Thursday, November 11, 2010

Experimental Research

Companies have acknowledged the growing hype that surrounds social media sites such as Facebook and Twitter and they are trying to capitalize on these popular sites. Companies such as VitaminWater have made drastic changes to their advertising approaches using experimental research methods.
Experimental research is a method that enables researchers to test their ideas and get real feedback. VitaminWater showed a great deal of faith in Facebook when they decided to get rid of their official website and rather make their Facebook page their official home site. Their objective was to fully engage with their consumers and establish a relationship with them by encouraging them to ‘like’ VitaminWater's page which is the equivalent to ‘friend-ing’ a company.
Through this experimental method, VitaminWater got priceless information from their consumers about their products, and VitaminWater developed their fan base exponentially in a personable manner. To generate buzz, VitaminWater created a Facebook application called the ‘Flavor Creator Lab’ which was a contest which challenged Facebook fans to create a new VitaminWater flavor named ‘Connect’ inspired by social media. The Facebook fan that inspired the new drink’s flavor, packaging and ingredients won the contest and won $5,000.
This ‘Flavor Creator Lab’ app raised the Facebook fan numbers from 400,000 to 981,000 in one month alone! The VitaminWater fan base has now reached almost 2 million Facebook users. To celebrate the launch of the winner’s drink, black cherry lime, VitaminWater gave away 100,000 free bottles of Connect to the first 100,000 fans who signed up for the coupon on the Facebook page. VitaminWater’s experimental social media campaign has very successful!

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