The Power of User Generated Content

In today’s digital age it has become increasingly more important for small business to embrace and utilize UGC – User Generated Content to its fullest extent whatsapp duo herunterladen. User Generated Content is content created about a brand by unpaid contributors (or simply, fans) such as posts, pictures, videos, blog posts, tweets, or comments on social media channels skype for laptop. It differs from traditional ads and promotions in one key way. It is created by real life customers based on actual experiences with the brand. UGC demonstrates how people can use and interact with your products in their everyday lives minecraft download kostenlos pc.

Ad campaigns can list features and benefits of using a particular product but they do not create meaningful connections with the consumer. The easiest and most successful way to create these connections is to utilize UGC – have the users promote your brand for you yugioh devpro herunterladen. 82% of consumers say that UGC is extremely valuable in their purchasing decisions. 48% of consumers say that it is a great way to discover new brands and a whopping 92% trust recommendations from people that they do not know over brand content herunterladen.

Those statistics are significant. People respond to UGC campaigns for several reasons. One big reason is that it puts the customer front and center apps downloaden iphone x. Consumers love to share their experience and build a connection with like-minded people. Customers also trust the authenticity of UGC, which isn’t easy to come by these days, considering the profusion of brands on the internet today download everything that matters. Customer trust is always garnered by promulgating the adage ‘selling is service’, and constantly implementing the points stated on https://www.salesforce.com/blog/2019/01/how-to-create-a-customer-centric-experience.html usenext herunterladen legal. In today’s online world people are skeptical of marketers and are not passively led by commercials and billboards like they once were. They want a say in who and where they purchase from and choose brands that connect with them on a human level – companies that understand them tomtom.com/downloads kostenlos.

Specifically, Millenials react strongly to UGC. In fact, 84% of Millenials claim that user generated content on a business’ website influence their decision to purchase filme von rtl now herunterladen. This is important because Millenials are also the biggest online shoppers spending about $2,000 each year online.

One of the biggest benefits of UGC is that it is quick and keeps up with current trends. You will not have to spend lots of time and money developing an advertising campaign that may be irrelevant by the time it airs. Instead you can embrace and rely on your users to stay in touch and on the top of the minds of your audience.

The power of utilizing UGC is apparent and we will continue to see more of it as customers continue to reject traditional advertising and marketing tactics and crave authenticity.

Get on the Game of Thrones Bandwagon

It’s been a long, cold winter, but Game of Thrones is finally back. We’ve blogged before about how great their use of social media has been, but now let’s take a look at how other people react to the show’s momentum adobe shockwave player for free german. For one thing, Sunday’s season premiere crashed HBOGo, which left users feeling extremely unhappy. Take a look at Mashable for some of the funnier reactions netflix filmeen windows 8. Our favorite is “Winter is…loading?” from Twitter user @marissachristy. HBOGo had similar problems in March with the season finale of True Detective, and they promised more support for the app, but to no avail film downloaden op iphone 6.


Meanwhile, those who did get to watch the episode loved it, including other brands looking to capitalize on the show’s trending status herunterladen. The tweets range from hilarious (Arrested Development) to ridiculous (Mentos), but they’re all interesting from a social media perspective ps3 spiele herunterladen kostenlos. The main question to ask yourself when trying to jump on another brand’s bandwagon is this: is it going to make users smile, or is it going to make them groan apple mail downloaden? Click here to see who was successful and who wasn’t.

Finally, if you didn’t see the episode, or just want to relive it, here it is recapped in .gif format, perfect for Tumblr function youtube. But beware…spoilers abound.

Social Media Roundup: Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon

This past week had the usual run of viral videos featuring Beyonce and clever cats, but there was some interesting news as well. We’ll cover both the newsworthy and the purely viral in this week’s social media roundup spiel spiele zum herunterladen!


YouTube may be looking into creating a kids-only site, says Mashable herunterladen. The site already has safety features to protect younger viewers, but they’re not 100% foolproof. A kids-only site could be just what parents need, given the, er, adult popularity of some children’s shows, such as “My Little Pony: Friendship is Magic.” It won’t erase the need for careful monitoring and safety features, but it’s a good start, if it comes to pass herunterladen.


A very informative study done by Fox, Twitter, and the Advertising Research Foundation shed some light on the dynamics between Twitter and television consumption herunterladen. Click over to Mashable to get the full details, but the long and short of it is that there is, in fact, a direct link between a show’s activity on Twitter and viewers’ actions, although not in the way you might expect windows designs herunterladen. The study reveals that the most influential proponents a show can have are the on-air talent, whether it be an actor or a host of a reality show. That being said, the more active a show’s brand is on Twitter, the more likely viewers are to make an effort to watch the show, and the more likely they are to take action on advertisements, especially if they are closely tied into the show’s activities herunterladen.


On the viral side of things, frequent flier Jimmy Fallon teamed up with Kevin Bacon to celebrate the 30th anniversary of Bacon’s dance classic, Footloose gg. Fallon announced that NBC had made dancing on “The Tonight Show” illegal, and that did not sit well with Bacon. What follows is a brilliantly choreographed homage to Footloose, proving that Bacon (and his dance double) has still got it skype kostenlos downloaden deutsch windows vista. Click here to see the full video, and prepare for some serious 1980’s nostalgia anno 1701 download vollversion kostenlos.

Finally, just because we’re so excited for the return of “Game of Thrones” and because we like their social media efforts so much, check out some of the awesome fan art being sold on Etsy herunterladen. The dragon egg necklace in particular is really hard to resist.

A Love Letter to Social Media: Denny’s

We’ve focused before on brands doing well on Tumblr, but the last brand we expected to find rocking the social media world was diner chain Denny’s photo editor. When you think of Denny’s, you probably think of white ceramic coffee mugs, Formica tables, and red vinyl booths–decidedly not hip. Nevertheless, thanks to a young, up-and-coming marketer from Gotham Inc., Denny’s is taking Tumblr by storm fack ju göhte download.


Denny’s already had an effective presence on Facebook and YouTube, being named one of the most responsive brands on Facebook, but to break into Tumblr, Gotham Inc., a New York-based firm, hired twenty-something Amber Gordon to take over Denny’s social media strategy kostenlos computerspiele downloaden vollversion. And the move paid off. Gordon’s take on social media, especially where Tumblr is concerned, is to be as authentic as possible. “I was hired to use the social networks as I would my own vlc player android deutsch kostenlos. That’s our strategy, having that diner feel. You’re just happy to be there. We’re trying to show that we’re the same thing, but on social downloaden netflix op ipad. It’s not supposed to be advertising in your face,” Gordon told the Daily Dot herunterladen.
By combining strategically placed .gifs with humorous content, Gordon has created a huge Tumblr following, with users even “shipping” an anthropomorphized Denny’s with another restaurant chain spotify lieder herunterladen geht nicht. What we can learn from Denny’s Tumblr triumphs is that the best strategy for social media is to cut back on strategy and punch up on authenticity. Be current romme downloaden. Be funny. Be real.

Muppets and McDonalds and Netflix, Oh My!

There have been some surprising developments on the Internet in the last week, from Muppet selfies to what some are calling the end of Net Neutrality herunterladen. Let’s take a look.


We’ve blogged before about the Muppets and their awesome use of social media, but they’re taking things to another level by joining Instagram, the popular photo-sharing (and enhancing) network herunterladen. In the run-up to their next film, coming out in March, they’re even having the evil Moopets take a selfie or two. What makes the Muppets’ social media efforts so charming is a combination of skill and savvy, along with the cuteness and wit that comes with any Muppet production herunterladen. The takeaway here is to find what makes your business or product special, and then use social media to showcase that.


In other social media news, McDonalds has joined SnapChat herunterladen. The fast food giant is using the infamous photo and video-sharing site to generate excitement for their soon-to-be-announced new sandwich, with the help of Lebron James brigitte. The move seems to be working, as the account has garnered thousands of fans in just a few days. The reason the account has taken off is partly due to James’s star power, but also because McDonalds is creating a sense of mystery and excitement by teasing tidbits of information leading up to the product launch steuer app herunterladen.


Finally, you’ve probably heard about Comcast’s deal with Netflix, which many have called the end of Net Neutrality as we know it musik streamen oderen. Mashable has a great piece detailing what the move actually means, and it’s not what you might think ritter spiele pc kostenlosen.

What other social media news blew you away this week? Hit the comments to let us know.

Get Excited! It’s Super Bowl Sunday!

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This weekend is Super Bowl Sunday, the biggest day of the advertising year. To help you get excited, we’re going to do a roundup of the ads we’re most excited to see spyro pc kostenlos. Then, next week, we’ll take a look at which ads were actually the coolest and most effective.


Kia channels The Matrix: http://mashable.com/2014/01/28/kia-superbowl-ad-matrix/


Guinness inspires with an Olympic-themed disappearing ad: http://mashable.com/2014/01/29/olympic-twins-guinness-ad/


Toyota turns to Terry Crews and the Muppets: http://mashable.com/2014/01/28/muppet-crews-toyota-ad/


Budweiser tugs at the heart strings: http://mashable.com/2014/01/29/budweiser-puppy-love-super-bowl/


Squarespace brings the Internet to life: http://mashable.com/2014/01/27/squarespace-super-bowl-ad/


In other Super Bowl news, Bud Light has bought most of the searches for Super Bowl ads: http://mashable.com/2014/01/27/bud-light-super-bowl/


And lastly, 61% of Internet users will share Super Bowl ads on social media: http://mashable.com/2014/01/29/super-bowl-ads-infographic/

Hit the comments and tell us your favorite herunterladen!

Starting the New Year Off Right

It has not been a good week for Google+, with nasty articles in both Mashable and ReadWriteWeb youtube videosen ist das legal. Both sites are critical of Google’s increasing insistence on integrating the social network with its other services, such as YouTube comments. Criticisms include the lack of organic discussion and the fact that users can now email anyone with a Google+ account herunterladen. The less control users have, the unhappier they become. This may account for why user numbers have grown, but engagement has not.


On a totally different note, Mashable was very complimentary about Google’s analytics advances in the last year, including demographics data and Google Tag Manager windows 10 gratis downloaden nederlands. Click the link for things we’d like to see in 2014.

And on an even MORE different note, during Sunday night’s Golden Globes broadcast, the Muppets launched what may be our favorite ad campaign of 2014 so far: a mock-Twitter fight deploring the lack of nominations for the Muppets app um musik kostenlos downloaden. Check the link for video.

2013 Year in Review

As 2013 winds down, let’s take a look at some of the best viral marketing and content of the year.


First, as you may have noticed, Will Ferrell’s Ron Burgundy character was everywhere this year, promoting Anchorman 2 herunterladen. The character did everything from auto ads to interviewing Broncos star Peyton Manning. Whether you love him or hate him, you can’t deny that the Burgundy campaign was effective herunterladen.


Next, Century 21 created a fantastic campaign to sell Walter White’s Albuquerque home in the wake of Breaking Bad’s departure herunterladen. They made a fake Craigslist ad and set up a phone line where a Century representative congratulates the user on their great taste ustream herunterladen.


Finally, Grumpy Cat. That frowny-faced cat is everywhere! What started as a cute internet meme became a lucrative merchandising machine for the cat’s owners, with calendars, t-shirts, and television appearances galore microsoft word kostenlos macen. Who could resist that face?


We hope your 2013 was fantastic and that your 2014 will be even better play for free clash of clans! Happy New Year!

Social Media Roundup

This has been a big week in social media, so let’s do a roundup.


Needless to say, people were outraged, and the tweet was pulled mjam app herunterladen. The company has since apologized.


  • HBO is keeping the Game of Thrones love alive with a campaign to smear the TV king everyone loves to hate: Joffrey Baratheon herunterladen. Using the hashtag #roastJoffrey, users are being asked to tweet the nastiest things they can think of about the boy king. Even Oreo and JC Penney got in on the action herunterladen.

  • Twitter made a major change to its block feature, making it so that blocked users could still follow and interact with their blocker’s tweets the elder scrolls online kostenlos downloaden. Users were outraged, asserting that the changes favored harassers instead of protecting victims. The move was so unpopular that Twitter undid it the same day bea herunterladen.

  • Last but not least, Queen Bey dropped an album with no warning, generating millions of tweets without an ounce of promotional marketing dragon ball z downloaden. Beyonce’s unconventional release paid off, as the album shot to number one. Get the full story here kann bei cannapower nicht mehren.

Happy 50th, Doctor Who

This weekend was the 50th anniversary of beloved BBC sci-fi show Doctor Who. Many companies did tie-ins with the show, but the winner has to be Google, with an amazing 8-bit doodle game that had Whovian productivity dropping all day fonic mms herunterladen.


Tie-ins and rebrands came from disparate industries, with the Saucy Fish Company rebranding as the Saucy Doctor Company wieviel filme kann ich bei netflix downloaden. The company rebranded itself on all its social media, as it has done before on other occasions, landing it on a list of cool UK brands. This kind of recognition is one of the great perks of showing your fun side on social media; the other is a sales bump, as seen on geek sites like ThinkGeek.com wiso steuer steuerbescheid herunterladen. Whether it be a holiday or a movie release, participating in the popular culture is always a great place to start on social media.

Bose and Arrow

TV network the CW has partnered with sound company Bose to produce a web series surrounding its hit show Arrow, which follows the adventures of popular DC Comics hero the Green Arrow pc spiele online kaufen und herunterladen. The minisodes center around two of his sidekicks, Felicity Smoak and Roy Harper, played by Emily Bett Rickards and Colton Haynes, respectively. The product placement for Bose is pretty heavy-handed, but that’s to be expected, and the episodes do a good job of promoting both Arrow and some of Bose’s newer products, which are aimed at a younger crowd than they have gone after in the past kostenlose spiele auf pc herunterladen.


This kind of transmedia advertising is really effective because it wraps the ads up in a story fans are already interested in, which is a great way to leverage existing viewers download music at napster. But that’s not all the partnership is doing; Bose and the CW are also running a sweepstakes offering a trip to Vancouver to visit the Arrow set deutsche märchen herunterladen. By combining an engaging story with a call to action like this, both partners can get a lot of eyeballs on their products, as well as collecting a lot of email addresses for future marketing efforts, which is the beauty of transmedia herunterladen.

What other digital partnerships have you seen that caught your eye?

Wake Up, Sleepyheads

FOX’s new show Sleepy Hollow is taking the social media world by storm. The show started off with a bang, jumping into a Revolutionary War battle and immediately introducing the big bad villain of the show herunterladen. The premise of the show may be silly, but darn it, it’s fun, and it’s garnering great ratings. But part of the reason the show is developing such huge momentum is because of social media apple music gratis downloaden. The social media producer behind the show’s strategy does things like “…tweet along with the show, and we try to engage fans – we’ll try and spark a conversation with them herunterladen. We also try to feed out those images of those iconic moments, and the quotes as well, to see if we can get some traction on that.” Check out this blog post featuring the producer in question for more about the show’s strategy shortcuts.


But that’s not all. The show’s writers get in on the Twitter action, even getting into imaginary feuds with other showrunners 3d zeichenprogramme kostenlos.


However, the best social media use is coming from actor Orlando Jones, who plays curmudgeonly Captain Irving how can I download music from youtube android. He live-tweets both East and West Coast airings of the show, including the Friday replays, and he has led the charge in the formation of the new Sleepy Hollow fandom, dubbed “Sleepyheads.” He’s active on both Twitter and Tumblr, sharing fan art, memes, and games, and best of all, he actively solicits Sleepy Hollow fan fiction from the rabid fans on Tumblr englische bücher kostenlos downloaden.

So what can we learn from Sleepy Hollow and its fabulous social media strategy? Basically, things are more fun, and more effective, when everyone gets in on the action herunterladen. Transparency is always attractive to users and consumers, and showing the human side of your company is a great way to get people interested in engaging with your brand malen nach zahlen für kinder herunterladen. You might not want to go as far as soliciting fan fiction, but letting your personality shine is a great way to go.

Sesame Street Meets Google Earth

We’ve written before about how well the Muppets franchise does social media, but they’re broadening their transmedia reach with a foray into Google Earth kostenlos auto simulator downloaden. Furry and loveable monster Grover is providing tours of Sesame Street Workshops around the world, starting with a charming introduction showbie app.



Other Muppets get in on the action, introducing different versions of Sesame Street, like this one from Northern Ireland, known as Sesame Tree, complete with its own accent-sporting Muppets java update gratisen.


There are several reasons this pairing works so well. First, it achieves both partners’ primary goal: education moving images for free. Users of all ages can learn about the world through the medium of the beloved children’s program. Second, it’s creative. Taking a TV show (or other property) and moving into multiple forms media is pretty much a necessity these days, and Sesame and Google is a perfect pairing video von fb herunterladen. Third, it’s done with incredible grace. These kinds of partnerships can often come off as pure advertising, or simply as cheesy, but in this case, the end goal is education first, not just hits microsoft office 2010 home and student download free full german. Users can generally tell when a brand means well, and that often goes a long way towards making something go viral.

What are some other creative transmedia partnerships you’ve seen netflix download op laptop mac? Hit the comments and let us know!

Uh Oh Spaghetti-O

Pasta company Barilla came under fire this week due to the political opinions of its CEO, Guido Barilla, who said that his company would only show the “classic family” in their advertising, and that anyone who didn’t like it could feel free to eat another pasta brand herunterladen. This has lead to a boycott by gay rights groups all over the world. In response, competing company Garofalo has come out with an ad reading “We don’t care with whom you cook pasta t online browser 7.0 kostenlos. The important thing is that you cook it al dente!”



Whichever company you think has the right political idea, you can’t deny that Garofalo has the right advertising idea album von icloud auf mac herunterladen. Offending a large chunk of your customer base, even in order to ingratiate yourself with another part, is usually a bad idea. Garofalo is being smart by using welcoming advertising to scoop up the disgruntled consumers who ditched Barilla www.apple.de/itunes/download kostenlos.

There are two main takeaways from this situation. First, keep your personal opinions out of your business life. That should be common sense, but apparently not windows internet explorer 11 kostenlos downloaden. Second, make an effort to welcome all potential consumers, and reflect that in your advertising. Enjoy your pasta!

Get Creative!

You may remember that awhile back, we blogged about Home Depot Hacks, where customers do cool things with products available at the Home Depot herunterladen. Home Depot has had great success showing off the stuff people have done, leading to a huge rise in their social media popularity. Here’s a Home Depot Hack we found that was just so cool we had to share it: street art that only appears when it rains ps4 not possible system software.


Isn’t that awesome 100 dinge herunterladen? This is a great advertisement for both Home Depot and Rust-Oleum, and it provides some great social media lessons.


1 sims full version free chip. Embrace the creativity of your customers. If someone does something unexpected with your product, show it off (as long as it’s a good unexpected). You could tap into a whole new customer base where can I download illegal movies.


2. Get creative yourself. If your customers aren’t doing interesting things yet, show them how showbox android. Again, new customer potential, and boundless opportunity to look cool on social media.


3 netflix wie viel downloaden. Seed your creative endeavors in appropriate places. If you do something artistic, make sure other artists see it. If you build something, make sure builders see it iphone google herunterladen. You won’t get much good out of it if nobody knows you did it.

What’s your favorite example of users getting creative with a product turbo lister kostenlos?

Facebook’s Autoplay Conundrum

Facebook has been making a series of changes to its user experience that all seem to be pointing in one direction: autoplay ads. The move was rumored to be coming in April, but has since been pushed back picturepeople bild herunterladen. It’s looking like it will happen, if it happens at all, in October. This is potentially cause for celebration for advertisers, but for users, it’s cause for annoyance whatsapp profile picture. Animated gifs popping up in your Tumblr feed is one thing, but nobody likes it when a commercial starts playing as soon as you open a page. At best, it’s a minor irritation, and at worst, it’s cause for clicking away from the page windows 7 update manuell herunterladen. That being the case, it will be interesting to see who Facebook aims to please—users, or advertisers.


Speaking as someone with a foot in both camps, I think Facebook would do well to cater to users in this instance libreoffice 5.1 download kostenlos. Pleasing the advertisers is a good goal to have, but the only reason advertisers are so hot to get space on Facebook is its legions of active users. Remember Twitter and its infamous Quickbar wie kann man ein lied von youtube herunterladen? Users hated it, and it was gone in less than a month. Autoplay ads are much more jarring and intrusive, so how will users respond to that? As one exec puts it, autoplay ads are usually used for cheap fishing expeditions, rather than for quality advertising staroffice 9 kostenlos downloaden vollversion. It will be for Facebook to decide what kind of ads they want on their platform.

What do you think? Are autoplay ads worth the user outcry?

The TARDIS Has Landed

Fans of long-running BBC show Doctor Who got a fun surprise on Google Maps earlier this week when a new Easter Egg was discovered maps navigon for free. For those who don’t watch the show, the titular alien travels in a spaceship disguised as a London police box, the TARDIS. The real ones are a holdover from the 1950s, when London cops used the blue boxes to call into their precincts or to hold unruly suspects until backup could arrive onenote vorlagen downloaden. For those who do watch the show, you know that the 50th anniversary is fast approaching, and Google decided to commemorate it by adding an Easter Egg to the Street View of one of the last working police boxes, outside Earl’s Court Station ipod touch spiele kostenlosen. If you Google “Earl’s Court police box London,” or something similar, you’ll be taken to a Street View shot showing the iconic blue box. If you then click on the double arrows near the foot of the box, something magical happens funny sayings to download. You get to go inside the TARDIS. For the moment, you can only explore the console room, from which the Doctor pilots his ship, but fans are hoping more rooms will be added (perhaps the swimming pool, or the library, or the swimming pool in the library) sims spiel herunterladen.



In the meantime, fans can enjoy the fun of exploring the incredibly detailed console room as they wait for the much-anticipated 50th Anniversary episode, during which Matt Smith, the Eleventh Doctor, will say his final farewell, and Twelve, Peter Capaldi, will take over gta 5 wieder downloaden. Judging by the amount of mystery surrounding the episode, fans would do well to keep their eyes peeled for more interactive Easter Eggs around the web google photos album.

A Love Letter to Social Media: Sharknado

Last night, Twitter was hit by a freak weather event–a SHARKNADO! The Syfy Channel premiered its new movie about a freak weather system that involved waterspouts slurping up schools of sharks and dropping them on Los Angeles telefon app herunterladen. Laughable as the premise may seem, it isn’t half so funny as the veritable flood of tweets about the film. For several hours, #sharknado was one of the top trending topics in the US paint.net german free of charge. Head over to Mashable to see some of the funniest “Sharknado” tweets, or to the Twitter blog to see the numbers on how the Twitter phenomenon happened wie kann ich die rossmann app herunterladen.


So what can we learn from this Tweetnado? Well, @syfy has it down pat die sims 3 kostenlos downloaden vollversion. Don’t waste time trying to control the conversation, because you can’t, and you’ll only come off looking silly. Instead, go with the flow (as long as it’s appropriate) and have fun with it indesign testversion herunterladen. Users will relish seeing the human face behind the brand, and you’ll win points for making people smile.

A Love Letter to Social Media: Home Depot Hacks

Home Depot is next on our list of companies doing community outreach well. They’ve started posting on a hashtag called #HDHacks, showcasing cool and unusual stuff you can do with Home Depot products kostenlos dvd brenner herunterladen. The most recent is a tutorial for Giant Jenga, which is exactly what it sounds like. Find the tutorial here in the Home Depot online community herunterladen.


The reason this campaign works is that the brand is using their own products to show their users a good time word design herunterladen. This gets people using the online community, but more importantly, it gets them buying the Home Depot’s products. Home Depot is also doing a great job of taking charge of an existing hashtag and using it to promote their product free antivirus programs to download. Finally, they’re seeding it throughout their social presence, everywhere from Twitter to Tumblr herunterladen. By meeting their users where they hang out, Home Depot is maximizing their chances of getting eyes on their advertising, and hence their chances of purchases, a goal any brand can and should emulate elster certification.

Interacting with the Real World

We often praise interactive ad ideas, but this is one we’ve never seen before. Ogilvy and cooking school Carulla have come out with a new kind of cookbook–one you have to slice open to read it how can I download videos from fb. That’s right. With a knife. The rationale is that you have to practice your knife skills while using the book. On the one hand, this sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen javascript downloaden op ipad. On the other, using an analog book to combat the glut of digital competitors is a very cool, almost retro idea. Head over to Wired for the full writeup bluetooth peripheral driver for free.


The reason this is cool is that Ogilvy is combining advertising with real-world utility xbox 360 themen herunterladen. As we’ve said before, the way to get users coming back is to provide something of value. It could be anything, whether it be a cookbook or just useful or interesting information rasierer herunterladen. By giving the customer something they can use, especially if it’s something they can see or hold, you make them feel that their attention is worth something, rather than feeling like just a pair of eyeballs visio shapes download kostenlos. And when it comes down to it, that’s what it’s all about–keeping the customers coming back.