For all the readers that are small business owners or self-promoting artists, we can learn a lot from what the “big boys” are doing… or can we?
Social media is still in its infancy, and the so-called rules of online marketing are changing faster than I can type, so we are all in a good position to judge for ourselves what we think is working.
Skittles (“taste the rainbow”) has jumped in with both feet. Honestly, I was shocked and awed at their new online marketing tools. They’ve eliminated a website in lieu of a small floating box with tabs that links to various social media sites. Here’s some of what they’ve done.
When you visit the site, you must first type your birth date to be eligible to enter the site. Hmmmmm – a candy site that has an age requirement?
I am initially taken to a Wikipedia page. Okay. No website. I’m already starting to feel like making a website may have been too much work for the design team??? But, to be fair, there is the little window with the tabs…
If you click on the “Chatter” tab you get their Twitter feed in realtime. There’s no moderation for younger viewers, but perhaps that’s why they wanted my birth date before I entered the site. After reading a few posts, it’s all coming into focus.
I changed my birth date to 1999 to see if I could still log in, and a window told me, “No way, Jose. Unfortunately you aren’t eligible to visit the site.”
It’s candy!!! Are they missing out on the children’s market?
It doesn’t appear so based on the fact that you can just lie about your birth date to enter the site, and many of the recent posts I read appeared to be written by adolescents – really young kiddos. I’m sure lots of kids lie when they want to visit an alcohol site, but should a kid even have to be faced with the choice of lying when going to a candy site?
If you enter a birth date that is too young, you have to clear your cache to get another chance at entering the site. This seems like a lot of work to get to a company’s information. If I wasn’t writing this article, I’d already be gone.
If you click on “Friends”, you are taken to the Skittles Facebook page. As of this writing, they have 3,526,430 fans. Not at all shabby.
On the Facebook page you can “Holla at the Rainbow”. Click on it, and an animation reveals a phonebook where you can click & drag to form a message. Some of my word choices are Siamese Kitties, Symptoms, Britches, Smells, Pony, and Mustached – not exactly sure what message I would compose on a candy site using those words, but I did waste a couple of minutes trying to be clever in my head.
It appears Facebook and Twitter are being used like a graffiti wall. People come by and leave a message – some cute and delicious, and some quite naughty – and then they’re gone. Is this building a community? Is this a company engaging with their customers? Will customers return or is this just a novelty?
After a while, another box will open that says, “Sorry to interrupt, but we wanted to let you know you can drop that box in the corner just by typing in a new URL. It’s that simple.”
May I strongly suggest that you click the box that says, “Thanks, I don’t need to see this message again.”? If you don’t, after a while the box will come up every time you click a tab to go somewhere new.
The Media tab has Videos and Pics options. The video link takes to YouTube. I got a 19 second commercial (“Don’t Vaporize the Rainbow”) that had 9,431 views. I could also have chosen “Don’t Shaolin the Rainbow” or “Don’t Poach the Rainbow”. So many colors. So many choices.
Moving on.
Guess where Pics takes me? I would never offer a prize for guessing correctly, because I’m sure you guessed flickr, didn’t you? You’re right.
I have to say, this is my favorite part so far. It seems like the social media is working well to engage customers and allowing them to participate. Without this cooperation, I don’t think the little green sock puppet with the Skittles face would have made it in the final cut, or Skittles the cat. Excellent.
Do you think this site is innovative or just a gimmick, and how long until they change their approach?
I’m interested to know what you think about the age limitation for a candy site. I’m really baffled by that one.
For a comparison, check out the Skittles site, and then visit the M&Ms site.
If you have a question you’d like considered for future posts, please email it to questions@urbantopaz.com.
What does it take to buy your precious attention? Since I am not a big candy person these particular sites have no appeal. It is interesting to see the various hoops one must navigate to be accepted in their target group.