How to monetize social networks.

1. © SpiderWeb Connections
More than
Friends:
How to Monetize Open
Social Networks

2. AUTHOR:
Susan Schauer John
Susan is the media
marketing creator of
Spider Web Connections.

3. © SpiderWeb Connections
To Monetize
Social Networks:
Marketers need to invite their followers
to be more than just “friends”.

4. © SpiderWeb Connections
Research shows:
• Customers want to be more than just a “generic”
friend of a company or brand.
• Open social networks like Facebook and Twitter are
where consumers expect to interact with individuals –
their friends, colleagues, acquaintances and
professional networks.
• Any benefits they receive from ‘friending’ companies
in social networks are considered ancillary.
• In addition, consumer want direct connections with
companies and with other customers.

5. by sean micholson
www.socmedsean.com

6. © SpiderWeb Connections
What does the customer
want from companies?
Customers prefer to have separate
“customer communities” that are:
• Run separately from open social networks – but have
strong links to them so they can easily share information.
• Proactively managed by companies.
• Tightly integrated with the companies website.

7. © SpiderWeb Connections
Why don’t consumers seek
relationships with companies
through open social
networks?
It is about
and .

10. © SpiderWeb Connections
Once Introduced to a
product or service:
• 81.1% of people say they would
next visit the companies’ website.
• 25.7% would visit a retail store.
• Only 19% would look at it’s
Facebook page.

11. © SpiderWeb Connections
Context and Content
Customers want branded customer
communities to provide:
Relevant, Trusted information at
every stage in their buying cycle.
The context of the buying cycle is not
happening in traditional social
networks. Instead, it’s happening on
the broader internet – Primarily on
manufacturer and retailer websites
through organic search.

12. © SpiderWeb Connections

13. © SpiderWeb Connections
Research conducted by the Incyte Group: www.incytegroup.com

14. © SpiderWeb Connections
Research conducted by the Incyte Group: www.incytegroup.com
©spiderwebconnections

15. © SpiderWeb Connections
Research conducted by the Incyte
Group: www.incytegroup.com

16. © SpiderWeb Connections
Chart #5 How Consumers Prefer to be Introduced to
Branded Consumer Communities and Impact on
Participation Rates:
Research conducted by the Incyte Group: www.incytegroup.com

17. © SpiderWeb Connections
The Point:
The surprise is not that consumers
expect to find information about
products and services on a company
website.
What is important to know is that
consumers prefer branded customer
communities over social networks when
they are seeking information to make a
purchase decision or accessing service
and customer support.

18. © SpiderWeb Connections
In other words:
• Consumers don’t want brand
relationships to be part of their open
social networks; instead
• They want company Websites to be
more like their experiences on opens
social networks.

19. © SpiderWeb Connections
Therefore:
Step 1: Create a branded customer
community.
Step 2: Make sure this community offers:
- strong link to social networks
- content that is indexed by all search engines
- support based on consumer needs
- technical flexibility
Step 3: Leverage your community to turn
your best customers into advocates.

20. © SpiderWeb Connections

21. Word of mouth marketing from a companies best
customers is the biggest untapped marketing
opportunity out there.

22. © SpiderWeb Connections
References:
• Incyte: To Monetize Open Social Networks, Invite Customers to be More Than Just
“Friends”. A white paper about the new form of marketing for business.
– More on study: www.getsatisfaction.com
– Research conducted by the Incyte Group: www.incytegroup.com
• Jay Baer and Amber Naslund have written a terrific book called: The Now Revolution.
It captures completely the new face of marketing for businesses.
http://www.convinceandconvert.com/
• Tom Fishburne, “The Marketoonist” : http://tomfishburne.com/
• There are a number of great social media newsletters available for free that I read
regularly and highly recommend. Each has contributed to my education and writings.
They include:
– http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/
– http://maximizesocialmedia.com/
– http://www.toprankblog.com/
– http://www.bizsugar.com/
– https://www.facebook.com/business/build

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They will never be gone!!

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