Disclaimer: The following is an excerpt from a paper I am drafting titled "The Emergence of Online". I'll be continuing research all summer, and revising the entries as I gain more insight on the various matters
Effectiveness of Social Media
Social Influence Marketing can be considered a complete third dimension of marketing – after brand and direct response marketing. This classification is due to its reach amongst consumers. From December 2007 to December 2008, global time spent on member community sites increased by 63% to 45 billion minutes. That just under 86,000 years of time spent within a year. Facebook alone rose from 3.1 billion minutes to 20.5 billion minutes in that same time period (Nielsen). That’s what all the hoopla is about. That’s why companies are shifting to this medium.
Due to the quick diffusion of the medium, companies have been in a scramble to learn its uses, and the best strategies to connect with their markets. Although there is no definitive answer, experts do agree on these basics:
1) Social media is founded on the idea of sharing – including ideas, preferences, and platforms. If a company is going to delve in the social space, it has to be just that – social. The idea of a commercial being entering a network of individuals is a huge turn-off to the consumer. They engage in the sites to stay connected to friends and family, as well as making new connections, therefore companies must share that space on the terms of the consumer. They can not preach to the masses, they need to join the discussion. They need to be personal, real, and involved. They need to humanize themselves evoking emotion from those they encounter by being there when a need is recognized. This emotion can not be bought like other media, it can only be earned, by sharing the space, and only being present when necessary. It is then when the brands stop intruding, and effectively connect with consumers through social media. Then, upon making the connection, the consumers will pay it forward sharing their experiences with others in their community (ShivSingh.com)
2) Focus on the community. It’s all about social dynamics. Who are the leaders? Who are the influencers? What role does each consumer fall under? Marketers have asserted for years that the key to effective diffusion is persuading the opinion leaders, the experts in the product category, to buy their product. To an extent this is true, but in the realm of social media, the community as a whole plays a bigger role. This shift occurs as the clarity of opinion leaders has blurred. The proliferation of media has revealed that there is no clear cut strategy in identifying the leaders, and that people play different roles in different situations. Therefore, corporation must get the whole community talking, not just one person. They need to be the talk of the town, generating forums, not focus groups, speaking about their industry, the product category, and their product lines as a whole. Focus groups aren’t compatible with social media as it isn’t a social thing. It’s commercial. Forums are preferred as with open discussion comes effective diffusion. There is no faster form of communication than word of mouth. Viral approaches can work wonders. All the company has to do is engage the community as a whole, and their message will be spread. Although offline mediums have seen some declines recently, I doubt consumers are going to stop talking anytime soon. (Shiv, Razorfish)
3) Make it seamless. The internet has been prevalent for over a decade now, and just as consumer roles have blurred, so have the lines between mediums. The consumer doesn’t see advertisement as online or offline, they just see it as advertising. So although Social Influence Marketing is a whole new dimension to you, that’s not how the consumer sees it. To them, it’s all the same, and they want to consume it as such. So don’t abide by a new set of rules just because it’s another format. Stay true to your campaign, its goals, and the two previous assertions and you’ll have a good start to unlocking the potential effectiveness of Social Influence Marketing.
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