This was presented for the first time at ELTRUN's Advanced eCommerce Seminar on 16 Feb 2013, Athens, Greece.
More up-to-date news in social media marketing:
http://www.suit.gr
Social Media have a bad rep when it comes to Online Commerce.In my opinion, this is because:Online shopper have a much more rational attitude, since there is no instant gratification which favors impulse buying.All shops are a click away, so they compare offerings side-by-side, whereas in real-life there is no such option (yet)So many price comparison sites make it all about the priceSo many retailers offer the exact same thing.Most online commerce is for products & services with a short sales cycle, which are also the ones that can be standardized and compared, whereas other products cannot.Most importantly: social media are good at creating emotional connections. These take time. And when something takes time, tracking it means going outside your Google Analytics.
Let’s see the glass half-full.Write this down: 93% of marketers of e-commerce sites believe that social media is very important to their work? And 55% of you who heard me share this number probably thought that it must be important, too, just because these marketers do it.Actually, both of these two figures are made-up. And today, I don’t want to talk about numbers. I want to tell you the story of why social media can work for you. And it’s not something that you can easily analyze with a tool or a survey.What do you believe you would you need if you were to have social media work for you?You need to think outside the box.
But first, think inside the box. Start from what is in your own website
For most e-commerce sites, I would classify different social media according to what I believe they can bring back.High on the list are the most effective for most. Low on the list are the least effective.But it comes down to who you are.
Monitoring is the process that allows you to see what’s being told about your brand.Monitoring will soon be analogous to answering your phone.Share story about rival Las Vegas hotel that welcomed someone that wasn’t staying in the hotel and got their business next time for 10k.
If for me a car is more than something that takes me from A to B, I will need more info than just price, mpg and guarantee info. The more I get involved, the more content I need from official sources, but also experts and also peers (friends).I might pick some of this up during the sales cycles, but when I need something definite, it’s more probable I will refer to content sources with more content.So I will probably not be buying insurance, car or education based on a Facebook post. Blogs or Forums or YouTube are more likely to be my sources.Whereas, I might pick a bar for the night, buying a fmcg or other product based on a FB post.
Difference between Paid, Owned and Earned media.You need to be loved in order to see good ROI from social media.
In mainstream media, a brand could earn share of voice by paying for media.Since content was only formed by mainstream media, the share of voice was relevant only there.
SOV in social media depends primarily on how much they love you, not how much you spend on advertising or how many incentives (contest prizes) you give away.If they do not love you, you will be overspending and underperforming.If they love you, you will not need to spend in order to flourish.
If you’re going to tell a story, make sure you tell a story that they’ve never heard before.
Your brand should tell a story.Stories create emotional connections.
Your story should be simple enough, authentic, inspiring.These are things you build, you do not usually get to earn them right away.
Your story is what carries your brand forward.The brand gets talked about.To unlock more stories, you may need to keep buying the product and enter a code.The possibilities are endless.
Your job is done when people do not Google for your category, but for your brand name.When they will not go to price comparison sites, they will read Reviews and Ratings from within your site.One of my most successful clients has the bulk of their purchases from Search Marketing on their own brand name. Why? Because people love the brand (HOTEL) from what they read on social media.
Big brands in any category are losing share to the smaller ones,Smaller ones are losing their share to Private Labels or to just not-buying.In any category, brands right now are hurting.
Coca Cola convinces people to pay 50 cents for a can, even though it’s mostly sugar water.How? By making it more about just that.
Starbucks convinced us that coffee is much more than just beans found in abundance.It selected the best, roasted them to perfection, served them to our taste.http://www.fastcompany.com/1777409/how-starbucks-transformed-coffee-commodity-4-splurge
Said the story of our performance becoming just a liiiiittle bit better.I still remember Michael Jordan slam dunking from the 3-point line.
LactaFerrero RocherTobleroneBMWMercedesLouis VuittonAppleGoogleMcDonaldsDisneyL’ OrealHeinekenPampersKelloggsIKEAGucciMtvThey inspire getting talked about. And you cannot easily put a metric to that. You cannot use Google Analytics on that.
Love generates good content.People will see a story even when you’re saying it.If I showed you this picture, what story comes to mind?
The single currency is consumer attention.You either have it or you do not.
Social media happen.They happen whether you like it or you don’t.If you are a brand you will be talked about.Make sure you are there to listen, enhance, correct, take advantage of opportunity, apologize if necessary.