Concrete™ is a creative agency working in Design, Digital and Film. This little blog is designed to give you an insight into our company’s headspace and show that we’re not boring bastards.
The Concrete team just released our first ever music video clip!
Filmed for our friend Nick Knowledge, it was put together on the smell of of an oily rag. A guerilla style shoot that criss crossed the inner Sydney City Rail train stations saw the team dodge ticket inspectors whilst managing to capture enough footage to put together the rather nice and atmospheric piece you’ll find above.
Twitter is a contentious issue around Concrete HQ. This social messaging service allows you to share your thoughts, questions and anything else you deem fit with your network of followers in 140 character chunks called Tweets. While we’re not yet converts for personal use, the Concrete team can definitely see the appeal for certain individuals, and more importantly, we can see a huge opportunity for smaller businesses, not just those mythical Goliath-esque beasts known as brands.
If you have a tech savvy customer base or want to tap into “thought leaders” from a design/tech background, then without a doubt, Twitter should be considered an essential part of your burgeoning social media strategy.
You do have a social media strategy right?
(If not, don’t worry too much, we can explain it all to you. Though you should get onto it soon)
However, the types of brands and businesses that can benefit from the connection and personal touch Twitter offers is more varied than you think and extends well beyond ‘cool’ brands.
A recent article in AdPulp discusses how a bar in Portland uses Twitter to communicate changes in products and special deals to their customer base. They can send out a ‘tweet’ promoting happy hour on Friday afternoons, or a special drink promotion just for Twitterers as a way of engaging their customers when they’re not on the premises. A bond can be created with customers by playing on the notion of the Twitter followers being insiders or part of the crew. Think of it as mini emails that will actually be read.
These techniques could be applied to a variety of businesses that don’t traditionally consider digital marketing. Is your business one of them?
Imagine a sandwich shop in a design heavy area sending out a promotion on traditionally slow days for a special $5 sambo deal. Or keeping their customer base informed of a new addition to the menu. The possibilities go on and on, but the point is that there are a wide variety of social media tools out there that can be easily added to your marketing mix to help drive traffic to your stores, not just your website. And they’re free!
Remember, people are spending more and more of their time online and they’re spending lots of that time on social media sites. Plus they’re starting to access these sites more regularly and in a variety of different locations using their iPhone/BlackBerry/3G Handset. Doesn’t it make sense for your business to be there with them?
You shouldn’t discount the use of digital channels just because you don’t sell stuff online. The range of industries and business types that stand to benefit would surprise you. You just need to know what’s out there, who’s using it and how you can make it work. Or know someone who does.
Have a little squiz at the Twitter hype video below or seek out some of the Concrete team for a ‘tweet’ here and here.
