Jeff Ferrazzo
Regional Development Director, Constant Contact
“Engagement marketing: What social media can really do to grow your business”
The picket fence was where Jeff Ferrazzo’s grandma got the lowdown on goings-on in her East St. Paul, Minn., neighborhood. She and her neighbors talked about everything from the priest’s message at Mass to the butcher’s best cuts at the grocery.
“What they were doing was social media,” said Ferrazzo. “We are having the same conversation that our parents and grandparents had, but just in a new medium, the Internet.”
Ferrazzo’s grandmother likely trusted what her friends and neighbors told her, and like her, Americans today put more stock in what their peers tell them than in what they see and hear from advertisers.
Surveys have shown, Ferrazzo said, that 36 percent of Americans trust advertising claims, but 81 percent trust the recommendations and reviews of others on the Internet.
“We trust people’s experiences,” he said. “We assume that review writers are just like us.”
We also know that in many cases, reviewers have invested money and time in the product they are reviewing. The person who gives a book a glowing review on Amazon “has skin the game,” Ferrazzo said. “They spend money to buy the book and time to read it. That resonates with us.”
That’s why social media can be such a powerful sales tool for a meeting planner who is drumming up interest in an upcoming conference or for a convention center salesperson who is trying to book new business.
The keys to making social media work in your favor, in either case, are simple, Ferrazzo said. “Give people an awesome experience, and give them the opportunity to talk about it to everyone.”
Social media gives customers the chance to talk about the product or experience they liked. Ferrazzo’s boss, for example, bought a set of knives at a kitchen store; before she bought the knives, she was handed a variety of knives, a cutting board and carrots so she could test them. She was wowed by the experience and kept telling others about the store where she bought the knives.
Successful social media efforts use photos, videos, events and polls to give people the chance to share their thoughts and experiences. Companies that use social media well also use newsletters and pack them not with self-promotion, but with news and information their readers can use. And they make sure they give readers the chance to share their thoughts, their testimonials, and their pictures and video. “You have to engage people and get their participation,” Ferrazzo said. “What you don’t want to have is a one-way street because that becomes marketing speak.”
