Social Networks: The Power of the Collective

According to Evans, understanding how network organization affects the flow of information is central to your successfully making the case for social media within your organization.  That being said, Evans lists three laws which govern the use and value of social networks as well as the Social Web.  They are as follows:

1. Sarnoff’s Law- Named after the founder of the National Broadcasting Company (NBC), David Sarnoff, this law holds that the value of the network increases in direct proportion to the number of listeners.  So, for example, in a typical broadcast, a single voice is sent out to millions of listeners.  Therefore, a network with 100 people is 10 times as valuable.
2. Metcalfe’s Law- Named for Robert Metcalfe, one of the co-inventors of Ethernet and founder of the networking firm 3Com, this law states that the network value grows as the square of the number of users.  For example, people can talk in both directions and with more than one conversation occurring simultaneously.
3. Reed’s Law- Named for David P. Reed, this law is also known as the “Law of the Pack” and holds that the value of the network grows more powerfully than either Sarnoff or Metcalfe would suggest with the formation of groups and the interconnections between them. This law is most applicable to how we view social networks today.

Social Media Begins Here

Social media is about ordinary people trying to reach out to one another via groups and communities that are formed on the Web.   This is why social networking is so effective.  People are constantly sharing information with one another- more often than traditional forms of media (i.e. television and radio, etc.).  Marketers are also beginning to recognize the value of social networking because as Evans stated:

These highly interconnected social networks are equally perceived as effective in vetting that information, and it is the combined impact that makes social networks along with user-generated content and social meedia so powerful from a consumer’s perspective.  They are using these networks to evaluate everything you say.

Evans Wraps it Up With the Following

• Social media derives its value simultaneously from the collective and the individual, not the mass.  This is a reversal of traditional marketing and creative models where a single message is crafted and pushed out to a mass audience.
• Network Value-that is, how efficiently it supports sharing and collaboration-is determined by the way in which members are connected.  Networks that follow Reed’s Law- where members are free to form groups and connections between themselves and these groups- are the types of networks of most interest to social media marketers.
• The touchpoint map and social feedback cycle are central to the successful application of social media.
• RSS allows content to be scheduled for delivery.  This is much better than having to go and check on it.  RSS powers much of the Social Web.
• Social networks are part of, but not the same as, social media and the Social Web.

Lately, it seems like the world can’t get enough of “social media”. Every time I turn the television on, the news anchors are closing out their day by telling viewers to send them a message on Twitter. Why, just recently, Ashton Kutcher made headlines when he became the first person to surpass 1 million followers on Twitter beating out rival CNN!

Social Media versus Regular Media

Social media has a number of characteristics that make it fundamentally different from traditional media sources such as newspapers, magazines, radio and television. The main difference is that the audience (you) can participate; it’s interactive. If you don’t like what someone has written in a blog post, you can comment on it. If you have something you would like to share with other people in your niche, you can create your own blog to discuss the issue or discuss it on Facebook or in a LinkedIn question.

Social Media and Accuracy

As more businesses are catching on to the social media storm, many wonder whether or not social media is accurate. For instance, when you go to a restaurant, chances are that you look up its ratings on the Internet first. Did other people comment on the service? How accurate are those comments, and how do you know that the comments weren’t all written by one person?

As it turns out, according to Evans, social media use the collective, the wisdom of the crowd. And in more cases than not, it is actually more accurate and therefore constitutes a measurable, trackable feedback point with regard to the acceptance and performance of your product or service. Additionally, social media is used not through command and control; but rather, through participation and influence by the consumer. After all, who best to rate a restaurant or a product than someone who has gone to that restaurant or used a certain product?

Social media, like any other form of expression that takes its roots in word of mouth, cuts both ways. It can boost viewership and purchase by reinforcing the underlying marketing message just as easily as it weakens intent and the likelihhood of successful conversion. -Dave Evans

As marketers, the tools for consumers/everyday people to use social networking and collaborative site building are out there. It seems like everyone has a blog, and everyone has an opinion about something. The job of marketers now is to stay on top of the latest trends and actually pay attention to what the consumers are blogging, tweeting and Digging so that they can find new ways to improve the marketability of their products.

According to Evans:

• Social media is defined as: Participatory online media where news, photos, videos, and podcasts are made public typically accompanied with a voting process to signal items considered “popular”.
• Social media is an effective guidepost. Social media can be used to gather valuable information about how your product, service, and brand are perceived in the marketplace.
• The basic application of social media is as a consideration phase tool that connects post-purchase experiences with potential customers progressing from awareness to purchase.
• Social media is an activity that is based on the notion of influence.
• Planning and implementing channels associated with social media fits well with the concepts of integrated marketing.

Word-of-mouth, from a consumer, is generally considered trustworthy.  But what about when the source is a marketer?  How can you use word-of-mouth in your own campaigns? There is a basic, healthy human skepticism present whenever someone is making the case for why you need what he or she is selling. -Dave Evans

The other night, I was in bed watching a television program.  As soon as the program broke to commercials, I got up and went to get a snack before returning.  When I saw that the program still hadn’t returned, I busied myself with other things.   What I was doing was what Evans refers to as filtering.  Filtering, or separating what we need to know from what we don’t care to know- is something that is ingrained in us as humans.  So, are the commercials a waste of marketing dollars? No.  Chances are that there is someone out there who LOVES to sit through commercials.  However, if you think about it, the number of people who cannot stand to be interrupted with ads is numerous and growing each day.  After all, that’s why the DVR was invented, right?  You cannot discuss marketing, advertising or commercials without mentioning the “A” word: Avoidance.  As human beings and consumers in a free market, we are growing less tolerant of what we deem to be an encroachment upon our personal lives at the hands of marketers, ad agencies and general salespeople.

Building Trust & Getting the “Word” Out

Remember that saying, “honesty is the best policy”?  Well, it still holds true today- the thing is that many “marketing experts” fail to realize this.  They think that if they tell consumers what they’re up to that the consumer won’t want to consume anything that they have to offer. Tsk Tsk! On the contrary, transparency is of the utmost importance because it helps you to build a valuable relationship with other people.  And as we all know, you can’t build a solid relationship with anyone if you don’t trust them.

In marketing, one of the most powerful things you can do is establish trust with the consumer by disclosing exactly what you’re about.  As Evans stated:

If I am willing to disclose my own self-interest, then there is good reason to consider ‘truthful’ the balance of what I might say.

Being Transparent

According to Evans, part of the main reason that there has been a backlash against traditional advertising (giving way to the rise of the Social Web) is because people are sick of the intrustions, falsehoods and the general lack of respect for the individual.  The Social Web takes media and advertising in a whole new direction because the consumers control the conversations.  For example, if you buy a vacuum cleaner from a certain store and then it breaks down, there’s a good chance that you’re going to head straight for the Internet to write a review about it.  Similarly, when consumers are preparing to buy products, more of them are reading each others online reviews before making a decision.

As a marketer, being transparent is incredibly important.  You can’t stop consumers from talking about you or your product (whether good or bad), so why not embrace it and make the most out of the situation? Evans suggests that it’s when the advertising and marketing is low-key or quiet that the “trust” factor is the highest.  For example, according to Evans, a company might say:

Here, I made this.  It’s for sale.  Buy it and try it out.  If you like it, great.  If not, you can give it back and I will refund 100 percent of your money.

Some examples of companies who have done quite well with these types of word-of-mouth campaigns include the likes of: Starbucks, Red Bull, Hotmail and Amazon.

According to Evans:

• Marketers are facing a dilemma: Giving up control in order to gain a presence in the conversations that matter.
• It is the interruption that is driving the backlash that advertisers are feeling.
• The importance of disclosure as a means to establish trust cannot be overstated.
• Trust is essential to any form of conversation on the Social Web.
• Robust metrics and measurement are available that can be used to track and prove the effectiveness (or lack thereof) of social campaigns