Another Question from the Audience: Social Networking Sites

Conducting marketing training is one of my favorite activities in the spectrum of our practice here at the marketing firm of Maple Creative. At our workshops and seminars, I always collect questions from my attendees. The ones that we don't address in class often make good blog topics.

Q: Is there any reason for an organization to build their own social networking site instead of using ones that already exist?

No! Rarely can marketing questions be answered succintly. Now, here are three, straightforward reasons why no company or organization should attempt to build its own social networking site:

1- Traffic - You need it. Today, you have none. Facebook, for example, is viewed on a daily basis by 12.9% of all Internet users. It's the 5th most popular Web site on the Internet. It has many great, built-in applications (join group, events, bulletin board, chat, form sub-groups, one-to-many and one-to-one communication, etc.). Facebook has tons of traffic--and it is free! By contrast, it takes tons of investment and a great deal of time to build traffic for your new site.

2- Experience - You are late to the game. You have little to no experience. Existing sites like Twitter, MySpace and Facebook, have a deep track record. They are continually striving to improve and refine their products, based on insights gained from their experience and feedback received from users. Let the experts do the hard stuff. Adapt and customize their applications to suit your needs. To do otherwise--at this juncture--is a total waste of time and resources.

3- Convenience - Your target audience is already using certain social networking sites. They may be using several, in fact. Plus, they have 2 - 4 email accounts to visit and manage. The last thing they want is one more Web site to deal with today. Build your presence and place your social content in a convenient location--one that your customer base is already visiting. Make it easy for your customer; don't burden them with something else to worry about.

There are many other Web sites that have a social networking element (or elements). Flickr (photo sharing), YouTube (video sharing) and Del.icio.us (content tagging and sharing) are but a few. These might be a better social networking solution for your company or organization than Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. If you want some guidance on which social networking site(s) to build your effective platform upon, you have two options. You can certainly poll your audience directly to find out their preferred sites. When in doubt, ask!

You might also refer to The Groundswell, a wonderfully eye-opening and well-researched book by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff that explores the social media habits and trends in today's world. I highly recommend this book. It gives great insights about social media preferences according to demographic and psychographic factors.

Spamazon

Warning: rant coming. [I will beg your pardon, in advance.]

Amazon.com is great. I love books and love to learn. I probably purchase one book per month on Amazon. But I really dislike the frequency of unsolicited e-mail that Amazon sends me.

Again, I love the Web site. Love the selection ... and the reliability ... not to mention the simplicity of ordering. But on the down side, I probably receive three e-mails a week, suggesting a book that might be of interest to me ... or offering me some discount or free shipping. Enough already! Thanks for the suggestions and all, but I would really be more happy if Amazon would reduce their frequency of e-mail messages to me by about 50%

Anyone else share this frustration?

[We'll see if Amazon is monitoring "the groundswell"--I will be sure to let you know if they find and respond to this post. Stay tuned.]

Engaged Fans Promoting Starbucks on Facebook

The image at left is a screenshot of a Facebook application dubbed "My Starbucks." I received an invitation to join it by way of my Facebook friend, Betty. "My Starbucks" Facebook widget enables fans of Starbucks to have a conversation around their beloved brand.

It's also possible that engaged fans (like Betty) could persuade a few new folks to think about (or try) Starbucks, based on a personal endorsement. When Betty (or any trusted friend) points me to something they believe might be of interest to me, I am inclined to take a look. It's another marketing touchpoint for Starbucks. This is the power of social networking, the power of the groundswell.

The beauty of this, and the take-away point: "My Starbucks" was created by two college grad students from Wisconsin. It wasn't created by Starbucks. And it has 4,565 active users.

Repeat: Starbucks didn't hire them to do it ... or authorize them to do it. They were driven to do it on their own. And that carries far more credibility than if Starbucks created this and tried to dump it on their customer base.

Here's a bit of description from the introduction page:

About My Starbucks®
Starbucks® is moving from every street corner to a profile corner near you. My Starbucks® lets you sport your favorite drink, send drinks to your friends, and caffeinate your Facebook experience!

Update (Dec 14th)
We have been listening. There is now a drop down link on the order page to get "Advanced Options." Now there are tons more options to make your drink yours! Have fun, keep the ideas coming, but we do like to sleep some times! :-)

Disclaimer
The developers of and this application are in no way affiliated with Starbucks®. This application is for the enjoyment of fans and customers of the company.

Supposedly, this widget enables users to order their favorite Starbucks beverage (in advance, online) via Facebook for pick-up at the Starbucks location of their choosing. From what I could see in the comments, the application still has a few technical kinks to be resolved. But who cares. In our new Web 2.0 environment, you only need to inspire some customers to become fans. Look what they can do ... to help you, or to hurt you. Starbucks has absolutely no control over this.

The point is this: Marketing geniuses around the world are learning how to tap into the power of Web 2.0 and social networks, benefiting from the groundswell!

And here's a great resource, if you'd like to learn more: Next Generation Marketing.

A fantastic new book from which to learn more: Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff of Forrester Research.