We’ve been given the extreme opportunity to actually talk with our community

From my vantage point we, as marketers, need to embrace what it is we’ve been given… We’ve been given the extreme opportunity to actually talk with our community, converse with our customers, and build solid relationships that, if nurtured correctly, can turn into passionate advocates about our company, brand and products. This amazing phenomena doesn’t come without a pricetag. Not a monetary figure but one of time, understanding, and effort. We must pay this price to build the trust needed to develop lasting relationships and bonds that will only continue to grow stronger with each interaction.

Now that many companies are “dipping a toe” in social media, we continually hear, “How do I build trust within my community?”

eMarketer recently released some amazing facts and figures about what and how people trust in social media.

As we see above, trust from consumers depends on several variables; some that you may have control of, some that you may not. There is no magic charm for success in social media; however there is a simple formula to building passionate supporters:

1.    Build Trust
2.    Drive Loyalty
3.    Empower Advocates

As more and more business are adopting Foursquare as a marketing channel by adding incentives for checking-in, the need to track and analyze this data has resulted in the launch of a Foursquare dashboard.  In order to use this dashboard, you must claim your venue. You do not have to be the person that created the venue to claim it, but you must be available at the venue to answer a phone call from Fourquare and provide details/proof that you are eligible to manage it. You can either manage the account through your personal Foursquare account, or start a new one, as the details of the manager’s account are public.

This dashboard is a collection of venue check-in analytics including stats like:

Key Metrics: (Overview of activity)

- Total check-ins
- Unique visitors
- Percentage of check-ins shared with Twitter
- Percentage of check-ins shared with Facebook
- Gender percentages of check-ins

Top 3 Visitors

12 Most Recent Check-ins

All Check-ins (detailed list)

Time Breakdown (time users are checking in)

See Below:

Currently, there is no way to access the information by a certain week, month, or day, so for now, we are forced to record this data and move into a spreadsheet or other tracking software.

This is a great step in the right direction for a business using Foursquare. We anxiously await more detailed tracking options from Foursquare in the near future.

The Pew Research Center recently published a research paper titled “The Future of Social Relations.” In it there are some great facts and insight in how individuals are reacting to the impact that the social environment has had on their lives and the effect it will have in the coming decade. Some of the results are quite outstanding.

One of the most astounding outcomes of the research is the positive sentiment that social networking has had on our lives and relationships:

Some 85% agreed with the statement:

“In 2020, when I look at the big picture and consider my personal friendships, marriage and other relationships, I see that the internet has mostly been a positive force on my social world. And this will only grow more true in the future.

So what does this mean to brands? Simple; in social media, relationships matter. We may all get caught up in scale, community size, impressions, reach, and the bottom line for our brand, but the only thing that matters to me as a consumer, is the relationship you build with me. I don’t care about any of those things, I only care about what value you bring to my life.

Let’s take this amazing study about how social media has had a positive effect on our relationships as individuals and use it as a wake-up call. Social networking isn’t marketing; it’s a lifelong commitment to building a relationship with individuals.

By mapping out different customer journeys, we can better understand the experience of our social ecosystem from the consumer’s perspective; compounding the effects of any single campaign or message.  The true power of social media comes from the complete integration with two things:

The entirety of our other marketing – Communicating a consistent message across all touchpoints will only expound the message to ensure brand awareness, understanding, and expectations within the marketplace.

The day to day lifestyle of our customers – Understanding where, how, and why our consumers communicate, then communicating with them on their terms, taking them to the most relevant information for them as a customer or prospect will create a sense of trust and understanding between the customer and the brand.

Creating a holistic and a granular view of our customer journeys in the digital space, we can better serve our customers by providing more relevant information as well as better plan our marketing strategies to increase ROI in the digital space.

Now here’s the question… Chances are your brand(s) advertise on Google based on keyword searches… Everyone does it simply because of the targeted nature of search and the expanse of reach that Google provides. It’s a no brainer, go where the consumers are. But what now; Now that the consumers are shifting to Facebook? We should be on Facebook. It seems like another no brainer right? Are you on Facebook?

Now I’m sure if you’re not on Facebook, the thought of it frightens you. The small loss of control, the conversations that people are having, and actual interaction with the customer can all be very intimidating, even to the most seasoned marketer. So much so, many companies are staying away from the platform and social media all together. It’s new and hard to define. We have no idea what will happen in the social space. However, we should know what we’re missing.

Enter the second article… In the article “Social Fans More Likely to Buy,” eMarketer points out reasons people become fans of brands on Facebook and the driving forces for them to purchase. As we can see in the graph below, Social Fans are very likely to not only purchase from the brands they are “Fans” of but also recommend those brands creating a level of trust, word of mouth, and earned media that static platforms like Google cannot offer.

So now you’re probably asking, “why would anyone become a “Fan” of my brand on Facebook?” Simple… it makes their life easier and more involved. As we see from the second graph the top reasons for “Fanning” a brand are:

•    To receive discounts and promotions (become a more empowered consumer)
•    I am a customer of the company (show loyalty and enhance advocacy)
•    To show others that I like/support the brand (allow your brand attributes to define them as a person/customer)

It’s an amazing shift in why people become a fan of a brand, but shows the realization of individualized, personal marketing that a platform, like Facebook could allow.

If you’re a marketer of a brand, your goal is to get your brand in front of as many eyes that you can, as well as persuade toward a purchase. Google may give you an opportunity for the reach and allow you to display an advertisement, but Facebook offers you much, much more. It not only gives you the eyes you want and the advertising you desire, but also provides you with a platform to interact with customers and communicate on a regular, semi-intimate basis; to give them discounts and promotions; to enhance loyalty and build advocacy; and provide an outlet to let your passionate followers shout to the world that they are your customer. It’s a simple thought… communicating with your customers. One that should NEVER be scary.

The world of communication has forever changed. Along with the shift in communications we are also seeing a shift in the way we as marketers must engage with our customers. The methods of mass communication by defining large markets through demographics, geographics, psychographics and consumer behavior have proven to become too generic for the new, empowered, overly-communicated consumer. By wanting to be engaged as individuals, consumers are demanding better understanding on a personal level. To become better marketers and continue to provide content and products that consumers will want to integrate into their lifestyle, we need to dig deeper and better define our consumers and what goes on in their personal, daily lifestyles.

One major factor attributing to the shift in communication is the shift to a more digital world. Enhancements in Web 2.0 technologies, mobile devices, and real-time information have created a more engaged customer. Therefore to better understand our customers and their digital behaviors, we need to add a few more definitional parameters; Technographics, Socialgraphics, and Mobilegraphics.

Technographics: The understanding of how a user interacts with technology, what technologies they interact with, and the involvement level of these interactions.

Socialgraphics: The understanding of how social the user is. What platforms they use; how often; what is their influence within their network; who are the people that influence them; what content do they share, interact with, and find beneficial; what are their affinity connections?

Mobilegraphics: As an extension of technographics and socialgraphics, we need to look at how users gather information on the go. Does our customer use a smartphone; do they email from their phones; do they use social apps on their phones; does their phone have internet connectivity; how often do they interact with their devices; etc?

When creating any type of integrated marketing campaign in today’s world, we need to really drill down and understand how our customers utilize the digital world in their daily lives. By defining our customers with these additional parameters, we will have a better holistic view of the individual within our smaller niches markets, forever enhancing our communications’ effectiveness.