Social Media: Nothing Succeeds Like Success

Alexandre Dumas, the French dramatist, originally penned the exclamation “Nothing succeeds like success” over 200 years ago.  Since then it has been repeated by countless luminaries in politics, drama, journalism, business and most other disciplines searching for credibility.

When then-candidate Barack Obama was interviewed by Gwen Ifill, and asked to explain his double-digit momentum in the New Hampshire primary, he said:  “Well, Gwen, nothing succeeds like success.”

For those of us who follow Social Media for a living, success stories have been elusive due to the recency of the phenomena.  For several years it appeared to be successful, but empirical evidence was scarce.  Some of us were tempted to quote the author, Christopher Lasch, who once opined “Nothing succeeds like the appearance of success.”

However, the time has finally come where legitimate Social Media successes are being documented.

Brian Solis, one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media, said in a recent article that “prominent companies have gone on the record to say how social media performs when devised to do so.”

“In one such instance”, Solis explained on his popular website, “Starbucks set out to increase traffic in stores around the country through a ‘free pastry’ program shared through social networks. The coffee company says that social media contributed to 1 million customers visiting local stores in one day. The company didn’t expound on total revenue generated as a result of word-of-mouth marketing conducted via Facebook and Twitter, but it’s reasonable to assume they know exactly how well it performed in revenue generation and ROI.”

In another example cited by Solis, “The Roger Smith Hotel in New York tracks discussions related to N.Y. tourism on Twitter and offers advice and also coupons to lure potential visitors to the hotel. During an evaluation period, the small team of two estimated that they grossed an additional $20,000 in revenue as a direct result of contacting tourists via Twitter.”

There have been many other success stories, but here are just a few examples as presented by Brian Solis on his popular website:

• Domino’s Pizza recently reported a 29% surge in pre-tax profits attributed to its Social Media partnership with Foursquare
• Dell reported last year upwards of $3 million in sales from its @DellOutlet account on Twitter
• Dell also realizes a notable savings by listening to conversations related to system conflicts and errors and immediately creating and distributing fixes before they become public crises
• Houston-based Coffee Groundz reports 20 to 30% increased sales and market share based on its interaction on Twitter
• Zappos claims that using social media to proactively share the company culture acts as a sales driver
• JetBlue and United Airlines know exactly how much income is derived from social networks as part of a special fares program deployed in social networks
• Comcast is measuring the cost of customer engagement in social networks against the lifetime value of each customer

SMALL BUSINESSES HAVE LARGE SUCCESSES: Perhaps the most interesting success stories revolve around smaller, entrepreneurial companies, where the cleverness and agility of company management are more visible than in their larger contemporaries.

A recent study by the University of Maryland’s Smith School of Business, suggested that smaller companies are playing a more significant role in Social Media.  Nearly 20% of the companies in the study responded that Social Media was having a major impact on their business.

THE EMERSON SALON: The Emerson Salon, in Seattle Washington, has so completely incorporated Social Media into their planning that an entirely new business model has been created.  With their new catch phrase, “Hey, let’s get social!” the salon has completely revolutionized their marketing approach.  The new tack has so changed the complexion of their customer base, that according to the owners, “it’s rare for even a walk-in customer to come in and not have read our blog or seen our tweets.”   As proof of Social Media’s efficacy, 75% of their new business is coming from Facebook, Twitter and the Emerson Salon blog.

THE BUTTER LANE BAKERY: There is no significant Social Media venue left untouched by the team selling Butter Lane cupcakes.  In addition to Facebook and Twitter, the bakery’s approach incorporates a Yelp offer and venue page, a blog on Tumblr,  specials on Groupon and LivingSocial,  and a special on Foursquare as pictured.

Maria Baugh, the owner of Butter Lane had this to say about her Social Media accomplishment:   “Obviously it’s crucial to make a great product, but it’s also extremely important to give the customer a great experience. It’s so incredibly simple, yet it’s so often overlooked. Go the extra step with service and you’ll win customers for life. Social media helps us do this in a variety of ways. Yelp particularly is very helpful for us to monitor our customer service and make sure our staff is going above and beyond. We take all of the reviews very seriously and have made modifications to both staff and product based on Yelp reviews over the months.”

It has even been suggested that Butter Lane has a cult following.  Maria Baugh’s response was that, “it never occurred to us that people viewed us that way, and of course, we were thrilled. But if we do have any kind of cult following it is due in large part to our involvement in social media.”

LIBERTY BAY BOOKS: The power of Twitter resides in the ability to have conversations, which Liberty Bay Books of Poulsbo, Washington has done with extraordinary precision.  Suzanne Droppert, the owner, tried her hand at Twitter after she attended a presentation where all attendees were told to start Twitter accounts immediately.  Extending her customer reach through Facebook, YouTube and her blog, Droppert has seen a dramatic increase in sales.   With the surprise so often seen when a company tests the Social Media waters, Droppert said, “People will mention they saw a post of mine on Facebook, and we’ll talk about it over coffee here in the store.”

SOCIAL MEDIA IS A BOON TO THE SMALL BUSINESS: Small businesses in particular, operating as they often do with shoestring marketing budgets, should never underestimate the power of word of mouth generated by Social Media.  More than just another arrow in the marketing quiver, Social Media can be a sales juggernaut.

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