I begin writing this post in response to two closely connected things. Firstly, it is a response to a comment left by a reader of the GetResponse blog. And secondly, it is a response to the blog post itself that the comment was left beneath (if you ever needed convincing about the name of this fine company, then hopefully this post will prove that you do indeed GetResponse from everything that’s on offer, right down to the free content that provided ;)).
A few weeks ago, the late, great Kerry Butters wrote a post for GetResponse entitled ‘2 New Social Networks To Consider For 2016’. The piece was aimed at content and social media marketers who were looking to broaden their horizons as we ventured into the new year. It took into consideration two relatively new social networks that were causing a bit of noise in the industry – Peach and Blab.
It was an introductory blog post, describing the main functions and features of each network, with a few suggestions of how they might be useful to the marketer. The post prompted a comment from TechHiring.com, who, although clearly pleased with the post, wanted to know a little more.
As you can see, the wonderful Sara-Ruth, Blog Editor-in-Chief at GetResponse, made a promise to the commenter that a follow up post would be produced – and so here is part 1 of that post, with part 2 in the post for next week.
Peach
For those of you who haven’t heard the news, it is with great sadness to announce that, since writing the original blog, Kerry Butters has passed away.
She will be greatly missed all over the world by fans of her writing and industry influence. As a colleague of Kerry, I hope you will permit me to write this follow-up post in her honour – she taught me everything I know about digital marketing, so I will do my best here to pass on her teachings as I believe she would have approached the matter.
Indeed, I remember that I actually helped Kerry conduct the research for that original post – and by which I mean that she ordered asked me politely to download Peach on my iPhone so we could try out its features.
After exchanging a few messages and drawing a few doodles, we both came to the same conclusion about the app and the network in general (the gist of which you will have inferred, I’m sure, from Kerry’s post).
However, our initial reservations perhaps don’t do justice to the marketing potential of Peach. As a Twitter-style messaging app, it will no doubt prove to be very popular amongst the demographic, which, sadly, neither Kerry nor myself any longer inhabit. That is to say that Peach’s appeal most firmly resides within the younger generation – i.e. the under-30s.
Much like Snapchat, which also attracts an age-group which has enjoyed fewer birthdays than myself, it’s not so much that Peach will not be useful to the marketer, it’s simply that in order to market on the network effectively, you’ve got to understand who’s on there.
How To Use Peach For Marketing
I won’t go over old ground here – if you want to learn the basics of Peach, then please see Kerry’s previous post.
Suffice to say, however, that Peach defines itself by its Magic Words system – and when it comes to marketing on the platform, you’re going to have to get to grips with this and use it creatively in order to attract attention to your brand.
The difficulty in marketing on Peach, I believe, will always come from the fact that, at this early stage at least, it’s still a true social network. That is to say that the Magic Word functions are somewhat reminiscent of Facebook’s classic ‘poke’ feature and its subsequent variations. I remember a long time ago when first getting to know Facebook that, beyond poking, I could ‘throw a sheep’ at my friends, and various other mildly amusing unusual objects.
This was all great fun, of course, but it was something that you did only with your real friends – i.e., despite the fact that we all have a couple of hundred or more ‘Facebook Friends’, we’re not really on close enough terms with about 90% of them to be throwing sheeps, offering flowers or even poking.
And so is the case with Peach’s Magic Words, where you can alert your friends by blowing them a kiss, putting a ring on them, waving at them, ‘booping’ (whatever that is), hissing or even putting them in quarantine. Now, whilst all this might be fun amongst real friends, I don’t think I’d be too pleased if the likes of Apple or Amazon all of a sudden started blowing me kisses, and I would be much offended indeed if I found myself quarantined.
However, that being said, it is nonetheless within these special Abracadabra features that marketers must stalk their prey.
Peach In Marketing Action
Let’s take a look at some examples of brands already paving the way on Peach.
Rolling Stone
Rolling Stone have embraced the platform. One way that they use it – quite simple and familiarly – is to add links to their website. In true content marketing fashion, here’s their latest post (at time of writing), encouraging their Peach followers to click-through to an article entitled ‘5 Things You Didn’t Know About Bob Dylan’
Simple enough, right? But it doesn’t really make use of the Magic Word feature.
Merriam Webster
One that does, however, is dictionary brand Merriam Webster – and actually, these guys are embracing Peach in a big way. They’ve found that the playful GIFs and animations available on Peach are a great way to promote their brand via an ongoing ‘Word of the Day’ campaign.
Webster has clearly got the feel for Peach. That is to say that it’s slightly light-heated, a little silly, and aimed at the younger demographic.
MTV
Another brand that’s eternally popular with the kids is of course MTV. Using a range of Peach’s most prominent magic functions – mainly GIFs to be honest – it promotes various MTV-related events that Peach followers will presumably be excited about. Here’s a screen shot of a GIF promoting Teen Wolf…
And then there’s a bit of good old content marketing, with a photo wishing, whom I think is Harry Styles from UK boy band No Direction, a happy birthday (seriously, what happened to MTV? Where’s Pearl Jam, Soundgarden, Smashing Pumpkins, Radiohead and Aphex Twin? Or am I just showing my age again?)
Takeaways
The biggest concern for Peach at this stage is of course whether or not it will last. That is to say that there are swathes of new social media apps that appear each and every month, most of which, if they are lucky enough to enjoy a little bit of initial hype, disappear into relative obscurity less than a year later (I’m still waiting for ello to blow my Facebook-coloured socks off, aren’t you?).
However, I do actually believe that Peach will make it. It might not be as big as Twitter or Facebook, but I’m pretty sure it will survive beyond these mere beginnings – and with the likes of Rolling Stone, MTV and the Huffington Post already on board, then it seems like there are some pretty big marketers out there already willing to take a punt.
Peach’s value as a marketing platform depends almost entirely on your brand’s appeal to a younger audience, however.
The content that you post is highly customisable – and that indeed is the key to getting noticed on Peach. Primarily, it seems that you will have to entertain the MTV generation (which, until I started writing this post, I thought I was still a part of) with your marketing posts. And indeed, it is content marketing – rather than hard sells – that you will need to focus on.
Use Peach to connect with the kids in a language they use and understand. If you don’t get memes or GIFs, then now is the time to start learning, for they will prove to be your primary weapons on this platform.
You will need to get creative. Use the various Magic Word functions to create some truly unique posts that have that playful air that Peach is known for, and then link back to your site. I addition, you can use MTV’s ‘Happy Birthday trick’ to keep your audience engaged with what’s happening with the cool cats in your industry, and of course you can make some groovy fliers to advertise any events that you’ve got coming up.
Next week, I’ll be taking a closer look at how you can use Blab for marketing – so stay tuned, and until then, stay Peachy!!!