The future of online marketing

14/04/11

This is the fifth article in a series by Cate Trotter from Insider Trends. Cate is an expert in analysing consumer trends and speaks monthly in the Centre on future developments across a wide range of themes. Her next talk takes place on 26 May 2011 and is entitled 'The Future of Green.'

Find out more and book your place

Future of online marketing

Here, Cate looks at the future of online marketing and the tools that can help you spread the word about your business.

As the internet evolves and it becomes increasingly possible for individuals to make more noise than businesses online, the balance of power is shifting. Nielsen Wire recently found that consumers are most influenced by the opinions of their peers or other individuals online, as opposed to information from organisations' official communications. This is excellent news for small businesses; with the right approach, a high level of awareness can be achieved for a minimal amount of time or money.

There are a number of straightforward tools that businesses can use to encourage customers to spread the word and do their marketing for them. Services such as Snatter and TipFromMe enable businesses to reward customers in return for a mention on Facebook or Twitter, or for encouraging specific friends to buy something. A new Facebook plugin, Comments Box, lets customers comment on third party sites, simultaneously publishing the comment on the users' profile to encourage more people to visit the third party page.

However, the thing that will make word travel fastest and strongest is good, old fashioned satisfaction. Ian Hogarth, the CEO of Songkick, expressed this brilliantly at a British Library event recently. Before focussing on how to encourage people to share using Facebook and Twitter, be sure to create something special, he said. If you make something truly unique and special, it will grow. Quality is hyper-efficient.

See Ian Hogarth speak at the British Library event

His comments suggest that businesses should rethink their marketing approach to maximise the influence of social media. Instead of allocating a marketing budget, why not take this money and re-label it as a satisfaction budget? This money could be used on research, to ensure a business is crystal clear about what its customers want, or on adding finishing touches to products or services to make them stand head and shoulders above those of competitors.

Visit the Insider Trends website