“I Want My Social Media!”
YouTube, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, RSS feeds - Listen up corporations…
Social networking sites are allowing your consumers to participate in discussions about your brands daily and even up to the minute! What are you doing about it? How are your marketing tactics changing to adapt to the new world of user conversations?
Social Media in Plain English from leelefever on Vimeo
Think it won’t affect your consumer? Think again. For those businesses still entrenched in the standard web marketing path, here’s proof that the world of social networking is merging and expanding like never before: Today, nearly 75% of online shoppers choose retailers based on social media feedback. Here are consumers’ most trusted sources of product information:
According to Ross Mayfield’s Power Law of Participation, the whole point behind these social networking sites is to bring groups together to discover and create value about your brand. And while not all participation may be active, we have learned that we can derive “collective intelligence” or breadcrumbs of their engagement.
So we have…
1) creators (e.g. Wiki editors)
2) producers (Bloggers)
3) commenters (Raters of services/products)
4) sharers (Taggers, Email links)
5) watchers (videos, blogs, podcasts)
Convinced that social media can affect your brand? Good. So, let’s start with some crucial mantras first. Now, repeat after me:
“I believe I will engage more customers through social media”
“I believe social media is not a choice, but an obligation.”
“I believe my company will grow faster if I choose social media as a venue for communication with my customers.”
“I believe that the new world of internet users will pay attention to me if I use social media.”
I think you’ve got it! You understand now that consumers are more passionate, more constant, more intimate with and loyal to your brand if they have an outlet for engaging directly with other users.
Now that we have an understanding, the question remains:
“How can my business create a social strategy?
Like all good strategies, you need to confirm a few things:
1) your audience
2) your goals
3) your plan
4) your adopted tools/techniques
Chrysler leveraged the Jeep brand and its highly active, well-defined demographic in a successful web marketing strategy involving social networking. Their audience was clear. The plan: to create a venue to entice its consumers to connect with their brand and connect with other consumers. Their tool: Flickr.
Jeep connects with customers via a community page with links to videos on YouTube, photos on Flickr, the company’s MySpace and Facebook pages and a list enthusiast groups. This is a great example of how a major corporation is using the world of social media, networking and Web 2.0 to build something different for its customers and net users. Big names such as Marriott, McDonalds and Nike are jumping on the bandwagon regular blog posts/updates from topics such as travel to BMX racing to corporate social responsibility efforts.
The point: The focus is not longer on campaigns, but on relationships.
Not convinced? We’ve got some more data for you….
In August 2008, Internet Retailer found that 39.3% of retailers surveyed were using social networking sites to help increase sales. Among them, Facebook was the most popular for social media marketing:
With active social networkers, a little clarity on your goals (what kind of relationship you want with your audience), a lot of listening, a ton of willingness to spark a dialogue and interact with your consumers will get you across the networks with a strong voice. Some questions will naturally arise about the proper level of engagement, about negative comments, spending, etc. A little help from experts along the way will get you there.
At Freeworld Media, we’ve been talking about social media’s power and embrace that power as part of our vision and philosphy. We’ve cautioned that the brand conversation has left the corporate website, and this data certainly validates that. We love talking about how to find those conversations and enter them appropriately.
Your new mantra is (now, repeat after me):
“I Want My Social Media!”