Comments on: Pareto’s Principle: Market-Oriented and Sales-Oriented in Social

By: Tim Jahn

Tim Jahn — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:23:20 +0000

I think “social media” helps companies sell to the right crowd easier. Rather than using a billboard to advertise shoes to every commuter every morning, a company can use “social media” tools to communicate directly with folks that have expressed interest in shoes, or even that company's shoes.

At the end of the day, sales is still the driving force. “Social media” is just another tool to increase sales and build awareness of the company, but it's a tool that makes this a bit easier for many companies.

By: laurenfernandez

laurenfernandez — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:14:04 +0000

No, but in a normal conversation I would listen to a friend if they told me about the fabulous shoes they bought from Steve Madden. Brands catch my attention – so brand ambassadors are where it's at. That's a true brand loyalist – whether they know it or not.

Sales should have a say in social media. I am of the mindset that sales and marketing are very similar, and the companies that work together? Those are the ones succeeding in this space. It's a foundation type deal – marketing builds on the foundation of brand loyalists which educates others and helps them think about a sale.

Great insight Nick.

By: laurenfernandez

laurenfernandez — Wed, 17 Feb 2010 19:11:42 +0000

I don't have anything other to add – except that we always have great conversations! I'm glad to know someone like you B!

By: Nick D

Nick D — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:15:42 +0000

Think of Social Media like you would a normal conversation. If you were standing around talking with a bunch of people, would you want someone running up and saying, "We have 2 red widgets for the price of 1 going on right now!"? No, that's obnoxious. It's the same thing with Social Media.

Social Media is great for W.O.M. advertising and it starts with your Brand Loyalists. These are the people who more often than not, seek you out. The goal is to open lines of communications with them, educate them and give them the tools they need to advertise for you. If you build up a big enough following doing this, you will have a great group of people for focus groups, product testing, etc. These are people who are actively engaged with your brand. Let them spread the word of how good your goods or services are. Make them feel like they are part of your organization.

Social Media is also obviously good for customer retention and customer service. These are next areas where Social Media is essential. Sales as a direct result of Social Media should not be figured into any equation unless you are somebody like Dell where people follow to get great deals. Your focus should be growing your group of loyalists and hoping that sales will increase as result of your engaging these people.

By: bethharte

bethharte — Tue, 16 Feb 2010 19:13:13 +0000

We need to keep in mind that both Zappos (a distributor, not a producer) and Southwest are selling commodities. They aren't listening to the market and creating products based on feedback from those markets. Have they enhanced around the service they provide, sure! That makes it easier for them to both use social media very well. But look at Southwest's recent debacle with Kevin Smith… Social media wouldn't have saved them from it because folks outside of the social media team made the mistakes. They profiled him and made assumptions they shouldn't have as well they aren't consistent with their policies regarding 'people of size.' The market feedback might just make them reconsider their weaknesses in some of their customer service and in-flight service areas.

I think if organizations are going to be “social,” they need to take a good, hard look at all of their internal policies, procedures, etc. and investigate how those might just put a wrench in the works.

Now you have me thinking! Is this even possible? I don't think many organizations are there yet…