Ryan Derousseau, Social Media Manager, Affect Strategies
It’s a question that has troubled companies and marketers alike: How do you make money off of social media? Well, according to the Social Media Week panel attended yesterday at Saatchi and Saatchi Wellness, it’s a question of the past (almost).
That’s because more and more, companies are figuring out creative and interactive ways to utilize Facebook or mobile applications to make the entire experience of shopping more social. But in order to accomplish this, brands have to realize that the dynamics have also changed. Back in the days when email marketing dominated, consumers were given information without their desire. Whether it was an email marketing campaign or spam, they received information that they didn’t ask for. Now consumers are in control of who contacts them. This means consumers decide which brands to interact with, and they can organize their Facebook page or mobile device by brand affinity.
So they decide what they want to hear, which means advocacy is the key to a social campaign. And to get that advocacy, you need to offer the consumer something for all their efforts. Spa Week had the right idea. In one of the more interesting campaigns I’ve heard, Spa Week offered a chance for customers to earn money for providing brand advocacy. If a customer liked the Spa Week Facebook page, they had the chance to purchase a gift card. If the customer purchased a gift card then posted on Facebook about the purchase, they could use a special tracking link. Then if their friends used the link to go purchase a gift card, Spa Week would give the original customer a 10% discount on their purchase. Spa Week used a PayPal account, where the customer could go find their money.
Pretty cool! So what should brands do to assure they are able to profit off of a social media campaign? One overarching complaint from the event was when companies don’t provide a budget to market the social media campaign or mobile app. The idea can’t function in a vacuum, so in order for it to work, companies need to support it with some marketing. Remember, 10,000 active, engaged customers can be way better than a 95 million viewers. Other advice: Make sure any technology you use doesn’t overshadow the brand, or take so much time developing that it hurts the brand. Plus, make sure the platform is appropriate for what you want to get out of the campaign.
But back to that old question: Can social media lead to sales? David Soubie, of HauteLook shined some light on that. HauteLook, a fashion daily deal site, offer fans a chance to shop, purchase and get special deals all through Facebook. The fan can even select the type of stuff they’re interested in, which creates their own little storefront. According to Soubie, a deal HauteLook offered with the brand DVF on Facebook produced 30,000 new fans, 800 orders and a 3.6 percent conversion rate. What does that mean? Social commerce has arrived.
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