Finding the balance: When we forgot to be social on social media

I recently came across the 2009 Business Social Media Benchmarking study report by Business.com. The report is based on insights provided by nearly 3000 North Americans on their social media usage for promoting their Business.

The report brings forth some interesting revelations……..

To begin with, it shows a visible gap between social media channels used by companies to promote and popularize their business offerings and the channels used by people for searching or seeking business related information.

It also explains why certain social media channels work better than the others when it comes to using social media as business promotion tool.

Nearly 70% of the respondents found that the most popular social media resource for seeking a business related information is to attend a Webinar or hear a podcast. Followed by reader user ratings & reviews and then company profile pages on social media sites and company blogs.

Now compare this with the most popular Business social media initiatives by companies – or to simplify, channels companies use in the social media space to popularize their offerings.

70% of the respondents said the must activity they undertook was maintain company- related account(s) or profiles on social media sites followed by maintaining one or more company blogs and micro-blogging on Twitter. Only 30% of respondents actually voted for producing Webinars and podcasts as one of their priority social media initiative.

Do you see what I meant by interesting revelation? Yes, as marketers we all thought the more we showcase our companies, more the chance of us getting visibility and leads but in the process we forgot that social media is about being social and not merely about self promotion. If you really want to use the social media as a business tool and for self promotion it has to bring value to the reader or seeker of that information.

Think of this scenario wherein there are two companies A & B in the online marketing space competing for the attention of similar kind of social media users.

Company A – creates profiles across various social media networks, channels, gets reviews of its services and tweets about its offerings and related things on twitter.

Company B – decides to do things a little differently – they organizes a free webinar on ‘Most effective tools for B2B Marketing online’ offer a huge list of tips (free know-how) while showcasing their offerings. Record the important parts of the webinar as podcasts and upload onto various channels, so that those who could not attend the webinar also benefit from the interaction. They also started a blog on B2B marketing which discussed various aspects and related subjects showcasing their know-how without really screaming ‘promotional’. All this in addition to creating social media profiles etc. Who do you think will have won more leads and a stronger following using social media? Company A or Company B?

Social media is the biggest reality of our times. You love it or hate it but as we all are realizing or have realized we cannot ignore it. Social media in its entirety is a very democratic forum, of the people, by the people and for the people. It thrives on the fact that anyone and everyone here is for a reason. Everyone has a point to make or an opinion to express. Everyone out there wants to be heard no matter how influential or insignificant they are. So how does one ensure – others hear you in this chaos, take note of what you have to say? It’s simple say something they would like to hear or something they would gain from, something that will get you their attention, their fellowship. Say something that is useful to them.

If achieving social media success is part of your Company’s marketing agenda in the coming year maybe you should change your approach towards social media. Zero in on who you see as your audience in the social mediasphere,  give them what they want or need (fill in a gap), win their trust and then make your pitch.

Wishing you all a socially successful 2010!

Use Social Media to Boost Online Christmas Sales

Christmas is here and businesses across the World are gearing up to make the most of the festival and gifting season. New products are getting launched, special offers and discounts being announced and retail spaces both offline and online being decked up to be in sync with the festival spirit.

 

The only dampener seems to be various predictions coming our way, which suggest the holiday season will see less sales when compared to 2007 or before the recession hit our economy towards the end of 2008.

According to a Gallup poll, a record-high 35% of Americans spent less on Christmas gifts in 2008 than what they spent a year before. This year National Retail Federation chief economist Rosalind Wells predicts “As the global economy continues to recover from the worst economic crisis most retailers have ever seen, Americans will focus primarily on practical gifts and shop on a budget this holiday season.” 

Now correlate these predictions to a survey report by Nielsen Wire and you will probably have the answer on how to focus your marketing budgets and efforts to get the most out of this holiday season.  

In a recent Nielsen Global consumer survey of 25,000 internet consumers from across 50 countries it was found that 90 per cent of the consumers surveyed said they trust recommendations by people they know, while 70 per cent trusted consumer opinions posted online. Jonathan Carson, President of Online, International, for the Nielsen Company observes, “The explosion in Consumer Generated Media over the last couple of years means consumers’ reliance on word of mouth in the decision-making process, either from people they know or online consumers they don’t, has increased significantly.”  

The Nielsen survey clearly showcases the power social media yields in our times.

Social media sharing over channels like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc. have today become a way of life for most of us. These social networking sites have become a medium for people to share information with their family, friends, acquaintances and even like minded strangers. It’s also become a place where people discuss politics, products, issues and causes, garnering support and voicing their views all at the same time. It is this powerful medium which needs to be tapped in a way that it helps retailers spread the word and increase their sales.  

So how can ecommerce sites or e-retailers use this information to boost their sales?

 Simple, device methods and provide means to a happy customer – ‘To spread the good word’ and in turn bring in more business for you.

Given below are three simple and easily implementable methods -

Provide the means

If you have an ecommerce site, ensure you provide the right tool for your customer to share his find with others in his network. There are plenty of options available, you can have individual tabs/buttons for different social networking sites like – facebook.com, twitter.com, delicious.com etc. or you can have social media sharing widgets which give multiple channel options like AddThis, ShareThis or Tell-a-Friend .  You can also find drop down tool bars which offer similar services. These referral tools give a visitor the option to share a content he sees on a page with his network of friends through various channels. Having these social media elements on your website will ensure that if any of your happy customers want to spread the word, they have the means to do it in an easy and systematic way. 

Provide the motivation 

The objective here is to give your customer an incentive or motivation to spread the word. While in the previous method, you leave him with the choice of spreading the word about your great offering amongst his network of friends, here you reward him for this extra effort.  

The method is simple – you link your referral and rewards program – so every time a customer refers you to his friend he gets a discount or some reward points which he can claim for his current or future purchases.  

The person to whom the customer does send the recommendation is not aware the product was referred to him in lure of the discount. In fact, he sees it as a genuine recommendation from a friend, who bought the product, enjoyed the experience and decided to share the information. Hence, it becomes a win-win situation for all involved. Your offering gets a third party personal and reliable endorsement and hence another more convinced customer. Your referrer customer gets a discount on his purchases and the person receiving the recommendation gets a first hand opinion or reference on something he is planning to buy.  

Recently John Lawson an eBay Platinum PowerSeller and eBay Certified Education Specialist who owns an ecommerce site and authors an ecommerce blog –ColderIce posted a video on his personal experience of using one such widget which combines both the referral and rewards program and which helped in boosting his ecommerce sales. You can watch his video to know more about this ecommerce tool from SocialTwist.  

Nurture you customer relationships  

It is very important for any retailer to build his customer base and also to retain them. Social media can be a great tool in building and nurturing these relationships. As a retailer, it would help you to be present on social networking sites like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter etc. where you can create a profile or fan page for your store. Devise a way to find out where your customers are present (use feedback forms) and be there – it could be any of these social networking sites. Invite your customers to be a part of these groups and profiles and interact with them on a regular basis. Update them about the new stock in your store, steal buys, discounts, collections etc. Invite their feedback, listen to their queries and resolve their complaints and just by keeping in touch you will win their loyalty. If they really value you and your products, it is a given that they will share information on you within their network.  

Social media is here to stay and the best way to use it – is to be a part of it. It is a humungous marketing force available out their – all you need to do is to win them over and help them market your offerings. The returns of this little investment is manifold and beyond ones apprehension.

'Disclosure' The New Way Of Sharing In Social Media?

The new rule by Federal Trade Commission (FTC), requiring bloggers to disclose to their readers if they received any freebie or money for writing about a product came into effect this Tuesday. The first amendment since 1980, the new FTC Guide Concerning the Use of Endorsements and Testimonials in Advertising, states, “The post of a blogger who receives cash or in-kind payment to review a product is considered an endorsement. Thus, bloggers who make an endorsement must disclose the material connections they share with the seller of the product or service.”

The initial reports had stated that, bloggers who failed to disclose that they had received freebies when they write about a product could be fined up to $11,000 per post.

However, later in an interview to PR Newser, Richard Cleland, FTC assistant director and division head for advertising practices, cleared the air and said “The FTC does not have the authority to impose a fine for a violation to the FTC act. There is a provision that allows for a proceeding in federal court that allows for imposing of a monetary penalty for violation of trade regulation laws. The guidelines are not trade regulation laws.”

We are just three days into this new law and I am yet to see any disclaimers on posts for product reviews. But, what I would like to discuss in this post is how is this law which does not penalize the offenders going to make a difference to how we blog? Or how we follow bloggers? 

Blogging is an integral part of social media and the foundation of social media is based on mutual trust. It thrives on the trust we share with those we follow and those who follow us – friends, colleagues, acquaintances or even complete strangers with whom we manage to build online relationships. Using your personal credibility to influence people who rely or believe on your word, in exchange of cash or kind is definitely a breach of this trust. 

As a marketer, who believes in exploiting every possible medium online and offline to spread the word about my clients and their offerings – It is good have people around on the Internet who are ‘influencers’ in their own right and who do not mind getting an incentive for using their word to influence others. Getting them to talk positively about my client makes good business sense because not only does this bring my client, some good publicity helping create a social reputation but also in many cases brings in convinced customers and assured sales. 

However, as a regular internet user who uses this medium to research and seek the correct information before making purchasing decisions – it feels bad to look back and wonder if the last cool gadget review I read was paid for? I trust some of these reviewers and treat their knowledge and opinions as gospel when it comes to technology. I feel they have the know-how and they can help me make better choices…now I am not so sure. 

When I look at the larger picture I feel this new FTC law (not sure how effective it is going to be and how many people will actually add such disclaimers to their paid for posts/reviews) might just be able to restore some amount of honesty in the way we function both as marketers and bloggers. 

I see that as a consumer I will be more skeptical of taking a review on face value if it comes attached with a disclaimer of being paid for in cash or kind or having any association with the seller. The review might be very critical in its approach but still, I will probably take it with a pinch of salt.

I think I will search further for unbiased opinions and take them more seriously even if the blogger is less influential and less known than the more popular ones I used to follow. 

If as a customer, my reactions are such, as a marketer I will have to make a Choice.

Choice between a blog post which shows it is paid for and one which is genuine and purely merit based.

More than money I would like to depend on the qualities of my client’s offerings when pitching to a blogger, to ensure he posts a review which is genuine and not influenced by the lure of an incentive. Because only these unbiased posts might now bring my client real value and real customers. 

There is another change I am hoping to see as a fall out of this law – Blogging will hopefully go back to being what it was – sharing a truthful relationship with your readers. The top bloggers will have to give up on the lure of incentives if they want to maintain their supremacy and personal credibility among their followers and the social mediaspere. Marketers will have to follow suite, for now – they will have customers who will know if a post is a genuine review or a paid endorsement. 

Moreover, it’s not just blogging, other social media channels will soon and should see such regulations in the near future. Today we know that influential tweeters on twitter are getting paid huge sums of money for tweets that endorse a product, service or person. And if they do not disclose, their one of the many ‘must try’ tweet was paid for heftily…..they have actually cheated those who made them this influential. 

Personally, I see this law as the system’s way of pushing back a trend which was trying to ruin the very foundation of Social Media – TRUST.

Update: December 3 – 6:10 pm

Adding the Google point on this new law -

Google’s Matt Cutts in a conversation with Jeff Jarvis said, “As a Google engineer who has seen the damage done by fake blogs, sock puppets, and endless scams on the internet, I’m happy to take the opposite position: I think the FTC guidelines will make the web more useful and more trustworthy for consumers. Consumers don’t want to be shilled and they don’t want payola; they want a web that they can trust. The FTC guidelines just say that material connections should be disclosed. From having dealt with these issues over several years, I believe that will be a good thing for the web.”