Customers, Not Marketers, Invent the Best Social Strategy
Social media implementation requires clear strategy paired with customer-driven execution. What that means is that the best companies approach the process with an exploratory, flexible, and collaborative attitude.
When we were working with eBay, we built and managed discussion forums for seller support. This was initially intended to be a place where people who sold on the site could answer other sellers’ support questions, creating a better experience and reducing costs. It was very successful—in fact, so successful that the sellers started using the forums for more than technical eBay support. Over time, it became a social hub, where members were posting about vacations and family and all the kinds of things friends like to talk about in the real world.
To its credit, eBay didn’t try to control or shut down this unexpected user behavior.
Instead we amplified the social aspects of the forum, grew it to a society of well over a half million members in over 20 markets around the world and built a second section dedicated to customer support.
Given that space to connect, the seller’s engagement was incredible. The relationships formed in those forums turned out to be very important to the way the company grew. There were other online selling sites, but no one wanted to leave the close-knit eBay community. This social society had become a competitive asset for eBay that no one else could easily replicate. Both the larger community and the dedicated support forum were still serving the company’s original goal: to enhance the seller’s experience. But it was the unplanned-for social society that became the bigger value-driver.
A few years back, a retail discount store client, saw a great opportunity that was already happening organically: Customers were independently showing off their best bargains from the stores on their MySpace pages. Being a brick-and-mortar retailer, the brand was also interested in a campaign that would directly drive in-store traffic. So we developed a program for them with two central features. First, we built an online community with profiles that allowed people to upload photos of their deals with a scroll-over that revealed the incredible bargain price. This let people re-experience that moment of victory when they flipped the tag, and then share it with fellow treasure-hunters.
Second, since the brand was also looking to do something directly connected to in-store traffic, we created a way for shoppers on the floor to upload a code with their mobile that would email other members in the community site, alerting them to great bargains on goods that they had self-reported interest in. We put a lot of effort into this second piece. It seemed like such a clever way to bring people into the stores. But since mobile technology at the time was still pretty limited the execution was no walk in the park.
The shared deal experience feature of the site took off right away—customers loved it, because it allowed them to do what they were already doing on MySpace with a fun and improved feature set. But the mobile program? It never really got off the ground. Not enough customers were ready to use their cell phones as anything but phones, and many stores neglected to put up the signs that made the whole program work. You could say we were ahead of the times. And because we loved the idea so much, we held on to it longer than we probably should have.
As you implement a social media strategy, shoot for planned flexibility without losing sight of business objectives. Those objectives are the anchor that keeps execution from running amok. Pay close attention as you get to know your followers in the social space, and, even more importantly, as they get to know each other. You never know what unexpected obstacles, assets, and opportunities will emerge.
The real fun of the game in social—and where the biggest wins derive—is in being nimble enough to follow your customers’ lead.
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