Public relations firm Edelman recently released its 2010 Trust Barometer, which highlights some findings regarding social media marketing that may shock you.
According to the latest survey, the number of people who view their friends and peers as credible sources of information about a company has dropped from 45% in 2008 to 25% in 2010, decreasing almost by half!
I don't know about you, but as social media continues to be a marketing hot topic, I've seen a lot of discussion emphasizing the importance of company/product referrals and word of mouth marketing. So do these findings about the decline in peer-to-peer trust completely undermine the power of referrals?
Not exactly. As we mentioned in this morning's post, referrals from friends continue to carry their weight in social media. Still, something has to have changed since 2008, right?
Why the decline in peer-to-peer trust?
One possibility includes the reach of social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Now that social networks are increasing in popularity, users are maintaining larger groups of "friends" that include more casual acquaintances, possibly dulling the credibility of peer networks. It's no longer a matter of trusting the opinion just because it's the opinion of a peer. Now people are less likely to trust an opinion unless it's from a person they know.
Another possibility? Now that marketers are getting a firm grasp on social media, consumers are becoming more skeptical about the influences behind peer referrals. Again, this skepticism increases if it's the opinion of a peer they don't really know.
Be smart about your social media interactions.
For marketers, this means that building credibility in people's social media reactions is crucial. The best way to do this is by creating valuable content that people will want to share with their networks.
According to the Edelman Trust Barometer, people still need to hear things in five different places before they actually believe it. Therefore, a social media referral isn't the be-all, end-all. People still look to different sources before making decisions. Allocate your marketing budget smartly by putting some aside for social media interaction and dedicating some to other inbound marketing initatives like creating content.
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I'd like to share a personal story of how social media recently came to my rescue, highlighting an important opportunity for all you small businesses out there.
This Friday was really stressful. I was up at 5:30 a.m. to prepare for the movers to come, followed by my cleaning service, all to turn my condo into a state fit for my new tenant in 24 hours! That stress only increased when the cleaning service, slated to arrive between 3 and 5 p.m., still wasn't there at 4:50 p.m. Their office couldn't get in touch with the ladies scheduled to clean my home and could give me no real assurance that it would even get done.
Friday, 6:30 p.m. Once I had the movers trollying my stuff into storage, I called the cleaning service to get an update. I was dismayed to reach their voicemail. Knowing this particular service didn't work Saturdays, I was in a bind. First I Googled while shuttling furniture with the movers, but then I thought better of it and posted this update to my Facebook feed. Surely, someone in Austin had an idea for me?
*Note: The cleaning service is blanked out and the last names of my friends have been omitted for privacy. Jackpot! 3 minutes later ...
Friday, 6:57 p.m My friend Theresa posted a note about her favorite cleaning service, Austin Maids.
Perfect! I checked out their site, and it seems fine. I called their number, and naturally, on a Friday night nearing 7 p.m., I got their voicemail. I left an informative, if distraught message, not expecting any return call until Monday, then headed out to a dinner party. So much for research.
Friday, 8:35 p.m. My phone rang. Michael from Austin Maids got my message and said he could have a team available on Saturday afternoon -- I can call to confirm on his cell as late as I want. Now that's service.
Saturday, 12:00 a.m. We went to my condo after dinner and, it turns out, my original cleaning service did show, despite total lack of information and communication. All ended well, but you can rest assured that next time I need a cleaning service in Austin, I am getting in touch with Austin Maids. Why? Because my friends told me to -- via Facebook -- and they were right.
A lesson for SMBs:
This weekend reinforced the idea that all types of small businesses can benefit from monitoring social media sites, like Facebook, to be at the ready during a potential customer's moment of need. While my friends were the true heroes of the situation, had another maid service in Austin been monitoring the conversation, they could've jumped in and offered their services as well.
What else? The power of word of mouth in social media was extremely evident. Social media facilitates referrals (as well as negative opinions), so make sure you're paying attention to what others are saying about your business on these sites.
So, SMBs, if you aren't already, consider monitoring the conversations surrounding your brand. There are tons of free social media monitoring tools out there you can take advantage of, so what's your excuse?
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HubSpot TV is LIVE every Friday at 4:00pm EST. Watch the show in real-time at www.hubspot.tv and chat with us via Twitter.
Episode #77 - January 29, 2010
(Episode Length: 25 minutes, 11 seconds)
Intro
Headlines
Google Search Goes Social
- Search is getting more social
- "With Social Search, when we search for baby sleep patterns, swaddling or best cribs, not only do we get the usual websites with expert opinions, we also find relevant pages from our friends and contacts...I could probably find other reviews, but my friend's blog is more relevant because I know and trust the author."
- "We're leaving a "beta" label on social results because we know there's a lot more we can do."
- Marketing Takeaway: Build your social media presence today to be successful in SEO tomorrow.
NYTimes Going To Require Payment in 2011
- Advertise on NYTimes.com The Times to Charge for Frequent Access to Its Web Site
- "Starting in January 2011, a visitor to NYTimes.com will be allowed to view a certain number of articles free each month; to read more, the reader must pay a flat fee for unlimited access. Subscribers to the print newspaper, even those who subscribe only to the Sunday paper, will receive full access to the site without any additional charge."
- "Executives of The New York Times Company said they wanted to create a system that would have little effect on the millions of occasional visitors to the site, while trying to cash in on the loyalty of more devoted readers"
- Marketing Takeaway: Don't be afraid to experiment with your business.
Calling All Content Creators!
- Calling All Content Creators: Marketers Spending More on Content in 2010
- Survey by Junta24 - Content Marketing Spending Report
- "The survey results reveal that, for the third year in a row, the majority of marketing professionals (6 in 10) will allocate more of their marketing budgets to content marketing initiatives."
- "According to the report, smaller companies are allocating 40% of their marketing budgets to content marketing, which is more than twice the amount of larger companies, who are allocating 18%."
- Marketing Takeaway: Content creation is the way to inbound marketing glory.
How Transparent is Transparent Enough?
Forum Fodder
- Age Discrimination
from KMM - "Yesterday Brian presented the "DARC" acronym in the context of what he looks for in selecting members of an internet marketing team. The "D" stood for "Digital Native". The definition of a Digital Native was given as a person whose first word was "Google", not "goo-goo". How can this criterion not be seen as age discrimination? How do I, not being a Digital Native, overcome this obstacle to joining an internet marketing team?"
- Kate Hutchinson: "A real "Digital Native" I would say, is someone who is actively learning everything possible about the digital world and using it on a daily basis."
Marketing Tip of the Week: Become more digitally fluent!
Closing
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With the final episode of Jane Austen's Emma airing on PBS this Sunday night, we've noticed that people are behaving a little bit more ... courtly to each other. Here's a handy guide to extending that exquisitely good behavior to the social media world.
It is a truth universally acknowledged... that social media is being used by more and more businesses to engage meaningfully with their customers and to drive more qualified traffic to their sites.
And while Jane Austen never blogged (she totally would have), or had a profile on Facebook, or posted status updates on Twitter, she certainly had a great quantity of wisdom to share about social behavior – what is correct, what is silly, and what is disastrous -- that is as true today as it was when young Emma Woodhouse busied herself with meddling in the love lives of all her friends.
What would Jane have had to say about engaging with your customers and promoting your business on social websites like Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn?
• Etiquette matters.
Although social media is famous for having somewhat loose standards of formality, propriety does hold a central place in any society, like it or not. Every social media platform (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc.) lays claim to its own particular cultural rules and mores. Be sure that you understand the customs and expectations of each platform before you make a gaffe, lest you cause tongues to wag, or worse, offend Society.
• Conversation matters.
The most prized currency in any refined society is the witty, charming conversation of its habitués. Your conversation may be clever and amusing, but do stop short of being overly self-promotional. It is a delicate balance, to be sure, but eminently achievable by the accomplished practitioner. How? Strive to focus on other people, be courteous, be helpful, be modest, be kind. Avoid gossip and vulgarity at all costs.
• Connections matter.
No, you needn’t be the cousin of every A-list blogger or member of the Twitterati. Rather, you should strive to cultivate a true circle of friends who share your interests, whose trials and triumphs you can share, and with whose problems you can empathize. Try to make connections between people who should meet, but have not yet; be a matchmaker where one person’s needs and desires meet another person’s strengths and qualities. Create networks of friends who are sincerely glad to know each other, and give them frequent opportunities to connect and help each other.
• Love conquers all.
Share your passion, and those who share your passion too will find you and follow you. Speak from your heart, do not endeavor to deceive, and all shall be well.
Image: PBS
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Location, location, location! No, we're not talking real estate here, but rather one of the newest marketing hot topics known as location-based services.
Our top inbound marketing article this week focuses specifically on the location-based social network called foursquare, which has achieved notable traffic growth within the last couple months.
Author: Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb
Marshall's article reports on the significant increase of traffic to foursquare, which has tripled in the past 2 months since November, reported by Hitwise, a traffic analyst firm. The article also discusses foursquare's recent deal with a Canadian newspaper chain that involves delivering local editorial content to users depending on where they check in.
So what does this traffic increase mean to you? Foursquare isn't the only location-based social network out there, but its popularity is definitely a testament to the increasing power of location-based/mobile applications and their potential to impact modern marketing.
Lesson: Be prepared for mobile applications and location-based services to change the face of marketing. Start learning about these trends now.
Author: Christie Burnett on Problogger
By now you know that the most successful blogs publish content consistently and frequently. You also can't deny that producing a constant stream of remarkable content is very hard work. It's not difficult to feel like your blog is in a rut, so Christie's article offers some great suggestions for new and different content alternatives to inspire you (and your readers).
Some of her suggestions include sharing your story with photos and images, using charts, graphs, tables or diagrams to illustrate your points, trying vlogging, experimenting with lists, creating tutorials that teach something to your readers and many, many more!
Lesson: Readers like variety. Experiment with different types of content to keep your readers (and yourself) engaged with your business blog.
Author: Andy Sernovitz on Damn! I Wish I'd Thought of That!
Andy's post quickly discusses his dismay at the results of a recent Forrester survey about measuring social media marketing, which highlight that none of the marketers surveyed listed the amount of content forwarded by users as their most important metric for social media marketing.
Andy stresses the value of word of mouth marketing as a metric, by saying content forwarding is more powerful than traditional advertising and lead generation because it includes the personal endorsement of the sender. Plus, he says, it's extremely measurable, correlating well to existing lead/impression valuation metrics.
Lesson: It's not the only metric to track, but don't forget about measuring word of mouth marketing when evaluating your social media programs.
Author: John Jantsch of Duct Tape Marketing
John gives readers a nice overview of customer review sites and what they mean for small business marketers, spotlighting some popular sites to know and sharing some of his top ways to benefit from them.
His suggestions include claiming your listings, using reviews to make your business better, monitoring your profiles, getting proactive and considering advertising.
Lesson: Don't fear negative reviews. Learn from your toughest critics to improve your brand and its products/services.
Author: Kipp Bodnar of Social Media B2B
Online video can be a fun and interactive addition to your content marketing mix. Kipp's article communicates Social Media B2B's best advice for producing and promoting your online video efforts to bypass common online video issues and maximize your ROI.
Lesson: Using online video for marketing is valuable, but it can be challenging. Learn from others' experiences to get the best possible results.
Photo by Alexandra Lee
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