Bridge Social Media Skills with Clara Shih’s Book
June 10, 2009 by Mary Ellen
Reading up on social media? Consider: The Facebook Era: Tapping Online Social Networks to Build Better Products, Reach New Audiences, and Sell More Stuff by Clara Shih.
This book gets high marks from me and variety of others. (See the fan page.) It’s realistic, clear and on target. Shih’s advice is consistent with good business strategy, i.e., everything needs to relate to your customer. She explains the why behind her comments, thus making it more helpful for business owners who haven’t yet climbed on the bandwagon. Here are just a few examples:
When someone new becomes interested in engaging with your brand, the barriers to do so on Facebook or MySpace are very low. Instead of having to visit a new Web site and sign up with all their information, people can just go to your community page and join with one click. Very few brands can sign up 150 million of their own registered users. (YouTube, with 100 million, is the only one I can think of that even comes close.)
Social networking sites give people a semipublic forum surrounded by friends where not everyone has the same interests and affiliations.
Especially in today’s crowded marketplace—the average American is exposed to over 3,000 advertising messages each day—social distribution from customer to customer rather than from vendor to customer is by far the most affordable and effective way for brands to stand out. Among the social networks, Facebook has been the clear leader in social distribution.
Facebook News Feeds, which broadcast members’ recent activity to all of their friends, have transformed how messages spread by automating social distribution of information. What would have been isolated incidents before become highly publicized updates on Facebook.
The new mantra is don’t advertise to people, advertise between people. Recommendations and referrals from known and trusted friends can be powerful influencers of purchase decisions.
Facebook Friend updates have made word-of-mouth marketing easy, thoughtless, and automatic. Every time anyone on Facebook updates a status message, writes on a wall, sends or receives a gift, RSVPs for an event, makes a comment, becomes a fan, or plays a branded game, people find out.
Instead of requiring me to provide a proactive update or endorsement, Facebook enables word of mouth to be passive.
The challenge for small businesses who plan to implement social media may well be the commitment involved. It’s not a campaign. Some of the business objectives Shih suggests considering include:
- Conducting market research
- Improving customer satisfaction
- Promoting additional products and services to existing customers
- Expanding into new markets
- Recruiting new employees
- Establishing or evolving your branding and positioning
Shih suggests picking two or three goals, prioritizing them, and developing your strategies and decisions from there. In addition, she acknowledges other social networks besides Facebook and suggests you look at the one(s) appropriate to your product/service. An index at the back of the book provides resources.
If you’re not already in the social media fray, The Facebook Era will solidify your resolve to get there. If you’re there, this book can help you define your strategy and hone your message.
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