Sharing and Socialgraphics-Why Marketers Should be Paying Attention
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by: Ragan Steve
We are all experiencing it in some form or another. Whether you are an avid blogger who updates his or her Twitter feed twenty times a day or you only dabble in social media, it is likely your life has been touched by it in some form or another.
While individuals have come to grips with the influence social media is having on their lives, companies are slower to react. This slow reaction is a big loss. Creating an online presence is one of the easiest ways to connect with customers and potential customers. When companies better understand their customer’s social behavior, those companies will be able to connect with them and engage with them on a new level.
Marketers need to look at social web use like a pyramid. Watching makes up this base of the pyramid, as most people online are reading and inspecting what others are doing, but not participating themselves. This is the most passive form of Internet consumption. Sharing is the next level of the pyramid. It can range from emailing a funny or interesting link to friends and family members to posting links on your Twitter feed. Directly above sharing is commenting. This takes sharing to the next level by inserting your own opinion about the link or other content you shared. This opinion can be positive or negative; it does not matter. All that matters is the user is engaging more with the content he or she passes along. These three levels – watching, sharing and commenting – make up 90 percent of all online behaviors.
Built above these basic pyramid blocks is producing and curating. Producing can include writing a website, blog or podcast. Essentially, these people want to express their identity, be heard or be recognized through original content they send into cyberspace. The top level of engagement is curating, which can be seen in people who are moderately or heavily involved in online communities, such as fan pages and discussion boards. These people are invested in the success of a project, service or community and they are giving of their time to ensure that effort is recognized. Remember, only ten percent of web users will fall into these two top tiers of online engagement.
Understanding this pyramid of participation is essential for marketers. When marketers comprehend how their target audience uses the web and share on it, they are better able to promote a brand to those customers and potential customers. Sharing is the basis of all web activity. According to a study by ShareThis, use of our sharing button has increased 200 percent in 2009. The same study revealed 60 percent of American web users are engaged in some kind of sharing. What marketing director wouldn’t love to tap into such a large market?
Sharing initiates each social activity. It helps you monitor what friends, loved ones and outliers in your social graph care about and think. Sharing is the easiest way to start a conversation online – consider how many conversations began with people sharing a link. Learning how your customers and potential customers share is a great way to listen to the pulse of their conversations and feelings about your brand, company or even competitors.
Content about your brand – be it on a blog post, ad, viral video or insightful tweet – puts that brand in front of several sets of eyes which may not otherwise see it. Not only are they introduced to the brand, but the introduction comes from a trusted source and influencer, likely a friend or family member. Understanding these principles will ensure success for marketers and the brands they promote.
About the Author
Steve Ragan is the Communications Manager for ShareThis, the world’s largest sharing network. ShareThis makes it easy to add social bookmarking and share files online.
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