Social Networking: The Peer Persuasion Marketing Tool

Many e-retailers are looking for ways to cut through the clutter of the advertising market. One new marketing approach that has lately drawn considerable notice is so-called social networking, which relies on peer-to-peer recommendations of products or services. The idea is simple: develop a web site where people who share common interests can meet to discuss them and the products and services related to them. Auto parts retailer The Eastwood Co. has created an online social network of vintage-car enthusiasts who swap ideas about restoring old cars—including recommendations about parts to use and where to buy them. On a grander scale, portal Yahoo! Shopping is creating an online environment where consumers can post reviews, trade experiences about shopping and help one another make buying decisions. Our speakers from these two companies will discuss how to generate online sales through word of mouth by harnessing the power of web-based social networks. They'll explain how they benefit from them and how they insure that the information distributed in the social network is accurate, reflects the message the retailer wants to communicate and is not derogatory to the retailer's brand. The session will also detail how retailers' use of online social networking in this century differs from the community marketing practices common in the last century.