There is an old adage about a builder’s house is never finished. Despite being a fantastic builder he (or she) is busy building houses for everyone else and neglects their own. We recently found ourselves in a similar situation and our site got hacked; let me tell you it was pretty embarrassing with more than a couple of expletives being shot around the office when we did a routine check and discovered the issue. We took some solace in not being alone in such a silly oversight – you may remember last year, Marketo were left chasing their tail after their domain expired without being renewed.

So how did it happen?

When we develop a website for a customer we generally provide that client with the option of purchasing a service package that schedules regular security updates. But ironically (in this case) when it came to our own we let slip.

Undertaking the security update had sat on our backlog for sometime but, being busy servicing clients, it kept getting pushed further down the list – we kept saying we will get to it eventually and then suddenly it was too late. In this case, we had neglected to update our plugins – a simple little thing to do. It wasn’t attended to and someone pounced.

Like many of our clients, our website is built on the WordPress platform. We build on many platforms but many, many clients are familiar with WordPress, with a wide array of plugins and general familiarity for most people savvy with any CMS make it very popular… PLUS its free!

But, it comes at a cost – that cost is security and with millions of websites designed in the WordPress platform, it can make it an easy mark for hackers because if you can break into one plugin, theme or the platform itself, you will have a multitude of targets. As opposed to a singular bespoke solution. This is not to scare you – WordPress is generally a safe CMS, with simple processes in place to ensure your website is secure, but the simple reality is they must be done, and they must be done regularly or, like us, you will end up with egg on your face.

In our case, the hack was relatively harmless, they exchanged some metatdata which altered our google search results (we’ll canvas the impact of that in another article in the near future), but we have seen some more malicious results in the past to websites of clients who didn’t want us to maintain their site. As such, we really do recommend making the small additional investment in a service plan. After all, you wouldn’t buy a car and never service it.

A service plan is an insurance policy. We create regular back ups of your site meaning we can restore it quickly in the event of an issue and we ensure plug-ins are up to date…

But if your site suffers a hack here are some things you can do:

Step 1 – The world isn’t over

We understand that websites are critical to practically every business nowadays, especially e-commerce sites. But it’s important to keep a level head – remember that no one has been hurt and you can recover from this.

Step 2 – IT

Luckily for us, our in-house tech team could handle this particular problem so we didn’t have to make a phone call, but for most businesses this will mean rallying your troops. Depending on the severity of the breach, your host might be able to talk you through the requirements over the phone or contact whoever developed the site for you. We would always recommend that someone in your office know how to place your site in maintenance mode, which will replace your site with a simple maintenance screen and form.

One critical issue at this point is for websites with integrated clients databases is to get your team to ensure the integrity of your secure data.

Step 3 – What are the broader implications, enquiries, marketing or sales?

Once the site is in maintenance mode, it would be worth pausing any digital advertising you may have running – it’s pointless sending potential clients to a website that is not delivering the optimal experience for its users. If you use your site for client interactions like sales or services, it may be worth preparing 2 edms (we wold recommend having these pre-built and ready to deploy): one, alerting existing customers that the issue exists and assure them (if applicable) that their user data is safe. Also provide them with some information on when your site is likely be back up and running; and secondly, an edm goes out when you are back up and running.

Step 4 – The mole?

Figuring out where the breach occurred is important so you can plug the gap as effectively as possible. Your tech should be able to point you in the right direction after reviewing the affected pages, custom code, plugins, log files etc.

Step 5 – Spring cleaning

While your tech team takes care of the website, it’s also a good time to clean your computers with an anti-virus program. Change all your passwords – website; hosting; cPanel etc.

Step 6 – Future proof

Make sure it doesn’t happen again. Talk to your tech team and get in place processes to make sure this, hopefully, small blip in the radar doesn’t happen again. The outcome could be a small retainer for ongoing support or invest in some training and make time to keep your site secure.

Remember, an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure.

This week we’re looking at US luxury department store, Barney’s most recent social media campaign: #BarneysUnwrapped.

It’s the season for giving and Barney’s is getting into the Christmas spirit on Instagram. The retail giant is posting short videos each day to their Instagram account, @barneysny featuring luxury prizes like these, kitschy Gucci sunnies, because … fashun … and free shit!

As long as you’re following their Instagram account, leave a comment, and do a bunch of other things we haven’t bothered to research, you’ll be in the draw to win stuff that you might never use … BUT is valued at the same price as the average second hand car.

The prizes might be questionable, but in actual fact, this strategy is GENIUS! Social media algorithms have changed in recent times to promote ‘viral’ content higher in the newsfeed. How does it judge virality? Likes and comments (and views).

And that’s exactly what Barney’s are encouraging … comments. Plus, they’re making sure people are following them too, and who doesn’t want more followers.

The campaign is exclusive to the Instagram platform, but Barneys are promoting it across their website, in stores, email database and 1.2 million Facebook audience, which is sure to deliver a nice boost in followers before Christmas.

In the age of the almighty Amazon, and the like, department stores have no choice but to offer their customers incentives to draw them back in store, maintain personal connections and remain relevant in an ever-changing retail landscape.

Barney’s have managed to tick all the boxes when it comes to an effective social media campaign: it’s platform specific, they’ve used their existing platforms to drive attention to a Instagram, they’ve included a call to action and they’re giving away in demand, expensive prizes.

So for these reasons, this week, it’s a Marketing Masterstroke.

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Nowadays, most businesses have a team dedicated to resolving customer complaints, or at least have procedures for how to deal with negative feedback.

And so they should. Why? Because making a complaint is now easier, and more impactful, than ever! You no longer have to endure the call centre experience or fill out an online form. Any person with a Facebook page can very easily publish a negative comment to a business page for the whole world to see. And with enough negative comments on your page, it can dramatically impact revenue.

So where’s the positive in those negative comments, I hear you ask?

Well, you absolutely don’t want a huge amount of negative reviews. However, a few negative comments, if dealt with properly, isn’t so bad.

Firstly, it allows you to demonstrate in a public forum that you’re willing to listen to consumer concerns and are committed to solving their problems.

And secondly, it’s good for social media algorithms.

Facebook and Instagram’s goal is to keep you on their platform for as long as possible, so they can serve you more ads. To keep you engaged, it will rank the posts with more likes, comments and shares, higher in your newsfeed because it determines that these posts are the most popular among people like you.

So basically, the more comments (positive or negative) the more people will see it.

An example of a post we did for a client was in response to the recent Same-Sex Marriage vote in Australia.

This post was published immediately after the result was announced.

As you can imagine, we had some vile comments on this post, which we hid as soon as we noticed them. We also had a total of 22 angry emojis.

But on a positive note, we got over 1,000 likes and loads of positive comments.

There were also several people respectfully debating the results on this post. The more people that commented on the post, the more people we were able to reach.

Media publishers are experts in this area. Check out Sunrise’s Facebook page, for example. They will often pick controversial topics to spark conversations. People become passionate about these issues and want to express how they feel. And what do you know, media publishers are some of the most followed pages on social media.

When playing in this territory, it can be risky. If your consumers are on the conservative side, it’s important to play it safe.

Ultimately though, every business must realise that they’ll never make everybody happy and there will always be some negative comments.

It’s about weighing up the positives and the negatives. Are YOU prepared to get a few negatives reactions in return for 1,000 positives ones?

The real challenge though is in selecting a topic that both aligns with your brand and also gets people talking.

That’s where we come in. Want to get your consumers talking about your business more and more online?

Contact us

VRrrooom … Virtual Reality is off to the races.

Last week Manoush, host of Note to Self, put a new spin on the virtual exhibition ticket.

Anyone in business is offered (harangued) about buying tickets to exhibitions within their industry. A trend of the past few years (even longer for some forward thinkers) was that of the virtual ticket.

In the early days of the virtual ticket, you would get access to PowerPoint presentations, exclusive offers from present exhibitors and if you were lucky, a link to a recording of a key note address. The virtual ticket has now naturally progressed to the live feed for talks plus extensive downloads.

The amount of content offered on virtual tickets is becoming so thorough that actual tickets get the virtual as a supplement in case you didn’t get to see all of the attractions.

But one thing is lacking from the virtual ticket and that is control. You are at the mercy of whatever the organiser decides to offer and you get no real conversations or networking opportunities with other patrons or exhibitors beyond the odd chatroom.

Speaking of natural progression, the evolution is still happening. Manoush Zomorodi host of Note To Self (an excellent podcast about living in a digital world) took it to the next level at a conference as a telepresence robot (podcast here).

The tech isn’t there yet (nor are Manoush’s driving skills) but the signs are clear. The next step will be more roombas with cameras attached which you will be able to rent at exhibitions. Then they will turn into drones and eventually we won’t need to go outside anymore. But as we’ve seen from the prognosticators of our age, the Hollywood screenwriter, our need for human contact will overcome (see Surrogates, Wall-E, Demolition Man).

 

Photo Credit – Woodkern

The over-sexualisation of women in advertising appears to indicate that sex still sells in 2017 … or is it a trope that lingers around from times gone by?

From UltraTune ads to Wicked Campers, the objectification and at times sheer disrespect for women and their bodies is ubiquitous. Morally, it’s wrong – all of the research indicates that this kind of advertising leads to a higher support of sexist beliefs and an increased tolerance to sexual violence.

From a marketing perspective, it’s complicated. We certainly do not condone any of the aforementioned advertising campaigns, but we are interested in why they exist. When global giants like Dove, L’Oreal and Audi are attempting to make a statement on gender equality, you would assume that the rest would follow. But ad campaigns like this one are continually rolled out, and every magazine seems to have toned abs and pert butts splashed across their covers.

Is this because half naked women catch the eye, or because risque advertising campaigns are guaranteed to create a publicity storm, allowing brands to reach millions organically. Possibly a bit of both and Honey Birdette claim the campaign has led to a “spike” in sales.

This approach might work for Honey Birdette’s consumers, but does it resonate with the majority of women? And would it work for other businesses? Larger companies are pivoting away from such campaigns, because they know the general public expect more in 2017. Plus, promoting body shapes that are unattainable makes the consumer feel bad about their own bodies, which leads to more covering up, and less stripping off. And that is something lingerie companies DON’T want to happen.

So for these reasons, this week, it’s a Marketing Mistake.

What do you think? Let us know on FB or drop us a line.

This week we’re looking at Marie Claire’s limited edition magazine cover celebrating the success of the marriage equality vote in Australia.

In 2012, the magazine ran a similar ‘limited-edition cover’ with Aussie celebrities declaring their support for the cause. We can safely assume it was a success at the magazine stand, because they’ve done it again.

The importance for brands to align themselves with social causes is becoming more important and the impetus has been the realisation that ‘hot button’ topics are a phenomenal way to spark conversations on social media. Also, the same-sex marriage result is an historic moment, meaning that this cover really is a one-off.

Marie Claire’s base of readers are middle to upper class women, who are relatively well educated and this group showed some of the highest levels of support.

Then there will be some who will buy this edition purely for sentimental reasons, so it’s sure to send sales skyrocketing.

So, what’s the verdict?

This is most definitely a Marketing Masterstroke.

What do you think? Hit us up on FB or drop us a line.