Have you ever received a product recommendation from a friend on a social network?
By the way, did I tell you about this great product I discovered?
I think that generally, a product recommendation coming from a friend carries a lot of weight. In the same way, online ratings and reviews can exert powerful influence over the buying decision.
In the article, "The Power of Referral Selling," sales coach and author Jonathan Farrington explains why:
These types of opportunities are much warmer than a cold-call based opportunity because it maximizes the goodwill, inherent in the relationship between the referred customer and the referring person.
But what if the person recommending a product or service is actually being paid as a shill? Do you think your friends on a social network would ever stoop so low? Many would, according to a recent study.
Eliot Van Buskirk writes in Wired Magazine, that many big name companies routinely pay for sponsored conversations, tweets, and blogs. In the article, "Gaming the System: How Marketers Rig the Social Media Machine," he describes an emerging underbelly of social networking where Twitter friends are for sale, and companies pay big cash incentives for sponsored conversations, tweets, and blogs.
For example, the company SponsoredTweets paid Kim Kardashian $10,000 per tweet for mentioning certain products on Twitter. The company also encourages other (not so famous) people to monetize their Twitter accounts by sending brand messages to their followers. Apparently this has become quite a lucrative, part-time job for many work-at-home celebrities. (Ashton, tell me it isn't true!)
According to a study cited by Van Buskirk, sponsored conversations, paid tweets and blogs represent one of the fastest growing segments in advertising--one that is expected to grow to about $57 million by the end of the year.
This also answers a question that has been lingering in the back of my mind. I've noticed that quite a few marketing people lately recommend that their clients do a search on social media sites to see how often their products are mentioned. This struck me as rather odd, because I rarely talk about products to my friends and family -- but when I do, I like to think that it carries some weight. The truth is, many marketeers are busy planting phony conversations into social media sites, and so naturally want their clients to see how the campaign is going.
So much for "building trust and loyalty"...
By the way, did I tell you about this great product I discovered? I just can't stop talking about it! Do you have a moment?
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