–Rich Brooks, president of Flyte New Media

One of the great reasons for women focussed marketing in 2010—a target market who weilds 80% of both the decision making as well as buying power—is that women are online and using social networks. The nature of engagement is a good fit to how women connect naturally offline and have been engaging for centuries. Check out these stats on the female economy (stats from 2009 book, Why She Buys, by Bridget Brennan).

• Apparel – 65% of purchases are made by women
• Automotive - 52% of all new vehicle purchases, including trucks, made by women (80% of purchases influenced by women)
• Consumer Electronics -45% percent of purchases made by women (61% of purchases influenced by women)
• Health Care- 80% if family health care decisons are made by women
• Travel - 70% of the decisions are made by women
• Insurance, Investments,and Retirement Accounts - 90% of women participate in the decisions that affect their houshold’s retirement & investment accounts
• Homes – 20% of purchases are made by single women; 91% of all purchases are influenced by women
• Wine – 55% of all purchases are made by women
• Gaming – 40% of players are women

Some convincing reasons to start reaching out to women today, if you haven’t already. Being aware and dedicated to finding ways to target and engage women via social media is sure to be a winning return on your investment for years to come!

Best Nicole

Go New Orleans Saints!

Watch this video for what three visionary CEOs have to say about Social Networking:

• John Chambers, Chairman and CEO, Cisco: “Social Networking is transforming companies. Is is the future of Business Productivity, Health Care, Education and Entertainment.”
• Indra Nooyi, CEO, Pepsico: “Global company with global brands and reputation can use it as a force for good.”
• Jeffrey Joerres, President and CEO, Manpower: “When it comes to Social Networking, it is a major trend towards what will be a very standard everyday stuff.”

This very clearly highlights the fact that Social Media and Social Networking are not a fad, but for real, are here to stay and will become mainstream in near future. Social Business is not just another way of doing business, it is THE way business will be conducted.

I strongly recommend that all senior executives (and especially the CMOs) start taking Social Media initiatives seriously, and lead from the front when it comes to use of Social Media, as survival and growth of their business rests on how effectively they leverage emerging tech tools.

Social Networking has far reaching implications for the marketing department and I recommend that CMOs setup a Social Media Task force that will advise them on how to quickly adapt and integrate their marketing operations into emerging Social Networking tools and applications. Sooner marketing department(s) adopt and start using Social Networking for engaging their customers better for their brand(s), else performance of their business will suffer.

Today’s article speaks to the importance of the fact that “Social Networking Isn’t Purely Social“. It was written by an agency in New York called Sullivan.

The point?

Connecting like minded people online and finding ways to collaborate with them and to encourage them to do so with others, can only enhance your products and services. Who isn’t thinking about that?

Best Nicole

Social Networking Isn’t Purely Social

Creating a dialogue about your brand can elevate its visibility and increase its relevance. Marketers in every industry category—including BtoB—are beginning to use social networking to reach their target audiences in new and engaging ways. Others feel less certain of its value in attracting and building client loyalty.

Is it right for your business?

Social networking is connecting like-minded people to communicate or collaborate online. This phenomenon is changing the way people access and interact with information on the Web, and, ultimately, changing the way they make decisions. If you’re considering how to get the most out of social networking, here are five points to guide your thinking:

1. Consider what’s in it for you.
Think you should use Twitter because it’s the wave of the future? Well, maybe. Would it support your business to allow a defined circle of users to share information in real time without needing to enter a site or open an email? If so, go forth and tweet. If not, don’t feel pressured to jump on the technological bandwagon. You get the point: let your objectives drive your choice of social networking application.

Do you want to observe and track what customers are saying, or should you actively insert the brand as a participant? Do you need to maintain a closed network for privacy, or is there a business benefit to openness? As a first step, determine what you’ll achieve by diving into social networking and consider how it will support your broader Web strategy.

2. Be sure there’s something in it for them.
Your goals for social networking are attainable only if the application delivers real value to the users. So you have to consider, for example, whether they’d rather see best practices that have been vetted by an impartial expert or share their own experiences. It’s the most basic rule for any communications challenge, and social networking is no exception: know your audience.

3. Match the medium to the message.
Once you’re clear on what you want to accomplish and why users would care, the choice of technology becomes more obvious. In some cases, you want to listen and learn from your customers in true social networks. In others, your best bet is to capitalize on other Web 2.0 applications that allow you to maintain control of your brand. You do need to keep abreast of the evolving options to reach a network of people with a common thread, so it may be wise to partner with an expert before you commit.

For example, A. If you want to… B.You might want to…
A…share the opinion of a thought leader in your organization with real transparency and personality
B. …author a blog.

A.(And because blogs invite commentary, they’re a good window into the thoughts and reactions of constituents.)
B.…present information to a wide or far-flung audience, and the voiceover is as important as the copy or visual aids …broadcast via a Webcast.

A.…encourage portability of a presentation, video, visual asset (almost anything) …create an audio or video Podcast, which can be downloaded to a mobile device.
B.…shoot out relevant updates to a defined list of subscribers …establish an RSS feed.

A.…tap into an existing network, but connect a subset of users who have something in common
B.…create a business group within a general social network, such as Facebook or LinkedIn.

4. Don’t bite off more than you can chew.
Depending on your form of social networking, you’ll definitely have to commit to ongoing management, and you may have to commit to ongoing participation. Your action plan should include metrics for success, a realistic calendar for participation, and clear assignment of roles and responsibilities.

5. Get really smart.
Social networking and other Web 2.0 technologies have opened up tremendous possibilities to enhance user experience, increase interactivity, and encourage connectivity.

So many people feel that if they put up a facebook page and create a twitter account that they’re off to the races with a social media campaign that will lead them to an instant increase of their goals. (For some it may work, but even those people have a plan in mind in regards to how they connect their campaigns.) For most, an “increase of their goals” arguably means sales. As social media and social networking are now allowing consumers to take control—to have a voice and be able to choose to speak to, and with, the products, services and people they care about—there is no more hiding from this marketing channel. What truly makes this channel great is when you have a strategy that partners with the offline channels as well. Email is terrific. But what happens when that customer who received your email goes to your bricks and mortar business? If there is not a seamless integration and continuity of that online message (we all remember it takes 5 to 8 replays of the same message for it to resonate) you risk the chance that your message will be lost or never received.

It is creating a strategy—a plan that includes your online, offline and in-store marketing channels—that will ensure that your message never gets lost. The post below from Marketing Profs, Get to the Point, gives you a few ways to see how this works.

What’s your plan?

Best Nicole

For too long, too many marketers have underestimated the value of email’s impact on offline retail,” say Lisa Harmon and Alex Madison in a post at the Email Experience Council blog. If you focus entirely on generating online sales, they argue, you might be missing out on bricks-and-mortar opportunities. They’ve seen retailers use multichannel “noteworthy tactics” like these:

In-store discounts that are unavailable online. The pair cite an email offer from Betsey Johnson touting a special perk for in-store shoppers: a gift card worth at least $25 for those who spend $250 or more.

Images and copy that heighten the appeal of an in-store visit. “Apple reminds subscribers … of their great in-store service by including a picture of a blue-shirted expert alongside store offerings,” they say, “and also by using beautiful store photography to make subscribers eager to experience in-store shopping.”

Personalized invitations. Have your sales associates write personal emails with an invitation to a special in-store event. Nordstrom, for instance, did this when inviting its most loyal customers to a special sneak-peek ahead of an anniversary sale.

The Po!nt: Link your 2D and 3D. “Remember that there’s likely much overlap between your most loyal email subscribers and your loyal store visitors,” say Harmon and Madison. If you haven’t leveraged that crossover, try using strategies like these to help make it happen.

Everyday people having a say.

Getting rid of the middleman.

The media no longer can dictate who someone is. Everyone now has a chance to show themselves in realtime.

No filter.

A chance to build your own community and use it for whatever you are passionate about. People have choice to follow you or not follow you and can be blocked if you feel they are not somebody who expouses the values of your community.

You can build your brand, product, service – raise awareness for a charity, like the mosquito nets that Oprah, Ashton and others have been purchasing to fight malaria.

Realtime conversation.

A venue for news in real time.

Social networking is an area that everyone must now enage. It is fun, it allows you to control each aspect of your content and build a following of like minded people who all want to share and engage in like minded interests, products, services, passions etc.

The business model now for everyone is collaborative content. As this new economy dictates change and the reduction of resources, the true area for growth is viral. Social networking is now the premier way to have a two-way relationship with your target audience.

Pushing your information is not longer going to garner you the relationships with your audience that it did in the past. @bcadgroup looks forward to engaging you! Are you listening?

Best Nicole