Social networks are great. Selling products and services are better. But how do we monetize the actions and value of our social networking community?
Marketers must always keep the end in mind and that is to increase the value of the company through increased revenue and increased opportunities for revenue in the future, i.e., improved marketing effectiveness.
This is also true for social networks. The purpose of building a social networking community is to create value for the company. Value is created in six ways:
- Brand engagement – being engaged in a social network that supports the brand leads to further engagement by the network member with the brand
- Site popularity – Social networks often follow a herd mentality. The more popular they are the more value members obtain and the more non-members will gain value from the site
- Time on site – the more time a member spends with a site, the more engaged that member is with the site and the brand
- Increase positive WOM – Increased positive WOM typically leads to increased purchase and consumption of the brand
- Reducing negative WOM – a reduction in negative WOM typically leads to increased purchase and consumption of the brand
- Direct monetization – This can occur through additional ad clicks or purchase conversions.
If you’d like more information on this feel free to download my whitepaper on Social Networking Strategy Metrics Framework. More importantly I would love your feedback on the concept.
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