What is happening now, as more women spend more time on more social networking sites for more reasons, is that women’s purchasing power now goes well beyond the purse … into women’s relationships.
#RonR
Relationship Building on Social Platforms
So can you maintain meaningful relationships with thousands of people at a time? No, but every touch is important, no matter how small. Think of it this way… individual touches are like relationship seeds. You have a much better likelihood of reaping a good harvest when you sow widely, but only if you prepare the ground with value and nurture with authenticity.
The Social Path to Purchase… ~via @CollectiveBias
The Collective Bias influencer community creates shopper content By Stuart Feil
Septemer 10, 2012 ADWEEK
Shopping is, by its very nature, a social activity—people always want to know what other people are buying or discuss what they’ve bought themselves with friends and other shoppers. Nowhere is this more evident than in the blogosphere, where brand ambassadors (such as the ubiquitous Mom-blogger) share information and advice about what they buy and use. There’s power in this user-generated content, and brands and retailers want to take advantage of these influencers to drive excitement for—and sales of—their products.
ROR (#RonR), Return on Relationship™… what is that?
Facebook fans, retweets, site visits, video views, positive ratings and vibrant communities are not measureable financial assets—they aren’t reflected on the balance sheet and can’t be counted on an income statement—but that doesn’t mean they are valueless. Instead, these are leading indicators that a brand is doing something to create value that can lead to financial results in the future. In addition these relationships can be leveraged through initiatives, campaigns, and events to create real dollar value for a brand. In other words, ROR – Return on Relationship!
Listening to Me or Doing Something Else?
Social skills have suffered a great deal not necessarily due to “social media” per-say, but because of all the electronics we all carry and are addicted to in our daily lives. It did not used to be so easy to ignore people and seem disinterested because there was not much else to do during a meeting or when in a group. Now we have the world at our fingertips, so it is incredibly important to make it known to people what is acceptable and what is not. For instance when I am speaking to an audience, I do really want them quoting and posting about me via social channels as it spreads my words throughout the social graph, and to many who cannot attend. But when in a meeting or speaking one-to-one I certainly want their attention. But I also remember that many in the room are not really important to the meeting so I do not care if they are “off” somewhere else and I focus on those who “are” paying attention. We all need to set our standards and agenda’s and focus on those who are worthwhile and can deliver. You cannot truly impose ethics, but you can lead by example.
Originally posted at TedRubin.com
Marketing Lessons from Children: Listen for “Moments” — and Make it Personal
As marketers we think we’re all grown up, and that business has nothing to do with being personal. Like the pat excuse we’ve all heard when a business decision affects other people’s lives, “This isn’t personal, it’s a business decision.”
It’s that kind of thinking that kills us as marketers and brands—when we take “personal” out of the equation we always lose. However, we can turn that around and win! And the quickest way I know to learning how to do this is to closely observe children in action. Think about it… when our kids are young we can talk to them, share with them and really relate on a kid level—and we can also control them to an extent. But when they’re teenagers, they’re not as open to what we tell them; pushing things on them just builds more resistance. And if they think you’re going to give them a speech, they shut you down in a hurry. If you want to get through to teens you have to look for moments when they’re receptive, tamp down the desire to push your opinions on them, and just listen. Be there for them. Help them when they ask for it, but don’t preach at them. It takes practice to learn to recognize those opportunities.
Twitter/Social and Small Business
Twitter has not been readily accepted as a small business tool yet but there are those who are having a great deal of success using it in many ways. So why should small business be using social media at all? The most prominent reasons are responding to customer questions, networking and education… but there’s more. To date, most small businesses have not been looking to help build the sales funnel through these channels. This is interesting considering some of the success that can be found with a small business that gets it. And for those who do, and execute effectively, the opportunity to directly facilitate and create sales are out there and have the potential to be huge since the volume of additional sales that can make a difference are fractional compared to what it takes for a large organization.
Permission Marketing: Why Brands Should Be(a)ware!
Social Marketing is the ultimate in Permission Marketing, and therefore it carries the ultimate marketing danger with it: taking away the permission is totally in the consumers’ control. Brands be(a)ware!
Permission Marketing puts the power in the consumer’s hands, by requiring that the marketers send promotional messages only to consumers who have given marketers permission to do so, whether explicitly (opt-in email list, for example) or implicitly (internet search).
Return on Relationship, ROR (#RonR) – Implications for Global Impact
We are at an incredibly important time in the evolution of “relationship commerce” (buying from people you know and trust). This is the time when our actions will decide if “relationship commerce” ends up as simply a phrase on a list of buzz words, or becomes an effective – and meaningful — way of doing business worldwide.
The deciding factor will be whether or not enough brands and marketers are willing to go beyond just talking about relationships … to actually building and sustaining those relationships with consumers, peers, employees, and others in their social graph.
How many of us believe in the business value of relationships enough to put in the effort required to turn a one-time contact into an ongoing meaningful interaction? How many of us even believe that “business value” and “authentic relationships” even belong in the same sentence?? I do, because I have seen this play out time and time again.
What Blog World Expo Taught Me About the Future of Social Media
I recently spent three days in LA at Blog World (Blog World and New Media Expo #bwela), with some of my favorite people (bloggers and those connected to them), saturating myself with information while starting new and building on old relationships. As you probably know by now, I love connecting with people online, but I love even more connecting the old-fashioned way – face-to-face!
Other than stronger connections and new relationships, the most important takeaway from the conference, IMHO, is that we all need to stop worrying about “where it’s going” in Social and start concentrating on “where it is.”