powering Australia's discovery of the third place

As mentioned in an earlier post, Australia is leading the world in time spent on social media sites – it’s safe to say that we’re a social bunch. Not only are we a social bunch, we tend to listen to what our friends’ recommendations are and make judgements and decisions based upon those recommendations.  Now, because we do this, and the more people and organisations are profiting from their online activity, does this mean we’re actually profiting from friendships?

According to a recent special report on social networking from the Economist, yes, we are. To me, the better relationships you have with people, the more they want to do business with you then tell their friends about their experience. (As a side note, please keep in mind that there are also other extremely important factors in this such as product, service, etc. You can be the coolest, most likable person in the world, but if your product and customer service sucks, it is highly unlikely you’ll experience such success.) If you have all the things in place but are looking for ways to grow, you must remember, as we’ve written about before, growth through social media does not happen overnight. It does happen though through consistency and authenticity.

Let’s see how this looks. As trends would have it, most social site haven’t been as concerned with making tons of money straight away. Their primary focus has been the users…those who keep coming back for more. This is backed up by the Economist’s social media report for 2010 as well:

Entreprenuers in Silicon Valley, only half-jokingly, call it the URL strategy. The three letters usually stand for Uniform Resource Locator – the unique address of any file that is accessible via the internet. But in the world of internet startups, URL has another meaning: Ubiquity first, Revenue Later. This pretty much describes the strategy of most big online social networks, which over the past few years have concentrated on piling on users rather than worrying about profits. That has allowed them to build huge followings, but it has also raised a big question-mark over their ability to make money from the audiences they have put together.

Scott Monty, head of Ford Motor Company’s social media activities in the US, explained they spent the majority of their time engaging with people on social networks, not necessarily advertising on them. Some people might think this strange, but as we move closer to web 3.0 activity, building trust and relationships online is really where it’s at. Having a social platform in order to that is becoming more and more crucial.

Michael Lynton, the boss of Sony Pictures Entertainment, a film studio, says he was deeply sceptical about using social-networking sites for advertising. The studio ran a series of ads on Facebook promoting three of its films after they had just featured in a traditional television campaign. District 9 was aimed at young men, Julie & Julia at mid- dle-aged women and The Ugly Truth at younger women. Awareness of the films was measured after the TV ads had run and then again after the web ads had run. Each time the online ads significantly boosted awareness. Mr Lynton says he is now convinced that social networks are radically altering the marketing landscape.

Mr Lynton also reckons that the networks produce a powerful viral marketing effect because friends use them to tell one another about things they have discovered. Marketers have long known that such recommendations are hugely important in purchase decisions. Social networks are harnessing technology to accelerate this process by, for example, automatically alerting a person’s friends when he or she signs up to become the fan of a particular brand or product on a site.

These are only a few examples. If you were a skeptic before, are you beginning to see the power of social networks? Whether a believer or not, social networks are becoming a mainstay in millions of people’s lives across the globe. This is not only for personal use, it is for connection with businesses as well. It only makes sense for organisations to creatively piece together a platform that works for them and their users.

Community Engine provides that type of ‘out of the box’ technology. We customise your social networking site according to the needs and wants of your audience. We make social networking and community engagement easy for every industry out there. Not only do we provide the technology, but we work one on one with you to help create your brand, your site, your strategy and help with the media side of it. We’d be happy to sit and chat with you about your organisation’s goals to see if there is something we can help with. Contact us or leave a comment on the blog. Let’s see what social networking can do for your organisation.

posted by Venessa in the category Reserach & Statistics Social Media Social networking Web 3.0
Tags: Ford, Scott Monty, social networks, The Economist, Web 3.0