You are a part of one or have seen heaps of buzz about them. Social networks are here to stay and are only going to get bigger.

From an advertiser’s perspective it’s pretty hard to grab someone’s attention and keep them focused on your adverts. So many times have I seen companies pour millions of dollars down the drain on social network advertising, in the hope that people will buy their products or services?

So why doesn’t advertising work on social networks?

All the online marketing gurus say it’s about building brand awareness, and it is to some extent. But if you have been in the business long enough, you’ll know that measuring brand effectiveness can be very expensive and time consuming. There are a lot of companies out there that provide these services such as Nielson Buzz Metrics, but be warned – only if you’re willing to spend the big bucks.
Don’t get me wrong, BRAND is important, but like any sales or marketing person will say “Show me the money!”

So how can we leverage off social networks and actually take some ROI?

I have a theory and as cliché as it might sound, it’s about getting personal and understanding the “4 core elements” of personality groups and targeting them based on their characteristics.

If you are a marketer or not, most companies target their databases into areas that are functional, beneficial and emotionally appealing – which is mostly known as the value proposition. But before that is concluded they break their databases down into segments which are usually based on primary and secondary research.

Online segmentation is however measured differently as other elements come into play such as time spent, bounce rates, etc. This can be very difficult to do and is also extremely time consuming.
But what if there were another way to segment and target a core set of consumers online based on your value proposition? I believe you can – through social networks.

I strongly believe that the future of online targeting will be based on a person’s characteristics.

Here are some advantages:

• Personalised communication strategies for campaigns
• Greater understanding of behavioural patterns
• Making each experience relevant, personal and engaging

Now here comes the cliché part, based on astrology (I know, for all you men out here banging your heads against the wall, there is some logic behind this) you can “assume” all people share common characteristics based on their element sign.

These are broken down into 4 elements:

• Fire = Leo, Aries & Sagittarius
Are known to be; irresponsible, impatient, boastful, positive, extraverted, active, creative, ingenious, dynamic, highly energetic, outspoken, fiery temper, passionate, emotionally intense

• Water = Scorpio, Cancer, Pisces
Are known to be; deeply intuitive, imaginative, emotional, reserved, not gregarious, exceedingly passionate, self pity, sensitive, pessimistic, overly vague, secretive

• Earth = Capricorn, Virgo, Taurus
As known to be; stable, practical, realistic, cautious, hard-working, dependable, highly materialistic, inhibited, introverted, down to earth, calm

• Air = Gemini, Libra, Aquarius
Are known to be; free spirited, philosophical, intellectual, open minded, idealistic, adventurous, restless, unpredictable, interactive, extraverted, emotionally aloof, opinionated

Even if you don’t believe in astrology – it’s about finding the right set of ‘people characteristics’ for your product or service. Understanding the personality that wants or needs your products or services is important and knowing how to leverage on that.

Because at the end of the day, they will be your distribution channel when it comes to word of mouth or recommending your product or service to other people online and offline.

So having the right personality representing your brand will be just as important as the way you communicate across all channels.

So you are a business and looking to tap into the Social Network world. You want to learn how to tap into the minds of millions of people and sell your products or services to them. THINK AGAIN. If you think that Social Networks are a way to generate revenue for your business – think again. BUT if you are looking to improve and increase brand awareness or develop your backlinking then you are in the right place.

Social Networks are fantastic for generating buzz, sharing ideas and getting everyone on the same page.

So let’s take an example case scenario to explain this in more detail for you:

1. You are a pet store owner and sell various products
2. You have a new website and have started selling your products online
3. You need traffic to your site and need to get people through the door

There are a lot of things that you are already doing to generate traffic like SEM & SEO and you have also invested money in other areas like email marketing, but you want to communicate with more groups and reach a wider demographic than just locally. So how do you do this?
Having a blog is usually the first place most people start. Writing about keyword specific topics about pets is where you should start and becoming an expert and sharing your knowledge about pets is very important, as it builds credibility and helps with reputation (branding).

• Join various social networks and create your own profile
• Create or join networks that are around your desired topic – in this case – pets
• Also look at forums – they are also very useful in finding people and discussions relating to your topic
• Engage with people and start building resources and backlinks to your website that is related to your topic

This is a lot of work and in some cases can take a long time to do, as a lot of research is involved and building trust and credibility doesn’t happen overnight either. And it can also be hard to control how people will link to your site too. But in a nutshell these are the basics of Social Media Marketing, though there is a lot more to it than this – like Social Media Optimization – though I will explain this in my next post.
So keep your eyes peeled and start getting out there and creating some BUZZ!