The informative presentation detailed both the development of and the results from Kroger’s “Design a Reusable Bag” sweepstakes.  For the contest consumers were encouraged to visit the Kroger website to design their own reusable shopping bag, purchase their self-designed bag  and vote on the designs of other Kroger shoppers.

Michael Stich of Bridge listed the program objectives as:

• Drive Awareness
• Increase the Email Database
• Drive In-store Traffic
• Promote Sustainability

Ben Melillo listed the promotional tactics employed, which included: in-store radio and signage, a direct mailer developed with dunnhumby,  blog mentions, geo-targeted banner ads and search engine marketing via Google and Yahoo.  Ben also provided some data on the program results, which included:

• Over 800,000 unique visitors to the Kroger website
• 46,000 bag designs created
• Over 900,000 votes cast
• 30,000 email addresses added to the Kroger customer database
• 34% redemption rate for the coupon customers received for their participation
• 64.9% of survey respondents said they had a greater perception of Kroger as “green”

Before a short ‘Q&A session’, Darrell Sandefur described how the Kroger & Bridge teams used their web analytic software to  paint a detailed picture of where people who participated came from geographically and how they interacted with the website.  This analysis has enabled Kroger to fine-tune the bag design tool, thus improving the user experience, as well as improve the efficiency of marketing and advertising efforts.

10. People are Talking about you on Twitter. Don’t believe me?  Go to twitter search and check out your name, your company name or your product name.  I bet that there are people talking about you.

9. It will make you smarter. I now get most of my news by checking out what people are linking to on twitter.  On twitter people often post links to the best or most interesting things they have read that day.  You can find great new websites, articles, products and services from people on twitter.

8. It Expands your Network. On twitter you can find people with similar interests who you probably would never be able to meet in real life.  You can connect with people all over the world who share similar interests.  I have met a number of awesome, smart people on twitter.

7. It is growing. Fast. Twitter is one of the quickest growing social media sites on the internet. A February 2009 Compete.com blog entry ranks Twitter as the third most used social network (Facebook being the largest, followed by MySpace), and in March 2009, a Nielsen.com blog ranked Twitter as the fastest growing site in the Member Communities category for February 2009.

6. You can meet smart Cincinnati Marketing Folks. Connect with other Cincinnati Marketers – I would recommend following @cincinnatiama,  @kristaneher (me, of course) @prblog (Kevin Dugan) @blecount (Brian Lecount), @mktgwithmeaning (Bob Gilbreath), @daveknox (Dave Knox), @pblackshaw (Pete Blackshaw)… there are many, many more… look around and make new friends

5. Keep up with the Buzz on the Street.  You can stay up to speed (and often get news faster) on twitter vs. from traditional news sources.  People were tweeting about the earthquake in Cincinnati far before the news started covering it.  You can also follow events that you can’t attend by following people on twitter who are there.

4. To Stalk Celebrities. Ok, this sounds weird.  But seriously.  On twitter you can see Oprah making plans to meet up with Hugh Jackman, you can find out what night clubs Britney Spears is going to and you can get inside Richard Bransons Mind. There is even a site called celebrity tweet that is specifically designed to help you stalk celebrities (I wouldn’t make this up).  You can stay up to date with some really fascinating people.

3. It will impress your boss. Just BEING on twitter won’t but generating value from twitter will.  First, if you are a marketing professional you need to understand social media.  It is how content travels online.  You can’t afford to ignore it.  Second, twitter can be a great resource.  I received great recommendations from twitter for finding vendors, getting t-shirts made and even a software solution.  Twitter people are generous and helpful with their advice.

2. You can get stuff done faster and easier. Seriously.  I know you don’t believe me but it is true.  A lot of companies are on twitter, and monitor twitter for conversations about their brand.  Since twitter is public they tend to respond quicker than email or phone.  A friend of mine had emailed Ning and didn’t hear back for a few days.  He tweeted at them and got an immediate response.  JetBlue will help you get your flight re-routed and tell you about delays.  Twitter is actually efficient at these things.

And the MOST important reason to get on twitter….

1. Everyone is Doing it. This is the reason to do anything really (and yes, I would jump off a cliff with everyone else).  Oprah just joined twitter.  It is now officially mainstream, so you should join.  In addition to celebrities like Oprah, Ashton Kutcher and MC Hammer, chances are that your clients and customers are on twitter.

Why do you think people should join twitter?  Share your thoughts

- Krista Neher

Krista Neher is an international speaker on social media and digital marketing and is CEO of Marketess Consulting.  Check out her marketing blog and marketing training courses.

Today, we worry about our interactive strategy – driving website traffic, increasing online conversion rates, banner ads (and where to place them), email marketing (to whom and how often), blog creation and maintenance, search engine optimization, and understanding digital marketing.    To name a few.

Technology has changed how we communicate with our target markets (customers/clients), not just online but across all channels.  Interactive media has become the heart of marketing strategy.  Online areas that marketers plan to increase are website development (74% of marketers said so); email (70%); search engine marketing (64%); video (40%); webcasting (39%); and banners (36%).*

Are you thinking and learning about interactive marketing?  Do you understand how to apply interactive media channels to your overall marketing strategy?  On the surface, we might not think that interactive marketing or one particular interactive medium is right for our company, but don’t discount something too soon.  You never know what might come of it.

*B2B Magazine 2008 “Marketing Priority and Plans” Study .
Kelly Blake
kblake@ahs1.com