We've all heard stories about companies who do remarkable things for their customers that results in people talking about them. These examples include the Nordstrom's employee who accepted a return for tires, Zappos providing surprise overnight shipping, or Gary Vaynerchuk sending a Mark Sanchez jersey to a customer, even though he sells wine. Delighting customers with unexpected acts of kindness doesn't have a directly measurable ROI, but often times it leads to loyal customers and evangelists who spread a story.
I recently learned that doing remarkable and unexpected things can also get the attention of the linkerati and lead to social media mentions and even a link on one of the most popular internet marketing blogs. And all it took was Twitter and Diet Coke.
It was 9am on a Tuesday and I was getting settled into work when I decided to check Twitter. I noticed the following Tweet from one of my favorite internet marketing bloggers:
"Hmmm." I thought. "Wouldn't it be funny if someone actually delivered some Diet Coke to Ian". After a few moments of wondering how something like that would be received, I decided to do it and find out. I have been a fan of Ian Lurie's Conversation Marketing blog for years and thought it would be fun and unexpected.
I drove to the grocery store, picked up two 12 packs of Diet Coke, and went to the Portent Interactive office which happened to be 15 minutes away from my location. I walked into their entrance and was suddenly in front of several desks of Portent employees. I walked up to the first desk and told an employee that I noticed on Twitter that they were out of Diet Coke. Fortunately they pretty quickly realized it was for Ian and accepted the boxes.
I drove off laughing because I thought this was probably one of the most random things I have ever done. Within minutes I saw Ian Lurie's Tweet.
When I got back to my desk I read an email from Ian stating that I had definitely earned a link and it was one of the most brilliant displays of social media marketing he had ever seen. Later that night Ian published a post titled How Social Media Works on Conversation Marketing. I had just earned a link to my company's website from one of the most popular marketing blogs which has a domain authority of 70 and links from 1,674 domains according to SEOMoz.
Soon people I admire in the SEO community like Dr. Pete from User Effect were Tweeting about it and even Rand Fishkin noticed.
Wow!
I never expected all of this to happen simply from helping someone on Twitter, but it makes perfect sense. I must have subconsciously channeled years of reading books like Seth Godin's Purple Cow about the importance of being remarkable. It really does work, in both off-line and online marketing if executed well. Here are some of my top takeaways from the experience.
Help Others Without Expectation of Reciprocation
When you help others with no expectation of receiving something back in return, good things tend to happen. People are naturally compelled to reciprocate when they have been helped, like telling their friends why they should do business with you or linking to your site. Even if you don't get a link at least you will be happier. According to a studies, people get a stronger boost in happiness from helping others rather than helping themselves.
Keep An Eye Out for Opportunities to Be Helpful in Social Media
If someone talks about a problem they are having in social media, look for ways that you can help. People frequently talk about things they need help with or problems they are having. If you are proactive and go out of your way to help them, it will almost always be appreciated. I use Tweetdeck to organize people into lists to focus on Tweets from the most relevant people.
Do Something Totally Unexpected
One secret to delighting customers is to do something nice for them that they don't expect. This makes it remarkable and worth talking about. This requires some creativity but there are several good examples for inspiration like the Southwest rapping flight attendant or Kimpton Hotels' response to a customer's request for a bed full of puppies and bathtub full of Reese's Pieces.
Keep your eyes open for opportunities to do remarkable and generous things for your customers, community, and linkerati and you might give them a story worth sharing.
Update December 23, 2011: Diet Coke noticed the story and responded... :)
This is very cool and also...
Noooooo.....my wallet is out of money!
;)
-Mike
Sir Mike... Does it always need Money to impress someone? :)
give me your address and I'll send you a $1 :P
I think I have got the answer for you Nerds on Call in this post.. irrelevant way of being nice Now you tell me why would you send me $1? for my point of view that will be a total way of being irrelevnat modesty which Nobody likes. :)
Anyone wants a link from me, bring me Diet Coke.
Wow.. I wasn't knowing that Link request can be made more easy by getting just a diet coke and May I get your postal address sir? ;)
I think that Google won't mind that. :)
How bout coke zero? Do you have that in the UK
This post is making me thirsty!
This is exactly how salespeople should be using social media.
Loved watching this play out on Twitter - thanks for writing it up! It's funny how often we think "Wouldn't it be cool if I did..." but then don't. It takes guts to just do it, even when you know it's probably just for fun. We can all talk about what a great idea it is, but the fact is that you actually did it.
This is a really cool case study and inspirational. I will apply this strategy to get attention of high profile linking partners. Thanks for sharing it Charles. You rock :)
Whenever I need to get Ian's attention I first stock up on hookers and blow!
Awesome post. The hardest part is teaching your team to be comfortable enough and confident enough to DO the unexpected. It takes a freedom of creativity that most just don't have.
Hmmm... it's a great story Charles, but makes me a little sad.
I happen to be one of those nutty people who spends an inordinate amount of time scheming up little surprises for people just because it makes me feel good to know I made them feel good. Just like you were doing when you started out for the store to buy that Diet Coke...
Now I suppose anyone in the SEO world that receives a silly surprise in the mail from me is going to assume there is some sort of ulterior motive behind the gesture. :( Of course, that's just tough for me (and the people I will think twice about surprising in the future).
Still a great example of how important it is to keep a little humanity in everything we do. Just wish the comments here didn't make me feel like something I love doing just became the latest link-building "tactic" in the SEO world.
-Sha
Good point, I agree that when you do nice things for people that they might think you have an agenda so you have to be willing to take a chance that they will receive it well. Like I mentioned in the post, if you try to be helpful when people ask questions or mention problems it is usually appreciated. If you remember when Comcast used ComcastCares on Twitter to help people they got an overwhelmingly positive response. People usually aren't suspicious of companies that go out of their way to be helpful and provide good customer service, even though it is usually motivated by increasing profits.
I actually assumed zero ulterior motive. As Charles said, when someone goes out of their way like this, it's just puts a smile on your face.
I do sometimes get stuff that's clearly calculated to make me take some kind of action. But's it's obvious, and usually includes a note like "Please for you to link to me" or similar :)
I remember this when it happened :) It goes to show a small gesture can go a long way in building good connections.
And these connections may lead to opportunities, opportunities that may change our lives forever! :)
Thanks Charles for this interesting post! Doing something remarkable and in unexpected way definitely surprises every folk, either it's the fellow mate of your work, your boss or your GF! that's What i used to know But never thought it to be helpful in Linkerati. That's quite humurous and meaningful , you feel better when you surprise someone with a positive way, and the story gets spreaded away within some instances.
I noted some of your point in depth manner i.e. When giving/helping someone never expect returns in reciprocated way, Agreed! Always being helpful in social media is good and Still I have to learn that! doing something in unexpected way is quite awesome thing which i would love to do because it definitely gives lots of buzz and makes you remarkable!
Charles , I would say , the things which you have mentioned in your post is not only helpful in linkerati but in every environment! Thanks a lot once again, Thumb up to you!! Sometime it's good to write about general life story involving social medias and Diet Coke! :)
I think the key was it was unexpected. If the action hadn't genuinly come from a sense of fun and desire to delight it wouldn't have been the same.
As such, I'm not sure it would be the 'Strategy' that people seem to be suggesting. It should be an outlook on life. Your story just shows us that there is some kind of Karma in the situation, do good things and reach out to others. Stalking people on twitter and sending them stuff just for the purpose of link building would be a little disingenuous.
I had someone email me on my site recently and pointed out a couple of problems. As a result I eneded up linking to them in one of my articles, and they to mine. What goes around!
Great story. Sounds like I have to drive through Berlin and drop a delicious cake or some hot christmas coffee at the door of every SEO company or SEO blog to get mentioned and a link ;-)
I love it! This is hilarious and such a great reminder to be helpful on social media channels (and in general, of course). ;)
I enjoyed reading the story! Thanks for sharing, Charles.
If Ian did not "backlink" to you humanitarian aid act would you still admire him?:))
Thanks Charles!
I sincerely believe that we can always have something to contribute. It doesn’t have to be material things all the time. We can give our time, our listening ears, a helping hand and various forms of services or in this case, 12 packs of diet coke. :)
When we give generously, when we share bountifully, nature has its way of bringing back what we shared. When we give with a cheerful heart. True giving brings joy to one’s whole being. That in itself is already rewarding. When we give because it is the right thing to do and without expecting anything in return, we will be surprised with what is coming back to us. Just like what happened to this story. :) Great job!
I agree! The same can work with businesses that look to add value to people's lives. Zappos gives away free downloads of the audiobook Tribal Leadership for example (https://www.zappos.com/tribal.zhtml) which is just a nice thing to do and people may like Zappos more because of it. Google does helpful things like providing videos of inspiring lectures from interesting people at Google Talks (https://www.youtube.com/user/AtGoogleTalks) and we are more forgiving when they do stuff like take away our keyword data.
I agree with you on that! Cheers!
If we want to be successful, tt's really about adding, giving, and sharing value to people's lives.
Sounds like the next frontier in paid linking to me... ;-)
Good use of initiative though.
twitter power! I follow a lot how Zappos is doing on social and for their customers in general, and I think we have to learn a lot from them.
nice post, and story! thanks for sharing!
From last August, by Peter Shankman - https://shankman.com/the-best-customer-service-story-ever-told-starring-mortons-steakhouse/ - and how he was "socialized" by Mortons! Great examples of what social can do, eh! :-)Jim
Truly an inspiration post & work from charles. Didn't know that twitter could be of so much useful.
Epicly awsome post, loved it! Hi 5 for creative thinking! :)
Great stuff. Thanks for the post
I love it! I agree absolutely with all of your thoughts here. What great rewards for being spontaneous and kind. Great surprises all around.
This is a great story, I'd love to find out how many more stunts like this have happend since.
My site is brand new how much diet coke will required to get ranking :)
The act with out intention can pull something big off (link from a biggie) and this is the greatest example of it.
I just received the package from Diet Coke. A week's supply of Diet Coke and a nice note: https://www.charlessipe.com/great-diet-coke-delivery/
Lovely story and one that reminded me of something from...1983!
Musician Billy Bragg couldn't get any airplay, so when he heard DJ John peel anounce on air that he was hungry, he rushed to the BBC buildings with a biryani - Peel played him (in typical Peel-style, he played the record at the wrong speed), and the rest, as they say, is history.
It really goes to show that there's nothing new under the sun, but also that good ideas never go out of fashion.
That's some serious "outside of the box thinking" right there! LOVE IT! It's really good to see that in todays saturated market, people are still going above and beyond to do that "little extra."
I have to say, if someone delivered Diet Coke to my office, we'd be thrilled! Having the confidence to take a risk such as that, is what will set your business apart from the others.
I'm already planning ways to set myself apart from all the other sheep in the herd.
Great story! I definitely feel that you get out of life what you put into it, and only putting in expecting to get out is not the best way to get lasting success, fulfillment, happiness etc. Helping others out without expectation of reciprocation will get you far in life.
Can't wait to hear what Diet Coke wants to send you...
Excellent post. It is always nice to do a random good deed. It is to be noted that Charles did this task without expecting anything in return and that was the reason for it to be a success. But if we try to imitate this expecting something in return, it will turn out to be a drastic failure.
I have started track people asking question about seo on ecommerce websites on twitter and i appreciate how get in touch with people in real life can help on seo...This post inspired me and i still leverage twitter unbelievable power! identify opportunities on social media is always high on agenda
That is so funny! Possibly the most creative thing I've seen in a while :)
Great story with humanity as in added value. Great tips fors sales.
Great meeting you at MozCation last week! My favorite part is that you felt it was a fun and weird thing to do at the time, and that you brought yourself out of your comfort zone to do it. Regardless of whether or not you got anything out of it, you wanted to do something nice and different - "the most random thing" you've done. That, alone, will bring you value in your life and relationships. The link and notoriety are definitely sweet icing, though! I'm a big believer in making your own luck.
Absolutely! It can be scary to put yourself out there but I'm glad I did. MozCation Seattle was awesome and fun. I definitely recommend attending a Mozcation if you have the opportunity.
What a great marketing activity. I guess we have a new linkbuilding tip.
I like the fact that social media is really being used as conversation interface where people help out others with there problems, going from being out of Diet Coke to needing help with a project.
Thank you for putting a smile on my face.
Nice strategy! It is quite expensive and it requires a lot of extra effort for those like me living on the other side of the Atlantic, though...
I think that helping others without expecting reciprocication IS definitely the point. Those great marketers, SEO and bloggers are helping us sharing useful information and knowledge with us. Bringing them some cans of diet coke is definitely something we can do to thank these great people for what they're doing ;)
I don't think it has to be someone "on the other side of the Atlantic." I would think locally, and think outside SEO as well - e.g. are there any heavy Twitter users who aren't necessarily in your niche?
That said, I'm based in the UK, and I helped Rand out with something. It doesn't have to be a physical property - intellectual property is all good, too :-)
As Bill S. Preston, Esq. once said, "Be excellent to each other."
This brought a genuine smile to my face. Thanks to brighting up an otherwise dreary morning :)
Yeah right Sajeet Nair,Convonix I agree to you..even I was having the similar feeling now it feels I have to search in Social sites for the people having some wishes for cheap stuffs like diet cokes, chocolates etc.. thanks God it's holiday season so we have a reson to offer the stuffs to people even if they look surprised and that's what we want from the folks!
I love hearing these kind of stories. There's a lot to be said about adding some 'humanity' to our linkbuilding strategies. It didn't seem like this was your intent, but what a nice surprise. Good reminder it's all about adding value and improving the quality of people's lives, even in small ways.
Absolutely! I'm a big believer in doing marketing that adds value to people's lives. Rand's excellent talk at Hackers and Founders talks about this. https://hackersandfounders.tv/RDmt/rand-fishkin-inbound-marketing-for-startups/
Thanks for writing this post Charles! I enjoyed reading it, and really appreciate that you added your takeaways so that this was more than just "this was something cool I did" and turned it into "here's what I learned and here's some tips for you if you want to replicate it."
Thanks Keri! It seemed like it would make a better article if I included some takeaways.
Love this post, as it shows how to be catch the attention of someone you admire, and obtaining also some goodies, is just question of being truly human.
Ah, in my case everything related to chocolate is good #winkwink
Haha! I will keep that in mind! That reminds me of when Grasshopper.com sent out chocolate covered grasshoppers to bloggers. It was completely unexpected and remarkable and earned them a ton of links!
Fantastic case study, thanks for sharing it in detail!
I had a similar experience when I helped Rand with something. He tweeted about it afterwards (not just an @mention, but in its own right so all his 30k+ followers could see) and our company blog saw an increase of 30x the traffic compared to other days. The full story can be found here.
I think it helps that @randfish and @portentint understand social media and know how to use Twitter properly. I bet there are some people who have gone out of their way to do something for someone and not gotten "credit" in return (i.e. getting tweeted about afterwards, in a way that it public to others).
Easier said than done, but I'd also say to wait for opportunities, rather than trying to go out looking for them. In your case and with me, we just happened to see the tweet and act on it. It's definitely one of those "when opportunity knocks" moment - you just need to know what to do when it does arise.
Solid point. I agree that being opportunistic and taking advantage of opportunities when they are presented is the way to go. If you have the resources, creating a team that monitors social media and looks for ways to help and delight customers can be very worthwhile, as I think @comcastcares has demonstrated.
Wow that showed initiative - I hope you get to work more closely with them in the future
Yes could not agree more, some of the easiest ways to introduce yourself to people on Twitter is to answer a question or solve a problem they post to "the world" It has helped me several times with introductions to people that always had great things to say or others said I should #ff.
Continue to think and be remarkable!
Great post, reminds me of when Morton's Steakhouse delivered a steak to the airport to a guy who jokingly tweeted about wanting a steak after he got off his flight. They earned a good amount of publicity for that customer service stunt and definitely increased customer loyalty. Hope I get the chance to do something clever like this!
Great stuff, Charles. I've traded tweets with Ian in the past about our shared love for Diet Coke. I saw him give you props for your kind act and thought to myself how clever you were for taking action. It's truly a Seth Godin move. Thanks for sharing the full story with the moz community.
Thanks Josh! Hopefully this will encourage people to help others more through social media. Guy Kawasaki calls this creating "win-win" situations in his book Enchantment. You help people out with their questions or problems, and they help you by telling their friends or becoming loyal customers.
I read on Twitter Ian Lurie's need of Diet Coke, too. Unfortunately I am way to far away to stop by and bring the beverage. Or would the link of Ian have been worth the effort ;-) ?
I love the irony of Gary Vaynerchuk giving out a Mark Sanchez jersey after his cameo on the Sanchez draft video (look it up on YouTube if you haven't seen it!), but overall I think you have identified something overwhelmingly positive.
I'm sure savvy celebs (or their agents!) have given though to the passive or direct endorsement potential as well. When I say celebs of course that term is relative to the audience. I don't just mean rock stars and football players.
Very entertaining story and insightful! What great inspiration for marketers and clients, hesitant to engage social media due to the "perception of the public." Awesome networking tactic to go ahead and make a move. I think it would be an exceptional idea for some local brands to engage local markets in such ways...
The real lesson here isn't how to use Twiiter to get some ink and a link, it's the use of Twitter to get groceries delivered,
Can you imagine the resonse if Justin Bieber would have if he twweted he was feeling like some Hamburger Helper?
Seriously, a great lesson. Simple and elegant.
Fantastic story. Definitely gets me thinking about how to take action with social media in a different way. Thanks!
We have done several stunts similar to this in the AU market, really the price of some coke or a jacket can really out weigh advertising costs if you look for opportunities like the one in your post.
Really great example of social marketing working well =) It is like the donut shop where the man said he spilt his coffee and then instantly they sent him a free $20 giftcard for coffee..
Very thoughtfull and interesting post. Great stuff charles. Thoroughly enjoyed it.
Charles,
This is by far the most amazing case study I have ever read. As I also stated in Neil's recent post on SEOMOZ that Good Will is of key importance in order to build successful professional relationships.
Yet it is important that we do not make it obvious that we need something in return for the favor. Keep up the good work.
I also have a gut feeling that the supply of Diet Coke will surely increase in the SEO community after reading this post :)
Cheers,
Sajeet
Linkbaiting tutorials should contain this case history ;)
Damn it! This was simply mind bowing... I believe this is one of the best uses of social media i have ever seen in my entire life...I have personally tried different techniques (some are still in theory) that allows you or at least give you a chance to get some place in the eye of the influencer but removing the barrier of being virtual and hit the influencer’s place sounds EPIC... Allow me to call it link baiting of the coming years!