Socialnomics 3 Lessons

Here are 3 takeaways I learned after reading Socialnomics by Erik Qualman.

Fail fast, fail forward, and fail better. I liked this takeaway because this is the motto when it comes to producing products, services, or content online. The speed of distribution and feedback on the internet is instant, so it’s a great idea for companies to throw out different features online and see what works. The difference between trying new product features and social media campaigns online though is that products can put a “beta” label on it and customers will know that it is an unfinished product. With a social media campaign, I wonder if it is better to start with a small sample before releasing the campaign to the general public. Qualman claims that people are forgiving, but I’d rather fail on a smaller scale and make changes than fail spectacularly and have to deal with any media fallout.

Integrate ads into the product / service / content. Sponsored ads that show up on things like podcasts and videos should be integrated into the show versus the traditional radio format of stopping the show for a “word from our sponsors”. Qualman uses ESPN’s “Fantasy Focus” podcast as an example and that show really utilizes this takeaway correctly. The ads are seamlessly used in the conversation and actually have turned into a running joke on the show. Compare this to the “Adam Corolla” podcast and there’s a jarring difference. “Adam Corolla” goes with the traditional format of starting the show with an ad and then stopping part way through for another ad break. I listen to both podcasts and the ads on “Fantasy Focus” are much more memorable because they seem like a part of the show and are actually referenced throughout the show (because they are running joke), while ads on “Adam Corolla” are more boring (and annoying) and therefore less memorable.

Social media is the new “search”. As more people “like” things on facebook and as facebook connect gets integrated with more websites, users will be able to see what their friends are buying or using and make decisions based on their friend’s actions. Bing is starting to incorporate this facebook information into their search results and this could be the feature that chips away at Google’s search dominance. For other sites such as Amazon or Netflix, being able to see what your friends bought or rented could be a great way for these companies to recommend products to their users versus the current way of saying “other people bought this “ or using some recommendation engine based off of previous purchases. It’s interesting to note that a program called facebook beacon was shut down a couple of years ago when it pushed user’s purchases to their news feed. There were some privacy issues around this program but it’s very similar to “liking” items or posting something through facebook connect on another website. Maybe people have relaxed on their privacy concerns which have allowed these other 2 features to thrive.