Social media

Social Networks and E-Marketing (SMO)

Social networks are a very interesting e-marketing lever for developing traffic and notoriety. But behind their playful and accessible aspect, social networks require time and know-how to regularly relay quality and relevant information in order to involve Internet users.

Social networks: communicate with customers and build loyalty

Creating and managing a community on social networks allows any company, whether in BtoC or BtoB, to create a close link with its customers and prospects by establishing a more human and interactive discourse.

Establishing this relationship on social networks with its customers and/or prospects can make it possible to:

• Highlight its expertise in its sector of activity and thus give credibility to its offer.
• Communicate information directly and quickly to a target audience about these products, services, promotional offers, etc.
• Answer questions that can trigger a purchase process.
• Directly address customer dissatisfaction and avoid a bad e-reputation.
• Find new customers through digital word-of-mouth. The advantage being that the information is relayed by acquaintances, the best prescribers they are.

Social networks: develop qualified traffic

By creating a real relationship with your community, you can generate qualified traffic on your site, because you provide them with useful and relevant information: insight into a concept, promotion of a product that members of your community like…

In addition, if your content has interested a good number of Internet users and they are talking about it, it is possible through a digital word-of-mouth effect (viral marketing) that it will attract many others.

Adapted and targeted content for successful marketing via social networks

As you have understood, to establish an effective e-marketing policy on social networks in order to generate traffic and create a real relationship, you have to be proactive and disseminate unique and relevant information.

Thus, an effective strategy is based on the creation of content with high added value: quality and exclusivity of the content. As well as encouraging and developing contributions and then federating a network around your brand.

Social networks: key figures

• 78% of French Internet users use social networks (2011 – 2 Factory agency).
• French Internet users spend an average of 4,1 hours per month on social networks (January 2011 – comScore).
• 86% of young French people want to interact with brands on social networks (December 2010 – CSA Institute).
• 25% of Internet users use Facebook and Twitter to judge a brand (January 2011 – Yahoo).
• 82% of young consumers are part of a brand's online community (November 2011 – Edelman.com).
• 3 times more seniors are present on social networks in 2010 than in 2008 (December 2010 – Pew Research – pewresearch.org).

Interest of Facebook for e-marketing

Facebook is seen as an essential tool for companies that have their development at heart. This social network is more and more often and systematically integrated into their online marketing plan. Although companies are now less concerned about the usefulness of their presence on Facebook to take advantage of its benefits, they now have to decide on the best way to be present there and know how to identify the real advantages they can remove it.

Facebook: Is there anyone left who doesn't know Mark?

Facebook does not, a priori, really need a presentation. But let's do a brief overview of this social media to better understand its interest in e-marketing. Originally designed just for students, Facebook, with now several hundred million users benefiting from the continual introduction of new finds, is the leading social network in its field. The principle is simple. A user creates his profile, adds the information of his choice to improve it, that his network of friends can consult, friends who themselves have their own network. It goes without saying that the information thus shared has a fairly considerable viral potential. But can this astonishing viral phenomenon also benefit companies that see the possibility of using social networks to promote their products and activities?

Facebook and e-marketing

The enthusiasm of e-merchants for social networks in general and for Facebook in particular goes beyond a simple fad. Some use it as a launch pad and then as the one and only method of promoting and selling their products and services. But organizations that have abandoned conventional marketing do not feel disoriented because e-marketing works according to similar principles, their common denominator being communication. And in terms of communicated data, the members registered on the social networks are generally very open to transmitting information capable of enriching a customer database which will, in the end, be much more complete and more original than a traditional database. A gold mine for marketers.

After E-commerce, F-commerce

F-commerce, i.e. e-commerce via Facebook, is advantageous in many ways. In addition to its simplicity of use, its ease of management, its targeting and personalization capabilities, its low cost, its sales space integrated into the network, it makes it possible to create a buzz around a product or a brand, present a trendy image, facilitates the discovery of products, offers a return on investment (ROI) generally much more efficient than via traditional media and helps to build notoriety and increase the audience of a site.

Interest of twitter for e-marketing

Twitter is a funny sparrow that is nevertheless one of the ten most famous social networks. Of course, when we think of social networks, the first name that comes to mind is Facebook. But for a hundred million users, it was Twitter that really changed the nature of social exchanges on the Internet and then gradually transformed the nature of commercial exchanges. But how can Twitter help promote a company's products and services?

What are you doing at the moment ? It's on Twitter!

Twitter stands out from other social networks in particular by the size of the messages it imposes, ie 140 characters. This microblogging, micro-messaging social media was, when it started in 2006, mostly popular with young people who used it to tweet (tweet) their friends. Considered first and foremost as a social relations service, its original slogan “What are you doing?” suited him perfectly.

What is going on ? It's still on Twitter!

But when the network decided to give a new direction to its primary mission, emphasizing the informative aspect, the slogan then became “What's happening? ". Businesses and marketers have therefore sensed the potential of this tool and started to imagine various scenarios in order to use it for commercial purposes.

But how can a message of 140 characters have an impact on an e-marketing strategy? It's that the limiting side obliges the sender of the message to be concise and this conciseness makes the tweet more attractive, a bit seductive even since the economy of words requires a greater effort of originality. The message catches the eye in a flash and is anchored in the memory of its recipient. However, in the field of the sale and promotion of products and services, success lies largely in the way an individual or a company communicates. And Twitter has a head start in this regard. But this network has many other advantages.

Interest of Twitter for e-marketing

Like other social media, Twitter allows a company to create and enrich its customer database (followers), increases its notoriety and increases the audience on its site.

More specifically, it is distinguished by its ease of use, its impact on indexing and positioning, the presence of Web influencers and opinion leaders, the possibility it offers to create a monitoring thread. In addition, the brevity of the edited message increases the chances of it being consulted and relayed.

In short, Twitter is an ideal platform for any company wishing to adopt a direct and original e-marketing strategy.