Social media - online sites like blogs and discussion boards where consumers create and share information and opinions directly with each other - are beginning to affect brands. Download this white paper now to understand the importance of a social media strategy, and how to make the case to management.
Making the Case for a Social Media Strategy
A Cymfony Influence 2.0T White Paper
Social media - online sites like blogs and discussion boards
where consumers create and share information and opinions
directly with each other -- are beginning to affect brands.
Examples like the Kryptonite lock crisis and Intuit's continued
success have convinced marketers to incorporate social media
into their plans. In many companies, marketers must convince
their senior management executives who don't understand
the influence the social aspects of the Web experience is
exerting on their brands.
july 2006Here's the elevator pitch to give to a busy executive: The influence traditional media and marketing have over consumer perception is waning as people use the plethora of digital technologies to circumvent traditional sources to obtain information and entertainment from each other. But these social media outlets are more than another channel through which to deliver messages to the marketplace. Companies like GM, Microsoft, Intuit and New Line Cinema are successfully using social marketing strategies to understand and engage their audiences more deeply - with demonstrable business results. Here are the data, examples, and details to support the pitch. Communication Builds Web Audiences It is axiomatic that marketers must place Percent of Time Spent on their messages where consumers spend Online Activities time. Online advertising's growth has outstripped other media as marketers have Source: Online Publishers Association Feb 2006 followed consumers' migration to the Web for shopping, news and entertainment. Search 5% Commerce 18%While information and commerce are part of the Web experience, communication (in the form of email) was the "killer app" that made the Web a Content"must-have" and continues to be a mainstay of 38%the online experience. Communication activities split the lion's share of consumers' online time with content, and far outstrip commerce and Communicationssearch according to the Online Publisher's 39%1Association Internet Activity Index. Advertisers have begun to experiment with inserting ads into blogs, podcasts or RSS feeds and even conducting viral marketing campaigns. While there will be a place for these strategies, these approaches use social media as a one-way channel. To gain the full benefit of the Web's true nature as a social medium, companies must learn to participate with their audience in a deep, continuous dialogue. The Social Web's New Communications Forms Draw More Users As consumer's experience and comfort with the technology has increased, online users have expanded their social activities to tap into or contribute to consumer-created content like product reviews. The Pew Internet and American Life Project reports that 44% of American Internet users 2post on blogs, discussion boards or engage in other social media outlets . A quick search on Amazon for the "DaVinci Code" found over 3,000 customer reviews ranked by helpfulness as rated by the site's users. Retailers including Circuit City and media companies like CNET also host reviews on their sites as an added value to their visitors.
1 The State of the Blogosphere In its April 2006 "State of the Blogosphere", leading blog search engine, Technorati reported: . 19.4 million active blogs (defined as having a new post 3 months after creation) . 3.9 million blogs are updated at least weekly . 1.2 million new posts per day . 70,000 new blogs are created each day. . The universe of blogs is 60 times larger than it was just 3 years ago. . It is doubling in size every 6 months Source: State of the Blogosphere, April 2006, Part 1 http://www.sifry.com/alerts/archives/000432.html
While blogs get most of the credit for the rise in social media, customer opinion sites, usenet groups and discussion forums receive over twice as many posts a day as blogs 3(about 4-6 million). Discussion boards' popularity persists because enthusiasts find a community that shares their passion: PriusChat.com visitors share ideas, information, and experiences with the hybrid gas-electric automobile. The dramatic growth of social media sites show that while the form may change, participatory content is a powerful draw: comScore reports that MySpace gre... [download for more]
