Brand Ambassadors and Social Networks; the Future of Marketing
This article originally written for small business owners discusses new way to market and “brand” their businesses. It explains that with the boom of social media, over 70% of consumers trust reviews over sales spiels and formal articles. The return on investment for social media and online campaigns is unheard of when compared to other more accepted marketing techniques. Using Social Media, brand ambassadors, and savvy online campaigns that utilize the breadth of consumers’ social networks, the opportunities for growing a small business’ brand recognition and reach new markets has become comparable to that of extremely large companies with extensive marketing departments. The article emphasizes a few key points which focus on keeping the consumer happy and engaged with your product and company. By “creating opportunities for engagement,” through social media competitions where customers post about your product in order to win some free gift, or even simply connecting with customers on a more personal level and making them feel valued helps spread a positive image of your brand which will keep that customer coming back, and bring in new business. The article also discusses the importance of brand ambassadors who usually have a very large following on some form of social media.
The social network strategy of marketing is very similar to the “strength of weak ties.” Similarly to how most people find a new job from a weak tie, a company’s brand will only be able to really grow through these weak tie connections. For a small business, large marketing campaigns that target large groups of people across many tracks of life and locations is practically unattainable. However, through the use of brand ambassadors’ extensive connections and even consumer’s social media activity, small businesses are able to target and extensive group of people with relatively low costs. Through the weak ties of a consumer who writes a raving revue of a product online, a brand can reach a whole new sect of potential new business.
The strategy outlined above also complements the reasoning behind the Strong Triadic Closure Property. Trust is a big element in friendships and people are more willing to become friends with someone if they have mutual friends in common. Likewise, consumers are more likely to try a new product if a friend suggested it to them because of the inherent trust between friends. Sales spiels are given with the intent to sell the product and consumers often have no way of distinguishing the verity of such information. However, if a friend or a multitude of online users recommend a product, consumers will be more enthusiastic to try and potentially love a great new product. By utilizing these social networks and consumer marketing, businesses will be able to reach their intended audience more efficiently and seemingly more effectively than ever before.
link:
http://www.theguardian.com/small-business-network/2015/sep/17/reviews-tweets-instagram-customers-marketers