Now here’s an idea that makes sense not only for Twitter, but also for other forms of social media (including blogs, social networks and bookmarking sites). I love it — not only does it provide great information for the marketer, it also builds a sense of community in the process. Great stuff!
What’s got me stirred up is a site mounted by Eric Miltsch of car dealer AuctionDirect. The site, Tweet and Greet, challenges Miltsch’s Twitter followers to answer 10 quick questions about cars.
The results Miltsch gets are entertaining, revealing and most importantly, memorable. Not only that, the survey is likely to engage rather than frustrate users. As ProBlogger Darren Rowse notes, the odd thing is that people tend to be more committed to your product when you ask them to do some work.
Readers, what’s your favorite technique for learning more about your social media followers and fans? Have you ever built a campaign around information gathered from social media-based research? — Anne
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2 responses so far ↓
Kristin C // September 16, 2008 at 9:24 am |
That’s a pretty slick idea to engage people directly through a media that for most people is a fun, fast, low-commitment (in terms of up-front sales) way to interact. I think the key to compliance with people staying in touch with any business today is that it has to be easy, fun and potentially lucrative (the old ‘what’s in it for me?’ principle).
The main way I’ve seen social media used to generates sales personally is through offering coupons on products in exchange for filling out a brief survey online. I’ve seen a lot of companies do this, including Borders and VistaPrint, and it is very effective…at least with me!
It sort of reminds me of the concept of obligation as used in sales circles. You do something little for a person and they feel indebted to you and will reciprocate by doing something for you in return (like buy your product) – it starts small and snowballs into a sales relationship because they are in continuous contact and trust, loyalty and word-of-mouth consciousness develops.
azieger // September 16, 2008 at 11:25 pm |
Kristin:
Thanks for your comments!
I think your observation about the way having people fill out a form works is dead-on, personally. It’s definitely the first step in a sales process and should be handled that way, as I see it.
And I also agree that the fact that he’s made it simple is a big plus (though I gave Eric hell for not having an easy-to-use form for responding to the survey).
I think mechanisms for bonding better with social media audiences are going to grow increasingly sophisticated, but for the time being I thought this was pretty neat.
- Anne