By M. Isi Eromosele

The consideration phase of the purchase funnel is the focal point of your social media marketing program. The consideration phase is the point in the purchase funnel where potential buyers make the most intensive use of social media in the context of a transaction.

Word-of-mouth is the currency of the consideration phase: in the pre-digital marketplaces, word-of-mouth exchanges between people powered the referral and recommendation process.

In the digital age, on the Social Web, word-of-mouth, in some form and especially social media, is part of almost every information exchange that takes place.

Specific social media components can be applied and used as a part of your marketing program.

Blogs

Blogs are one of the primary places where thoughts are collected and commented on. These are conversations that you can listen to, or jump into provided you disclose your affiliation.

You should create your own corporate” blog and use it as a platform to talk about issues that relate to your brand. For maximum effectiveness as a marketing channel, be sure that what you talk about is also of interest to your customers.

Microblogs

One of the more recent tools on the Social Web is the microblog. Services like Twitter (text) and Seesmic (video) have become important components of social media.

Microblogs facilitate short bursts of thought and communication, in particular in a context of people who are interested in the thoughts of specific others. You can create a profile and use these tools to tell others what’s up, what you’re working on or to ask questions. Disclosure is essential.

In particular, take care to understand the rules that apply in any specific forum, especially as regards spam.

Reviews, Ratings, and Recommendations

The Social Web is often characterized by terms like the “wisdom of crowds.” Reviews, ratings and recommendations are all tacit forms of the voting process through which the collective conscious arrives at consensus.

These same tools can be used in a marketing context, both in a learning mode, for example, to see why your customers like or dislike a product or in an outreach mode where ratings, reviews and recommendations play a direct role in affirming or derailing an impending purchase.

Video and Audio Podcasts

Podcasting can be an important part of your marketing program. The typical podcast episode is 15 to 30 minutes: What could you do if you had someone’s attention for that amount of time?

Because podcasts are episodic, you have the ability to build on more advanced or nuanced themes over time. You can use a podcast as an extension of a current program to deliver in-depth material about the use or application of a product.

The Point of Sale and Beyond

Thinking back to the role of social media in the consideration phase of the purchase process, it isn’t surprising that social media can be applied at the point of purchase and even more so, after the purchase.

What happens in the consideration phase almost always carries though to the point of purchase: The social conversations themselves likely begin post-purchase.

This is because the conversations that are relevant to a potential buyer and therefore, useful at the point of purchase are in general based on the experiences of those who have already purchased the product or otherwise had a direct experience with it and then talked about it.

Tell-a-Friend

This social feature, perhaps more than any other, ought to be a best practice for every marketer. Ask yourself this question: If you, through efforts that cost you both time and money, brought someone all the way to your website where they happened upon something that you sold…but that was perfect not for them but for someone else that they knew…wouldn’t you want that person to tell the other about it?

Of course you would! Yet, in practice, far too many marketing sites fail to include this simple feature. If you haven’t implemented this, think about adding this one in particular as a social marketing tool.

One Final Note

Think about how your operations department or function fits into this social media marketing plan. For most social media applications, operations will have much to do with the success of your campaign. After all, it’s in operations that the actual product or service experience is created.

Consider the following important questions:

Most important at this point is to have the basics in place to begin building a social media marketing program that complements what you are doing now while addressing the specific business objectives that you have set.

Points Of Differentiation

Social media is most different from traditional media in that it lacks the option to force an interruption: Your message has to be invited in. Social media is fundamentally measurable. Social media can be organized as follows:

M. Isi Eromosele is the President | Chief Executive Officer | Executive Creative Director of Oseme Group - Oseme Creative | Oseme Consulting | Oseme Finance

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