In? Out? The social media shake about
Tuesday 18 May 2010
TAGS: Social media
Interesting developments in social marketing are afoot with push/pull strategies abound- Client Service Manager at Silverbean, Emma Adcock has the right skills to investigate and most importantly divulge.
Is it one for all -or all for one in your social marketing plan? Are you a hunter gather type or an “I am an Island” individual? Well choose your tribe, as some close ranks and others open up their almost their whole flippin company, the race is on to find out whether exclusive access or a free for all will win out in the social marketing stakes.
What’s going on?
To elaborate and explain, over recent months you will have witnessed some companies involving their My Space and Facebook friends in everything from the next product they launch to the colour of their toilet doors- and there are two main marketing tactics being employed in this instance (but more about that in a min.) Others have effectively changed the “experience” to create a definite distinction between their valued customers and the riffraff, effectively changing their whole website when the former deigns to visit or to simply allow access on a VIP invite only basis.
Why they are doing this? What are the benefits?
The hunters
In effect the first tribe (let’s call them the hunters) are reaching into every corner of the social media landscape to canvas for followers and to actively involve them and ingrate them into the working of the business, these companies tweet on the hour, every hour -are Facebook fans, My Space fanatics, – I could go on but you get the picture. Hunters employ two social marketing stratagems (as I mentioned earlier), the first is contributory social marketing, a nifty little strategy which seeks to involve potential friends and customers in irreverent things centring upon their opinion, a company currently employing this tactic with relish (forgive the pun) is Marmite, neatly marrying the general election and the UK’s feelings about their meaty spread- i.e. vote for the love party (if you love Marmite) or conversely if you don’t- vote for the hate party- via the different social media platforms provided. The beauty of this idea lies in the fact people will often do things if they think they are fun and a bit daft, Marmite is left with some lovely fresh data and has inspired potential customers to become involved with the brand on a different level. Nicely done.
The next contenders are the hunters using co-creation social marketing methods. Co-creation methods take their lead from an X-factor approach, using social media to gage the reaction and feelings of their customer base, usually allowing them greater access to the company’s thinking and enabling them to partake in and respond to developments and new product ideas. Whilst you could be forgiven in thinking this is essentially a social media sounding board, it’s more clever than that. Like the X-factor when you personally contribute you automatically become involved and interested in the final outcome, and ultimately you are more likely to purchase.
A good quasi example of this is Unilever’s use of social media to aid product development. Designated social “bubbles” are created where pre-selected individuals are invited to become essentially an ideas factory for Unilever (the Lynx Twist was born in this manner)- in reality this is just an online focus group with perks, the main one being Unilever can talk to them for longer, attract many different ethnic groups together and -as any good market researcher will know- the anonymity of the net means those in the group will really speak their minds and not give in to “group fear” often prevalent in real-world focus group meetings (this fear is often accused of skewing the results.)
The islands
The islands employ one overriding “limiting tactic”; I must admit this tactic is usually adopted by the high end brands, so you could argue how else are they going to achieve an “exclusive” ambience? However you would probably be surprised to learn that high-street fashion retailer, New Look, was one the first brands to apply this method. The difference when comparing one Island’s strategy with another is- how exclusive can you go? The first stage Islands, create a separate area for a previous customer or recognise the customer and adapt the site to create a richer experience- usually with additional content. Others go to massive extremes such as only allowing you to access the site on an invite only basis, some sites are so prohibitive you need to produce a receipt to say you’ve shopped at their store before you’re allowed in- some even phone you to ensure you’re a correct match for the brand!
For the luxury brands the logic in this exclusivity is simple – facing with the daunting free-for-all that is the internet, how else could they protect their brand and retain control? For others on the lower echelons of the price bracket ladder, it could be they simply want to segment their customers in a definite way, many fashion retailers now mix cameo ranges into their main offerings- adding high-end lines where appropriate- such as ASOS Black and the Kate Moss Range at Top Shop, so it may be the island strategy does have implications and uses within the retail community at large.
In summation- maybe it isn’t such a dichotomy, as you can see the hunters and the islands have something to learn from each other, which strategy works overall is of course down to how well the brand knows their customer and conversely the ways in which customers like to behave and respond to that brand. Social media as a marketing animal remains an organic thing at the moment; could we be seeing the beginnings of the social marketing mix?
Emma Adcock is a Client Services Manager at Silverbean. If you have any questions or would like to discuss how Silverbean can help you achieve your online marketing objectives through our range of services; please contact Emma using one of the following.