Chapter 21 – Still kind of advertising after all?

Thursday, September 24 | 48 days until the conference | 312 registrations

Victor returned from an appointment on Thursday afternoon to find Martine engaged in a heated discussion with Casper.

           ‘Why do you keep doing that?’ she asked, pointing at Casper’s screen.

           ‘What?’ said Casper, stoically continuing to type. ‘I’m responding to people who have questions about our marketing tips for vets. It’s what we agreed, right?’

           ‘Those reactions are fine,’ answered Martine, ‘but the explicit referral to the conference in each message gets annoying, right? “Bla bla bla, come to Rodentia.” We get the it!’

           ‘The whole point of all of this social media activity is to bring the conference to people’s attention,’ said Catja. ‘So we have to refer to it.’

           ‘Can´t they tell by the hashtag?’ Martine countered. ‘The people who follow us understand it’s about the conference. If you keep adding a call to action to each and every message, it still looks like advertising. I think that’s why you get so few responses sometimes. Remember, a few days ago, the question about vitamins? You asked a question first: luxury or necessity? And as soon as someone thinks, well I have an idea about that, you silence them with your commercial memo.’

           ‘Perhaps Martine has a point,’ said Victor. ‘If people experience it as advertising, we’re still causing irritation.’

           Reluctantly, Casper conceded: ‘Maybe. But I really want more conversion. That people not only read the messages, reply and share, but that they actually also register for the conference.’

           ‘They won´t register any sooner if you annoy them,’ Martine pointed out. ‘If you don’t beg so explicitly, it works way better. Like the day before yesterday, with that discussion about plague prevention. You only added the hashtag. The post led to a heated debate, which then led to registrations. Just like the story about lab animals on Rodentnet. Especially since you weren’t so obvious about it.’

           Casper grumbled a little more, but it was clear to Victor: ‘If it naturally suits the message, of course you can refer to the conference. But in many cases, the message itself should cause enough curiosity. If you just add the hashtag, it’ll be more effective.’ 

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Written by Gerrit Heijkoop & Paula Vos

 Narrated by Kevin Stillwell