Broker Roundtable: Incorprating Social Data Into Lists

Welcome to Broker Roundtable, where each week we ask list brokers to give their opinions on issues that matter to the marketing community.

This week’s question: What steps are being taken to incorporate social media information into lists? Our current panel includes: Michael Kertelitis of RMI Direct Marketing Inc.; Lee Kroll of Kroll Direct Marketing Inc. and Michael Peterman of Veradata. (Would you like to be considered to be a member of our roundtable? Contact Larry Riggs at [email protected].)

Leland Kroll, president, Kroll Direct Marketing Inc.:

In 2010, we saw the introduction of many different yet similar types of mailing lists offering social media registrant information. The challenge for list brokers and direct marketers is what does this information tell us and how can it be used best.

In order to maximize the effectiveness of social media data, you need to take a step back and research each of the individual social sites that are being referenced as a data source and determine what is the consumer experience and benefit of joining the social site? How does membership or being a registrant denote this individual from the general population? For example, if the social site is geared to photo and or video sharing, then these consumers are great prospects for computer hardware and software upgrades (you need lots of memory for storage), smart phones, travel- and family-oriented offers, and of course, additional photo equipment. If the social media site is a dating network site then fashion, cosmetics, health and beauty, and entertainment offers would be appropriate.

Additional social media information that is currently available that can be tested and mailed to are the number of friends people have, number of social sites that an individual is registered on, influencer or a follower and other very insightful selections. I believe that the importance of social media will continue to positively affect direct marketing. Just like with any other mailing list, it will be the use of additional selections that will dictate the application of this very insightful social media network information.

Michael Peterman, CEO, VeraData:

Online behavior plays an important role in today’s list selection process. We look at a fairly comprehensive array of online activity through a myriad of sources to build the most effective data segmentation strategies for clients. For instance, when using personal URLs or driving the audience to a Website where one of the goals is to ‘refer a friend’ or ‘become a fan,’ overlaying traditional lists with ‘number-of-friends,’ ‘number-of-sites/memberships’ helps further target the audience who not only possesses the demographic/behavioral attributes of the target, but who also have the greatest propensity to share the offer with friends.

We believe this will continue to grow, not only in quantity, but in sophistication. With proposed ‘Do-Not-Track’ legislation, which is likely to gain support, our prognosis is that social media represents the best chance of capturing both a consumer’s level of online engagement, as well as behavioral drivers that our clients can use to drive their campaigns. Learning lessons early and building relationships with social media groups now will better position list brokers and their clients for the future.

Michael Kertelitis, account executive, RMI Direct Marketing Inc.:

Organizations all know that they need to do it, but in my niche, nonprofits, very few have done figured out how to adapt what social media brings to the table with great success. A few organizations have had success creating brand awareness and also recruiting people to participate in events, but many have struggled in bringing in contributions through the use of social media, so therefore not much social media information has infiltrated to the lists that they use.