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SOCIAL NETWORKING: MEERKATS, TWEETING AND YOU?

Social networking, the world of Facebook, MySpace and the current hype of Twitter, might send you running,

"...the brevity of the short 'tweets' and the mobile compatibility making it fit nicely in a busy lifestyle."

but did you know that 1 in every 11 minutes of time spent online globally, is spent on either social networking or blogging sites? (Source: " More Time Spent Social Networking Than on Email " December 2008). Social networking allows people to share links, discuss topics and keep in touch. Many businesses have made the jump, with varying success.

Compare The Meerkat & Customer Interaction

• Perhaps you've seen CompareTheMarket.com's recent "comparethemeerkat.com" campaign? Not only was it a viral marketing campaign, complete with a spoof site; Aleksandr Orlov (the name of the meerkat presenter in the adverts) is on Facebook, where almost 400,000 fans follow him. All these followers receive Orlov's updates on a regular basis, providing a captive audience for comparethemarket. The campaign rocketed to popularity, and was hailed a great online marketing success. (Source: "CompareTheMeerkat.com shows brands how social media should be done" January 2009)

• Rather than a furry online persona, you might prefer the thought of a group or community. One clothes retailer created a group on Facebook, and ran promotions, such as a competition, asking members to post a photo of themselves in their Christmas outfit, bought from the shop. The winner received shopping vouchers to keep the incentive to buy with the retailer. Between this, the company promoted discussion about sizing, favourite products, and bravely even the pros and cons of their competitors.

For the more technical minded, you could even go as far as building a Facebook or MySpace application. Just to fill the gap of your audience battling a vampire or sending each other a growing gift.

Twitter

Twitter, although smaller than some of the more dominant social networks of MySpace and Facebook, is a lightweight alternative. It is growing in popularity, the brevity of the short “tweets” and the mobile compatibility making it fit nicely in a busy lifestyle. Some clients use it to post their product or offer of the day, others use it to answer quick queries and share their latest press release. Delving deeper, there are also trends, to see what people are “tweeting” about at that moment.

Targeted Advertising for Beginners

• The greatest advantage of social networking is that you can target your market. Often the networks can offer a targeted ad campaign, where ads are served to members based on their location, gender, or any interests they have listed on their profile. This allows you to choose a global or a very select local audience.

• Secondly, anyone can do it. You don’t require any real technical know-how to join a social network and set up a company page, group etc. Subsequently you can often achieve a high return on investment, due to the fact the whole (or the majority) of the process is absolutely free.

If you feel confident, why not stick a toe into the shark pool? But, it does come with a commitment – social networking is fast paced. Keep that page, or group updated, and keep your captive audience. It’s always a gain to have increased company visibility, after all.

Want to add social networking to your online marketing strategy? Talk to us about what could work best for you and your business.