WOMMA/Summit - Day 1: Social Networks: Do consumers want to be your friends?
The session aims to talk about how social networks have cropped up everywhere recently, and how members use them to share common interests and or discussions on a variety of things. Important question are whether marketers can provide value to members of social networks and how marketers can do this in such a way that they become "welcome guests" and not just exploiters.
Moderator: John Bell, Managing Director/Executive Creative Director, 360 Digital Influence, Ogilvy PR
Panelists:
* Chris Chinn, Director of Sales, U.S., Bebo.com
* Pamela Johnson, Vice President of Community Engagement, Gather.com
* Perry Allison, Vice President, Sales, Eons.com
John Bell calls this session "The social media SMACKDOWN!" Here goes...
Bebo:
* Bebo's core audience is between 13-24 years old
* It's not a social network but a "social media" network, and making a play to differentiate itself in that way
* Bebo's in all the major English-speaking countries
* In the U.K. it's bigger than MySpace
* It is the 3rd largest social networking site in the U.S. (MySpace and Facebook are larger).
* 8,000-10,000 new members a day (yes, a day)
One you know users like your brand, but how do you measure engagement? Through branded community (views, community, polls, friends), viral profile skins (skins adopted and viewed), viral branded e-mail skins, and viral videos.
Eons:
* Today's adults live about 20 years longer that our grandparents did
* Eons' mantra is "loving life on the flip side"
* Eons has a longevity calculator that factor's someone's life expectancy, with certain brands being invited to offer their services to Eons members that fit a particular profile
* Eons has about 600,000 registered members
An example of something that didn't work well, from an experimental basis, was approaching Eons members who host meetings at their homes and trying to seed a company's coffee pot with them. Eons discovered this didn't work as a blanket approach because there were members that said this didn't feel right, depending on the circumstances (e.g., the death of a family member).
Gather
* Gather is a social network for 30-40 year olds and is about connecting people and ideas
* Editorial content is important to Gather, meaning people connect around their goals and passions and share those with people in meaningful discussions
* Sharing a passion for books is a big thing on Gather, which blends it with drink recommendations
* Registered members are about 405,000
* Right now Gather isn't actively being marketed, but is growing between 6-16% a month
* Members enjoy having customized & exclusive experiences targeting them (e.g. author Dean Koonz)
All the companies are doing OpenSocial.
An audience member asked how the companies reward their influencers:
* Gather says the incentive for these users is recognition
* Eons says that member recognition is important
* Bebo says the spotlight, the recognition