Guest Post by Howie Goldfarb
You knew this day would come. The day there’d be a post about the Manwich here at WUL.
Image: keysi via Flickr, CC 2.0
You have probably eaten a Sloppy Joe sometime in your life. Maybe a Manwich. When you were 12.
So how did we get to this point? Well, recently Gini Dietrich invited Lindsay Bell to dinner via The Twitter.
So of course I chimed in:
Which roped in Matt LaCasse:
Which led to a classic tale about a mass-produced
Sloppy Joe Sauce and Lesson in Listening.
You do listen, right? I mean, do you have a program in place to gain insights on what is being said about your brand, your business, yourself?
You should.
Because if you do a Twitter search for Manwich not only do you see a lot of tweets, you gain a lot of knowledge about the product’s demographics, who eats a Manwich out of love, or out of necessity, or …
As you can see, Manwich, which doesn’t even have a Twitter account, is talked about a lot. And for big brands that can’t always respond to every mention, it is important to be talked about on social media networks.
And when people talk, you can take action.
For example, in 24 hours Manwich had two people post photos via Instagram. I did a Flickr search for Manwich and got over 1,500 results! Wouldn’t a Pinterest page possibly be worthwhile, so that you could pin the creativity of your customers?
Or maybe a new recipe or use for your product:
And you have fans who want to be called by your product name:
Wouldn’t it be so easy to create über fans by contacting them? I mean, they chose “Manwich” for their Twitter handle. You cannot get any more über than that!
Forget Klout. You know they – these people – are already influential. Every time they tweet, their network sees your product in their handle!
So you see, you don’t have to have a Twitter account to find immense value in The Twitter for your business… but you do need to be listening.
If you are not garnering this data, which is free and public via a listening program, why not? You don’t need to create a focus group; you have one already. Want to test a new flavor? You have people ready and waiting.
Now get out there.
Howie Goldfarb is Vice President of Marketing and Corporate Strategy at Web Choice Consulting, a full service integrated marketing and Internet agency. He had a 14-year career in direct B2B industrial sales before deciding to lighten up his dreary work life and move into advertising/marketing. He has a CFO’s view of marketing, bringing a dose of reality to the confusing world of jargon, spin, and hype. He currently lives in the Green Mountains of Vermont and is still seeking his first moose sighting.
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[…] pick – Howie Goldfarb’s May post on social media listening using Manwich as a case study – comes from Dan Cohen. He said, “It was practical, funny, informative and […]
[…] are many descriptions of how we can use social media as a listening tool, to complement (or replace) our more interactive approach where we converse […]
[…] visible here at WUL lately. I know you’ve had terrific guest posts to read; how about that Manwich post Howie wrote, or Dan’s “tweet after death” one? […]
So, buddy…why don’t you go knock ’em dead as a client?
@HowieSPM Great post!! Now I really need to try “Manwich” … :)
[…] http://www.waxingunlyrical.com (via @ShakirahDawud) – Today, 10:19 AM […]
LOVE this post @HowieSPM . Your mind works in wonderful, mysterious ways. From @ginidietrich and @belllindsay to Manwich and chips, with some serious sauce thrown in between. Yowza! And I want to be in that commercial:) Cheers! Kaarina
@KDillabough @ginidietrich @belllindsay thank you Kaarina. I lovbed how @mattlacasse was afraid to do the twitter search worried what he might find. lol
@HowieSPM @ginidietrich @belllindsay @mattlacasse LOL with you:)
How cool is that; now I need to tweet Hamburger Helper to see if there is a cult following with that as well.
Manwich, makes me think of the Chippendale’s or something and that’s disturbing. All I know is the commercials used to make me uncomfortable.
I’ll stop before I totally wreck Shonali’s site…………yikes………….
@bdorman264 i heard you were tossed out of chippendales because the ladies kept asking you to dance for money vs the chippendale guys.
@HowieSPM I was there that night: it was quite a scene
@HowieSPM I didn’t know you were supposed to put the potato in the front of your pants, not the back……………..doh……………
@bdorman264 The Chippendales or the Manwich commercials, you site wrecker you:)
@ginidietrich my mom’s a vegetarian and she used to make vegetarian sloppy joe’s which are delicious! Cmon Gini, get with the Manwich program!
@rachaelseda Veggie Manwich! Yumm…
Yeah, Manwich, get out there! I like the way you pulled in so many different ways the brand COULD be benefiting from all the activity that’s already out there.
You are a nut case!! But I feel like my original tweet about this is screwing up their listening program as I am a vegetarian. I haven’t had a Sloppy Joe in easily 11, maybe 12, years. So, while we need to listen, we also need to understand what is real and what is just idle Twitter chit chat.
@ginidietrich you just slammed Klout with your comment and made them cry. I love when you do that. You had earned a manwich perk.
There are veggie burgers so I am sure you can take that stuff and add the sauce and manwich it somehow,
@ginidietrich Party pooper! ;)
I loves me some Manwich. Boy they need to get on board fast…
@KenMueller the manwich twitter handles had me on the floor laughing.
Manwich rocks especially on white bread!
@autumnmthompson and you need plain basic potato chips. Pringles don’t qualify.
@HowieSPM @autumnmthompson Pringles are of the devil.
Howie, as an Aussie I’m not 100% down with the Manwich concept yet, but it sounds mighty tempting! For the brand, you’re absolutely right – this data is free and readily available. While it may not be totally necessary to have an account, I think it would absolutely be of benefit for the purposes of engagement and contact. Fans want to communicate in their space, and on their terms – which is potentially difficult to do if you’re watching/listening to the space, but not actively within it.
Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to try me a Manwich for lunch ;)
@JGarant you can be their down under ambassador Jamie. I have a feeling they need one. I have seen with bigger brands the people power to respond to everyone isn’t feasible. If you get 100 mentions sure. But I bet Starbucks has thousands or more a day. But can play and steer some. And you mine the hell out of the data. Especially if your point of sale feed isn’t real time the twitter chatter is.
Woohoo!! MANWICH! This is such a great post Howie! I can’t *believe* they don’t have a social media presence. Would be a great case study to follow them into social and see the impact of it. Also, now I want to make Manwich tonight for dinner. ;D
@belllindsay if you do make a Manwich please invite @ginidietrich for dinner. And I want a percentage of the sales bump if they see a spike this week 8)
@HowieSPM @ginidietrich You and Gini are both invited! Bring wine! ;)
@belllindsay @ginidietrich we could film a commercial black tie and elegant dress. Maybe a bottle of Petrus Pomerol. Queens silver and china. And have a butler place down a platter covered with a silver dome and it gets lifted with the white gloves and behold! Manwiches and Chips!
@HowieSPM @ginidietrich Oh my god. Just died and went to heaven.
@belllindsay @HowieSPM @ginidietrich Can I come too? I want to be in that commercial:)
@KDillabough @belllindsay @ginidietrich we will have vinnywarren film it and Hunts will pick up the tab plus a fat premium.
@HowieSPM @belllindsay @ginidietrich vinnywarren I’m in:)