Facebook keeps innovating

Facebook is constantly innovating and introducing new services that have an impact on the social media environment at large. Most notably marketers and brand managers can look forward to Facebook Places and Facebook Deals - innovations that make an even stronger case for social media in the mobile arena. Already launched in the UK and US, local companies can look forward to having access to these services in the next couple of months . Used independently or together these services are simply powerful stuff. Facebook Places, a location based service, gives brands the capability to set-up their "place" on Facebook. Users can then check into a place with their mobile phone, telling their Facebook friends where they are and connecting with friends nearby. From a business point of view, this will open up marketing opportunities to wider or brand new target markets. Through Facebook Deals, retailers and other merchants can offer special deals to the users who check into their "place". Users who take on the deal then tell their friends via the news feed that they "got R50 off a pair of jeans" or "a free muffin with their cappuccino". This gives the brand a great advantage as their customers are now punting their brand through word of mouth - the most effective form of marketing. Social media marketing opportunities Using the inherent features of Facebook and the constantly evolving platform, there are some incredible marketing opportunities available on Facebook: Socially activated crowdsourcing: send out a call to action to your community to become intimately involved with your product or brand. This can be applied to the full development life cycle of a product - from branding, naming, copy and even sales. You know that your product will be successful because your customers are the ones who designed it and land up selling it for you. This can be achieved through a series of campaigns on your fan page, supporting functional and interactive tabs and a well planned content strategy, each with social sharing features which allow the fan to market the brand for you by word of mouth. See an example of what Vitamin Water did here. Social e-Commerce: You can even go as far as selling your product on your Facebook Fanpage by adding an e-Commerce tab. The added benefit here is that, when somebody buys one of your items, it is possible to post that action to their profile page - instant word-of-mouth circulation. Have a look at how Delta Airlines offers ticket Sales on their Facebook page here. Social philanthropy: for brands such as banks or insurance companies, a good idea is to support a cause to which users may be familiar with. The incredible thing with the Facebook platform and its range of features and facilities is that you can allow your fans to be involved in your philanthropy giving them power to have a say on how and where your philanthropy should be applied, making your fans feel good about their actions and your brand, and of course marketing the cause by word of mouth. Content strategy Tools aside, a solid content strategy for your social media campaign is a must. How often have we seen communication debacles on Facebook Fanpages where a situation could have been dealt with more strategically. Examples of this include the Nestle catastrophe where Greenpeace created a parody video of the company's KitKat candy bar and the resulting fallout. A strong content strategy is invaluable and you should keep in mind that this strategy is not about a daily post on how wonderful your product is. As with any social media activity, your comments and posts must always be relevant and need to resonate with your community. Social media is becoming ever more relevant in our country and we are even seeing newspapers like Business Day talking about the possibility of replacing email with these new platforms. We bet that Facebook will be leading the way.

Social Media - Get what you pay for!

Social media is getting major attention. There’s no doubt about it. More marketers (locally and definitely abroad) are considering their media strategies and approach in terms of social media. More companies are developing social media policies for communication and more businesses understand that South African internet usage is escalating and consumer behavior is changing. “Word of friend” is becoming KING! Social Media is free? A big question on most people’s mind - does it pay? Can I get ROI? We’ll it’s hard for something to be perceived valuable if it’s also “free” and “anyone can do it” – right? Wrong! Everything can be free if you know how to do it! Google is free but companies outsource their SEO, their Google ad campaigns, and website design to name but a few - Why? Because there are expert professionals that specialize in it, do it every day all day long. Likewise with social media - It should be approached strategically, handled by professionals - people who do this on a daily basis; have cut their teeth in the grind and have concrete results to prove their worth. There are a myriad of different social platforms and all have their merits. People have different tastes and using one social network over another depends on their network and what they want to communicate or collaborate on e.g. LinkedIn versus Twitter. Each platform has many tools and mechanics that make it work. Knowing how to leverage these tools makes all the difference. This is not a part-time job and when done correctly is arguably far more powerful than traditional media. Does this resonate? The general trend is for companies to create a Fan Page or Group – the first to join are fellow employees; family and friends, thereafter fans dribble in. Companies that have a few thousand fans believe they have achieved great strides on Facebook – but have they? Your fan base should be a significant percentage of your foot traffic or customer base. To do this one needs to know what they are doing in this space. Think of it like this: You have a footprint of say 1 million customers and have a fan base of say 5000. That’s 0.5%. You have not by any stretch of the imagination, leveraged the power of social media. But if a brand had a 20% following (200,000) then you would have significant leverage and power with your customer base and what comes next would be endless. Achieving this is certainly not free! What’s your goal? Getting what you pay for is about your goal. If your goal is to have conversations then are you planning for that conversation and where it will go or just hoping you can handle it on the fly? If your goal is to sell your product then are you planning on how to talk about your product or service in a way that is relevant or just hoping you can email the brochure? If your goal is to foster a community then are you planning on how you leverage social networks to find the people you need to speak with? Or are you just putting up your Facebook page and hoping? Brands that understood their goals Dell - They knew what they were doing. They started in 2007 by posting offers and responding to questions on Twitter.com/DellOutlet—and have to date earned more than $3 million in revenue attributed directly to their Twitter activity. It is also driving interest in new products in that people come from @DellOutlet on Twitter into the Dell.com/outlet site and then ultimately decide to purchase a new system from elsewhere on Dell.com. Brands like Zain Africa, Starbucks, Coca-Cola, Sun Microsytems and Burger King – they get it. Brands are missing the boat So many brands have followed advice (albeit incorrectly) and started a Facebook Fan Page/Group and have no idea how to make this work for the brand and the customer. Alternatively they have opted not to have a social media presence at all. But no presence creates a void that will in all likelihood be filled, whether a brand likes it or not. A new study released by enterprise wiki provider Wetpaint and the Altimeter Group shows that the brands most engaged in social media are also experiencing higher financial success rates than those of their non-engaged peers. Those brands that were the most engaged saw their revenue grow over the past year by 18% while the least engaged brands saw losses of negative 6%. More facts: Rice University's Jones Graduate School of Business conducted a survey recently and documented the first evidence to support the concept that Facebook Fan Pages are an effective way to market. If a brand embraces the power of social media then it’s not about finding free tools or hiring an intern to handle the company’s most important presence (social media). It’s about adopting the right resources and professionals to create a holistic approach; leveraging all media and not comparing the cost of social media versus other media. Rather appreciate the value of the space - if done right, you’ll get what you pay for. ©2010 Popimedia on Social | PostNet Suite 366, Private Bag X1, Melrose Arch 2076