How To: Tips For Using Social Media As A Marketing Tool
ADMIN
- December 10 2008
- 1,326 views
- 18 comments
Words by Shannon “Shayboarder” Johnson
The days of social media are upon us and the means to connect with your customers goes beyond personal interaction. Companies can now communicate with consumers through a variety of social media platforms to help engage and educate. Whether it is the everyday twitter with updates of new merchandise hitting the store to the company Myspace that promotes it’s athletes as well as it’s products to the constant stream of blogs giving consumers a look into the workflow behind companies.
The variations of social media offer a free, easy way to communicate and reach new audiences through the internet. It also offers a new form of marketing, guerilla style strategy that can place your products into the hands of those who influence and discuss the latest in the market trends.
Here are a few tips for companies to reach customers and interact during the reign of social media.
Use what is in front of you: That employee who participates in online forums, chats with friends on IM, or checks their MySpace daily. They understand and can maneuver easily through online sites to represent your product in a way that is building on your relationship with the consumer and giving the employee an outlet for a bored mind. The Burton demo team in Colorado created their own Facebook page to continually update consumers of upcoming demo dates, and reminders of where to find burton products to try out.
Building an audience takes time and dedication: If you want people to appreciate it, you must be willing to do one hundred percent of the work to bring them back wanting more, leaving comments and questions. Social media is about building conversations through stories and experiences. Rather than talk to them, you want to engage them. Loveland Ski Resort in Colorado focuses on a MySpace page, which updates conditions, events and constant bulletins to bring in people to the mountain. Consumers give back to them by tagging photos of recent trips, conditions and daily comments. There is no cost for that kind of marketing and it reaches close to 3,000 friends.
Quality versus quantity: If you work to make your content more valuable instead of copying what every other site is doing, it will be noticed. Your staff on the frontlines get asked questions each day, why not take to social media to answer those questions and help educate? Make your content more about quality and being original whether it’s from writing, videos, interviews, or photos. Lib Tech snowboards has used their blog to promote the banana technology, showcase their environmentally friendly factory and promoted their sponsored events in the past months. Dogfunk recently used their employees to create a boot fitting guide to help educate consumers on what to look for when it comes to buying snowboard boots.
Promote yourself: Releasing a new product or talking up a new pro rider? Ashbury goggles released a mini-video each time a pro rider was announced, instead of a press release full of text. The video complimented the new addition to the team and showcased that name to their style of riding. At the same time, that video brought more attention to a new brand of goggles on the market. Even professional athletes like TJ Schneider (Snowboard Realms) or Jon Olsson (Jon Olsson Videoblog) are getting into creating their own venues for promoting themselves.
First hand knowledge: Shop employees have first hand access to thousands of products to try out and experiment with, so they can promote their favorite products to customers. Imagine if all those shop kids wrote reviews and could influence customers without ever talking face to face. What better way to bring in new customers and bring back customers who want to know “so and so’s opinion” on each board. In May 2008, SIA released it’s survey that found 86% of snow sports participants “take the time to read online product reviews that other consumers have written before purchasing new products.” This not only helps promote a product but helps companies and shops sell products by giving consumers first hand experience reviews they can use to help decide on a purchase.
Easy updates: The latest in micro blogging, twitter.com <http://twitter.com> gives the opportunity to instantly update customers on what is going on. Earlier this fall, I was anxiously awaiting the arrival of snowboard videos into my local shop not quite sure when they would come in. Through twitter a shop could instantly let customers know daily what new products are in, what discounts or sales are coming up or film premiere coming soon. It opens up another form of communication for those who want to know what’s going on but can’t come into the store yet.
Lightning speed: Social media is fast, people want to know what is going on right now. From what the latest events are, to the latest conditions. Last week I was anxiously awaiting the opening of Copper’s halfpipe and I received the information through a Myspace bulletin right before the Thanksgiving holiday. That social media platform was the first to release the information before the press and magazine websites put it up days later.
In the end, it’s your voice and the ability to reach customers without relying on them to walk in the door. Social media gives companies an opportunity to establish lasting relationships with customers, but it’s up to the company to take the time and see the benefit.
Shannon covers snowboarding and reviews gear on her blog at shayboarder.com and lives in Steamboat Springs.
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December 10th, 2008 at 9:05 am
Words of wisdom from the most original voice in the industry! Great advice Shayboarder–your blog is a shining example of social media done right.
December 10th, 2008 at 12:20 pm
So because she has a blog she is an expert on Social Media?
FAIL.
December 10th, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Way to hate on someone who is obviously much smarter than a Steamy Turd…..sounds like your handle is proper.
Fail is a word you’re proably used to.
December 10th, 2008 at 4:37 pm
I had to laugh at the juxtaposition: The instructions in the comment section say “Please limit your post to intellectual discussion on the topic in question.” Then the second comment does a good job of reinforcing the stereotype of snow bums as, well, bums.
A more intelligent version of the comment is “So Shannon has a blog. Does that make her an expert on social media?”
It could; it all depends on what she has learned from blogging–a good blogger is above all a reader and synthesizer. The most important question, though, is not an author’s qualifications, but whether what she or he has to say is true, useful, or interesting. I’d say that this article passes on at least one if not all three points.
December 10th, 2008 at 6:29 pm
Shannon knows her stuff, well read and highly knowledgable within the realm of the snowboard industry.
Good Style Shay!
December 10th, 2008 at 6:30 pm
knowledgeable*
December 11th, 2008 at 6:11 am
funny that this chick is riding mens boards for her reviews on her blog site.
not sure how that is for product knowledge…
December 11th, 2008 at 7:27 am
I wrote something similar to this last month talking about viral marketing and gear reviews along with ways companies can use it. The truth is the blogosphere and social networking sites is where people are going for their news. Print media is becoming a dinosaur.
Here’s what I had to say
http://www.angrysnowboarder.com/2008/11/gear-reviews-and-viral-marketing.html
December 11th, 2008 at 9:15 am
Good insight - even if it’s regurgitated and a year late
December 11th, 2008 at 11:48 am
If you set the comparitive bar of intelligence at a “steamy turd” you’ve got nowhere to go but up right?
This is marketing 101 stuff that has been plastered all over the pages of Adweek & Brandweek for the last 5 years. I guess it’s ture that the action sports world is always about 3 years behind the marketing stratetigies of the rest of the business world.
Anyway, it’s true anybody with a Blog is an expert these days.
December 11th, 2008 at 11:51 am
The North Face Snow Report for the iPhone is a perfect example of what is right with “social media” in relation to using new technology. Same would go for what Oakley has done with their Surf Report in conjunction with Surfline.
December 11th, 2008 at 1:30 pm
why did my comment get deleted? censorship is never right!
December 11th, 2008 at 1:46 pm
i wrote that this was a great start, but the big question is how does one measure the ROI of Web 2.0 stuff like social networking? that is the biggest challenge from my opinion for action sports companies to Fortune 500 companies.
also i’d like to say that the TNF app and the Oakley/Surfline gadget are great first steps, but both could use a bit of work. sometimes people rush things to market instead of waiting to hammer out all the kinks. but that never happens in this industry, right? right?
December 11th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Why bother with measuring ROI of “Web 2.0″ when companies can’t even get their websites straight to begin with. Even then, tools like Twitter are used primarily by the geek crowd, not the general population of people who participate in skateboarding, snowboarding etc.
While the intention of this article was good, it really is late too the game and not very relevant. It’s the equivalent of telling companies to get a blog, but missing the crucial point behind any sort of social media that there needs to be fresh and interesting content to be posted in the first place.
It’s hilarious to see blog sections popping up on industry sites, but very few contain content that will keep you visiting the site. Think about your favorite blogs or people you following on Twitter and ask yourself if companies in this industry can provide that compelling content. Most likely they can’t, or if they could it’s low on their priority list. As mentioned earlier in this post, companies websites are still coded like the 1990s and have terrible usability, etc. Fix those problems first before worrying about “social media”.
By the time articles like this are written, people have already gotten over what is being mentioned and moving on to the next thing.
December 12th, 2008 at 7:27 am
interesting thoughts… i concur with many of them, but disagree with others (revolutionary, right?)… i think that some people are doing it right, but there are big opportunities to take advantage of the next big thing as you put it… twitter/facebook, etc. may seem like old hat to you and me, but the mass market is still just figuring out that these things exist (believe it or not)… i see big value in brands seeing how they can leverage their blogs, twitter, myspace, facebook, etc…
but i do agree that they need to first put their houses in order on the web (and in many other areas) then move to 2.0, but will it be too late?
a really simple (but not as easy as it sounds) way to start would be:
a) consistently provide interesting content on their blogs
b) use twitter to provide event, news and photo updates like demo tours, etc.
c) consider using forums, messageboards, etc. as areas of interactivity and consumer research not just areas to flame or create defensive positions on product.
FEH. i’m just rambling now.
December 13th, 2008 at 1:48 pm
With all this talk over relevant social media I think the funniest thing possibly overlooked yet is that the three links listed under blogs on this site: marketwatch, financial news and core retail report the latest update was 11/19. So much for recency, huh? While we are on that topic perhaps some additional thought should go into those blogs instead of republishing magazine content. Not saying you shouldn’t leverage existing resources but c’mon, a little effort here TW Biz crew.
As for Shay’s comments my opinion is that this is all very low hanging fruit. Shay has found success and growth by leveraging these tools. Shay could you provide some growth metrics from google analytics or an idea of how these tools have moved the needle for you?
An example would SouthoftheNorth.com I typically see 50% of my traffic come from google search and a continually refined SEM/SEO strategy. In addition a cross linking strategy and partnerships also drive traffic based on a distro list through constant contact. This is separate from the audience facing list I am currently building.
December 24th, 2008 at 7:09 am
ROI is important but it shouldn’t be the goal of social media. (Besides most advertising is extremely difficult to measure ROI - social media is no different.)
The real advantage of doing social media right is that you create the ability to have consistent, multiple contacts with your market. You can communicate via a long term 2 way conversation instead of a 1 time, 1 way billboard type ad.
The real thing companies need to figure out is that athletes don’t need them to do this. It is more strategy than dollars that matter here, and the smart athletes are way ahead of the game.
Smart athletes are creating a relationship with the marketplace first, and sponsors are going to be paying dearly to get a piece of that after the fact.
Mister X
SponsorSecrets.net
August 8th, 2009 at 12:52 am
A lot of people think they are experts when they are not.