2. Introduction
Most marketers approach the New Year with a burst of resolve; a vow to unearth those wish lists and tackle those
dream projects. You’re excited to introduce innovative new campaigns and initiatives, but you’re also overwhelmed
with options. The digital space is evolving so rapidly; what trends and technologies should you invest in this year?
Our big prediction for 2014: consumers will become the new content marketers. Brands have already started weaving
social elements into all of their marketing campaigns — for example, you’ll find hashtags in most TV commercials.
Marketers are using these elements to collect photos, videos, and other content from
consumers. In 2014, companies will fully realize the benefits of user-generated content (UGC) in offering consumer
insights, humanizing their brands, and amplifying the reach of their messages.
We’ll see UGC play more of a central role across all marketing programs. Brands will run more frequent UGC campaigns to leverage brand advocacy and grab more impressions. And to take advantage of the wider
audience, they’ll build out more programs and tactics to convert their audiences through social.
Want to get in on the action? These resolutions will help you stay ahead of the curve, embrace marketing trends, and
get big results in 2014.
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2014’s Must-Have Resolutions For Marketers
3. 1
Build brand authenticity
with user-generated content
Everyone knows that content is king.
User-generated content may just be heir to the
throne.
The explosion of smartphones, Vine and
Instagram have made it easier than ever for
consumers to snap and share photos and videos
from mobile. Social media gives brands
opportunities to aggregate content from their
customers. Prompting fans to show off their
passions and forge a stronger bond – and with
the right incentives, UGC campaigns result in big
participation.
According to research from Forrester, every time
a consumer posts a piece of content on the web,
it reaches 150 people. By triggering your fans to
share content, you’re helping new consumers
discover your brand.
ht p:/ w w.slideshare.net/edtsue/building-brand-advocacy
User-generated content can
be repurposed in a myriad of
creative ways. You can add
user photos to your website,
user videos in your TV
advertisements — even a
stream of real-time user
tweets in displays at your live
events. Messages and
endorsements that come from
users make your brand seem
reliable and authentic, and are
a powerful revenue driver. In
fact, an increase in brand
advocacy of only 12% results
in a 2x increase in revenue.
htp:/branderati.com/the-age-ofadvocay-nd-ifluenc-26sta -marketrs-hould-know/
With the #UniqloNatGeo hashtag campaign,
Uniqlo received 1,990 entries and added
23,500 fans.
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2014’s Must-Have Resolutions For Marketers
4. 2
Tie social to
traditional advertising
In 2014, integrating social promotions into your marketing
programs will be a critical success factor. So bust social
out of the silo by weaving a social layer across campaigns
to maximize campaign reach and turn conversations into
sales.
Include hashtags in your TV ads, print ads, in-store
displays, and events you sponsor and attend to drive more
conversation. Get even more participation by offering
coupons or prizes.
A great example comes from L
’Oreal’s Matrix brand. They
launched the #MakesMeHappy photo contest to revitalize
the launch of their Biolage Exquisite Oil product. Fans and
followers submitted photos with the hashtag
#MakesMeHappy across Facebook, Instagram and Twitter,
for the chance to win a year’s supply of the product.
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2014’s Must-Have Resolutions For Marketers
The campaign was advertised via print ads in
Good Housekeeping. As a result of the promotion, they
received 13.8 million impressions and 37,000 contest
entries. They also gave out thousands of product samples,
driving early customer adoption and advocacy.
ht p:/ go.brandlift.com/ANAIndustrySurvey.html?LS=eMarket r1 2513
Digital and social are transforming TV ads too. Recent
research from Nielsen found that 88% of marketers
believe that integrated multi-screen campaigns will
become very important in the next three years. To compete, marketers must extend their TV ad campaigns across
multiple channels and touchpoints – like real-time video
ads and hashtag campaigns on social media. This year,
watch for new and compelling ways to engage your consumers across all devices and screens.
5. 3
Connect the dots
between social and email
We can’t emphasize this enough: 2014 will be
about making connections across all marketing
programs. Email and social are two powerful
channels with a symbiotic relationship. In combination, they build, target and convert brand
audiences. Resolve to reap the benefits.
ht p:/ pages.exact arget.com/resources/sf 2 -us
According to a recent report from ExactTarget,
70% of marketers find product or prize giveaways to be an effective tactic for audience
acquisition. These incentives prompt fans to opt
into email lists, helping you build a robust, relevant base of subscribers.
For example, Giant Eagle ran a Facebook sweepstakes for free tanks of gas, and included a
call-to-action to sign up for their email list. By
touting access to “exclusive offers,” they
received over 45,000 email opt-ins.
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2014’s Must-Have Resolutions For Marketers
This year, kick performance up a notch by creating targeted lists from
your social promotions. Collect user preference data to get unique
insights about the interests of your consumers, and use them to create
lists for targeted content and offers. This will help optimize campaigns
so that you see increases in revenue.
And don’t forget – email campaigns drive social activity too. Use your
email campaigns promote your sweepstakes and UGC campaigns.
You’ll drive more participation, capture more user data, and leverage
your current email audience to spread the word.
6. 4
Embrace social’s role
in driving commerce
Still believe social media is just about engagement?
That’s so 2013. Social media plays a part in every stage
of the customer journey, from brand awareness through
purchase. Gartner research shows that 74% of
consumers now rely on social networks to guide their
purchasing decisions. So in 2014, companies will need to
get strategic about driving sales directly from social
channels.
ht p:/ www.gartner.com/newsro m/id/1409213
Unique coupon codes are another great tactic.
Not only do they allow you to limit how many
people redeem online or in-store, they ensure
that those that redeem are campaign recipients
who interacted with your brand in order to
redeem. This makes it easy to track the efficacy
of your campaigns.
One tactic to explore is mobile couponing. With the
explosion of smartphones, digital and in-store are more
closely related than ever. In fact, Business Insider
predicts that 47.1 M consumers will use mobile coupons
in 2014.
ht p:/ www.factbrowser.com/facts/1237 /
Offering digital coupons through social channels adds a
viral component. Fans and followers feel compelled to
share your deals – an impulse you can stoke with
incentives to refer.
Flash sales site PLDNR (a Karmaloop brand) used
Offerpop’s New Follower product to give each new follower a
direct message with a promo code for 10% off. The couponing
had a 10% redemption rate, achieving 1430% ROI on their
Offerpop campaign spend.
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2014’s Must-Have Resolutions For Marketers
7. Embrace social’s role in driving commerce
ht p:/ w w.busines insider.com/pinter st-ads-may-drive-high-value-orders-2013-9
Pinterest is playing a big role in the rise of
social commerce. In Q2 2013, 23% of
socially driven sales came from Pinterest. In
2014, brands will invest more in building a
Pinterest strategy that fuels product
discovery. There are many ways drive more
traffic from Pinterest, from cross-promotion
to Pinterest contests to “guest pinner”
programs from relevant influencers. Try a
combination of these tactics to build an
audience and convert followers.
Social data gets a lot of buzz. In 2014, we’ll
start to see its practical application in
driving commerce. Brands will seek user
input via social channels to make product
and marketing decisions. By building user
content and feedback into their business
model, they can make a measurable impact.
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Online retailer ModCloth has found success in applying user data to inform their
inventory decisions. Their “Be the Buyer” program allows consumers to vote for
the designs that ModCloth will sell on their site. Items created as a result of the
“Be the Buyer” program sell twice as much overall as other inventory.
No matter the tactic for driving commerce, tracking will play an important
role. After all, how will you know what’s working unless you measure it? Make
sure all of your campaigns have distinct tracking mechanisms like conversion
pixels, so you can measure end-to-end performance. Use your findings to
impact future campaigns and initiatives, and maximize conversions.
2014’s Must-Have Resolutions For Marketers
8. 5
Increase the frequency
of your social campaigns
A few years back, brands ran a single marketing
campaign for months on end. But the rise of
social has turned brands into publishers,
constantly cranking out new content and
campaigns. Moreover, social gives brands the
freedom to create and launch campaigns on the
fly — amplifying everything from product
launches to flash sales to Flag Day fun. To stay
competitive, you need to run multiple, frequent
campaigns that engage multiple segments of
your audience.
A great example is online shoe retailer JustFab.
In 2013, they ran more than 50 sweepstakes,
couponing campaigns, and UGC campaigns on
Facebook. During that period, their fan count
more than doubled, from 1.17 million to 2.6
million fans. Their fan base is active and
engaged, frequently liking and sharing their
content. This drives up their PTAT score, giving
brands more real estate in fan news feeds. The
result is even more input from fans.
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2014’s Must-Have Resolutions For Marketers
JAN
9. Increase the frequency of your social campaigns
But don’t limit your campaigns to Facebook. As Pinterest,
Twitter, and other networks build their user base, you’ll
need to engage and convert those audiences too. You
should have distinctive campaign strategies for each
network. Plus, many marketers favor cross-network
campaigns that pull in entries from multiple networks,
like Vine, Instagram and Twitter, via a hashtag.
River Island's #RIHANNAFORRIVERISLAND Hashtag Gallery
displayed more than 13,000 entries from Twitter and
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Instagram. The brand won the prestigious Drapers award
for best fashion marketing campaign.
Final Thoughts
2014 will be a pivotal year for social marketers —
and a big year calls for big resolutions. But you can’t
achieve these ambitions alone. Work towards your
goals by aligning with other team members,
extending the synergy between social and functions
like ad buying and email. Communicate the value of
your efforts up the chain by measuring social commerce and demonstrating ROI. Listen to consumer
feedback, and harness the contributions of your
advocates. The year will be all about working
together to embrace change. We’re confident you’ll
rise to the challenge!
10. About Offerpop
Offerpop helps marketers launch powerful social marketing campaigns to reach,
engage and connect with consumers. Global brands, agencies and small businesses use
Offerpop to increase revenue and grow fans, followers and email subscribers. Launch
campaigns across any marketing channel - website, advertising, email, and TV - and
drive engagement on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and Pinterest. Offerpop provides
Hashtag & UGC campaigns, Contests & Promotions, and Social Commerce solutions.
Our Social Data solution provides powerful reporting, rich consumer profiles, and UGC
libraries.Offerpop has over 10,000 paid customers in more than 100 countries and is a
Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer and a member of Twitterʼs Certified Product
Program.
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Website: www.offerpop.com | Phone: 646-380-4609 | Twitter: @Offerpop | Facebook: www.facebook.com/offerpop
