Latest Social Hype.. or Reality?
Research giant Gallup has found that consumers don't use social to make purchase decisions.
A frightening thought to some.
But not me.
The takeaway is that brands may be best served by having their best customers, their advocates, promote on their behalf.
This is why it is not frightening me. Because I have been speaking at meetings, events and conferences, on webinars and in offices, and with every one of my clients that this is, indeed, the primary use of social media.
Surely, we can advertise on it and it works. Thus the reason I have always regarded it as MEDIA.
But the secret is not to somehow turn a Facebook fan into a customer by asking them to take a selfie with your product. It is understanding that people are on social networks for every specific reasons – as identified by Gallup – and lo and behold, it's not to interact with brands…
So what to do?
Identify your advocates on and off of social and as a result of their social activities, then reward them for their advocacy and if they aren't doing so via social, incentivize them to do so. This results in a recommendation from a friend and that is the most powerful means to sell products and services via social.
And pretty much everything else.
That's what I think – what about you?
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