PR Video Case Study

SunCycles is a bicycle sharing company based in Orlando.  Their mission is to provide a "smart, fun, and flexible solution for the last mile in Central Florida".  They also focus heavily on the community as Orlando's alternative transportation options are limited.  Since the company is new, they rely heavily on grants to fund development.  In order to find funding, getting exposure and 'buzz' online and offline is essential.  Last month, SunCycles created a video to spread awareness of their product and mission.  The company focuses on the advantages of biking: convenience, economics, and health; as well as the bike itself.  Their demographics are younger residents who might not have a car, money, or those who want to be more active and green.  One way SunCycles reaches their customers is by locating their bike hubs in Thornton Park, The Milk District, and Ivanhoe Village.  These areas are considered the "downtown alternative" because they are geographically close to downtown Orlando.  SunCycles appeals to their demographics by providing inexpensive, green, and easy-to-use rentals.  Reinforcing the subculture that supports these types of programs is also apparent in their mission.  SunCycles does not market themselves to tourists in the attraction areas because they feel Orlando residents are ready for a bike share program instead.  Their video explains the origins of the company, the advantages of biking, the process of city approval, and the features of their bike.  Video is necessary for SunCycles because future customers need to see its potential 'in action' in order to spark interest and gain participation.

Another organization that has grown rapidly in Chicago is Divvy Bikes.  Divvy is owned by the Chicago Department of Transportation which has provided funding and has allowed them to grow faster than most bike share programs.  Their mission is very similar to SunCycles as they provide a "fun, easy, and affordable" bike share service to Chicagoans.  The Divvy service blends nicely with the city's well established transportation system.  Unlike Orlando, Chicago is based on a grid system with bike lanes on most roads.  As long as the roads are not covered in ice, bike riding is perfect in Chicago.  Even though Divvy markets itself as a service for the locals, it has also become extremely popular for tourists.  Chicago's tourist attractions are downtown, which naturally provide more people to rent Divvy bikes.  Both Divvy and SunCycles products, services, and goals are similar, but Divvy has had more opportunities to achieve their goals.  Instead of creating one long video, Divvy has multiple short "Teach Me How To Divvy" (instead of dougie) videos that explain different aspects about their bike.  These quick tutorials are necessary for customers because they visually demonstrate the product. 

SunCycles video is perfect for someone who wants to learn about their service.  On the other hand, Divvy's videos are practical for the customer using the service.  I argue that SunCycles video is overly informative and should be separated into more concentrated clips.  As SunCycles becomes more established, adding Divvy style videos could help them achieve their goals.

Social Media Strategy Case Study

The recent South Park episode, Informative Murder Porn, that addressed customer support problems in the cable TV industry made me curious to learn how Comcast interacts with customers online.  After analyzing their social media accounts and website, I found that they focus on Twitter, Facebook, YouTube, and a little Google+.  Comcast has unique and effective strategies apparent on each social network they use.

Comcast has subdivided its brand into many different Twitter accounts.  The accounts range from @comcast and @comcastcares to @xfinitysports and @comcastbusiness.  By separating their accounts, Comcast can tailor their content on each handle to different demographics.  The @comcast and @xfinity accounts are focused on corporate news and new content available on their cable service.  On the other hand, @comcastcares focuses on customer support.  Recent publicity about cable companies’ lack of customer support caused me to gravitate towards their @comcastcares account.  The accounts profile has their admin’s personal photo and name.  Their new admin, Bill Gerth, is literally the face of Comcast’s customer support.  Strategically, this is a smart plan for Comcast because users who submit complaints see a person behind the account.  Users are more inclined to be appropriate and pleased if they are talking with a person instead of an automated program.  In contrast, having Gerth’s identity on the support account gives customers a reason to blame him for problems.  Overall, this strategy is personalized and unique to Comcast.  In terms of content, the account mostly posts about problems with the service.  One tweet explained that “services in the Denver area are being restored.  I apologize again for any inconvenience this may have caused”.  Using the word ‘I’ instead of ‘we’ also personalizes the message.  Customer problems seemed to only be addressed in private messages which served two beneficial purposes.  First, the customer could get a personal response from Gerth addressing the problem.  Second, their feed was not flooded with customer complaints.  Therefore, Comcast appears as though their customers are satisfied with the services.  Representing Comcast on this personal level makes it challenging to “respond with empathy, but defend your brand” (Kip Wetzel, former admin of @comcastcares).  In all, Comcast’s customer support on Twitter seems to be far ahead of other corporations, even though they still get bad publicity about their services.

Comcast has two Facebook pages, Comcast and XFINITY.  These pages solely promote media content available on their cable service.  The cover photo from XFINITY’s page was an ad for a new episode of Grey’s Anatomy.  Their pages consisted of ads for TV shows in image form with a brief description of copy [include screenshot].  With the ability to easily post photos, Comcast uses Facebook to promote their service and its content.  The Facebook demographic is more likely to see an ad appear in their newsfeed than on Twitter.

The Comcast Cares Google+ page featured an image that stated “We are here to help” but the image was of multiple employees sitting together all on different devices.  Since Google+ doesn’t have as much traffic, the page was relatively dormant.

Comcast actively uses YouTube for tutorials, promotional ads, and TV guide style videos.  Many of their videos are in Spanish because a large portion of their customers are Spanish speakers. Their “How To Self-Install XFINITY Internet” tutorial video had over 150,000 views.  Comcast quickly replied when users commented with questions about installation.

I found it slightly ironic that they had an internet set up tutorial online, but most of their demographic has phones that can access the video.

Comcast’s Facebook pages were focused on advertising new shows while there Twitter feeds were geared toward customer service.  Comcast’s Facebook demographic is more likely to see an ad appear in their news feed and not use Facebook for customer support.  Twitter is a much more efficient way for their demographic to see what problems are occurring and ask for assistance.  On YouTube, they included helpful tutorials and their most popular ads.  Specifically tailoring their content for each social network developed a coherent and effective message to customers.