The Pontiflex Blog

How social networks can generate qualified leads

June 23, 2008 at 10:54 am Arun Krishnan Leave a comment

Joe Mandese of Mediapost writes today that Fox Networks has launched a new community site with the purpose of getting feedback on programming and marketing efforts. The site is open to 2,000 Fox viewers.

Fox chose to keep this program separate from MySpace, because: “These communities are for very purposeful interaction, which sets them apart from standard communities providing an environment for hanging out.”

This development follows other brands like Starbucks’ My Idea Program and Mercedes Benz who have harnessed the true meaning of interactivity – communication in both directions -  to engage users in a more relevant manner. A welcome trend to which we give a homer-esque “WhooHoo!”

That being said, how can brand marketers work to grow these community sites? There are two key criteria:

1) Enlist qualified leads to sign up for community sites. When finding members to sign up for the site, brand marketer should focus as much on quality as quantity. This will result in meaningful brand interactions that will serve the true purpose of the community site.

Contextually relevant banner campaigns, mobile campaigns, and (for the cost-conscious marketer in all of us) co-registration ads served on the registration paths of relevant publishers are all great ways of filling a community site with members that want to contribute and not just “hang-out”.

2) Measure conversion and feedback in real-time. Allen Stern’s excellent Center Networks blog had a great insight about the importance of monitoring activity and feedback which allows real-time optimization. To this sentiment, I say “ditto”. It is vital that the front-end and back-end of the campaigns be integrated seamlessly so lead performance can be traced back to the source.

Community sites are an excellent and meaningful way to engage interested consumers, and should be a cornerstone of a good brand marketing plan. If it isn’t, take the time to ask “Why not?” (or words to that effect).

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