- Know your brand. Take stock before you jump in. Social networks are built by users who post profiles, connect with one another, and communicate actively. Much of their communication is visible to all on their profiles and in their posted comments. Yet most marketers are accustomed to a one-way dialogue in which they broadcast their brand message to a mass audience. Feedback is rare and pretty well contained. Social networks are very different. If you present your brand in an engaging way (which is the objective), you'll get plenty of feedback, available for any visitor to see.
Imagine the call you'd get if your CMO approved your campaign only to see your latest product become a toxic commodity as people flamed it with abandon: "Janice, you tested this product in focus groups before launch. You said people were largely positive and that we'd get the same reaction on this site. So why are people writing all these hateful comments? How do we stop this? Can we get those comments taken down?"
To get a sense of what people can write, even within the context of a consumer-generated commercial, check out what some environmentally minded consumers created for GM's new Chevy Tahoe. (Thanks to Pete Blackshaw for alerting me to this one.) It takes a confident brand to engage in a visible, direct dialogue with community members. If you aren't confident enough to handle the heat, reevaluate your product and marketing approach.
- Get ready for a wild ride. When you jump into a social network, you jump into a community in which individuals produce the content and are largely uncensored. If your company's uncomfortable presenting its brand adjacent to questionable content, be very selective about the communities you choose.
- Respect the community. It's a club and you don't really belong. Most social networks aren't about advertising or commerce per se. That said, there are a million bands on MySpace. Smart musicians are launching albums and careers to an audience of 67 million. As an advertiser you're a guest in the club. Understand the environment and respect the unwritten rules: don't intrude on conversations or connections in a way that irritates members; don't divert users from the network to other sites; and don't disguise yourself in a dishonest way. If someone flames your product or service on a board, think carefully before you post a rebuttal, explanation, or even an apology. Responding often inflames the debate. Instead, take the comments as an input for planning product improvements and new campaigns.
MySpace even allows this to happen within its own network. Check out Rupert Murdoch's "profile." As the new owner of MySpace, Fox wouldn't actively promote this. But it lets it exist unedited in the true, uncontrollable spirit of social networking.
- Don't advertise. Connect and engage instead. Sure, you'll see banner ads on social networking sites, but that's not a particularly powerful way to leverage the network's strength. You must construct a strategy in which you offer something of unique value to the community so you can engage in a dialogue or an experience. That's the best way to showcase your brand. What's this mean? Give to get. Give the community something it can't get anywhere else. In return, you get a level of engagement you can't find in most media.
If you chose Facebook as the network you want to develop, understand the needs of graduating seniors and offer them something special they can't get elsewhere, such as a special deal on a car, a new type of credit card, a unique school loan debt consolidation program, tickets to a private concert with their favorite band, or a road trip to their favorite summer beach destination.
- The network effect is real... and fast. Use it, or get out of its way. Social networks are based on connections between people. People collect friends like votes in a popularity contest. The more friends you have, the more networked you are and the more valuable you are as a property. Even the Rupert Murdoch parody profile has over 1,200 friends. In most networks, you are what you say about yourself, who you know, and what you consume. How do you weave your brand into the fabric of the community? Make friends and reward your supporters.
Let's say you market a product that already has a positive, vocal following in a given network (e.g., a TV series, an automobile, a game player, etc.). One way to reward supporters is to give them things, such as exclusive videos, images, posters, ring tones, or music downloads, they can post on their profile and share with their friends. You make new friends through introductions. This harnesses the power of the network.
관련기사:Social Networking Is Your Friend
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