Marketing Toolbox: Social Networks
Image: Social Network Usage By Age from Social-Media-Optimization.com
Another force to contend with in Social Media is the social network or the social networking websites. Social networking facilitates online interaction between people or groups of people with similar interests. The idea of social networks is to connect people with one another online, a feature that has been available online since the early days of the Internet. However, the services of such websites were limited; 1995’s Classmates.com, for instance, focused more on one’s connections with former schoolmates or classmates, while 1997’s version focused on indirect ties. However, these two models did not become successful, with their owners claiming that they were ahead of their time. In a way, they were right. Almost a decade later, three prominent models emerged: Friendster, MySpace, and Bebo. Today, MySpace remains to be the most popular of the three in America, while Friendster and Cyworld are popular in Asia. Facebook is slowly gaining popularity worldwide.
In social networking sites, members can maintain their personal webpage (called profiles) and interact with other people. But the main draw, and hidden gem, of social networking is how you can add people as “friends.” “Friending” is the main activity in social networks, where members acknowledge relationships with other people – you as a marketer can take advantage of this permission based mechanism to deliver your story directly to interested people. However, this has recently changed thanks to the mini-applications in Facebook. In Facebook, you can do numerous activities with your “friends” or even with strangers—you can play Scrabble or Chess or invite people to events, among other things.
Social networking sites are very popular around the world. In fact, one out of four American adults who go online visit social networks. People who visit social networks presumably own a social network profile because most of the options are available only to members who have joined the website. Social networks are also widely popular in South Korean, due to their high broadband penetration. In Japan, social networks are less popular, but a considerable number of people visit these websites (20 percent of the country’s online population, compared to America’s 25 percent and South Korea’s astonishing 35 percent). In Europe, 21 percent of the online population visit social networking sites. These websites are not as popular in Germany and France, however, with 10 percent and three percent of their population visiting social networking sites, respectively.
Still, social networks are formidable forces in Social Media. Social networking sites such as Friendster (one of the pioneer’s in the new generation social networking websites) is one of the most visited websites in a number of Asian countries (it is even the most popular site in the Philippines and Indonesia). MySpace, on the other hand, attracts more than 200,000 new users a day (in fact, the 100 millionth MySpace account was created in 2006. However, according to various sources, Facebook has overtaken MySpace in terms of unique page views per day.
The appeal of social networking websites is not surprising, as it operates in the same manner as blogs; they blur relationship boundaries, making it easier for people to interact with one another. Blogs are also community-based, with people exchanging links to establish connections. Bloggers comment on each other’s sites; but social networking sites work on a more focused operation, concentrating more on connecting ties - other features are secondary, presumably to enhance the experience. On MySpace, members comment on each other’s profiles, share photos, post videos and music. On Facebook, members are updated regarding the latest activities of their “friends.” At the interface of their homepage every time they log in, members are informed regarding the status of their “friends,” such as if they added a photo, a friend, posted a “note,” installed a new application, among others.
Social networks threaten traditional businesses, especially other media companies, since these websites take up so much time from its users. According to a recent survey, social networking site members visit their profiles at least once a day. Judging from the number of features these sites have, you can spend hours just looking at the applications in sites such as Facebook; time you could have spent watching a television show or a movie, reading a book, eating out, or shopping. Media companies are the ones who are directly affected, although other websites are also contending with social networking sites. This is why companies such as Google have attempted to buy a number of social networking sites (for instance, MySpace is owned by News Corporation, the company that owns the Fox Broadcasting Company).
Fads and trends also spread fast through social networking sites, due to instant messaging features within the site itself, as well as features for posting blogs, video, and music. This could boost name recognition for a particular brand, especially when their presence is heavily felt online - it can also undermine brand imaging since people can also attack fads and brands through social networks, which can affect trends and create buzz.
Of course, as with blogs, you can use social networks for your brand. Obviously, you have to join a social networking site yourself to get a feel on how things work. To make social networks work for your company, all you have to do is set up an official profile of your brand on these social networking sites. With this profile, you can add consumers as “friends” as means of touching ground with them in order to maintain their loyalty. The profile can also serve as a promotional tool as well, since it will help your brand gain awareness. This tactic has been used by a number of companies and brands. Even big brands have used MySpace and Facebook for their marketing needs. Adidas has used MySpace to promote their new line of shoes using a poll where members can choose which of the two new products they prefer. Pizza Hut in South Korean used Cyworld to promote their new pizza product. Skittles, Pontiac, Victoria’s Secret have also utilized the interconnectedness of members in social networking sites to promote their goods. While the effects of such tactics are unknown, social networking sites are obviously effective tools to communicate with consumers, to spread brand awareness, and to create brand enthusiasm by involving the customers and the people in the process.
4 Ideas to Help Spread Your Ideas Through Social Media
Due to changes in technology, especially with how people communicate today, it is now imperative for you to use Social Media in order to promote your brand. One of the advantages of using Social Media is the way it makes communication easier. However, in order for you to use Social Media to the advantage of your brand, you have to convert this medium into a means of conversation with the Social Media Users.
In order for you to use Social Media as a means of communication, you should give your consumers and target market the necessary tools. This can easily be achieved with the use of various Internet tools. Features such as comment box, forums, and tag boards, among others, are popular online, and these can make the process of talking to Social Media users easier and more dynamic. Besides the use of the said features, here are a few techniques you can use to initiate conversation with Social Media Users.
1. Use a Viral Video. A viral video is defined as a video clip made popular through Internet sharing. Just like any typical video or Internet file, this could be shared through email, instant messaging, blogs, and media sharing websites. Viral videos became a prominent fixture online due to the popularity of YouTube. Of course, in order to be considered as a viral video, the video has to capture the interest of the millions of Social Media Users around the country (or even around the world). Viral videos are often humorous in nature (for example, videos from popular viral video sites such as Funny or Die and Collegehumor.com) although a number of viral videos can simply have quirky attributes which make them popular (clips of rants, people expressing opinions, peculiar animation, among others). A video clip can be considered as a means of communication when a Social Media user shares this particular clip to other Social Media users.
2. Create a blog. Blogs are usually referred to as an online journal, a content-based website where users can publish thoughts, commentaries, and other content. Blogs, as of late, have been used by different brands to communicate with Social Media users. Of course, when using a blog, you have to make sure your site is not merely a depository of press release; the content has to be relevant in order to make it an effective tool. Many brands designate people to handle the brand’s blog; an effective strategy to make sure the comments and concerns of the readers can easily be addressed as well.
3. Create a community. Communities created by companies for the sake of communicating with the Social Media can be in the form of online forums and discussion boards—or any other medium that enables visitors to provide information and communicate with the forum creators and other forum visitors.
4. Use social networking sites and user-generated sites engagingly. Make your social network sites as personally as possible to entice visitors to spend time on your site.
4 Keys for a Successful Social Media Listening Strategy
Listening to your customers using Social Media is essential, especially in a time when it takes very little effort and cost to do so. However, despite the advantage you have thanks to today’s technology, listening to the consumers is still not an easy task.
It is a process that should be part of every one in your organization, in order to make the customer the most essential part of your operations. Traditionally, listening is done through marketing and research. This limitation is erased by using Social Media. With the use of Social Media, you—and everyone else in your organization—can listen to your market.
Again, listening to the consumer is not an easy task. Of course, it is possible, but it requires effort, time, and patience—not to mention the employment of the right strategy when listening to Social Medial users. Here are some tips which can help you listen to your consumers properly:
1. Know your market. Listening can only be effective if your customers are into Social Media; otherwise, your efforts will be futile. This is self-explanatory, of course, because you are only interested in knowing the opinion and response of your customers. It is also important to know how many of your customers are online. In order to see positive results from your listening efforts, at least 15 percent of your customers should be part of the Social Media population. You can use Social Media to monitor your brand online if this percentage exists on the Social Media. However, you are required to use Social Media as a brand monitoring tool if 35 percent of your consumers are part of the Social Media population. This is because the said percentage is already a sufficient representative of your market. Listening can still be done if less than 15 percent of your consumers are part of the Social Media. However, because this is not a sufficient representation of your total market, the scope of your efforts will narrow. The information you will get from this endeavor will not be sufficient to represent your consumers. This usually happens when the brand or the product has a older market base.
2. Think big—but start small. If your organization handles several brands, it is not wise to implement changes in terms of using Social Media in a wide scale. Instead, employ the changes in a small brand or product and observe the changes and the developments from there. Starting small will enable you to see the changes in a much more controllable scenario, making it easier for you to implement improvements. It is best to start with a single brand, and then let the growth take its natural course. It is not unusual for these programs to spread. Also, imagine the cost and the implementation difficulties if you start the program at a wider scale. Who will manage the program? How can they implement it? Will your vendors be able to grow with you? These are some of the questions you need to ask yourself before you begin a listening program for your organization
3. Dedicate an experienced team. Listening efforts through Social Media are very new concepts in business, but it is still possible to get a team with people who have sufficient experience for this endeavor. This is a new concept, an entirely new world, especially for people used to traditional marketing and customer interactions. It is not enough that the head of this effort is skilled and learned about the ins and outs of Social Media. Most likely, the head of this endeavor would be someone from your marketing team or from sales. But one man cannot do the job alone regardless of qualification. The staff also has to be experienced and skilled enough to get sufficient information from various sources. The staff also has to know what the information they will collect means to you and the organization in order to utilize it properly.
4. Get someone who can interpret the information. One of the minor setbacks of using Social Media as a listening tool is the volume of information you can get from it. While information is always useful, not all of it is useful. Therefore, you need someone who has sufficient skills to sift through all of the garnered information and classify which information is useful and which is trash. Furthermore, he has to be able to interpret the collection information and relate it existing materials and sources. Listening can provide insight, but it is unlikely for this insight to just jump out from the pages of your listening effort. It has to be interpreted together with other syndicated research, sales reports, among other information
Listening through Social Media is very helpful, but it requires effort and preparation to make it work. It is easy to get information through Social Media; anyone without prior experience can easily browse through blogs and social networking sites to get this done. But proper implementation will be the key into making this effort into an advantageous endeavor. Without proper implementation, listening through Social Media is like a having a car you cannot use. The vehicle is there, parked in your garage, waiting to be used. But to use it, you need several skills (for one, you need to know how to drive) and tools (you need to load it with has, for instance) in order to make it work.
Listen to Social Media Conversations - Gain Insight Into Your Brand Image
Listening is important in business. In order to know what people say about your brand, you need to listen to your customers, as well as the people in your target market. Traditionally, you can get the response and opinions of people through surveys. But while effective, surveys have two limitations: they cost money and they cannot give you the response you would need all the time. Hence, many brands now use Social Media to listen to their market, their intended audience. This way, you can know exactly what your customers are thinking about.
Social Media such as social networking websites reveal what most brand or business owners want to know: how people respond to their brand, what people are talking about regarding their brand, and ultimately what they are thinking – because their thoughts are published through the use of blogs, discussion forums, and other similar tools and functions. Now, this isn’t to say that listening to Social Media users can ultimately replace syndicated research done by reputable and esteemed companies. After all, these companies can effectively map out trends in the market (or the “buzz,” in more common terms). Buzz, as shown in many studies, is known as one of best indicator of sales. Research can help you learn more about the trends in your market, but they are not effective when you want to know what exactly your audience is thinking about your brand or about your service. Basically, it is not effective if you want to know their exact thoughts on practically anything related to your business.
Consider this: you can get surveys for 10,000 dollars, while 100,000 dollars can get you surveys with expert analysis. This analysis specializes in mapping out trends—the interest of the market, their age, their demographics, among others. The surveys cost more if the required respondents of the survey are special or hard to find (for example, people in a specific location, people with specific ailments or conditions, among others).These surveys are carefully mapped out to detect any change in trend, but surveys very rarely answer what you or the researchers do not ask. In a survey, the information you get will be limited by what you ask to the respondents. This is, obviously, not necessarily a bad thing, since these are questions you want answered by the respondents. However, there will be questions that you can forget to ask or questions in areas you are simply not aware of—questions that are essential to your business and your brand.
For example, you are concerned with how your customers perceive the image of your brand or how they find your products or your service. But what if your customers are more concerned with the price of your products? This is a concrete example of one of the limitations of traditional syndicated research—on the one hand, you get what you paid for; on the other hand, you don’t get all the necessary information.
A more in-depth type of research can address this limitation—but also only to a certain extent. This is by interviewing focus groups. A focus group is composed of seven to 15 people, each one a representative of your target market. Here, you can talk to them and ask questions for a few hours. This type of research is more dynamic, since you can ask them practically anything and everything; and in return you receive spontaneous reactions and opinions. This type of response the most valuable type of response you will get in any form of research or survey. However, the concern here is the quality of the focus group. Again, you are limited not by the questions but by your respondents—you can never be too certain of the quality of the members of your focus group. You are lucky if your focus group has analytical members or those who can provide valued content and response, but this is never guaranteed.
Listening to Social Media users is one way to remedy the limitations of traditional research because you will not be limited by your research methods and your respondents. The key in getting valuable information from your audience is by getting them in their natural habitats, since the information should never be forced out. The respondents themselves should volunteer the information. The insight is valuable if the biases of surveys are removed, and the limitations of focus groups are eradicated. And this is what you get when you listen to the users of Social Media, information at its purest form—raw, pure, and honest.
Users of Social Media talk about your products and services on a daily basis. They express their opinion regarding your store, your prices, and your promotions. They compare your products with your competitors. In a nutshell, they talk about what matters to them and not what you think matters. In a way, you can know and learn about the buzz judging from the bulk of the content created by Social Media users.
Listening to Social Media users will definitely help your brand because these people share valuable insight, insight that you may never get from syndicated surveys. And when you integrate this practice of listening to Social Media users in your business practice, you can easily detect any problems, bad publicity, positive or negative buzz, important comments, and valuable suggestions. Considering the bulk of the content created, it is possible to get the most insightful comments from the most critical and intelligent customers, something a focus group can rarely accomplish.
Of course, this practice has limitations too. For one, the information garnered by listening to Social Media users will never be representative of all your consumers; after all, only those willing to talk are talking. Obviously, the people concerned here are merely those who are participants in Social Media. Specifically, you can only get the response of the creators and the critics in the Social Media demographic hierarchy, a significant sector in the Social Media population although not the biggest in number. Meanwhile, in contrast, a syndicated research makes sure the sector of your market is involved in the survey. The volume of the information can also be overwhelming, and not all of them are useful. This is why you will need technology to help segregate the chatter from the valuable insight, since not all the participants in Social Media are not representatives of your intended audience.
Nonetheless, it cannot be denied that listening to Social Media users can help your brand. It can fill the gap that traditional research cannot complete and this can also help you know the buzz or the trend online, which is becoming a very significant influence in any market today.