by Mattr | Jan 29, 2014 | news
(Originally posted in CMO.com) Have you ever had a feeling you just couldn’t shake? Of course you have—“hunches” are the hallmark of any good marketer. It means you know a good campaign when you see it. In fact, marketing decisions have historically been built on hunches, intuition, and other unquantifiable ideas. That’s easy to forget in this data-driven industry we now work in. Here’s something else many people are forgetting: Breakthrough ideas don’t come from an analytics dashboard. They come from intuitive leaps. So how do you know when you have a good idea in front of you? Popular wisdom says you should “trust your gut.” At Gigaom’s Roadmap 2013, Instagram co-founder Kevin Systrom also talked at length about hunch-driven design development. He maintained that it was Instagram’s secret to success. Instagram began as an app called “Burbn.” Systrom had had a hunch. He polled its 100 users and found they were sharing photos more than anything else. Less than two years later, Instagram had more than 100 million users and a $1 billion price tag. In Systrom’s world, data-based design plays an essential role in this process, but it’s about optimizing products, not developing them. Why? Systrom knows that the only way to develop something unique is with intuition, which is where your experience and instinct pay off. Think about Systrom’s example in terms of a product campaign: Focus groups can guide you and offer you a tentative response. Despite the graphs and surveys, however, you still know that the final decision has to come from you, not the data. You have to trust your experience, your team, and,...
by Mattr | Jan 21, 2014 | news
(Originally posted in Memeburn) Do you know who your customers are? You probably know their age, gender, and location — you might even know their shopping habits or their favorite stores. But do you really know them? Ten years ago, basic demographic information might have been enough, but in the age of big data, businesses need to dig deeper. These days, brands aren’t just compiling numbers and statistics to get to know their customers. Innovative companies are investing in “personas”: full, honest descriptions of a specific type of person. When you identify your audience in this way, it’s much easier to tailor your messaging to resonate with these specific people. Dissecting customer personas What makes a persona? A persona is the difference between an awkward date that ends in a mumbled “bye” and an evening where you talk all night and leave feeling as though you’ve known that person your entire life. A persona tells you about your customers’ personality, interests, likes and dislikes, and media consumption. Based on an analysis of the energy drink’s Twitter engagement, Red Bull has two main male personas as its followers: “daring” men ages 18 to 24 and “sophisticated” men ages 25 to 34. We can also tell that Red Bull’s daring fans favor news media from Bleacher Report and Deadspin, while their sophisticated followers prefer BuzzFeed and Complex. Red Bull knows these daring types respond to new and exciting things, and they’re turned off by mass appeal and corporate speak. Sophisticated types, on the other hand, respond to celebrity, wit, and confidence. From reviewing the kinds of media they consume, we have a better idea of exactly what...
by Mattr | Jan 9, 2014 | news
Twitter shared a hashtag trend of #CheesyMovies this morning, which makes one think- what exactly makes a movie ‘cheesy’ (besides substituting a cheese in the title)? One vote – extremely bad acting with such a shallow plot that it actually becomes disturbingly humorous. Despite some variance in the definition, several people actually claim cheesy movies to be some of their favorites. Which brings about the question, does being a fan of cheesy movies say something about who these people are?? Turns out, it’s probably not whether a movie is ‘cheesy’ that reveals someone’s personality traits. But rather, it’s the type of hero the person identifies with on the big screen and the overall themes of their favorite movies that reveal some unique characteristics about who they are. You Are Your Favorite Movie Heroes Much has been written on the topic of favorite movies and personalities, including the book Cinescopes: What Your Favorite Movies Reveal About You. In this book, the authors identified 16 movie-based personality styles based on the types of heroes people responded to most, as well as the various movie themes that resonated with them best. Some of these styles include Dedicated Idealist, Charismatic Performer, Chosen Adventurer, and Invincible Optimist. And movies aren’t the only identifiers for personality. Favorite books – whether murder mysteries, love stories, or dramas- can also reveal unique personality traits. And the type of music you’re into (reflective, intense, upbeat, rhythmic) correlates with specific personality traits like extroversion, agreeableness, and openness to new experiences- and can even identify specific demographics, like political views and wealth. Even your favorite color is said to be...
by Mattr | Jan 7, 2014 | news
(Originally published in Social Media Explorer) Social media thrives on one thing: accessibility. Whether it’s seeing the biggest stars’ daily routines or scoring the scoop from a trusted reporter, people want to feel in touch and informed — down to the second. Your Twitter followers want all of these things from your brand. But they want something else, too: They want to know you’re human. That’s why an automated Twitter response is such a disappointment for your followers. It tells them your brand is unavailable, or worse, “too big to care.” But there’s a better way to keep your followers engaged and excited, as well as give them a taste of your brand’s more personal side: Treat Twitter as a place for humor, play, and experimentation — in real time. Risk and Reward Personifying your brand is important because it helps you build a personality, not just a brand voice. And the first step toward building a personality is universal: finding a sense of humor. That’s exactly why Twitter fans love wacky jokes and clever retorts from brands they follow. Here’s a great example: Someone tweeted a snarky barb at Smart Car, criticizing its flagship product. So what did Smart Car do? It tweeted back an informative infographic and a witty reply. This seems risky, right? But it actually hit the mark perfectly — and scored media kudos as one of the “funniest replies from a brand yet.” A quick look at Smart Car’s followers would show that this move isn’t as dangerous as it seems: The car brand’s fans are daring, they like to break convention, and they...
