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Learning business lessons from Rage Against the Machine |
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Wednesday, 23 December 2009 |
The US rock band's victory over X Factor's Joe McElderry in the Christmas number one battle demonstrated the power and influence of online social media; your marketing campaign could learn a lot from this, writes Andy Redfern, director of Liverpool agency, Hit Search.
The recent internet campaign to get Rage Against the Machine to the Christmas number one in Britain has been described as a "protest against the X Factor monotony" and an attempt to break Simon Cowell’s stranglehold on the pop charts. What started out as a Facebook group rapidly became an online sensation, and eventually gathered enough support to successfully install the US rock band’s 1992 hit 'Killing in The Name' at the top of the Christmas charts ahead of X Factor winner Joe McElderry’s debut 'The Climb'.
 Victorious
First and foremost, it is important to make your content interesting; people won't interact with boring, generic messages. Make sure your content is engaging, and different to what has been seen previously. You should also encourage your message to be passed onto the masses. Word of mouth is one of the most effective methods of distribution, so you should proactively ask users to champion your message to others.
As well as the content, the timing of your social media campaign is absolutely crucial. Christmas can be somewhat of a slow news time for most, but Rage Against the X Factor began at just the right time for the story to gather momentum. Look at the big news stories of the day, are there any issues that are relevant to your campaign? A good marketing campaign can make use of a national news story to maximise its own coverage.
Your campaign should be structured so that it is prepared for any unexpected developments within your business. For example, during Eurostar’s recent spell of cancellations and delays, its social media strategy changed from being an online marketing tool, to a method of providing updates to its customers on the escalating chaos.
 Loser
Lastly, it is important to remember that online mediums alone will not make for a successful campaign. The traditional press (newspapers, TV, radio, etc.) is just as important as the internet as a marketing medium, and is absolutely necessary if your campaign is to reach its full potential.
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