Yes, if it’s done right ( Forrester Research) But it’s not done right too often (Jupiter Research)
Forrester announced the finalists and winners of their Groundswell contest and lauded some companies who are getting social media marketing right. Nice to see Dell in the company transformation category.
Listening
Winner: Schwab’s Money and More Private Community of Gen Xers empowered by Communispace (Schwab and Communispace)
Finalist: Alli Research Communities (GSK Consumer Healthcare and Communispace)
Finalist: Brand Monitoring for Verizon FiOS (Verizon and Umbria)
Talking
Winner: Chevy Aveo Livin’ Large Campus Challenge(Chevrolet and Weber Shandwick)
Finalist: USA Cycling Championships Community Toolbar (USA Cycling Championships and Conduit)
Finalist: Dorm Survival Guide Group and Application for Facebook (Target and AKQA)
Energizing
Winner: NetShops Social Merchandising (NetShops and PowerReviews)
Finalist: Fiskateers Scrapbooking community (Fiskars and Brains on Fire)
Finalist: Carnival Connections (Carnival Cruises)
Supporting
Winner: Nike’s Jordan Brand Breakfast Club (Nike and Blast Radius)
Finalist: Agile Software Commons (Rally Software)
Embracing
Winner: Salesforce.com Idea Exchange at ideas.salesforce.com (Salesforce.com)
Finalist: South Beach Diet Research Community (Kraft and Communispace)
Finalist: Swisscom Mobile Labs (Optaros and Swisscom Mobile)
Managing
Winner: Avenue A Razorfish wiki
Finalist: ORT Argentina Virtual Campus Project
Social Impact
Winner: "Design Your Portion of the Border Fence" (Brickfish)
Finalist: Zwinky Virtual Live Earth Fundraiser (Zwinky)
Company Transformation
Winner: Dell
For details about the winning campaigns, read this post.
Jupiter Research has a new rpeort out called Bringing the Message to the Masses and they say viral marketing is not as effective as marketers might like think it is. In fact only 15 percent of viral marketing efforts of the past year actually succeeded in getting consumers to spread positive word of mouth.
Don Pepper, author of the upcoming book Rules to Break and Laws to Follow, says he was not surprised by this finding. “One of the conclusions we have reached after taking a close look at the mechanics of social networks and customers connecting with other customers is that it is a lot harder to generate positive word-of-mouth among consumers than most marketers believe.”
Emily Riley, author of the Jupiter report commented that marketers often miss the concept underlying viral marketing.
"A lot of times they’re using this method with the goal of launching a new product, and therefore they’re trying to measure sales, not brand awareness.”
The report predicts that 47 percent of viral marketers will start blogs, and 41 percent will drive traffic to microsites within the next year in an attempt to take control back out of the hands of the consumers.
Her advice: abandoning viral marketing efforts may not be a marketer’s best bet because the tactic—when done right—can still be an effective way to reach new prospects. Viral marketers should use such social tools such as widgets and video to bring their message to existing centers of communication, as well as segment groups by age and influence, aligning their tactics accordingly.
"This is still a very exciting time for viral marketing," says Riley. "There will continue to be mishaps, but if done properly, the results can be substantial."
As witnessed by campaigns like the Groundswell winners.
