On J.C. Penney, Real-time Marketing, and Success Metrics
Or, why most digital marketers are idiots.
So, if you were two-screening the SuperBowl like most of us digital marketers, you probably saw this tweet from @JCPenney.
And, as of press time, they’d gotten 17,043 retweets, and 6,673 favorites. Like a lot of people, I didn’t get the joke. Instead, I assumed their social team had accidentally posted this in error, or were trying to make a joke on a personal account, mistakenly posting it to the brand feed.
In that moment, I wondered if they were going to seize the “fuckupportunity” such social errors provide. The most famous example of which is this, from the American Red Cross.
Or, would they follow Chrysler’s example, and just apologize, thus wasting the “fuckupportunity”.
As it turns out, neither. They were just trying to make a joke, that nobody — including me, got. See, they had previously posted this tweet:
And, naturally, the joke was that they were #TweetingWithMittens. After a couple more nearly unintelligible tweets, they explained:
Anyhow, it was a cute thing. I don’t think they should be blamed for trying something fun, it was just a joke that most of us didn’t get.
Despite forcing you to read this far, the wisdom of J.C. Penney’s joke really isn’t the point of this piece, it’s more to set the stage for a discussion about the point of these social campaigns.
Sure, they got shitloads of engagement, and a lot of people talking about them. And, as @BillMurphy, a Republican social media guy put it:
As I’ve mentioned previously, engagement isn’t really an end in an of itself. Moreover, as a retailer, they really are ultimately interested in generating sales — and surely mentions at least have some positive effect on sales, right?
We’ll have to wait until more sophisticated analysis comes out to make a final decision, but Marquette University’s Tim Cigelske’s early info was that the sentiment was only about 50/50. So, while it’s possible that it was a net win, I doubt it.
The question really is, when are we going to stop focusing on shitty engagement metrics and not excuse everything in the name of “mentions”, without regard for positive sentiment, or sales?
I’m sick of talking to prospective hires, or reading case studies on the websites of consultancies that highlight their creative content, and don’t even TRY to mention how those pieces impacted their client’s bottom line in some measurable way.
Sure, the Maserati ad may not have generated many mentions in comparison to some of the other ads, or to J.C. Penny’s earned mentions. But it probably introduced a new model to a few thousand people who’d be willing to pony up nearly $70k for a cheaper version of the Italian sportscar. Was that a terrible marketing decision?
I doubt it.
Until your social media team focuses on the right metrics, the rest of us will continue to eat your lunch.
I’d love to you hear your thoughts. You can find me tweeting about online politics, whisky, and cephalopods at @SteveOlson — and if you liked this post, I’d appreciate you clicking the “recommend” button below. Thanks!
