Social manifesto - How companies are using social media. Part 4 of 4

#4 Give people something they need

The toughest way to use social media is also one of the best: give people something they need. Fill a gap, provide a bridge, be the tool people can’t live without.

Pros:

• Tends to create significant conversation / word-of-mouth
• Builds brand perceptions / attachments rather than acting as direct marketing

Cons:

• Hard to do. It’s finding the idea that will challenge you
• Tends to be a long-term commitment; not a campaign

Make sure you:

• Test the concept with users of social media before you go live. This is one area where being a little tone deaf to the medium can have very negative results.

An Example: FexEx Launches a Package

FedEx wanted to participate in social media, but needed a relevant way to do it. So, they studied how people use the various tools, looking for a gap.

They found it on Facebook.

One of the limitations of Facebook is that you can’t attach a document or image to a message they way you can in email.

So, FedEx built an application called “Launch a Package” that met that need AND fit their core brand perfectly. The results were immediate: 100,000 installs in 48 hours, 1st branded app to make #1 on Facebook’s Most Active page, and 0ver 50% of users returning more than 10 times after install.

Comments

[Pam]

Love this series. Weve been using social media very successfully at BreakingPoint for months now and are really seeing a dramatic correlation between social media activity, web visits and unsolicited leads. Theres a great post on ZDNet that details the results at http://blogs.zdnet.com/feeds/?p=321page=2

[Bull's Eye]

Great series! I especially liked the effort to put the examples aside the theory. Thanks for sharing!

[Holly]

I havent been too active on my facebook account, and I was unaware of these case study. Great work by FedEx, and thank you for breaking it down!

[John Kiker]

Leigh,

Thanks so much for putting this together. What I love most about social media is the affordability. The only cost of entry is a an idea thats relevant to your brand that end users care about. With all of the belt tightening going on, it should be music to many marketers ear (once they understand what social media is all about).