On August 27, 2009, Hilton Graham, Director of Digital Strategy with Hanes Brands, Inc, and Adam Keats, Senior Vice President at Weber Shandwick, discussed how Hanes is using social media to build better relationships with its customers.

What Is Social Media?

Social media is an umbrella term for the tools and technology people use to interact with content. It is the mechanism by which brand marketing has evolved from a monologue (one-to-one communication from advertiser to consumer) to a seriously super-charged dialogue in which many people can publish their message about a brand to many others.

Social media content is characterized as:

• Easy to interact with
• Easy to share
• Capable of generating realtime feedback
• Not being constrained by time and space

Social media has democratized brand messaging. Hanes was ready to join the conversation. Here is how they did it.

Hanes and Social Media: Tiptoeing into the Fray

Hanes’ overall strategy is to using social media tools to start a dialogue with their customers. They plan to accomplish this by:

• Developing a blogger network (the Hanes Comfort Crew)
• Tapping into their customers’ passion points (Passionately Pink for the Cure, Disney Celebrate in Comfort campaigns)
• Going where their customers are (Twitter, Facebook, real-world events such as the BlogHer conference)

I found it notable that several times during the presentation Graham described Hanes’ strategy as “tiptoeing.” To me this indicated a level of seriousness and humility that companies need if they are to survive and thrive in social spaces on the Web. Hanes is entering the social networking realm with a plan that prioritizes its customers’ needs and does not attempt to define or dominate the conversations that it starts with them.

The Hanes Comfort Crew

The Hanes Comfort Crew is a group of bloggers who broadly represent Hanes’ customer base: moms and dads, fashion and lifestyle mavens. These bloggers are not paid to write about Hanes. They were selected because they already had an affinity for the brand and had followings who were likely to share or be receptive to that affinity. Hanes gives these bloggers opportunities and ideas to talk about the Hanes brand in an authentic way. For instance, Hanes held its Comfort Crew kickoff by inviting the bloggers and their families to Disney World, where they discussed the products, tested out how the Hanes “wedgie-free panties” held up against a day of roller coaster rides, and created a lot of fun memories worth blogging home about.

Hanes also attended the BlogHer conference for women bloggers, where they built up even more buzz with their conversation-sparking T-shirt swag bags, footrubs at their Hanes Comfort Social, and expansion of the Comfort Crew (the original crew members each were invited to find 3–4 recruits from the conference attendees).

Hanes Got Crafty at the BlogHer Conference With These Cool T-shirt Totes

How Hanes Measures Success

Hanes takes a methodical approach to social media marketing, carefully crafting its message, setting goals, and measuring successes, just as it has always done with its traditional marketing tactics.

• They determined benchmarks for success in both traditional and social media.
• They looked at current brand conversations in both traditional and social media (e.g., number of blog posts about Hanes, number of tweets, print and TV ad circulation, etc.).
• They set goals to increase levels of conversation by 10% in both traditional and social media.
• They continued tracking and reporting monthly performance in each category.

2 Must-Do’s for Your Company

Graham and Keats left us with two cardinal rules for interacting with our customers in the social media realm:

1. When someone praises your brand, say Thank You.
2. If you make a mistake, apologize (quickly).

Other Takeaways

• Create real conversations by having interesting things to talk about and giving people things and experiences that they value. Hanes has a lot going on! They’re partnering with companies and celebrities we love to offer experiences worth talking about and participating in. I Googled Hanes and came up a T-shirt design competition to benefit Susan G. Komen for the Cure®, a Disney World vacation giveaway, a Michael Jordan celebrity invitational golf trip giveaway, an invitation to share your most embarrassing wedgie story (for a prize, of course!), dozens of news stories and videos, and reams of blog discussions.
• Don’t restrict your “social media marketing” to virtual venues. Go where your customers are in the real world, too.
• Create goals and success criteria for your social media marketing campaigns. Be methodical. Measure your results.
• Don’t say you’re great. Just be great. Social media gives people a way to spread their approval further and faster than ever before. Many thanks to Graham and Keats for showing how well Hanes has learned this lesson.

When John Ellett, owner of local advertising agency nFusion, speaks in front of college groups, it’s an Anheuser-Busch account that gets the most attention. Using interactive marketing, nFusion created a Bacardi Silver brand campaign, The Pick-Up Hall of Shame. The interactive campaign launched in January 2007 and is still running and pulling in viewers.

Yes, you have to be 21 to enter the website featuring all the flavors of Bacardi Silver. So, many of those college students have only heard of, not sampled the brand. After skimming through the over 1500 entries made by site visitors, the real list of Pick-Up Lines is surprisingly small. My favorite line was:

I wish I was a tear, that way I’d be born in your eye, live on your cheek, and die on your lips.

Many of the pick-up lines referenced advertising slogans:

When I studied advertising at Syracuse University, I chose a Bacardi ad for a critical analysis assignment. Through that exercise, I learned my first rule of advertising: Men like to look at women in ads. Women like to look at women in ads.

Bacardi often sells the social aspect of its product. So it was natural to continue the “fun feature” of the branding in nFusion’s campaign. The “Worse Pick-Up Line” feature is very viral. Of the viewers that “stick”, 82 percent of them will share the campaign with their community, add or rate the lines. That is an outstanding metric which shows the conversion of lookers to doers. The viewers spread the campaign through social bookmarking, adding it to their MySpace pages, or by forwarding it to their friends.

While we can’t trace actual sales that result from the Pick-Up Line feature, the Anheuser-Busch executives approve of it enough to let it to run for two years. In interactive marketing, that’s like dog years. I like how nFusion runs the flavor buttons at the bottom of the screen with a new flavor tag for the latest version of Bacardi Silver. The new flavor tag refreshes the content.

Bacardi Silver’s interactive marketing accomplishes the goals of stickiness and engagement with its target demographic. It also has a timeless quality — the pick-up line, “You must be wearing spacepants, because you’re out of the world,” could have come out of the David Bowie disco days of the 70s. There’s no other explanation for such a bad pick-up line. Why do you think this campaign works?

About the Author

Brenda Hessney

Brenda Hessney is a successful Austin marketing specialist with a knack for quickly analyzing, planning, and implementing effective, cost efficient sales campaigns.

Early 2009 and you’re into managing your marketing budget for the year. The annual tug-of-war over a company’s marketing budget between the directors of the marketing department and the company’s Chief Financial Officer (CFO) was just a few months ago. Believe it or not, it’s time to start thinking about 2010.

With the downturn of the economy and no immediate positive forecasts, the 2010 budget tug-of-war is likely to get nasty… but it doesn’t have to be. As marketers, we’re trained to identify, target and speak in our customer’s own, unique language. I’ve found that CFO’s have their own language and if you’re willing to slip on a propeller hat and create a spreadsheet or two, your efforts will go a long way in getting your marketing budget approved.

I offer you five simple steps on how to get your marketing budget approved…and even speak to a CFO… if you really have to.

1. Marketing and Sales departments don’t “place nice” – be prepared: In most organizations, each department is focused on their own objectives and less interested in developing “the brand.” Often times, marketing and sales can lock horns with each other resulting in top management to make a choice. Awareness and management of this situation is the first step of getting your budget approved.

2. Ditch the marketing jargon and stop using the word “budget.” Company presidents and C-level executives rarely make it to the top via a marketing route. They don’t speak the marketing language. Smart marketers think of a marketing budget as an “investment,” while many company leaders think of marketing as an “expense.” For awhile, marketers were able to get what they wanted by simply switching these two words around – no more. The presidents and C-level executives have caught on. Today, the smart marketer should speak to CFO’s and company presidents as if we were managers of an investment portfolio.

Treat the term “budget” as a “loan.” CFO’s see the word “budget” and think money will be spent without any sign of returns. “Loan” implies the marketer will return the money with interest. Talk about your company’s marketing channels as different ways to make profits.

Stop using the term “ROI” and start using the term “profit.” Just like portfolio managers. C-level executives understand the word profit and all profit can be measured. Can all marketing ROI be measured? Likewise, stop using the word “cost” and start using the word “value.”

3. Become “metaphor-lingual” in business: Dropping the marketing jargon is step one in communicating (and convincing) the C-level budget slayers to stay away from your budget. When talking to the “propeller-wearing-spreadsheet-people,” use everyday metaphors to better explain marketing. Metaphor example: If you were working in oil or gas exploration and you just started drilling random holes, you’d probably be fired rather quickly. When deciding where to spend marketing dollars, the attitude from CFOs seems to be “let’s drill a few holes over here and a few here and hope it generates some response.” This of course, is the very definition of poor strategic planning for marketing. When speaking to non-marketers, learn to be “metaphor-lingual.”

4. Wrangle the ROI warfare and choose sides: C-level executives are often times obsessed with measuring ROI. When marketers can’t demonstrate or justify ROI, budgets get slashed. There are many ways to measure ROI in marketing, but unfortunately most of the metrics aren’t designed to co-exist. For example, direct marketing mailers focus on cost per sell. Media measurement is all about reach and frequency, while PR professionals are busy counting column inches and brand ROI is measuring brand preference. For large organizations, marketers need to create a ROI “dashboard” and keep all of the metrics in front of you, at all times. In smaller organizations, a marketer needs specific directions and buy-in surrounding the company’s business objectives. These business objectives must be supported from senior management and be measured by the appropriate ROI measurement method.

5. Adopt a culture of ROI measurement and build your plan. You’ve identify the challenges of working with multiple departments, you’ve ditched the marketing jargon, you’re using metaphors and you’ve selected the right ROI metric for your company. You’re well on your way to getting your budget approved. By taking the next 5 steps, you will accomplish three critical things: You’ll create a culture of ROI; you’ll be speaking to a CFO in a language he or she understands and most importantly, you’ll get your marketing budget approved!

1. Build the team – Unite departments, research and c-level management

2. Unify the ROI agenda – Agree to a strategy, set realistic goals and prioritize outcomes.

3. Establish metrics – Determine data sources, set goals and align budget with tasks

4. Communicate – brief agency partners, communicate to every employee and discuss metrics along the way

5. Adjust and review – Measure progress, review the processes and optimize performance and tactics during the process based on the numbers.

It is budget season planning time. Follow these steps and that marketing budget is yours.

About Darren Drewitz

Darren has 16 years of strategic and integrated marketing experience on both the client and agency sides. He has experience in both B2B and B2C marketing, including the multi-location, food, logistics, building & construction and tourism industries. Darren specializes in developing year-long strategic and integrated marketing plans designed to align business objectives with marketing initiatives. Darren lives in Austin, Texas with his wife Melissa and their two sons. Darren serves as an account director for MQ&C Advertising, a 25-year-old, full-service marketing and advertising agency.