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Social media and user-generated content: TurboTax reigns in relevance

With the rise of social media, content about a brand is a compilation of official brand messages and user-generated content — like customer reviews — that have at least equal weight in the minds of target audiences.

In this OMMA Social case study keynote, TurboTax and Dailey, TurboTax’s creative agency, show how they curated consumer content about TurboTax to benefit the client’s customer base: By sorting through millions of product reviews to find the single one that was most compelling to individual consumers, be it a review from a Facebook friend or someone with the exact same tax situation. The TurboTax reviews microsite takes user-generated content to a whole new level of relevance.

While product/service reviews are compelling, this case study shows how filtering user-generated content can make for a better outcome for users and marketers. Watch the presentation.

Social media at TurboTax

Nick Collier, SVP, Interactive Creative Director, Dailey

Christine Morrison, Social Media Marketing Manager, Intuit

Jason Simon, SVP, Director of Interactive Services, Dailey

Why use social media?

  • Get customers
  • Testing waters, engage, listen to audience

Intuit’s prior social efforts

“Tax Rap”- Vanilla Ice

  • 3rd major YouTube contest done
  • 700 entries
  • $250K budget
  • $2.8M in earned media impressions, CNN mention

Leverage Facebook status feeds

  • Post challenge to FB every few days
  • Would judge responses
  • Post the give away prizes to best answers
  • All tax-related

Social only goes so far: Lessons learned

  • Learning from “manufactured social” to form something more organic and close to the product
  • Strategy is built on listening and learning
  • Challenges that were most successful were about the product: People really cared about the topic

Friendcasting

  • Seeing what kind of sales happen when people talk about TurboTax
  • Most common thing people will say: Thank God I’m done, thank you TurboTax
  • Add Facebook status update and measure who’s using it
    • ‘Great news! My taxes are done with Turbo Tax’

Facebook link vs online advertising

  • 4x more likely to click
  • 30% more likely to buy
  • Highest percentage of new customers via link than any other digital channels

Hyper-relevant reviews on TurboTax reviews site drive higher acquisition

TurboTax has 50,000 reviews. Question is: How can reviews be most relevant?

  • Reviews engine: one of your social media friends uses and like TurboTax
  • Someone just like you ‘Like’s us
  • Or people who are just like you — Mom with 2 kids & side business — ‘Like’ us
  • See Facebook friends in banner
  • Integration and co-branding with NBC

Use reviews site experience and Facebook integration to see product reviews

  • Can sort through reviews by life changes, life situation
  • See reviews based on your self-selected filters: see 3 reviews rather than 100,000
  • Reviews are unfiltered, other than of swears and harassment
  • People who see reviews 22% more likely to buy TurboTax than those who didn’t
  • Long-term asset: Can use in competitive claims, banner ads, etc.

Takeaways

  • Take something that happens in nature and measure
  • You can trust your customers to help if you treat them right
  • Solve for customers not the platform
  • It’s not about Twitter, it’s about helping people on Twitter who are needing help

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