Using Social Network Marketing to Builds Brands
By: David Box
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Using Social Network Marketing to Build Brands
Social networks provide methods for companies to introduce and sell their products to
consumers. It is estimated that 30 million people are actively expressing their opinions about
brands on social networks. Marketing through these outlets enables companies to build a loyal
following of actively engaged customers. It gives marketers a line of sight to who is buying their
products and the ability to communicate directly with them. As a result of their social
involvement consumers evolve to become brand ambassadors and routinely enlist their friends,
family and any other followers to do the same. Ultimately this is much like a traditional off-line
word of mouth campaign, just cheaper and in hyper speed. Social networks such as Facebook,
MySpace, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube and others, had over 141 million unique visits in June of
2010 alone. 68% of social network users say they would act on the recommendation of a friend
to purchase a product or visit a retail store. The following article discusses various components
of three very successful, yet very different Social network marketing initiatives by Ford, Sunsilk
and Lady Gaga.
Ford Fiesta Movement
In 2009 Ford launched a highly experimental and groundbreaking marketing campaign
called the Ford Fiesta Movement (FMM) to introduce the 2011 (US model) Ford Fiesta. The
Fiesta, a popular model worldwide was virtually unknown to the US market. The concept was
simple. Recruit 100 “Agents” to drive the Fiesta, complete challenges and chronicle their
experiences and adventures to their large pre-established social networks. They were asked to
engage their followers by posting videos about their experiences on YouTube, sending tweets
and blogging about the car. The agents were uncensored and were able to provide their honest
opinions. Unbeknownst to Ford at the time, this candid and uncensored approach to viral / WOM
marketing would be the foundation for their success.
In 2009, on the heels of the successful FFM1 campaign, Ford announced the second
chapter. This time 20 “Agent” teams located in major markets would compete in a series of
challenges that would create content to showcase the individuality of each city while
simultaneously sharing their Fiesta Experience with their social networks. Fontaine said “People
are talking about our brand now. Fiesta movement chapter 2 lets us be involved in that
discussion” (Ford Blog) The goal of this campaign was to take the consumer from awareness to
consideration.
Both initiatives were a resounding success. Impressions, Blog posts, Tweets, video views,
lead generation and sales were the core metrics for measuring performance. Connie Fontaine,
Ford Brand Content and Alliances Manager, explained that the programs generated 6.2 million
YouTube views, 540,000 Flickr views, 3 million Twitter impressions over 100,000 hand raisers
and countless newspaper articles and TV appearances. Additionally, the program yielded 50,000
consumers, 97% of whom did not own a Ford car, expressed interest in buying the 2011 Fiesta.
10,000 cars were sold in the first 6 days of sales.
When asked if she believed that Ford would consider using this concept on other brands
after FFM2. Fontain said ”This was the first bold opportunity to do something like this, and it
could very well have some wear-out if we try the same thing again” This was an incredible
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Social media marketing experiment that will change the way the automotive manufacturers go to
market. “The Fiesta Movement is reputed to have cost a small fraction of a typical national TV
campaign”. Despite the cost savings using this method Ford decided to launch a traditional
media campaign to compliment the FFM. I believe that social network marketing and
conventional marketing can only coexist if traditional outlets (TV and print) are used to
compliment the social program. The fundamental concept behind this type of social media is for
marketers to give up control over messaging and content and engage their customers in dialog as
opposed to traditional marketing methods that control the messaging.
Ford’s bold actions are revolutionizing the marketing world. They have created a concept
that I feel is highly transportable to other products and industries. According to Grant
McCracken at Harvard Business Online, Ford and FFM have created a road map for the rest to
follow. It’s a 3 point process for social media marketing. 1. Engage culturally creative consumers
to create content. 2. Encourage them to distribute this content on social networks and digital
markets in the form of a digital currency. 3. Craft this in a way that it rebounds to the credit of
the brand, turning digital currency (and narrative meaning) into a value for the brand.
I tend to agree with Ford, the FFM concept is played-out. Social media needs to remain
relevant and content needs to be fresh and engaging. I believe creating a hybrid concept that
bridges social media and reality TV could be a way to continue forward into 2012. I am
suggesting Ford begin to develop proprietary Television content. They could create a show of
their own where the social networkers could participate. This would increase engagement across
multiple demographics and intimately involve their social network. The followers, bloggers and
tweeters should be able to influence the outcomes of the show with their actions. In essence, the
agents respond to the direction of their social networks in a Survivor meets The Amazing Race
format.
The best sales plans will fail if there is no follow through. All this Social networking
activity is generating leads and they need to be converted to sales. During the FFM campaign
50,000 people expressed an interest in purchasing a Fiesta and an additional 100,000 expressed a
general interest in the car. What’s now? In most instances the leads would be entered into a
CRM system and the direct mail campaign would commence. I would suggest Ford reengage
with these prospects and turn them into brand ambassadors. They could achieve this by creating
a promotion where participants are rewarded with incentives for future ford purchases. To earn
this award they need to generate social media content of their own. An example rule structure
could be: Post a creative video on line about why you think the Fiesta is for you, get 50 friends to
“like it” and receive $500 cash back on a new Fiesta. This will enable Ford to generate new
interest, new leads and a new set of viral videos on the back of existing leads. I would also
recommend one more opportunity to drive business. A radius direct mail campaign, which
leverages the sale of the initial 10,000 cars and their newness to the market, could work well.
This program would send a set number of postcards to the immediate households surrounding the
addresses of the first 10,000 car buyers. The postcard would say “One of your neighbors just
made a smart choice…Ford Fiesta” and detail out the features, advantages and benefits of the
car. Knowing that a neighbor took that leap of faith could help sway a decision to purchase a
Ford or prompt an enquiry.
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Sunsilk’s Gang of Girls (GoG)
The social network portal by Sunsilk, Gang of Girls was created to promote, educate and
communicate with their fast growing target market. This medium was selected because in
comparison to traditional marketing, social network portals and online communities create
stronger bonds between consumers and brands. A stronger bond leads to better engagement and
develops brand ambassadors as well as fosters loyalty. Conventional marketing is losing its
significance due to high costs, advertising ineffectiveness, viewer reluctance and nonengagement. GoG’s site is created to be a knowledge portal where participants return frequently
to interact with industry experts and each other. In comparison, the FFM site featured content
and information about the product, teams and activities but all of the interaction occurred on the
agents own choice of social media outlets. The Ford sites served as a gateway to the discussion,
GoG’s site facilitates it.
Initially, the GoG site was developed to provide hair and beauty tips but with the growing
popularity of the internet, it quickly developed into an exclusive online community for
likeminded girls age 16 - 24. The site is built on the philosophy that girls gang together to
express their feelings. Today, this fashionable and informative knowledge sharing hub provides
product related information, interactive features, beauty tips and discussion forums. Some
discussions are formally led by industry experts and others by the participants themselves.
Discussion topics range from entertainment to fashion and health to personal goals. Girls are
encouraged to create text pictures and video posts using the tools provided on the site.
By compartmentalizing the discussion topics GoG is creating reference groups where the
exchange and sharing of information is promoted and facilitated. Reference groups are said to
play an important role in the purchase process of luxury products, they also exert a strong
influence in creating high brand awareness and brand loyalty in Fast Moving Consumer Goods
(FMCG) products. Unlike the Ford example where the content was completely uncensored, the
chat rooms at GoG are moderated by community managers. These individuals steer the
conversations with Sunsilk’s business goals and objectives in mind. The subject matter experts
on the site also relate their solutions back to the appropriate Sunsilk product line. Ford did not
intentionally utilize any subject matter experts or opinion leaders. The only opinion that counted
was that of the Agents and their following. Ford carefully selected 100 people with large social
followings to represent them. By doing so they instantaneously achieved critical participation
mass for the program. GoG, on the other hand, appointed prominent brand ambassadors and used
their fame to launch their portal and drive participation. This alone was not enough and a two
part grass roots media blitz program was rolled out. The first part involved keeping the site
current and relevant in order to attract and retain membership. The second took the in itiative to
the street where they had enrollment events at malls, college campuses and youth events (ICMR
India). Both methods of creating a viral WOM type campaign were successful however one
could argue that the Ford method took the least amount of effort with potentially a lower cost to
launch.
Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga, Billboards 2010 artist of the year, is taking the music business and social network
marketing by storm. Online music distribution has suffered. The value of the global recorded
music industry shrank by more than 40% between 2004 and 2010. The industry desperately
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needs retool the way they engage with their consumers. Lady Gaga has an uncanny
understanding of what her audience wants. She is intimately involved in every aspect of her
social network; including managing her own Twitter account with over 10 million followers. She
is rewriting the handbook on how to win in the (new) music business. In this case, conventional
marketing practices are not applicable. Her meteoric rise from obscurity to become a household
name in a little over two years would have been impossible to achieve in such a short time using
conventional marketing and distribution models.
The design of the Lady Gaga site, when compared to Sunsilk and the Ford Fiesta
Movement, seems rather lackluster. One would think that such a vibrant personality would offer
much more of a wow factor with their site however, the more you understand her marketing
philosophy, the clearer her actions become. Simply put, it’s all about her fans or “Little
Monsters” as she calls them. She understands that without her fans the music she produces is
irrelevant. The site focuses on their thoughts and feelings. She welcomes dialog, video chat and
fan created content. In return for participation, she rewards her followers with exclusive
announcements and content, created intentionally for web viewing. In many ways the Gaga site
is similar to that of Sunsilk GoG. Both sites recruit and depend on active member dialog centered
on their brand. Where they differ is how the dialog occurs. GoG plants moderators in the
discussion boards to gently steer to conversations to their brand. Just like Ford; the Gaga site
relies on uncensored discussions. Gaga creates brand loyalty with, the “4 E’s: Emotions,
experiences, engagement and Exclusivity. In my opinion, Ford and Sunsilk use their Social
networks to drive consideration for their products whereas Lady Gaga uses it to develop a cult
like following. Ford and Sunsilk developed their sites to clearly promote their brand. Lady Gaga
developed her site to appear as a communications portal. The e-commerce features and partner
promotions (i.e. Google and Polaroid) are vital to the success of her business appear to take a
back seat to communicating with her fan base.
All three websites appear unrelated with regard to target demographic, content and
message however; they all share some common elements. They provide open channels of
communication to interact with their target market and consumers. Until now this was nearly
impossible due to the complexities of distribution networks. These sites also influence desired
behaviors. Some through uncensored customer interaction and others by utilizing strategically
placed subject matter experts and coaches. Our world is filled with on demand content. As
consumers we have the ability to filter out messaging we don’t want to see or deem to be
irrelevant. This is causing the marketing world to have to adapt to a medium that changes more
in six months than print and TV did in decades. If you doubt future change think about this; there
will likely be more mobile internet users than PC users by 2015. These new rules are certainly
not permanent but rest assured, pioneering brands like Sunsilk, Ford and Lady Gaga will
continue to be at the forefront of it all.
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