Brands and organizations are struggling with how to fully harness social media's full potential.
They are developing their social media marketing by paying closer attention to "lurkers" and by pursuing important business objectives.
Those are two important findings of the Deloitte 2009 Tribalization of Business Study of 400 companies including Fortune 100 organizations.
Active users and their community participation were considered top measures of success, Now, brands are paying close attention to "lurkers" -- people who observe the community, but don't participate in the discussion. The study also found:
o 32% of respondents capture data on how lurkers derive value from the community
o 20% have set up formal "ambassador" programs, which give outsiders preferential treatment in return for being more active in the community
o 39% indicated more full-time people are being deployed to manage the communities
A majority of respondents continue to have these top business objectives for online communities:
o Increase word of mouth (38%)
o Increase customer loyalty (34)
o Increase brand awareness (30)
o Improve idea generation (29)
o Improve quality of customer service (23)
How can brands and organization can more leverage from social communities:
1. You will benefit from understanding that social media impact is more than participation, and that a broader group valued customers and important influencers can be following and adding to or subtracting from your brand.
2. You can realize brand values including buzz, customer engagement, new ideas and customer service from social media.
3. A dedicated team member with customer engagement and social media skills could allow brands to more fully leverage relative communities for an enterprise.
4. A brand's social media engagement will benefit from thinking first about a community's goal and how it can match that with relevant brand contact and connection.
5. Marketing might will benefit from the PR, customer service and even market research mindset to understand, interpret and connect with communities. Participants and lurkers can be cultivated as valued brand advocates not just customers.
So, I can appreciate the ongoing social media struggle and am encouraged to see brands maneuver in valuable ways to fully leverage it. This is an excellent study with exceptional insights.
