Social Media Monitoring and The Zodiac

Your sign? Social Media Monitoring will tell us the answer!

Recently there was a kerfluffle on the web when astrologers announced the introduction of a 13th zodiac sign called Ophiuchus. Another word for “kerfluffle” is buzz.  In social media marketing, where there is buzz, there is an opportunity for savvy marketers to expand their customer base.

For this case example, we are going to pretend to be a modern day Psychic Reader’s Network, aka Miss Cleo (remember her?) We are also going to assume that our fictional Psychic Network is active in social media…namely Twitter and Facebook.

So here’s how they could have marketed the event.

Step 1 – Setup Social Media Monitoring

Use tools like Social Mention and Google Alerts to keep track of astrology-related phrases (e.g. words like “zodiac”, “horoscope”, “taurus”, “gemini”, etc…). Trends emerge days before  in social media’s space before main stream media reports on them. Identifying these trends early allows you to respond quickly to potential client needs.

Step 2 – Create Content

In the case of the 13th Zodiac sign, a proper response would have been for one of the psychics in the network to write some articles and guides about what the new sign represents and what the new calendar will mean for everyone. Incidentally, creating content like this (i.e. in response to developing trends) is a huge part of internet marketing.

Step 3 – Engage

Social media monitoring doesn’t just identify what the trend is, it shows you who is concerned about it. If you identify trends early enough to create content you can now reach out to people with something they are clamoring for: information.

If a (fictional) twitter user @GeminiForLife posts a tweet saying “Thought I was a Gemini. Now I don’t know what to believe.” You can reply back to them with a quick word of encouragement and a link to your recently created guide.

Step 4 – Extend

Don’t let the relationship with @GeminiForLife end with that one interaction. Make it easy for them to “like” you on Facebook, “follow” you on Twitter, and subscribe to your email newsletter. Add their twitter handle to a list of potential clients (along with their astrological sign) and/or schedule a follow-up tweet asking them if the guide helped.

Step 5 – Get (Even More) Creative

Google Insights shows that the search term “Ophiuchus” literally came out of nowhere and became a hotly searched topic. You could cash in on that buzz by offering a special deal/rate for babies born in the new date range.

Finally – Measure

Every marketing effort should generate a return. Social media is no different. Since you are creating content and sharing through social channels, tracking codes need to be present so we know how many visitors and sign-up we can attribute to the campaign.

Conclusion

I realize that this example is a little bit contrived and that Alter Imaging doesn’t have any astrology clients (not in the stars, I guess). But the concepts illustrated here will apply to any industry. You just have to start with the buzz words.