The Benefits of Social Profile Optimization
It is estimated that advertisers will spend $1.4 billion on advertising within social networks this year (eMarketer, 2008). As marketers begin to realize the benefits of social media, an increasing number of companies have experimented with developing profiles in Myspace, Facebook, and other social media sites. As a marketing vehicle, social profiles have played an integral role in a number of ground-breaking cross-media campaigns, such as Dorito’s Crash the Super Bowl Contest, or Target’s successful Back-to-School campaign on Facebook. As an extension of the customer experience, social profiles can reinforce brand messaging, as T-Mobile exemplifies with its YouTube channel.
Social networks like Facebook receive over 100 million unique visitors a month (eMarketer, 2008) – thus one would think that marketers would give social profiles the same attention as their other creative media. Surprisingly, however, many companies are developing branded social profiles without regard for some of the fundamental tenants of online marketing.
Take Coca Cola’s Super Bowl YouTube channel: Despite the fact that the channel itself has received over 56,000 views and its most popular video has received 2.2 million views, the page looks like it was created in 5 minutes. Or, check out FedEx’s Facebook page – a minimally branded, incongruent placeholder that offers no unique content to users.
For marketers seeking to avoid Social Network Shame, here’re five seemingly obvious, but incredibly important, tips to make the most of your social profiles:
- Brand Your Profile: Make it clear to the user that this is an officialcorporate profile. A visitor shouldn’t have to guess whether the profile was created by an everyday user or the corporation itself. The Semi-Pro Movie does a great job of this with their MySpace Page.
- Link to Your Corporate Site: You would be amazed at the number of corporations that fail to link back to their official websites. Linking to your corporate website increases the profile’s authenticity and can be a significant source of traffic for your main site.
- Include Unique Content: Provide visitors with something they can’t find anywhere else – unique content, such as short-form videos, widgets, games, photos, etc, gives consumers a reason to “friend” your profile and to return to your page.
- Develop Interactive Content: Find innovative ways to encourage users to engage with your page. Interactive content, such as games or widget applications, offer consumers a utility, rather than just a branded message. Semi-Pro performs well in this category, offering E-Cards, video clips and audio clips, official downloads, forums and more.
- Own Your Brand’s URLProtect your brand and make it easy for consumers to find you in social media by occupying your URL (Ex: MySpace.com/YourBrand). Companies that fail to secure their branded sub-domain leave it open to occupation by consumers or competitors who may create pages that promote a negative brand perception.
These five tips are just a first step towards leveraging social media as a powerful marketing tool. By optimizing your social profile, you can avoid the pitfalls many marketers succumb to and ensure that potential customers engage with your brand.
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