Social Glitz

I’m not telling you anything new when I say that Web 2.0 and social media have changed the way we use the Internet. Neither am I telling you anything new when I say that that’s the reason why marketers and PR professionals are finding themselves in an increasingly difficult situation. We, as consumers, are no longer as easily identifiable as we used to be. These days, us consumers can be any number of things. Producers, users, active participants, members of niche communities, and if worse comes to worst, even critics.

So how can the companies of today ensure that they don’t only find new customers and retain existing ones but also avoid all hell breaking lose when they are confronted with a critic that happens to be quite influential in the online space?

The answer to that question is rather simple but sadly, still very often misunderstood. It’s this question and the simplicity of the answer that led me to conduct research on how to use Twitter as a tool for relationship marketing. By telling you the topic of the research I’ve given away quite a bit upfront but not to worry, the most interesting part is yet to come.

The term “relationship marketing” is used frequently. In fact, it’s used to a point where everyone things they know what they are talking about but only few really do. What is it? How does it work? And how do we best use it in combination with online communication tools such as Twitter?

Transactional vs. Relationship Marketing

Before the 1990s mass marketing was all the craze. Most marketing activities were focused on finding as many customers as possible for a product. But then one of the most important changes in marketing took place. One that is now as important as ever. Companies these days continuously develop the right products for their customers, which is also where the idea of relationship marketing comes in. The idea behind it is simple. It’s not about solving individual customer problems but rather about the long-term support of customers in their processes. In contrary to transactional marketing, that has a raise in market shares as a goal, relationship marketing builds upon long-term relationships to raise customer value. Read more at socialmouths.com

Every merchant seems to have a loyalty program these days. It makes sense to reward customers for their patronage and encourage even greater frequency. But, it appears there’s one kind of loyalty reward that may be more effective. One study showed that “irrelevant information” (in this case, largely valueless loyalty points) changed consumer buying decisions.

What the researchers identified in their experiments was went beyond the logical and expected effect of a loyalty program: the mere presence of point values influenced customer buying decisions. Even when the value of loyalty points was less than the value of a real-money price difference, they were swayed by the loyalty points:

The Neuromarketing takeaway from this research is that exposing customers to point values at the time of purchase can amplify the effectiveness of the loyalty program. Want to encourage sampling of a new product, or drive upgrades? Or get a customer to visit you instead of your competitor? Try something along the lines of, “100 extra Rewards Points with every purchase!” Read more at www.neurosciencemarketing.com

Content marketing is hot right now. According to the B2B Content Marketing: 2010 Benchmarks, Budgets and Trends report, 51% of B2B marketers plan to increase their content marketing budgets within the next year. That’s because publishing compelling content can help you attract customers, increase your brand awareness, promote your thought leadership and bring more visitors to your website. And that’s just a short list of benefits!

However, you may have come across a few myths that are preventing you from getting the greatest ROI from your content marketing efforts. If you’re in the early stages of a content marketing strategy, you may believe at least one of the following myths.

Reality: It takes more than simply publishing a blog or posting a tweet to bring visitors to your website. Sysomos recently revealed that the average lifespan of a tweet is one hour–meaning that if no one retweets you within an hour, you’ll have to either try again later or post something more compelling.

Reality: Publishing keyword-rich content can improve your search engine rankings and bring more visitors to your website, but those visitors won’t stick around unless your content is engaging. Don’t try to get to the top of the search engines by stuffing your social media content and website with keywords. This makes your copy boring and tells your readers, “I wrote this for Google–not for you.”

Reality: You have a huge opportunity to attract customers with your content. However, many marketers turn their blogs, white papers and social media messages into blatant sales pitches. If you try to pitch to potential customers before they get a chance to know, like and trust you, they will tune out. The bulk of your content should educate potential customers and help solve one of their key problems. Once your prospects view you as a trusted and helpful resource, they will be more likely to turn to you if they need your product or service. Read more at www.contentmarketinginstitute.com

1 – Start internally by exciting your employees.  This will foreshadow a bit what’s to come with engaging externally with customers.  But so much of the affinity that people have for brands, comes from the people that represent that brand, especially in a retail setting.  How much of the devotion that Starbucks evangelists have for the brand is tied to the friendly service they get from baristas?  I recently read a blogger (wish I could remember who) that joked that when they were feeling down, they liked to call Zappos support cause they always made them feel better.

2 – Understand who your customers are, and what draws them to your brand.  You likely have already done some research into who your customers are, and why they buy from you.  Are you tracking them online?  Do you know what they are saying about your brand?  It’s important to understand the good as well as the bad.

3 – Interact with your customers on their level and in their voice.   As mentioned above, one of the attributes that many customers value in a brand is its voice.  We don’t want a stale and corporate voice, we want one that we can more easily relate to.  This is where the ‘be human’ advice comes from.  If a company is talking in a voice that’s consistent with the customer’s own, then the customer is more likely to listen.

4 – Monitor what customers are saying online, and respond. If you aren’t already, you should get a monitoring system in place to track what customers are saying about your brand, as well as where they are saying it, what they are talking about, etc.  This will give you great insights into how your customers are thinking.

5 – Embrace and empower your existing evangelists to market for you.  The idea here is to make it easier for your biggest fans to do what they are already doing, singing your praises.  If you have customers that are singing your praises, then you need to give them a microphone, right? Read more at mackcollier.com

Facebook has become an efficient customer acquisition source for many successful e-retailers but only for ones that use it correctly, according to Jon Fahrner, CEO of independent clothing retailer Moxsie.com. The company uses Facebook to learn about its customers rather than to sell directly via the social network, and  Fahrner says the approach is working.

“At Moxsie, we have learned that transactions are not social,” Fahrner says. “But indicators from a small amount of Facebook followers may be enough to tell you where to spend your marketing budget with an extremely attractive customer acquisition cost. “ Fahrner will be speaking with James Keller, senior vice president of marketing and business development at online retailer ShoeBuy.com. Read more at www.internetretailer.com

Personas are nothing new, but they seem to be popping up in conversation more often (I am curious why, how about you?). David Meerman Scott has been talking about personas for years (a whole lot of reading here!).

I would like to caution you that personas are not just good old-fashion market segmentation. Heck no!

If you purely slice and dice your market by demographics (B2C) or firmograhics (B2B) you will be missing out on a WHOLE lot of customer information that will affect your marketing efforts and not in a positive way.

The other mistake that marketers make is creating personas from the comfort of their cubicles, conference rooms and white boarding sessions. Sorry, but you are not the customer no matter how well you think you know your industry, products or services. To create proper personas you need to get out there and talk to you customers—a lot. Spend time with them, watch how they use your products or services, what issues do they have or even why did they stop being a customer. Read more at www.theharteofmarketing.com

But the social web offers a lot more than just discounts and deals when it comes to drinking and dining. Restaurants and bars are giving social media users a backstage pass to the food and the people who make it. Chefs and restaurateurs are using social media to reveal how their dishes are made, generate familiarity with chefs and provide a means for diners to share feedback.

But social media does a lot more than just satisfy curiosities. It makes Twitter followers or Facebook fans remember their last visit. Stu Mitchell, marketing director for Blue 13, a Rock and Roll spot in Chicago, says this act of reminding customers about their last visit “prompt[s] them to want to return, to keep us fresh in the minds of those who have yet to visit, but have been planning on it.”

Instead of attracting customers with deals, many restaurants strive to use social media for a tailored, personal experience. “People love to go into a restaurant or bar and know the owner or the chef,” O’Keefe says. Think of it as instantly becoming a regular. Read more at mashable.com