Consumers Get Experiential...Shouldn't we all?

There are such a huge range of social networks out there and the sharing of information through user generated content (UGC). One of the most successful online sites of UGC is the one and only mega online shopping site Amazon. Having lived in the USA for most of the last ten years, this was my go-to site for anything I needed, especially the big ticket items like cots/cribs, prams/strollers and all the other many purchases new mothers and their babies require. What made this shopping site and the consumer experience most appealing were those in-depth product reviews. One was able to look at products of anything you wanted and read hundreds of genuine reviews by actual customers.

As a new mother living in the USA, Amazon was integral to determine what products to purchase, especially since as I was doing it all for the first time. As most of my other friends were also new mothers it was like the blind leading the blind ;) I decided, I needed the expert advice of other mothers who knew better than the shop keeper at the store. As a result, Amazon became the respected place to shop to get all my new mummy and baby needs and it comes as no surprise that this is where most of my fellow mothers shopped for their strollers and major baby accessories too.

I came across this article, which highlights some of the biggest success stories of UGC and its power to create social networks providing consumers a more experiential shopping experience:

https://www.meltwater.com/blog/6-brands-winning-at-user-generated-content

So let's take it a step further with mega brand Coca Cola. They have created many viral videos involving real people in real life situations, whereby creating an emotional connection to the brand and a social and topical conversation through social media. Through this strategy, they created thousands of unsuspecting brand ambassadors and a social media brand community. ​

One of my classmates shared a phenomenal campaign on Coca Cola and within this Meltwater article I discovered another one of Coke’s brilliant campaigns, #shareacoke which had massive international success. The concept was simple: consumers sought out their name on a Coke bottle and posted pictures of themselves on social media using this hashtag.

A more in-depth description of this campaign is in this vid below and article: http://www.investopedia.com/articles/markets/100715/what-makes-share-coke-campaign-so-successful.asp

Now let's check out this cute "feel good" video and publicity stunt on a US College campus: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lqT_dPApj9U This is one of Coke's most successful video social media campaigns with over 8 million YOUTUBE views!

I will also share the aforementioned Coke video shared by my classmate. It literally brought me to tears and created a dialogue about the hotly debated tensions between India and Pakistan: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ts_4vOUDImE

Now let's steer away from brand communities and delve into the power of social networks, of which I am a part of many. But where did it all begin? As a newly-wed and then as a new mother of a newborn with my parents living 8000 miles away in Australia while I was living in sunny San Diego, California. Basically, I urgently needed advice on how to manage the myriad of questions I had that involved being a new mother, and I was stuck in a time zone that made it really hard to get on the phone with my friends on the East Coast of the USA, Australia and Europe. Like thousands of others that are part of these online community forums, I sought out inspiration and peer support, so I joined an online Facebook Group called the Brand New Mamas https://www.facebook.com/groups/BrandNewMamas and more recently Confessions of a Mommy https://www.facebook.com/groups/1703990789872364.

Both of these groups were started by friends of mine (so proud of them) and they became popular very quickly with over 3000 members each! I was able to bond and empathize with other mothers and simultaneously get expert tips and advice from women living all over the world on anything and everything about being a mother! I also saw that my own personal friends were having their own questions, problems and issues so we all became a support to each other, within this warm, friendly online forum of 3000 amazing Mums living on all corners of the globe.

But it wasn’t without its hiccups. There were at times some mothers (I call them the mean mommies) that made other mother’s feel terrible about their parenting styles and my two friends who began these online groups quickly made some specific rules on how to conduct yourself on these forums and we definitely saw some people needing to be politely removed. Thankfully those were the few exceptions from an amazingly supportive community-base.

Neither of these aforementioned groups have a specific commercialization where companies can place ads. However, in Australia some of the Parenting Facebook groups, are leveraging their popularity to make money providing a very strategic way for companies to “target” specific audiences and interest groups to promote their products and potentially get credibility and attention amongst the clutter, similar to how bloggers are using their power within the social media spectrum. Check out this article about some of Australia’s large Facebook Parent groups: http://www.smh.com.au/business/consumer-affairs/big-business-increasingly-courting-facebook-mums-groups-20160421-gobn2r.html

Equally so, for a female entrepreneur starting my own business, fellow friends invited me to “Like Minded B%^ches Drinking Wine” https://www.facebook.com/groups/LMBDW

With over 45,000 female business women and observers on this group, I learned so much and it helped me find the resources I required for my own company where I was able to source niche designers for the product/innovation I am developing. Naomi Simson - star of Shark Tank just joined the group, made a comment, I commented back and she liked it! (Starstruck!) And yes, that's one group specifically for the ladies (sorry guys).

It is amazing how the world of information capital has changed where we can have a virtual community of thousands of mums and tens of thousands of businesswomen at our fingertips to give us advice, support and propel us in the right direction.

Now let’s get back to Amazon and Brand Communities….Amazon in the USA would easily be one of the Top FIVE websites for people to shop online. http://allusefulinfo.com/5-best-online-shopping-websites-in-usa-for-americans).

Consumers literally get “involved” with their purchases, and with every purchase you are highly encouraged to give reviews after the item has been delivered, a culture that has not yet hit Australia to the extent that it exists in the USA. You can literally read mini essays about the pros and cons of various products.

The world of social communities and the dominance of the experiential consumer is literally a social media marketing game-changer and it will be VERY interesting to see how Amazon hits the Australian market and what current companies and brands will need to do in order to compete with this giant online retailer. Stay tuned for more insights...

#socialmedia #facebook #shopping #branding #usergeneratedcontent