“What we have here is a failure to communicate” says The Man to our hero Cool Hand Luke and that characterized the marketing world of Web1.0 and may have inadvertently helped lay the social media foundation that is Web2.0. The Web2.0 revolution has now matured into a new stage, moving from initial confusion (and no doubt a bit of “surprise!” from the vantage point of many corporations) to a rolled-up sleeves practicality of how to manage the relationship now that we’ve gone beyond the first date.

There are obvious benefits for companies in terms of getting involved with their consumers (and prospective consumers) via social media. A perspective that is often not considered is the benefit that online consumers themselves gain with this new desire to engage on the part of corporations. It’s been said before but it’s fascinating to me that marketing strategy in the social media arena necessarily has to move beyond projection and into conversation. Conversation is not a poorly targeted banner ad or a link to your website inside of a clever blog - it’s about establishing a dialog with individuals. The opportunity to engage individuals online opens a conduit through which information flows, which in turn provides a closed feedback loop (and benefits – that’s the symbiosis) between you and your customers. And you don’t have to pay thousands of dollars in survey research or focus groups.

According to the findings of the 2008 Cone Business in Social Media Study, “56% of American consumers (who use social media) feel both a stronger connection with, and better served by, companies when they can interact with them in a social media environment.” Additionally,

• 43% say that companies should use social networks to solve my problems
• 41% want companies to solicit feedback on their products and services
• 37% feel that companies should develop new ways for consumers to interact with their brand
• 33% of men and 17% of women interact frequently (one or more times per week) with companies via social media

Engaging your customers can now serve marketing, customer service, and primary research functions. But how does one go about obtaining valuable information about your customers?

Kevin Mannion of Sky Road Consulting provided some wonderfully basic advice for social media approaches to primary research and engagement, including:

• Visit Quantcast and look at the kinds of information that “Quantified” sites can offer about who visits their sites. In my consulting work with the company, I know that Web publishers are enabling advertisers to understand better the demographics, business and lifestyle profiles of their audiences. See the wealth of audience info under Bloomberg’s Quantified Profile, for example.
• Take Avinash Kaushik’s simple advice and ask your visitors in an unobtrusive pop-up survey some basic questions about what they are doing on your site and how your site is helping them accomplish their goals.
• Talk to them. There are many great ways to identify representative visitors who can offer you a gold mine of intelligence about your site, your clients’ brands, and the best ways for your advertiser to win their minds and hearts.

Of course, not every social media effort needs to be about harvesting information – successful social media strategy can simply be building a consistent, entertaining, and engaging message strategy about your products and services using a variety of social media tools. Social media marketing drives awareness through entertaining (but transparently honest) communication to catch and keep the attention of voracious online consumers of information.

Remember, online consumers were here having vibrant conversations before you arrived – when you’re late to a party that’s already been going on for awhile, it’s better to take some time and figure out how to introduce yourself instead of barging in and grabbing the mike for a little unsolicited marketing karaoke. You might learn a few things along the way.

Tags: Advertising/Marketing, Social Media Insights, Uncategorized //