by Crystal deGoede*

Original Images Courtesy of HBO and Diesel

If done correctly, social media marketing (SMM) can really take your organization to the next level.  With SMM, the unique and innovative ways to target your audience, promote a new product, or engage with fans/clients are endless.  In addition, as more and more organizations realize the benefits they can endure, the more people will embrace SMM.

However, where do you draw the line?  When does a great marketing tactic turn into “TMI” (too much information)?

Imagine you are shopping alone, and you come across a “gotta have them now” pair of Diesel jeans. You go to try them on, but wish you had your best friend there to talk you into actually pulling the trigger and purchasing them. How would you feel if you could just press a button, and instantaneously connect to Facebook, where you could stream a video of yourself in the dressing room trying on the new jeans and get the opinion of your friends? Well that is just what Diesel Jeans is doing in Spain as their current “Be Stupid” campaign.

This is “free” marketing via social media for Diesel. Since everyone that you are connected to on Facebook may see your post, they may also want a pair of those jeans. Then again, does it make us peeping toms to look at people in dressing rooms – even if we’re “friends” with them online?  What if you forget to “push the red button” before changing back into your clothes or the person that was in there before you forgots and the video continues to stream live?  It is a little scary; then again this could be the future of shopping – where every detail of one’s life is made available for viewing (dis)pleasure.

And Diesel isn’t the only brand to put social media connectivity to “good” use. As a huge fan of HBO’s hit vampire series True Blood, whose new season premiered last night, I was intrigued that the newly released second season Blu-ray has a social networking feature. If you are a fan of True Blood then you know the huge presence it has on social media along with the vast marketing strategies of HBO, making fan engagement remarkable. The delightfully fresh (and very HBO on-brand) feel of the whole series was cemented by quirky PR that was infinitely quotable, with taglines like “Thou Shalt not Crave Thy Neighbour” or “It Hurts So Good”?

“HBO’s True Blood is number one in cable and making its debut to the top 25 primetime performers list at number 18, benefitting from fan advocacy and involvement,” according to the Optimedia U.S. Content Power Ratings 3.0

The True Blood live feed that is build into the Blu-ray disc edition gives the viewer the ability to send automatic updates to their Twitter and Facebook accounts. This feature has been described as the most extensive Facebook linking feature in Blu-ray so far, sending updates as you watch the episodes. Additionally, while watching the series, viewers can decide which “True Blood” group they wish to join: Vampire, Fellowship of the Sun, and Follower of Dionysus.

The viewing experience is then customized to that group; for the real “trubies,” they can use a picture and transform it based on the True Blood group selected. For those that choose Vampire, the more they watch, the more pale (and bloody) the picture gets.

“For True Blood, we have such engaged and passionate fans that we really wanted to provide them with a way to extend the fiction beyond what they see in the show,” says HBO’s Sofia Chang, “and share that passion with their friends.”

True Blood has such loyal and engaged fans in the social media arena; this is a great ploy for social media marketing.  In reality though, do most of us feel comfortable letting our friends, family, and colleagues know our true obsessions? I am not sure I would want people that I work with and network with on a professional level, seeing that I watched episode one of True Blood six times over the weekend. I do see the appeal to the ‘trubies” that want everyone to see they are the most devoted True Blood fan HBO has ever had in an effort to maybe win a guest spot on the show or free gifts.  But will it become nauseating to see all of your True Blood fanatic friends cluttering your feed to let you know they all “came out of the coffin” to watch episode one?”

HBO and Diesel have differentiated themselves when it comes to social media marketing. For better or worse, they have used social media as a way of maintaining constant fan engagement and brand awareness. Have you had a chance to try out any social media features on Blu-ray releases yet? Do you think these marketing strategies are innovative or TMI?  How are you using social media to maintain engagement? Share your thoughts with BurrellesLuce and Fresh Idea readers.

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*Bio: After graduating from East Carolina University with a Marketing degree in 2005, Crystal DeGoede moved to New Jersey. In her four years as a member of the BurrellesLuce marketing team and through her interaction with peers and clients she has learned what is important or what it takes to develop a career when you are just starting out. She is passionate about continuing to learn about the industry in which we serve and about her career path. By engaging readers on Fresh Ideas Crystal hopes to further develop her social media skills and inspire other “millennials” who are just out of college and/or working in the field of marketing and public relations. Twitter: @cldegoede LinkedIn: Crystal DeGoede Facebook: BurrellesLuce