Social Communities
This morning I read an interesting blog article titled “Social Media: A Train to Nowhere?”
As I started to write a comment on the post, it turned into more of a blog post. So rather than write a book in the comments section, I decided to post this.
I think that the world as we know it online will begin to shrink over the next several years. There is so much noise, advertising, social networks, media and static online that eventually the small niche’ communities are what will make people feel connected. I don’t think Social Media is “new”. I think that the internet and mobile platforms are finally catching up to a pace of the human desire to feel “connected”. Today I believe that people will put more stock into a review, or recommendation over most advertising campaigns and jingles.
The question isn’t necessarily how do you define and reach goal, I believe it’s broken into parts:
-How do you maintain customer loyalty?
-What methods are you using to trend not only what people are saying about you, but what they want from your competitors.
-Being innovative in making it as easy as possible to resolve customer complaints.
-Having the appropriate metrics to trend, and make wise business decisions.
Intelligence is what will ultimately keep a business profitable and successful in the area of marketing and advertising. A brand that has the ability to make consumers excited enough about their products or services to write comments, reviews and click that “become a fan” button will ultimately be driving the train to success. It doesn’t take much right? Or does it?
Facebook Fan Page
What does that mean exactly? Take for instance the brand of RVCA which is a surf / skate / Artists culture clothing company. Ah, not just your average clothing company though. They are a company focused on a “community” of consumers who are not just buying into the hype of their ad campaigns, but are engaging back with the company as well as their fellow consumers. The description on their Facebook fanpage is “RVCA, it is about today, tomorrow and life as the big picture. It is about inspiring our generation, providing something of substance and culture and above all doing it with integrity and as a united family, a close-knit community.” RVCA Fan Page
I think the key to creating the portals, and platforms for consumers not only to talk with the brands themselves, but also fostering debate and conversation with other fans, consumers, customers is the key. Why? Because, that is building loyalty, and .. It’s FREE marketing.
It would be equivelant to you referring the AC repair man to your neighbor because he did such a fantastic job, didn’t overcharge and was friendly. Having that same conversation with your neighbor online though only exponentially increases the footprint for that AC repair mans company name / brand to virally be spread through sites such as Yelp, Angies List, Kudzu, Yellow Pages, as well as many other review sites.
If you can harness, foster and drive those conversations through using different social media outlets such as Facebook Fan Pages, Youtube video channels, Twitter, Website posts and comments, then you will be working towards building a family, and not just talking but conversing.
“A close-knit community” is what will determine the future success of small and medium businesses and even large corporations. If you can harness the power of a community and build loyalty, then that is a measurable marketing success. Human nature is to feel wanted capturing the feeling that you belong to something gives one a feeling of exclusivity. If a clothing company can do that, imagine what you can do?
Cheers,
Josh
