MARKETERS, WAKE UP! 4 Consumer Signals You Can t Afford to Ignore A WHITE PAPER BY GIGYA

Transcription

1 MARKETERS, WAKE UP! 4 Consumer Signals You Can t Afford to Ignore A WHITE PAPER BY GIGYA

2 Although it has been proven to directly impact customer acquisition and conversion rates time and again, social marketing is still an enigma to many marketers. At this point in the game, any marketer worth her salt recognizes the importance of being social; in fact, 70% of marketers expect to increase their social media marketing budgets in 2014 (MediaPost). But it s no longer enough to enable user comments, throw a few share buttons on your website, and call it a day. Social engagement provides only as much value as the insights and opportunities it generates, and modern marketers must shift focus from simply putting vehicles for user engagement in place to harnessing consumer interaction in ways that drive performance. Social marketing has moved beyond basic engagement to a model that requires marketers to actively measure and optimize users social actions and behaviors in the context of their business goals. Today, social marketing is about identifying consumers social signals and the insights they generate to create meaningful consumer relationships and drive customer acquisition and retention. Modern marketers need to wake up and start paying close attention to the ways that users are engaging with their brands and how they can leverage these interactions to benefit their businesses. Here are 4 consumer social signals you can t afford to ignore, and how you can use them to create stronger customer relationships: 1. Logging in Socially 2. Sharing Content 3. Writing Comments and Reviews 4. Engaging in Gamification

3 Logging in Socially In an effort to give users a more seamless and convenient login experience, many brands allow them to login to their site or app using their existing social media profiles. When logging in socially, consumers can choose to give brands permissionbased access to details from their social profiles, including their s, locations, interests, connections, and more. However, many brands fail to see beyond the immediate use case of social login, missing the boat on requesting relevant data points and leveraging these rich consumer insights to connect closer to consumers and improve marketing performance. With social login, brands have the opportunity to create custom, relevant, and timely user experiences based on consumers unique social identities. One brand that does an exemplary job of this is Kate Spade. Upon registering for the luxury retail brand s Saturday.com site, Kate Spade requests permission to access a variety of data points, including a user s location. Each time the consumer logs in socially thereafter, she is greeted with a customized clothing or accessory recommendation based on her location.

4 Not only does this level of personalization increase conversion rates, but it also makes consumers feel special and valued, breeding feelings of brand loyalty that result in repeat purchases over time. Start Waking Up Reevaluate the information that you are requesting from socially logged in users, and start asking for data that will help you connect with them on more personal levels. Determine how your brand can create more relevant and timely consumer experiences using social data, even if it s simply greeting them by name when they login to your site or app. Finally, test how these different experiences influence and impact consumers paths to purchase. Sharing Content Social sharing is one of the most common social signals, but many brands falsely believe that allowing consumers to syndicate their favorite articles or products across their social networks is engagement enough. While social sharing alone can effectively drive reach and referral traffic, the insights brands can glean from user shares can be leveraged to create much deeper and more influential levels of engagement than social sharing on its own. Share Data = Personalized Recommendations = $$$ Did you know that 40% of consumers buy more from retailers who personalize the shopping experience across channels (Monetate)? You do the math!

5 Brands that actively track and analyze user shares can create more relevant user experiences by tailoring featured content and product showcases to users individual preferences and sharing habits. Culinary king McCormick is one example of a brand that has successfully leveraged users sharing signals to build totally unique and personalized user profiles and experiences. When a user shares a favorite recipe, this information is used to help build out her unique Flavor Print, or taste profile, which is then used to recommend recipes she may like. Start Waking Up Leverage a marketing platform that allows you to aggregate user shares across channels and devices, visualize and make sense of this share data, and take action. We recommend selecting a solution that easily integrates with the third-party marketing providers you are already using to reach users with relevant and timely recommendations based on their sharing habits.

6 Writing Comments and Reviews Over the years, many brands have implemented commenting and reviews functionality to their sites or apps to help make their offerings look more credible to new visitors. Truly dedicated brands with enough bandwidth consistently monitor user-generated content for CRM purposes and to identify brand advocates. However, most marketers don t take advantage of these important social signals to improve their SEO. Websites that feature ratings and reviews typically experience a 10-20% increase in CTR on search engine results pages (Inchoo). User-generated content helps uncover new keywords and improves long-tail SEO by putting your product or service in the language and terms used by your customers. Successful marketers pay attention to key words and phrases consumers use to describe their products or services, and leverage them in their search efforts to effectively boost discovery, traffic, and conversions. Start Waking Up Invest in SEO-friendly ratings and comments systems, and make sure these solutions offer the same functionality across mobile devices. Make comments and reviews sharable across social networks to further syndicate user content and expand SEO.

7 Engaging in Gamification Gartner recently stated that more than 70% of the world s largest 2,000 companies are expected to have deployed at least one gamified application by year-end 2014 (Gartner). However, Gartner also predicted that by 2014, 80% of gamification efforts would fail due to poor design and a focus on game elements like badges and leaderboards rather than a goal-centric experience (Gartner). While brands clearly see the value of gamification, most are failing to leverage user participation as a social signal and use it in a way that can truly benefit their businesses and drive valuable user actions. Marketers must evaluate what types of behaviors are most valuable to incentivize, and which gamified actions lead to ROI. Maybe you want users to share content to boost awareness, or you notice that customers who leave reviews are twice as likely to make repeat purchases as other buyers. Rather than getting caught up in trophies and rankings, brands must learn how to turn users gamification play into mutually beneficial experiences that reward consumers while promoting desired behaviors and driving KPIs. Start Waking Up One of the keys to effectively measuring and gaining value from gamification is to seamlessly connect digital and real-world experiences. Reward behaviors across channels, such as checking in on Facebook or making an in-store purchase, and offer real-life incentives like coupons or free merchandise for repeat play. This creates a series of social signals that can be further tracked and measured to optimize experiences across channels and guide consumers down the path to purchase.

8 CUSTOMER SUCCESS STORY: Boyd Gaming Boyd Gaming s B Connected Social connects its online social gaming platform to a real-life casino loyalty program. Participants can earn points by booking hotel rooms, linking their social media accounts, sharing promotions with friends, and checking in at any Boyd Casino. These virtual points can then be exchanged for real-world rewards like vacations, ipads, slot dollars and gift certificates. This gamified, cross-channel reward system led to exceptional results, including: Over 700,000 visits to B Connected Online a month after launch Over 115,000 game-based actions each month by members Over 35,000 social media shares, resulting in more than 3 social referrals per share A 30.4% increase in social check-ins to Boyd gaming outlets GAME OVER 70% of the world s largest 2,000 companies will deploy at least one gamified application by year-end and 80% of gamification efforts will fail due to poor design! It s time for marketers to wake up and unlock the full potential of social engagement. Social marketing doesn t have to be an enigma - brands can start effectively recognizing, measuring, and leveraging these 4 key social signals to grow valuable consumer relationships and exceed their marketing goals today. Sources

9 About Gigya Gigya helps clients build better customer relationships by turning unknown visitors into known, loyal and engaged customers. With Gigya s technology, businesses increase registrations and identify customers across devices, consolidate data into rich customer profiles, and provide better products and experiences through integrations with leading marketing and service applications. More than 700 of the world s leading brands rely on Gigya to build identity-driven relationships and to provide scalable, secure Customer Identity Management. For more resources on measuring consumer signals, visit Gigya.com. To get started right away, you can speak with a product expert by calling: