A Quick Look at O.C.D. Experience

O.C.D. Experience was founded by Justin Klosky in 2008. From a young age, Klosky suffered from obsessive compulsive disorder. After taking up acting for a few years, Justin decided to go the entrepreneurial route. By creating O.C.D. Experience, Klosky wanted a way to channel his disorder and use it to teach others the benefits of not only having an organized home, but an organized life.

Justin Klosky, founder of O.C.D. Experience

The acronym O.C.D. in O.C.D. Experience stands for Organize & Create Discipline. It’s a way for people to change their lives through organization. The company currently offers in-home and virtual consulting services. Consultants go into customers’ homes and organize the problem area. Additionally, they also offer virtual consultations for customers who are outside their three main service areas of California, Florida, and New York.  In addition to the consulting, Justin and O.C.D. Experience are publishing a book that is set to release in late 2013. They also sell a wallet and offer a smartphone app geared towards parents. Finally, Justin makes numerous local and national television appearances to promote the brand.

The target audience of O.C.D. Experience is primarily women. I would put their age anywhere between early 20’s to late 50’s. The idea is geared towards women who manage and organize the household. I would expect both parents and those without children to find value in the services. At the end of the day, everyone lives in some type of space that requires some type of organization. So the product may have appeal to the masses.

Back in 2010, a Forbes article stated, “The industry is evolving, and anyone who wants to keep pace has no choice but to reach across traditional boundaries and start tearing down silos.” O.C.D. Experience should adopt an integrated marketing campaign (I.M.C.) to streamline their marketing efforts, maximize their reach, and differentiate themselves from competitors. It’s no secret that Justin has a great energy and presence. By creating a consistent brand voice and projecting Justin’s personality across all of the marketing channels, I believe the O.C.D. Experience can reach new levels. A few top strategies include:

·      Promoting Justin Klosky as the face of the brand

·      Actively pushing release of the upcoming book

·      Introducing more consumer and search friendly blog posts and videos

·      Revamping the social media content

·      Introducing new marketing channels to maximize brand exposure

The company will be able to reach a larger audience, increase website traffic, boost sales, and become the leading organization company.

Putting Analytics Under the Magnifying Glass

This week I was given a few pages on Facebook and email analytics. It is vital for a business to analyze this information as it can greatly help marketing efforts and increase the return. Put simply, it's important to improve on what's working and either stop or readjust the things that aren't working. Below are my findings.

Overview

These few pages of Facebook Analytics provide a surprising amount of data. After looking over the various pages, we can figure out a lot about ABC Company. They have a total of 880 fans on their page. While the “Likes” analytic page is missing, it appears they are headquartered in Orlando, Florida judging by the post reach. ABC Company posts to their Facebook page at least once a day and their average engagement is around 1%. Finally, ABC Company has a fairly large email subscriber list at over 2,600.

Key Findings

A few interesting nuggets of information include:

Facebook

• A sizeable portion of the people they reach on Facebook speak Spanish.
• The number one referral site is Google.
• Their viral reach has been increasing over the past week. (May 28 to June 2)
• Nearly 60% of the page’s interactions come from women between the ages of 25 and 44. Men in the same age group account for about 20% on the interaction.

Email

• The open rate is 25.4%.
• The click-through rate is 10.9%.
• They had zero social shares.
• They had a conversion rate of 0%.
• (Note: This email may or may not have had a conversion goal.)

Improvements

Facebook

After looking over the previous eight posts of ABC Company, I think they could use more variety to boost engagement. Six of the last posts have been status updates and two have been links (one got a lowly 0% engagement). I think the content needs to be more visual. There is a wealth of health-oriented information online from infographs to workout videos. I think these visuals will boost their engagement and increase their social media reach.

Email

The biggest problem with their email campaign is their open rate. The open rate is good, but I think there is always room from improvement. To increase their open rate they could try sending the email at different times of the day or changing up the subject line. Additionally, their click-through rate is low. To improve this they could have clearer calls to action that encourage clicks. For example, “Don’t let the newest “superfood” fool you. Click here to find out the truth.”

Other Channels

Having a health blog would be great. It seems like there is a new story about food or exercise coming out daily. ABC Company could easily capitalize off these trends and create a few blog posts every week. This content would transition well over to their Facebook page and in their email content.

With women primarily interacting with their content, Pinterest seems like a no-brainer. Simply aggregating the health information on Pinterest would be beneficial, as they would naturally grow a following. They could use Pinterest to find visual Facebook content and also post any blogs they create to Pinterest as well. This will hopefully resonate well with their female audience.

Finally, ABC Company should be on Instagram. Once again, it all goes back to visuals. The health industry is full of visual things ranging from food to exercising. ABC Company could post photos of food and quick facts about the health benefits. They could also record short videos of proper workout techniques. Once again, this content can be easily shared to other social media properties or included in their email campaigns.

Future Campaigns

Spanish Audience

While I do not have access to their “Like” Analytics, I would expect a portion of their fans to speak Spanish as well. I would try out a post written in Spanish. If they are scared of alienating their fans, maybe wait until a Mexican holiday and test the waters with festive post.

Email Social Shares

To increase the amount of social shares on the email, they could use the same content from their Facebook page. Assuming they keep their 1% Facebook engagement rate, out of 661 opens they could get 6 shares on social media. It may not seem like a lot, but free marketing is free marketing.

Email Audiences

If possible, I would be interested to see what happens if ABC Company broke out their email list into separate groups. Judging by their Facebook audience’s interactions, women are much more interested in the content. Perhaps they could test a gender-specific email blast to see if they achieve higher click-throughs.

Based on the analytics provided, how would you help ABC Company?

Responding to Reviews Online

The importance of customer reviews grows as more and more consumers go online for information. Good or bad, customer reviews give businesses the opportunity to connect with customers. Most online review sites today allow companies to respond to reviews. Below are two reviews from TripAdvisor and some example responses. 

Sample Review #1

Sample Response #1

Hi Travelwith3kiddos,

Thank you for taking the time to write us a review. We’re happy to announce that the Peabody has now become the Hyatt Regency. Though we plan to uphold the high standards of the Peabody, being part of the Hyatt family will allow us to offer you even more!

We are very pleased to hear you and your children loved our pool. While I cannot guarantee there won’t any more Florida storms, I guarantee that we clean up as quickly as we can after the weather permits.

You’ll be happy to know the B-Line Diner (and desserts) is still here. We revamped the Capriccio Grill and it is now Fiorenzo Italian Steakhouse. It has a brand new menu and the same great staff. We hope you’ll give a try!

If you make it back to us soon, you must try the Around the World in 80 Minutes at our spa. It’s only around for a limited time but you’ll love it!

Sincerely,

Sean B.

Sample Review #2

Sample Response #2

Hi LUV2TRAVELWITHHUBBY,

I’m so sorry to hear about your experience with us. Since your review, the Hilton Fort Lauderdale Marina is now under new management. We have retrained or rehired staff in all areas of the hotel. Our goal was to create a level of service that went above and beyond the previous owner.

We have rehired our maid service so your room and towels will always be in order. The entire premise is now pristine from the pool to the showerheads. I can assure you that you will no longer find newspapers in the swimming pool. Based upon your feedback and that of others, we are updating our bedframes at the beginning of 2014. Additionally, we have added a visor over our parking keypad to protect it from the sunny Florida weather.

While I cannot make up for your experience years ago, I hope you will reconsider us for your next visit. The most important thing for us is for you to have a fantastic stay.

Sincerely,

Sean B.

When responding to reviews online, it's important to be authentic and honest. Negative reviews give businesses the opportunity to make things right. Conversely, positive reviews give businesses the opportunity to create a raving fan. 

Have you contacted a company online or on social media? Did they respond?

Event Marketing: ISPA Conference

Last week, the International Spa Association (ISPA) held its annual conference in Las Vegas, Nevada. To hype the event, the ISPA took to social media before, during, and after the event. Below is a short analysis of what they did to promote this national event.

Instagram

The ISPA did a fantastic job on Instagram before and during the event. Before the show, they teased everything from themes to conference badges and gift bags. They really did a great job leading up to the event. They successfully integrated their “Grow” theme into their content and encouraged users to use the hashtag as well. During the show they had great pictures of events, book signings, auctions, and more. My main complaint about their Instagram strategy is their lack of post-event content. On the day following the conference, their messaging abruptly stopped. For having less than 250 followers, I thought they were getting a decent amount of engagement. I was sorry to see they stopped creating content after the conference ended.

ISPA Instagram Post

Facebook

Like Instagram, the ISPA did a great job on Facebook. Leading up to the event, they had plenty of information for attendees. Some of their content included registration, events, sponsors information, and more. They had a variety of content including links, text, and photos. During the show they informed followers of events and happenings at the conference. They successfully used their hashtags on Facebook as well. After the event, they thanked their sponsors and even asked attendees to email the ISPA with any feedback or stories they may have. It’s a great way to leverage social media to gain insights about the event. They even posted that they might use the content in a future blog. What a great way to create new content!

ISPA Facebook Post

Twitter

From my perspective, the ISPA truly shined on Twitter. They created a lot of content before, during, and after the event using multiple Twitter accounts. They even had a dedicated account for the event (@ISPAConference). They responded to tweets and retweeted attendees and sponsors alike. It may be simple, but it was an effective way to recognize their sponsors. They could have included more photos, but I appreciate the amount of content they created on Twitter and the scope of their accounts. 

Sample Tweets

YouTube

YouTube was largely neglected during the conference. They did post one video of a speaker on October 17 leading up to the event. He teased some interesting information about the conference; however, I could not take this video seriously. The video was right next to one that was over a month old and featured the same man, in the same location, and in the same clothing. That was a large red flag that the content was pre-recorded. I really wish they would have created more videos during the show to let people get a feel for the event.

The culprit videos on YouTube

Final Thoughts

The Good

Hashtags

The ISPA did a fantastic job integrating hashtags into their marketing plan. Whether you went to Facebook, Twitter, or Instagram, you could easily search for their content. Judging by the activity, attendees were also using the hashtag as well. All of this helped raise awareness of the event on social media.

Consistent Message

The ISPA kept their brand messaging consistent across all of their social media platforms. No matter what medium I received their message on, it felt like a consistent experience. 

Great Website
I really enjoyed the devoted event website for ISPA 2013. It has a ton of content about the event including social links, sponsors, event information, and more. 

ISPA Conference Website

The Bad

Content Variety

My biggest critique with the marketing of the show was the lack of content variety. While using the same content on all of their social media platforms created a consistent theme and integrated marketing campaign, it seemed a little stale to me. Posting the same content on all platforms doesn’t encourage users to follow a brand on more than one platform. On Twitter, the ISPA was able to curate content from other’s and respond to tweets. I think that is why that channel was so successful. Facebook and Instagram suffered because of so much shared content.

No Video

I believe they missed a large opportunity by leaving YouTube out of their event marketing. They could have easily leveraged Vine or Instagram video to generate some video content. I believe videos would have allowed people who were unable to attend to get a better idea of the event. If they immersed viewers in the experience, that could make the event look appealing enough to attend the next year.

Lack of Email
Their website could have used an email sign-up. If visitors were not social media users, it would have been great if they could keep up-to-date about the event through a newsletter that centered around conference content.


Overall, the ISPA Conference appeared to be a hit. While there were a few missed opportunities, they successfully used their channels in appropriate manners. It's a refreshing change to examine event marketing. I look forward to applying these lessons down the road!