Proven Ways to Improve Response Rates

I stumbled upon an interesting blog article that detailed 50 scientifically proven ways to be persuasive.  Below are 4 key learnings that apply to social media:

#10: Hand-written Post-It Notes improve response rates on inter-office letters. 

Obviously you can't send hand-written Post-It notes through social media channels. However, the key learning here is that personalization works and additional personalization works even better. People like to hear and see their name. They also like to feel listened to and involved. Social media is an ideal channel for personalization. 

#12: Attaching no strings increases response to the message. 

These days, people expect more for less. That's why many online companies are offering a "freemium" model in addition to a premium (AKA paid) model. If you are developing a marketing campaign, remember to give something of value (such as a white paper or 60 day subscription) away with no strings attached.

#26: Admitting negatives up-front might lead to better communication. 

#28: Admitting you're wrong makes people trust you more. 

#26 and #28 are related. People know that no product/service/brand is 100% perfect and they actually seek out negative information. This is why Yelp.com is so popular. Consumers were typically not receiving this information directly from companies, so they went elsewhere to get it. This is a tough pill to swallow for companies who are used to controlling their message via one-way communications. But these conversations are happening even if the company is not involved. So it's better to own up publicly to mistakes and admit negatives...this will actually make the brand message more believable. 

Click here to read the full article.

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TV Ads Get Interactive

TiVo, AKA the box that killed TV advertising, is attempting to bring it back by selling interactive ad spaces. And TiVo isn’t the only one. Time Warner and DirecTV are among those jumping in to the space.

So how does it work? When viewers hit pause or fast-forward, ads appear as either a small piece of text or as a static box. Tourism Australia bought an interactive ad showing a photograph of a girl on a beach with the caption, “Don’t tell me I just skipped the Australia ad!” The TiVo viewer can then press a Thumbs Up button to view the ad and find out more information. After interacting with the ad, the viewer can choose to see additional information, request a coupon, watch a video about the product etc.

Another flavor of interactive advertising is that offered by Cablevision. Companies, like Disney, can buy entire video-on-demand channels. Disney is currently running videos about its amusement parks, which display a “talk to agent” button. If a viewer selects the button, they receive an immediate call from a Disney representative.

I think it’s a great way to extend a brand experience. And really, who’s looking at the ads on TV now anyway? “Interruption” advertising is annoying and, really, other than offering a convenient bathroom break, what value do they offer?

Because these new ads are interactive and therefore measureable, we’re just seeing the tip of the iceberg. Eventually, the TV will become a truly social space, where viewers can interact with others while watching TV.

For more information, go to the NYtimes.

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