By adaptive - July 18th, 2012

This week, our news update covers social business models, measurement and metrics, and an innovative new campaign from Nike. read on!Hi all, Hope everyone is well? Plenty of activity across the ...

Hi all,

Hope everyone is well?

Plenty of activity across the social web this week…

Evolve your social design

Today corporations need to have a sophisticated and multi-layered approach to the social media they use. The proper allocation of resources to this space is also essential if a high level of commercial return is to be achieved. Brands now have to innovate and think about how their values can be clearly communicated in the social environments they maintain a presence within.

A good example is Sports Illustrated that doesn’t have a ‘digital’ department, but ensures that social media flows through ever element of its business. And even the mighty IBM clearly understands how social media is now a touchstone for its entire business.

What’s your digital business model?

How companies in the digital space actually make money is the subject of a new report commissioned by the PPA and completed by Wessenden Marketing. Highlights of the reports illustrate how very different approaches can be highly profitable. For instance, Apple is reported to make $200 on each iPad sold, but Amazon loses $3 on each Kindle it sells, but knows that buyers will on average purchase $135 worth of eBooks and other digital materials.

The report outlines business models in the digital space that move through three distinct phases that include: legacy, bolt-on and rebuild. The report concludes with this advice:

1. Do not willingly throw away what currently works until you have something better to replace it. The old business models still have nuggets embedded in them.

2. Digital innovation and the “science of the possible” need to be balanced with hard-nosed, commercial commonsense.

3. “Free” is not a business model. It is a marketing tool to draw people (end-users or advertisers) into a transaction.

4. Forget the past… until it comes back in a new guise. Past history is no guarantee of present success. Past revenue and profit levels are a thing of the past, but old techniques and situations keep on coming back in new digital clothing.

5. Aim to be able to fail cheaply. Testing, trial and error, constant fine-tuning: all these things lie behind the new business models.

6. Find out who will pay how much for what. All the shed loads of data and insight are there simply to answer that question.

7. Know when to say no. There will be times when our business models and priorities simply do not match those of potential business partners. There will be times when what our end-users want (or say they want) are just uneconomic.

The multi-metric approach to social marketing

Corporations that are struggling to measure the effectiveness of their social media campaigns have been offered a number of easy to apply metrics from Social Bakers that can be applied to any social network that uses public data.

Engagement is now a commercial component of every business. This should be measured and used along with established KPIs to establish benchmark tests to give your corporation the analysis it needs to see true ROI and an informed insight into customer behaviour.

In Brief…

Share and earn from Tesco

The world’s third largest retailer clearly understands the power of recommendations in the social space. Tesco have developed their share and earn initiative that links to its wildly successful Clubcard loyalty program. Customers who ‘like’ and item can earn Clubcard points, but also additional points if their likes lead to additional sales. Whether this micro affiliate trial takes off remains to be seen.

Schedule your media posts to generate more leads

New research from HubSpot has revealed that businesses that schedule their blog post are three times more likely to gain a conversion than those that don’t. Additionally, enterprises that also automatically publish their blog posts to the social media platforms they use can expect a 50% increase in lead generation.

Shoe swapping Facebook app from Nike

With a rich history to draw from, the new app from Nike allows aficionados to swap virtual trainers with other players and learn about the history of Nike at the same time. The app is available in Japanese and English, and enables Nike to expand its brand loyalty and advocacy via a simple yet effective gaming platform. No physical rewards are on offer, which is a shame as Nike could have gone one step further and used this gamification idea to generate real world sales.

Until next time….

The Useful Social Media team.