How To Create An Economic Advantage Using Social Media Marketing

As we discuss in Digital Forensics, listening to your customers and observing your competitors can give you a big edge when it comes to business marketing using social media and the distributed web. Done right, your will get to the point where you are learning a ton about how you can improve your product, delivery and messaging.

If your at the point where you have a good pulse on your customers from listening and participating in blog and forum discussions, then it may be time to consider embracing this information and taking action to further your brand objectives. By incorporating some of this rich customer information and  feedback into your marketing campaigns or product design or service offering, you can gain brand advocates and improve your brand/business positioning.

Getting started is simple:

1. Figure out the best way to solicit ideas from customers. Where appropriate, use the blogs you are following and participating in to propose ideas/solutions you would like to test and solicit comments. Another great way to do this is using Yahoo Answers, LinkedIn Answers and other sites like them to ask questions directly and get a read on who is asking questions similar to yours. Don’t be afraid that competitors will be getting this information as well. They key is acting on the information, and the next three steps will put you way ahead of them.

2. Vet feedback. Not all information you get back will be good information or necessarily reflect the underline idea you are testing. Spend time sorting through the feedback and continue to clarify and hone the ideas in the communities you are participating in until you feel comfortable that you have a solid idea.

3. Structure internal communication and process to best incorporate these customer ideas. Ideas without follow through will not get your new customers or market share. You now have the knowledge, the key is working this information into your internal workflow so that you incorporate these new ideas into your business.

4. Communicate the changes and improvements you will be making to your communities. Use the communities that your developed your new product or service ideas with to become brand advocates. They are already pre-sold on what your product strategy is…find ways to empower them to let others know.

Implementing this strategy will create huge economic advantages for your business. By identifying and executing new ideas that will expand your customer base, and have them purchase more products from you more frequently, your business can expand margins because capital investment to implement these ideas is not high (in most cases).

Go try it and tell us what you think.

Wisdom From 70 Top Thinkers For 2010

Seth Godin has done it again! He released a free ebook with great advice and mentoring from 70 top thinkers. It’s about the world economy, politics, business and technology…and it’s inspiring, informative and reassuring for those of us focused on adapting to the “Disruption” that is the “new normal”.

We live in fast changing times, but the paradox is that sometimes we need to slow down to better understand what is going on and learn how to adapt. The end of one year and the begining of another is a great time to reflect and take this time.

Having the thoughts of this diverse group of people in one place is very cool. From a Christian publisher and business leader to environmentalist to tech leaders, you will glean nuggets that will charge you up and focus your energy for 2010.

Here is what got me going:

• People who are not fearful made a decision at some point to be courageous. You can too!
• Being a source of dignity and generosity are two qualities that get noticed quickly in a connected world. But do it because that is who you are.
• Ignore the noise around you and follow your passion. When you are trying to create something or get to the next level, it is easy to get distracted. Don’t.
• Technology makes it easy to have lots of connections. Don’t just build a megaphone with technology to outshout competitors. Create value for people.
• The changing global economy will force business people to adapt or die. Exponential growth will no longer come from the developed nations, and information technology will be the seeds of growth in the digital age. Companies will need to become education and information providers regardless of what your product or service is.
• In a down economy, tactics take over and vision takes a back seat at just the wrong time. This is a huge opportunity for organizations that stick to the vision.

As Seth says, have fun with this book. Download it now and have it close by as you go through the holiday season and hopefully have some quite time to reflect and plan for a great 2010.

Social Media Marketing: Two Keys To An Economic Advantage

Media and marketing is changed forever in this “new normal”.  Driven by technology, new web 2.0 applications and consumer behavior, we must adjust our marketing strategies quickly to survive and hopefully thrive.  Make no mistake, this is an unusual period of disruption where opportunities are great and businesses are won and lost.

Why? Simply put, the new marketing world offers huge economic advantages to those businesses that embrace and implement these new strategies.  As businesses move from “renting eyeballs” to building channels or platforms that are based on relationships with customers, they develop huge marketing leverage in two significant ways:

1. Costs per lead will go down significantly as you are able to implement social media and web 2.0 based marketing programs because most of these new sites are no or low cost to participate.  Your biggest costs will be time, commitment and the cost of creating relevant, valuable content.  But you will also have a more trusting, authoritative (subject matter) relationship with your customer that will pay huge dividends.
2. With this new “relationship” you will have an opporutnity to know your customers much better that you ever have.  In fact, if you work the relationship right, you will find out other products and services you can sell your to your customers that meet needs they have in your niche.  Imagine if you can increase the average lifetime value of your customers from one purchase to two or three.  The net increase in margins to your bottom line will be significant.

This is not a magic bullet…no easy button here.  But if you are able to thoughtfully and strategically put in place a new marketing plan incorporating social media and web 2.0 applications, you can gain a huge economic opportunity on your competition. That means better margins to re-invest in your business, to continue to dominate your market.

Welcome to the new normal!