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iPhones, iPads and Androids, oh my! These days it seems like everyone and everything is going mobile. And while it’s nice being able to check Facebook while waiting in line at the supermarket, the increased prevalence of mobile devices brings with it major implications for the future of e-commerce.
It’s hard to be an Internet marketer nowadays; everyone wants to know what you’re selling, but no one wants to be told what to buy. As a consumer, it is much easier to respect the opinion of friends than trust the reviews of the business itself; and so went the thought process of the promotional campaign behind the film, The Hunger Games.
If you haven’t heard by now, LinkedIn has quickly become the go-to social platform for business development and referral generation. Since going live in 2003, the networking site has become a big player in the social media game, boasting more than 145 million members worldwide and averaging over 100 million users per month.
There is a strong distinction to be drawn between businesses targeting other businesses (B2B) and businesses targeting consumers (B2C) in the ways that they approach online brand engagement. Certainly B2B and B2C companies are gaining equal amounts of utility from peer-to-peer referrals. The differences lie in how and where they are best able to leverage these referrals and convert leads to sales.
Everyday businesses struggle to balance managing leads and building a stronger company. But no longer! New Customer Relations Management (CRM) software has been spreading like wildfire, making it easier and more cost effective to keep customers happy and engaged.
How does a business in the Internet age take advantage of customer referrals? Read on for the 6 best practices to consider when starting your next customer referral program.
1. Communicate Directly
If you want your program to have a meaningful impact on your business, don’t expect your customers to look for it. Directly inform your customers about your referral program and how they can benefit from it.
Ever since storming the film industry in the 1980s, actor Kevin Bacon has appeared in over 60 successful films. But of all these stellar movies, he is perhaps best known for a bar game that has caused many a drunken argument between friends—the Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon.
Picture this: You’re walking down a busy street and a bus zooms by, you saw some kind of ad but you’re suddenly startled by a loud speaker blasting the newest pop song…what was the name? You can’t remember because a man dressed as a sandwich just handed you a flyer with a special one-day offer!
As social media integration has become ubiquitous, the term “Brand Ambassador” has taken on a different, more relevant meaning. Brand ambassadors no longer need to pound the pavement for sales. With newly available referral software, your business can leverage the power of online fans to go out and generate new business with only the click of a button. New definitions of brand ambassadors move the conversation onto social networks, a brand ambassador 2.0, if you will.
Not content with Pinterest having all the eCommerce fun, Facebook recently rolled out “Collections” – a new feature that allows online retailers to add “Want,” “Collect,” and “Buy” buttons to posts about products.