Mike de Block
-
Showing posts tagged social media
-
It isn’t a hype
Stop hyping social media and start perceiving it as an evolved form of marketing. Finally, I let it out, since I was fed up by the general perception that everything that involves social media could be converted into gold. No, it isn’t!!
The reputation of social media is still fragile, so let’s keep it simple and effective. Last week I had a conversation with 3 entrepreneurs, who each questioned the true purpose of social media. Nevertheless, the answer is dead simple if you decide to embrace the essentials of social media.
Traditional companies: The purpose of business is to create a customer.
Social companies: the purpose of business is to create a customer that creates customer.
Oke, I hear you say it. Mike, sounds great and simple, but how and why would I invest in my consumers from a ROI perspective, I could much easier achieve my targets when I continue to send the “buy this” traditional message instead of listening to them.
Good question, but I would like to counter the question with another question:
Why would you earn money on the short term, when you can become indispensable on the long term. Since, we all know that loyalty has become scarce, it’s more then logical that the “value” of this intangible asset has rocketed. Secondly,… well you can do the math.
My point however is that by becoming indispensable it doesn’t mean that you should drop traditional media. As Gary Vaynerchuk mentioned in his video post, you should perceive the relation between the two types of media as a good cop - bad cop relation.
Traditional media is the bad cop as it pushes the “buy this” message to everybody, whether they like it or not. Good cop is social media, which would humanize your business via listening and engaging with your customer. In short, the bad and good cop can work together as the good cop can extend the message from the bad cop. The ROI should always exist as the current business cannot life without it and let’s face it with to many good cops we all would behave as hippies.This message underpins a quote from Laurens Bianchi, who said “as a social media consultant you should sit next to your client and not in front of him”. In short, don’t make it to difficult and bridge the gap between the comfort zone of traditional media and the fear of the unknown of social media.
We all know that brands do not determine what it stands for as brands are derived from the interactions between consumers. The level of influence from a brand is therefore reduced to almost zero (except Apple) and the consumer is in full control. This sounds either scary or wonderful, but this doesn’t give anybody a hall pass to change the perception of social media as something complicated.
The tentacles of social media reach out to every discipline within a company.
Brand marketing is already evolved into social influence marketing and who knows what is next in respect for HR, Finance, Logistics you name it.My message for every entrepreneur is to embrace the good cop - bad cop perception and stop putting any effort in keeping social media out of your company.
Social media is a simple tool to spread a story and definitely not the holy grail that will solve all your problems. It can do a lot, but in essence your message must be genuine and attractive in order to be successful. Exactly the same as in traditional media, remember that!
-
Gary: “Social media is not a necissity, it’s just an enormous opportunity.”
Do I agree? Offcourse!
However, I would like to emphasize on the bigger picture, namely the social media maturity development.
Phase 1: Social media, engaging, interacting, caring, R.A.K. Huh what? Oh well let’s give it a try as it sounds innovative!
Phase 2: Social media is a hype and it’s perceived as a goal instead of a tool.
Phase 3: Social media is an opportunity that can create brand ambassadors, which has became a vital intangible tool for every company in today’s status-sphere economy.
Phase 4: Social media is perceived as an evolution of word of mouth marketing, which creates the most loyal customers.
Take the message from Gary to your heart, as it is the most simplest, yet most important thing you should know about social media.
(Source: gary)
-
Best Practice in respect to the blocknotes below: Debenhams
Debenhams is the most simplest example, how the online and offline environment can empower the total customer experience. The twitter assistant is answering all the questions that @Debenhams receives. If you wonder whether your size is available, the twitter assistent will help you out. In short, the twitter assistant is a lead generator, which is persuading the customer to visit the store.
-
Why I don’t aspire to franchise an Albert Heijn or a Wallmart
My dream? Setting up a niche supermarket! Scalable? potentially. Moneymaker? on the long term. What is the ROI? Brand-advocates
So am I pointing specifically at Albert Heijn or Wallmart? No, this post is pointed at the supermarket industry in general. Recently, I was reading an article about a successful supermarket franchisee who declared that the key to success was his extensive assortment. While his answer is probably correct for the years that are behind us, his key to success is certainly not future-proof. Even when the focus is already on online and social media it is insufficient. This is supported by A Forrester research study indicating that 88% of consumers have abandoned an online shopping basket, suggesting that even if retailers manage to stand out and lure the consumer to their online selling points, they still need to place extra effort to close the sale. Why? Because the purpose of a company has changed in our current economy as social media emphasizes the importance of word of mouth:
- original purpose: Creating a customer
- new purpose: creating a customer who creates another customer
Seth Godin and Jeff Jarvis complement that consumers face an abundance of choices, while the time to actually consider what product to choose decreases. Nevertheless, am I as a 24 year old graduate mocking with a successful franchisor? No, I just think that his vision isn’t sustainable on the long term. Why? Because companies sell us a feeling and not a set of molecules in the form of a product, which complies with the new purpose of a company. However, cash is king and therefore standardization and being mediocre is prioritized.
However, you can’t blame the current Dutch supermarket chains like Albert Heijn (Ahold), Jumbo and C1000 as these companies are forced to endeavour shareholder value, which was like the holy grail in the previous era. Nevertheless, the father of the shareholder value movement, Jack Welch now said “On the face of it, shareholder value is the dumbest idea in the world. Shareholder value is a result, not a strategy”.
This sounds like the perfect storm for new entries, since traditional supermarkets always have the burden to target the mass in order to deliver the demanded shareholder value. Moreover, the impact of social media is clear:
- Social media has magnified the influence our social circle has on our purchases.
Shareholder value should thus be exchanged for brand advocates as a result.
How?
Niche communities should been taken serious. Marketers already tried to raise brand awareness though product reviews on social networks.
However, now the consumer is taking the lead. The online communities are now trying to leverage their influence like US, Twittermoms. The TwitterMoms Seal of Approval is one of the first to leverage the influence of moms to conduct product reviews. Moms trust moms above all else, especially during the point of sale. When a products is approved like the Quickie Microfiber Twist MopIt’s, it receives a seal with an integrated QR code to allows anyone to view detailed feedback. Products will therefore be bought based on quality and not on quantity (package deals, discounts). The consumer communities are coming close to become self-supporting, which is why the economy of niches is commencing.
Use “free” to generate the initial buzz and lure the influencers
Secondly, when focusing on niches it’s vital that the word travels fast among the niche members. The best way to do so, is to blow up existing b-models. Give away products for free, that are used by existing players to achieve profit. While luring the critical niche mass to your store, you can use there presence to sell them other products. The difference between cheap and free is enormous from a customer perspective. With free the word travels fast and communities will get-2-know your store, while a price of 1 cent already makes it a different story as it put consumers to reconsider their purchase decision. Free is an emotional stimulator and a source of irrational excitement. This is due to the fact that people perceive it as a risk when they pay for something, it’s our natural fear for loss. But how can free be a business model? take a look at the picture below and amaze me with your creative ideas. Need examples to be persuaded? read Free from C. Anderson
Exclusivity discounts
The attention for the individual is superior to the content as it’s the people that matter, not the venue. Supermarkets must therefore function as a platform. Follow the example of the Danish gyms, where subscribers pay less when they regularly visit the gym. Discount can therefore been given based on the frequency of shopping and the amount they spend. Exclusivity is therefore given per discount that is offered, while the consumer itself is in control. Brand advocates could therefore been created based on price.
Review marketing
Thirdly, review marketing must be implemented in your business. Why? Because 76 % of the consumers doesn’t believe that retailers communicate the truth in their adds. 49% listens to the opinion of their social network in order to decide which store they are getting their groceries. Moreover, a recent study from Deloitte shows that 82% decides to purchase a product/services based on a consumer review. Social media comments on recipes, products, sponsoring events etc. can be attached via a price tag to the product. In short, a supermarket is a social gathering place, so embrace the opinion of your customers in order to increase the relevance of grocery shopping. Moreover, embrace the calendar of your customer. Truly function as a platform, where your supermarket approaches customers based on there facebook comments. Is your wine-geek best friends birthday coming up, a suggestion of wine is offered as a present. Moreover, product suggestion are given based on the photo comments or wall chats. Interested? take a look at Bijgespijkerd.nl where Ha Vo, CEO of Componence Social elaborates on this concept.
Brand advocates should be the new ROI, or lets name it the Return of Involvement. With this post, I just want to give you a grasp of an idea what the NEAR future will bring. However, my key argument is that shopping is about consumers and not about assortment or other old-fashioned tools to generate a competitive advantage. The new mass are the numerous niches that are being developed as we speak. Create a complementary offline-online customer experience and discover the person behind your customer. The return……. (you probably know it already) a BRAND ADVOCATES ARMY.
-
Calling all Foursquare Ambassadors
Foursquare strives to extend their reach of business deals via existing and happy 4SQ users. In short, utilizing your users and convert them into free sales agents. Their goal is to gain the interest of business, who would like to register and offer 4SQ discounts for checkins. This is good news for Holland as the current number of Dutch deals is not worthy to mention. Interested? Sign up and receive ambassador cards with your name on it.
However, I am not a fan of this ambassador program, since there is no public individual recognition from Foursquare. I am a firm believer of the statussphere, which I perceive as the root of our social networking desires. The need for recognition and status is at the heart of every consumer trend. Status is the ultimate (hidden) motive, a subconscious but ever-present force. Nevertheless, their are working numerous of clever people at 4SQ, who are aware of the status-sphere. My guess is that a recognition program is started, once the ambassador program is running for a couple of months. Simply, to award the true fans of 4SQ, who didn’t need a return on their efforts on forehand.
-
It’s called the “the social break-up” when a person unlikes a company, which isn’t adding anything relevant or interesting on a persons tweet or wall. Personally, I always had the impression that lots of companies were missing the point, however I wasn’t aware that these “the social break-ups” occurred in such a large quantity. Research from exacttarget and Cotweet shows that companies tend to be too self-promotional.On Facebook for example:
- 55% users have liked a company and then later decided they no longer wanted to see the company’s posts.
- 51% never visit a company’s page after liking them
- 71% became more selective in liking companies
This research was focusing on the channels: e-mail, twitter and facebook. However, regardless of the channel it became clear that consumers are driven away, when the company’s communication shows that they simply doesn’t care. In short, the same news is spreaded, although via different channels. Companies are thus still using the traditional push marketing, although via contemporary channels. The solution is simple and mentioned by various social media guru’s: evoke emotion and consumers will interact. In short, caring conveys the sentiment that brands place the best interest of their customers ahead of their own balance sheets. Show that you care about your customers, but if you don’t know who they are, I have only 1 answer: start to worry.
PS. This is the last post I devote on the essentials of social media to stimulate interaction. It should be clear by now;)
-
Ouch! this mismatch of perceptions must be embarrassing for executives.
But wait…just look a bit further and you also see another major mismatch. Look at the consumer rankings from top till down, and you will see that it’s more or less a milestone plan from consumers before they would like to act as brand advocates. It starts with fulfilling their basic needs, while gradually intensifying the customer relation in order to empower them to personal brand your products. Unfortunately, this research from IBM is showing that executives are not really spot on with their ranking.
Moreover, We are living in an attention economy where consumers know that the attention for a product is worth a lot to companies. Consumers therefore expect something in return, before they are rewarding your brand with only the slightest level of attention. So does your company want to shift from push to pull marketing, then start with simple and old-fashioned tools like offering financial discounts. As their must be a reason why collective-buying sites like Groupon are so successful…
Likes
-
Tom Marchant, co-founder of travel company Black Tomato about over-delivery and acts, not ads....
-
Grappig: de organogrammen van de grootste techbedrijven.
-
“you can’t let other people tell you who you are, you have to decide that for yourself”
-
ahhh… Carla Gugino
-
Britse humor + techniek gaat prima samen.
