancouver area contest.

If you’re a local business and would like to provide a prize, I’ve still got three slots open as of Thursday morning. Call me at 503-323-6553, or email me here.

Next week, I’ll provide a list of prizes and contest rules, so watch Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog for details.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.

Recruiting Case Study: Radio Gets Results for Owens Corning

Owens Corning was preparing to open a new plant in Gresham, Oregon. They needed to recruit skilled workers for some tough-to-fill positions.

So Owens Corning decided to give radio advertising a try. We put together a combination radio-and-online campaign on 1190 KEX Radio in Portland.

Did it work? We’ll let John McClellan of Owens Corning tell the story:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qSk7rVRVUCs]

Candidates who heard the ad were directed to type in the keyword “Owens Corning” in the search bar on the KEX web site. This took them to a special page we built which described the open positions and qualifications. The page had a link so that candidates could email resumes directly to an Owens Corning recruiter.

It was easy for Owens Corning to track results and know exactly what they got from the campaign.

While the traditional recruitment advertising methods, such as classified ads, job boards,  and career fairs, are good at attracting the “active” job seeker, they miss the very desirable “passive” candidate — the currently employed worker who isn’t seeking a new job, but would be open to a new opportunity.

Radio advertising excels at reaching those candidates as they drive to and from work, and on the job site.

If you’ve got positions to fill in the Portland/Salem/Vancouver area, Phil Bernstein — that’s me! —  can help you get these kind of results. Give me a call at 503-323-6553, or email me here.

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Click this link to subscribe to Portland’s Finest Advertising and Marketing Blog.

Request your free copy of Phil Bernstein’s white paper, The Seven Deadly Advertising Mistakes and How to Fix Them here.

Got a question? Call Phil Bernstein at 503-323-6553.