3.2 Social media

In the last few years, social web sites appeared that let people contact with each other and share more than ever before. However this doesn’t mean that the social web is just about talking to friends and family—it can be a powerful tool to generate more web site traffic and leads.

Social media has some competitive advantages in front of other online advertising techniques. One of them is that social networking is expanding much faster than the Internet as a whole. In 2008, social networking web site traffic grew 25%, while overall Internet traffic only grew 11%. The other one is that social media allows to talk to customers directly, without all the marketing hype. Finally, on the Internet, word of mouth spreads extremely fast. A good or bad customer review or comment can be picked up by search engines. By becoming an active participant instead of simply the subject of conversation, companies can foster communication with their customers and increase brand awareness.

‘The term ‘social media’ is used to describe all the different kinds of content that form social communities: posts on blogs or forums, photos, audio, videos, links, profiles on social networking web sites, status updates, and more [page 78, 1].’ Combining a set of different types is the key to spread the word and will help to encompass a wider range of potential customers. Next these types are given in more detail.

Social networking sites are built specifically for people to connect with others. Users start by creating user profiles that can include a biography, interests, photos and videos, notes, and even blogs. They can then use the site to find acquaintances, colleagues, friends, and family members, and list them within their profile as a friend, contact, or colleague.

Some social networks like Facebook and MySpace focus primarily on connecting friends and family, while work-based sites such as LinkedIn and Plaxo host resumes and professional information, connecting business colleagues.

Blogging is a frequently updated web site that shows updates in reverse chronological order (newest at the top). These updates could take the form of journal entries, articles, or links that people had come across.

Commenting on influential blogs and adding value is a marketing strategy in itself. Companies start by building a list of media contacts, with notes about the types of press releases they’re interested in.

If a blogger can provide value to the blog by commenting, he can establish himself as an expert in this field. Gawker Media founder Nick Denton claims: ‘Some comments naturally carry more weight—for instance, if they come from a knowledgeable person or expert—while others offer vital counterpoints that add to the conversation. But tamping down on the ability for readers or customers to freely provide feedback is a sure fire way to kill the credibility of a brand [4].’

Blogs have a hierarchy. Smaller blogs, called microblogs, follow large influential blogs and often write about interesting stories in their own blogs, creating a link back to a relevant site. Twitter is the most popular microblogging service. Microblogs can often be incorporated into web sites and blogs by showing the latest entry or a number of most recent entries.

Previously, uploading and sharing multimedia media with others was difficult. Sites like You-Tube became popular because they made it easy for anyone to upload and share their content online. Users can search for photos based on a number of criteria, tag them with keywords, or aggregate them into groups.

Social bookmarking web sites can help solve the problem of remembering visited sites by providing a hosted and easily accessible set of your bookmarks. In addition, bookmarks can be shared with others and tagged, making it easy to find similar websites or search for a specific topic.

Social news web sites such as Digg gather links to news stories posted on web sites all over the Internet. The stories are submitted, rated, or voted on by users, and the most popular stories are featured on the site’s home pages and category lists.

Podcasts are audio or video recordings that people share online. Users subscribe to a feed of a program, which automatically grabs new episodes as soon as they’re released.

Online forums are one of the oldest forms of social media, where people gather on web sites to have open discussions on niche topics. Online communities usually revolve around a specific topic such as sports, web development, or health.

Once a company targets any of these types of social media, it has to take several steps:

• listening;

• joining;

• participating;

• creating.

Listening is the most important step. Online, people are already discussing companies, products, or brands. A marketer should listen carefully to what customers think of it, but just as necessary is listening to what they need and want. As well as watching discussions about your company name or product, look for general discussions about your industry on the whole.

Once a marketer understands the lay of the land by listening, it’s time to think about joining a social network. Now that is time for to claim a brand or company name and take ownership of contributions. The first rule is joining the communities with potential customers as participants.

Participation can include posting topics in online forums, replying to topics in forums and blog posts, reviewing products or services, and even just bookmarking web sites you like. By simply participating in the communities related to your industry, marketers build their online brand.

Only after reading, listening, and participating in other social networks, marketers should try to create their own content. The main advice is to to provide value, and ads are not usually considered valuable. No one wants to read a blog that simply advertises a product or service. Social networking is about making a worthwhile contribution.

‘For example, a pediatrician might start a blog with health advice to parents, while a music store might create video lessons on how to play instruments. In each case, they provide content in the form of advice to their customers—actual and potential—instead of advertising their products or services [page 89, 1].’

To finish up, it needs to be said that one of the most common mistakes companies make when trying social media is that they maintain that corporate facade instead of behaving like normal, everyday human beings. Social media connects people; to participate, an advertiser needs to have conversations, the way real people do. A marketer will benefit much more if he just talks to people.