Dear Chipotle: Clickbait isn’t always a bad thing
Let’s get controversial. You’ve probably heard the saying, “no news is good news.” You’ve probably also heard the saying, “there’s no such thing as bad publicity.” But when your company is the target of bad press – such as fast-food behemoth Chipotle’s recent scandal, thanks to the “Chubby Chipotle” smear campaign running in the New York Post – which maxim do you stand by? The reality is, there’s some truth to both statements. If you suddenly find your brand at the center of unwanted attention, take a step back and remember that your response can radically influence how the public weathers the news. If we were in Chipotle’s shoes – this is what we’d do. 1. ENJOY THE CLICKBAIT: First and foremost, publicity equals free advertising. We hate to be reductive, but in terms of raw numbers, an article in the New York Post is the public relations equivalent of a $300,000 ad campaign. Even though the article questions Chipotle’s ethics, a feature in the Post means more people will be surfing to the Chipotle site and thinking about their products. And when your burrito brand is at the top of mind, it’s also more likely to be the go-to dinner spot after a late workout at the gym. Clickbait – those scandalous headlines that blur the line between journalism and gossip while begging to be clicked – may not always yield the best online traffic, but they do increase visitors, have the possibility to go viral, and keep people talking about your brand. 2. DON’T FORGET TO ASSESS THE DAMAGE: That said, we aren’t suggesting that you ignore the gravity of the situation. Take a step back from the immediate impact of the article and ask yourself if the situation is really going to turn customers away. If you’re a loyal Chipotle customer and you see the Chubby Chipotle ads, you may be tempted to surf onto the Chipotle website and join the conversation. If you’re anti-Chipotle, you might want to do the exact same thing. The article doesn’t reveal anything most Chipotle fans or fast-food followers don’t already know, so it may be safe to assume that this story will line tomorrow’s waste bins and little or no response is needed. If you were in Chick-Fil-A’s shoes back in 2012 when they were brought to task over their religious intolerance toward same-sex marriage, this may be a different story. Only your target audience, the severity of the article or accusations, and how brand loyal your followers are can answer that question. 3. DECIDE IF YOU NEED TO RESPOND … AND HOW: If a response is needed, recognize the power an influx of online traffic and social media attention has on this situation and your brand. You’ve just increased your reach and given yourself an organic platform to handle the situation with grace, uniqueness, and class. A well-timed article, blog post, or Facebook campaign could turn a scandal into a sensation and validate the values your brand stands for. No one likes to be criticized, but a memorable response can make or break the public’s reaction to even the worst faux pas. For example, on August 6, Vanity Fair ran an article chastising Tinder for supporting an unhealthy “hook-up culture.” Thirty-one rapid-fire Tweets later from one of Tinder’s employees, and the abashed dating site went from zero to hero. The company never admitted whether the response was planned or not, but the results prove our point entirely. We feel for you, Chipotle. But when life gives you lemons … we recommend that you make a big ol’ burrito with all the fixin’s. Is your brand in need of some repositioning to positively impact consumer perception? Contact our team of brand strategists today to learn more about how we can help!
Marketing Tools Our BIGEYE Teams Gives Thanks For
Happy Thanksgiving! In a world growing more complex on a daily basis, the team at BIGEYE gives thanks for a few marketing tools that help make our lives easier–and give us more time to spend the holidays with our families. Google Analytics: Google Analytics is an all-around excellent tool. It offers numerous ways to allow people to monitor their websites, such as allowing them to measure bounce rates, time spent on particular pages, and website behaviors as a person navigates the page.[quote]For ecommerce companies, the tool also allows people to measure conversions and the amount each purchaser spends.[/quote] It even allows the user to set goals and manage the actuals against those goals. Facebook Page Insights: At the most basic levels, Facebook Page Insights for brands allow users to track page views and engagement with posts. It allows page administrators to measure page likes, total reach, post clicks and engagement. It also allows quick links to help promote big posts, and to easily create and manage Facebook ads. Optimizely: Though more of a user experience tool, Optimizely is a great resource for digital marketers working alongside their product teams. It offers easy website optimization to help marketers determine whether their website home pages are easy to navigate. Using A/B tests, it helps determine whether different layouts might be more helpful to your business. MailChimp: MailChimp is a leading tool for email marketing. It helps businesses of any size keep track of their email marketing strategies by allowing companies that use it to track email open rates, click rates and subscriber numbers. Therefore, it allows marketers to implement testing strategies to help optimize their emails, and allows them to consider both the frequency of the emails and the content therein. Alexa: As a free tool, Alexa helps marketers keep tabs on their competition. It helps marketers determine who their competitors are, and what those sites’ traffic and activity looks like. And, all it takes it knowledge of a competitors’ website; it helps determine global rank, rank within the U.S. and where people are finding the site. This can help marketers figure out what working–and what’s not. SocialMention: SocialMention easily allows people to conduct social listening, allowing them to pull from a multitude of sources to figure out what people are saying about a given product or trend. Using just a keyword, it can help users learn what people are saying about the given keyword, pulling from sites such as Twitter, Facebook, Flickr and Ask Jeeves. BrandWatch: SocialMention is a great tool for figuring out what people are saying about a given keyword, but BrandWatch is a great tool for learning how social media users are talking about brands. While there may be some overlap between the two services, BrandWatch is much more involved, offering visual interpretations of data and helping brands figure out larger patterns. Without these types of tools, our jobs as marketers would be much more difficult and far less efficient. The team at our Florida ad agency gives thanks for these uber-helpful marketing tools, all of which continually help us produce the best marketing strategies for brands of any size. In search of more info? Contact us today for a consultation – after you’ve enjoyed your turkey and all the trimmings!
