MKT 380Introduction to Social Media Marketing

Week 6

Objectives• Explain how social communities enable user

participation and sharing

• Understand social networks and their primacy in terms of social community

• Describe how marketers use social communities for branding and promotion

Social Activities in Online Communities

Two types of social media conversations:

• Directed communications• Consumption

communications

Social Activities in Online Communities

Directed communications are one-to-one interactions on a social network between two users.

• Two forms of direct communication exist:• Direct messages• Instant messages

Social Activities in Online Communities

• Consumption communications are passive communications.

• For example, reading the feeds others post.

Social Networking SitesHow do we interact with others onsocial media platforms?

We observe, we lurk, we mingle, we chat, and we share

Social Networking SitesStatus Casting occurs when you broadcast updates to your news feed or activity stream.

Activity streams are the news feeds or “wall” (as it’s known in Facebook) social networks use to establish an ongoing point of connection between network nodes

A nudge is a tool for reminding someone to socialize

Social Networking Sites

The top three reasons people share content “socially”

1. They find it interesting and/or entertaining

2. They think it could be helpful to others

3. To get a laugh.

Social Networking Sites

Typical sharing activities include:• An activity stream is a tool to share a short piece of content with a network. • Gift applications enable members to present virtual gifts to their friends. • Ongoing sharing means working with partners

to include activities from other sites in an

activity stream on a partnered site. • Uploading functionalities

are applications that make

it easy to share from many

locations. • Embed codes let people

share content where they wish.

Characteristics of Social Networking Sites

Social networking sites typically vary in terms of three important dimensions:1.Audience and degree of specialization

2.The social objects that mediate the relationships among members

3.Degree of decentralization or openness

Marketing Applications in the Social Community Zone

Paid Media in Social Communities

Earned Media and Brand Engagement

User-Generated Content Campaigns

Paid Media in Social Communities

Paid Media in Social Communities

• There are three variations on social ads:

1. A social engagement ad contains ad creative (image and text) along with an option to encourage the viewer to engage with the brand (e.g., clickable “Like” button).

2. A social context ad includes ad creative, an engagement device, and personalized referral content from people in the viewer’s network.

3. Organic social ads are shared on a person’s activity stream following a brand interaction (such as liking the brand).

Earned Media and Brand Engagement

Earned reach (the breadth and quality of contact with users) gained when people share positive brand opinions and branded content with others is invaluable because of the influence attributed to individual, personalized brand endorsements.

Influence posts occur when an opinion leader publishes brand-relevant content such as a blog post in social media.

User-Generated Content Campaigns

Brands can seed many forms of content in social communities as they try to boost engagement and sharing. One of the most popular tools is the use of:

User-generated content (UGC) campaigns – these are campaigns that offer a way for brands to invite consumers to engage and interact while they develop shareable content.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JLTmyAEA7h4&feature=youtu.be

http://artofthetrench.com/

Social Presence: Brands as Relationship NodesBrands may create a brand profile within selected social networking communities. In this way, the brand acts as a node in the network’s social graph.

The fan base is an indicator of the brand’s success in establishing a known presence within a community.

Return on emotion (conceptually) assesses the extent to which a brand has delivered a value in exchange for the emotional attachment fans have awarded it.

Is The Brand Ready for Social Communities?Brands should ask these questions before deciding whether social relationships will work for a specific brand.

• Is the brand set up for engagement?• If the brand participates in social media, where

should the brand be?• How can the brand’s profiles be developed in such

a way as to reflect the brand’s personality?• If “fan pages” exist among brand loyalists on social

networking sites, how can the brand leverage the fan sites to better meet its objectives?

• How can the brand integrate its social network presence into other campaign components?