more than just friends
DESCRIPTION
How to monetize social networks.TRANSCRIPT
More thanFriends:
How to Monetize Open Social Networks
© SpiderWeb Connections
Susan is the media marketing creator of
Spider Web Connections.
Her focus is to simplify social media marketing and involvement businesses and non-profits
AUTHOR:Susan Schauer John
To Monetize Social Networks:
Marketers need to invite their followers to be more than just “friends”.
© SpiderWeb Connections
Research shows:
• Customers want to be more than just a “generic” friend of a company or brand.
• Open social networks like Facebook and Twitter are where consumers expect to interact with individuals – their friends, colleagues, acquaintances and professional networks.
• Any benefits they receive from ‘friending’ companies in social networks are considered ancillary.
• In addition, consumer want direct connections with companies and with other customers.
© SpiderWeb Connections
by sean micholsonwww.socmedsean.com
What does the customer want from companies?
Customers prefer to have separate “customer communities” that are:
• Run separately from open social networks – but have strong links to them so they can easily share information.
• Proactively managed by companies.
• Tightly integrated with the companies website.
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Why don’t consumers seek relationships with companies through open social networks?
It is about context and content.
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• 81.1% of people say they would next visit the companies’ website.
• 25.7% would visit a retail store.
• Only 19% would look at it’s Facebook page.
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Once Introduced to a product or service:
Context and Content
Customers want branded customer communities to provide:
Relevant, Trusted information at every stage in their buying cycle.
The context of the buying cycle is not happening in traditional social networks. Instead, it’s happening on the broader internet – Primarily on manufacturer and retailer websites through organic search.
© SpiderWeb Connections
© SpiderWeb Connections
© SpiderWeb Connections
Research conducted by the Incyte Group: www.incytegroup.com
©spiderwebconnections
© SpiderWeb Connections
Research conducted by the Incyte Group: www.incytegroup.com
© SpiderWeb Connections
Research conducted by the Incyte Group: www.incytegroup.com
Chart #5 How Consumers Prefer to be Introduced to Branded Consumer Communities and Impact on
Participation Rates:
© SpiderWeb Connections
Research conducted by the Incyte Group: www.incytegroup.com
The Point:
The surprise is not that consumers expect to find information about products and services on a company website.
What is important to know is that consumers prefer branded customer communities over social networks when they are seeking information to make a purchase decision or accessing service and customer support.
© SpiderWeb Connections
In other words:
• Consumers don’t want brand relationships to be part of their open social networks; instead
• They want company Websites to be more like their experiences on opens social networks.
© SpiderWeb Connections
Therefore:
Step 1: Create a branded customer community.
Step 2: Make sure this community offers:
- strong link to social networks- content that is indexed by all search
engines - support based on consumer needs- technical flexibility
Step 3: Leverage your community to turn your best customers into advocates.
© SpiderWeb Connections
© SpiderWeb Connections
Word of mouth marketing from a companies best customers is the biggest untapped marketing opportunity out there.
References:
• Incyte: To Monetize Open Social Networks, Invite Customers to be More Than Just “Friends”. A white paper about the new form of marketing for business.
– More on study: www.getsatisfaction.com– Research conducted by the Incyte Group: www.incytegroup.com
• Jay Baer and Amber Naslund have written a terrific book called: The Now Revolution. It captures completely the new face of marketing for businesses. http://www.convinceandconvert.com/
• Tom Fishburne, “The Marketoonist” : http://tomfishburne.com/
• There are a number of great social media newsletters available for free that I read regularly and highly recommend. Each has contributed to my education and writings. They include:
– http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/
– http://maximizesocialmedia.com/
– http://www.toprankblog.com/
– http://www.bizsugar.com/
– https://www.facebook.com/business/build
© SpiderWeb Connections
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