Social Media has ceased to be a thing of novelty in the world of digital marketing. It is now a hygiene factor – for marketers and brands. But only those who know to tap it timely and creatively, gain from this ‘pull’ advantage
There are two ways to communicate and influence a consumer with the use of digital marketing – One is the Push Strategy, and one is the Pull Strategy. Both take time and money but the ‘pull’ strategy takes a lot of effort in the area of actual insights and creativity too. Perhaps, that’s why it delivers better and compelling results – outcomes that stay near to a consumer’s heart and mind instead of brushing around the wallet. Maybe that’s also why they endure beyond a promotion window.
For decades, marketers have tried a flurry of tactics and weapons to use this magnet. A new power is now available to them in the form of social media. This is media that is individual-inclined and is often, in proximity to the most critical stages of a consumer-behaviour funnel. This media is the eyes and ears of a savvy marketer when the consumer is struggling with a problem, thinking about a need or actually considering a product.
No Snooze Button for the Sleep Industry
With the ‘pull’ approach in mind, there is ample room and time for a mattress brand to talk to a consumer about sleep, about sleep-related issues – at the right moment and in an impactful, but fun, way.
A great example is how some sharp and intuitive marketers are using Twitter. One can say something pithy and useful in just 140 characters (no heavy media-space/spot investments needed); and can also gauge the outcome from instant reactions from the audience. Plus, there is something unprecedented possible if a brand cracks it right – the ability to carry on an actual conversation with a prospect/consumer – yes, a conversation in this time-starved and attention-deprived world of today.
Look at Casper’s always-on Twitter presence which weaves humour and information in perfect rhythm to a user’s sleeping, and waking needs. It has been trying out conversions of songs into sleep jams that help people stay awake during the office at the work desk. It talks about coffee cravings. It delivers everything from sleep jokes to lullabies – as and what is needed. It celebrates days that one chooses to stay in bed. It also pampers night owls with its streams of late bedtime reading tweets. It even started a new approach this Holiday season – giving hangover- gifts, beer helmets and champagne- bottles to consumers, because that’s what they need to sleep soundly. It also follows up with a customer about the ‘quality of sleep’ once a purchase is done. This brand is trying to use this social media not just to talk to a consumer but also to sharpen its social listening. It is putting resources and time into forming a relationship with a consumer. The Twitter following, evidently, has been growing steadily. In short, it must be doing something right to earn the label of ‘sassy’ from The New York Times for catering to a tired industry in a fresh and fun way.
Casper also launched ‘Woolly’, a 96-page digital and print publication with a lot of sleep content. Staycation Story Hacks – is another way where Casper urged people to share Instagram or Snapchat Stories about sleep vacations. It is not just the likes of Casper or Tuft & Needle abroad but also Sleepwell, Springfit, and Original Mattress Sleepeezee mattresses in India who are now busy on Twitter.
Simba is using Facebook and Instagram advertising to pump up awareness and education about its products. What it remembers is not to cut-copy-paste a TV ad on a social platform but to create content that fits the native strengths and context of a social media platform. A mobile-first approach, with room for captions, attention to aspect ratio and overall environment, video-audio usage, importance to both active and passive shoppers etc. is what its marketing captains swear by. So it makes sure that its Instagram stories are vertically designed and adjusted for people on the move (and with newsfeed audio around)– because that’s how this media works.
This is a classic example of a brand focused on ‘creating’ demand rather than just ‘collecting’ demand (so far done through bottom-of-the-funnel search-engine presence). The latest Instagram creative campaign was made for couples who struggle to sleep in the same bed. It showed graphic patterns and a split-screen device with partners enjoying an undisturbed night’s sleep on a Simba mattress.
Nest Bedding, a direct bed-in-a-box brand, is also trying hard to cater to millennials through ‘personality branding’ and the ‘human side’ of a brand. It has brought out ‘professional napper’ contests and other social- digital-first content.
The right side to ‘Pull it’ off
While it is tempting and easy-sounding to be on social media, there is a treasure- -chest of tips and best practices to do it right. Just putting in cliché hashtags, sweepstakes, gimmicks for RT (ReTweets) and boring sales brochure- compressions will not make the cut with a customer who is already overwhelmed with a lot of smartphone noise and distractions. Also, bear in mind, that the speed and sharpness of responses can be tough to handle when a user is not happy or is flooded the wrong way or at the wrong time. Sample these tweets: “I went on 1 mattress website, and now my entire online life is plastered in mattress adverts.” “Since we ordered a new mattress last week, my Twitter timeline has been flooded with adverts for them. YOU’RE TOO LATE, TWITTER!”
Experts like Dr Jillian Ney (Author of ‘The Ultimate Guide to Using Behavioural Insights to Sell Innovation: The Case of a Mattress-in-a-Box’) strongly advise brands to first take cognizance of consumer behaviour before hopping on to the social-media wagon. Do not strike on the fear motivation if one can use emotions or rational thinking as a driver of favourable behaviour. Wipe away complexity – in messages and their packaging – both.
Squeezing data from Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and review sites of some mattress brands, she points out that social conversion happens well when one remembers the psychological reason for a mattress purchase instead of the functional reason. It is, often, a good night’s sleep that people are ultimately after. Maybe that’s why brands like Simba, Casper, Eve and Leesa have focused on words like ‘sleep’, ‘slumber’ and ‘asleep’ in their hashtags and garnered high engagement levels in 2017. Simba, for instance, benefited from better targeting of customers on Facebook and Instagram stories. It used engaging visuals to explain the layers of a new mattress but it also split content for active and passive users and tested multiple versions of ads on small audiences so that it could cater to a wider audience with stronger insights. The brand also worked hard on organic posts on Facebook and Instagram that blended sleep-related insights and user-generated content that are actually useful for someone who is reading or listening to them. This brand also illustrated the importance of keeping the colour, pattern and clutter aspects in mind while making something for social media because a user there is often consuming multiple feeds at the same time. Standing out here takes work.
The Share-of-Voice and the advocacy that one gets on this medium are unparalleled. If one can communicate sleep as an experience and a conversation point instead of a product that is aimlessly pushed; then the rewards come heavy and long in the form of actual consumer interest and loyalty.
As Casper’s Twitter handle drills it best: “Don’t know the question, but the answer is sleep”. And Sleep is something that never comes by pushing it. It has been and will stay, always a pull thing. At least, some mattress brands know that well now. Read the door. Then open it. It really works.