Even just a few years back, most marketers did not see the potential of social media as a marketing tool. Since then, however, marketers have taken to blogs, podcasts, and social networking Websites such as MySpace and Facebook to engage consumers online. But the question remains: How can a brand marketer engage younger consumers online without coming across as a corporate stiff?
Mike Murphy, chief revenue officer at three-year-old, 14 million-member Facebook, shared his company’s three best practices for engaging consumers during Experian Simmons’ Future of Information Summit last week:
1) Give users a reason to share. Murphy said YouTube got it right, with a button at the end of every video on its video-sharing site that encourages users to send what they’d just viewed to a friend. The Dave Matthews Band one-upped that, allowing Facebook members upload photos they took at the band’s shows to its Facebook page. This was unusual, Murphy pointed out, since cameras and recording devices are regularly banned from concerts.
2) Become a part of the experience. The Dave Matthews Band also held a sweepstakes that gave a randomly selected fan who correctly guessed its set list for the August 5, 2006, tour-opening show in New York two VIP tickets and backstage passes to an upcoming show.
3) Listen without fear. When Chase Bank decided to design a credit card for college students, it talked to 18- to 24-year-old Facebook users to find out what they were looking for in a card. During the two-month campaign, Chase discovered that these young consumers wanted a card that allowed them to share rewards points with their friends. Chase followed through by releasing a card that enable users to pool their points. Members of one fraternity used its points to buy a LCD television for its house; one dormitory pooled its points to make a donation to Habitat for Humanity. News of the Chase card’s differentiating point-sharing feature spread, helping to create additional demand.
“If there is one common theme we’ve learned, it’s that this generation respects brands that listen,” Murphy said.
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