Social media continues to be the quintessential hot topic that has people buzzing. Facebook and Twitter are household names and are often considered the primary online channels for businesses to reach consumers from a branding and marketing perspective. However, some companies are still cautious about entering this dynamic digital forum because it’s not directly answering that age-old question, “How can social media increase my company’s revenue?”
In the past it’s been difficult to put an exact dollar amount to the benefits of social media, but lately some companies are making some bold moves in order to utilize social media to positively impact their bottom line.
One savvy site, www.groupon.com, offers a direct retail connection for food and activities based on how fast a consumer can get the word out to their circle of friends. The unique aspect of the site is to highlight a specific deal within a particular local area, but here’s the catch, you can only get the deal, if enough people actually opt in.
So if a swanky salon in Baltimore is offering a $5 haircut, the offer has to meet its quota in order for anyone to benefit from the deal. The concept takes marketing a “deal of the day” one step further and specifically targets and encourages online social butterflies to influence others within their digital circles. Thus groupon.com has empowered consumers to become their online sales force – enabling users to promote special offers – and has made social media an integral part of their business model in order to generate revenue for their sponsoring retailers and themselves.
In an interesting twist, even a social media channel is learning to place a dollar value on itself. With the release of @earlybird, Twitter is now taking its first step into retail. After observing that their own users were frequently sharing deals and offers online, Twitter decided to enter the eCommerce world. Users can follow the @earlybird Twitter account in order to gain access to the deals. The offers are established by retailers, and Twitter will earn money from the sales. At first the deals will be nationwide, but Twitter is considering targeting specific offers to select cities and other countries in the future. Now a company can directly tap into one established social media channel with wide spread appeal to help promote their products and take advantage of a new and powerful revenue stream.
Another way to determine the value of social media would be to explore if a social media strategy can help eliminate or reduce costs associated with your organization’s current marketing outreach. This was the case when Ben and Jerry’s, the iconic Vermont-based ice cream-maker, decided to drop their traditional monthly eNewsletter for their audience in Britain.
The decision came after consumers voiced that they would prefer to be contacted via social media channels, so Ben and Jerry’s cut their email campaign and notified their target audience to join them on Facebook and Twitter. By focusing now on social media, the company no longer has to allocate their marketing budget to create and release a monthly eNewsletter.
Now before you rush out and restructure your marketing dollars and cut your email campaigns, keep in mind that this decision was based on Ben and Jerry’s understanding of how their target wanted to be contacted. This move also contradicts recent research that found that social media and email used together can significantly increase click through rates and should be used hand-in-hand.
The bottom line is that social media can actually help your bottom line. The only caveat is that you need to look closely at your organization’s marketing objectives to determine the best way to harness the channels and maximize their potential.
Social Media – Shows You the Money
Social media continues to be the quintessential hot topic that has people buzzing. Facebook and Twitter are household names and are often considered the primary online channels for businesses to reach consumers from a branding and marketing perspective. However, some companies are still cautious about entering this dynamic digital forum because it’s not directly answering that age-old question, “How can social media increase my company’s revenue?”
In the past it’s been difficult to put an exact dollar amount to the benefits of social media, but lately some companies are making some bold moves in order to utilize social media to positively impact their bottom line.
One savvy site, www.groupon.com, offers a direct retail connection for food and activities based on how fast a consumer can get the word out to their circle of friends. The unique aspect of the site is to highlight a specific deal within a particular local area, but here’s the catch, you can only get the deal, if enough people actually opt in.
So if a swanky salon in Baltimore is offering a $5 haircut, the offer has to meet its quota in order for anyone to benefit from the deal. The concept takes marketing a “deal of the day” one step further and specifically targets and encourages online social butterflies to influence others within their digital circles. Thus groupon.com has empowered consumers to become their online sales force – enabling users to promote special offers – and has made social media an integral part of their business model in order to generate revenue for their sponsoring retailers and themselves.
In an interesting twist, even a social media channel is learning to place a dollar value on itself. With the release of @earlybird, Twitter is now taking its first step into retail. After observing that their own users were frequently sharing deals and offers online, Twitter decided to enter the eCommerce world. Users can follow the @earlybird Twitter account in order to gain access to the deals. The offers are established by retailers, and Twitter will earn money from the sales. At first the deals will be nationwide, but Twitter is considering targeting specific offers to select cities and other countries in the future. Now a company can directly tap into one established social media channel with wide spread appeal to help promote their products and take advantage of a new and powerful revenue stream.
Another way to determine the value of social media would be to explore if a social media strategy can help eliminate or reduce costs associated with your organization’s current marketing outreach. This was the case when Ben and Jerry’s, the iconic Vermont-based ice cream-maker, decided to drop their traditional monthly eNewsletter for their audience in Britain.
The decision came after consumers voiced that they would prefer to be contacted via social media channels, so Ben and Jerry’s cut their email campaign and notified their target audience to join them on Facebook and Twitter. By focusing now on social media, the company no longer has to allocate their marketing budget to create and release a monthly eNewsletter.
Now before you rush out and restructure your marketing dollars and cut your email campaigns, keep in mind that this decision was based on Ben and Jerry’s understanding of how their target wanted to be contacted. This move also contradicts recent research that found that social media and email used together can significantly increase click through rates and should be used hand-in-hand.
The bottom line is that social media can actually help your bottom line. The only caveat is that you need to look closely at your organization’s marketing objectives to determine the best way to harness the channels and maximize their potential.