The Power of Social Referrals

The Power of Social Referrals
Nichole Goodyear, Strategic Advisor, Extole @ngoodyear
@ExtoleInc
Neal Patel, VP Technology, J. Hilburn
@JHilburn

February 8, 2012

© 2012 Extole, inc. All rights reserved. Proprietary/Confidential.

AGENDA

1. Introduction

2.  Market Landscape

3.  Consumer-to-Consumer Social Marketing

4.  Social Referral Case Study – J. Hilburn

5.  Key Takeaways

6. Q&A

2


Market Landscape

3


THE MARKETING OPPORTUNITY

TRADITIONAL NOW
Brand Created Customer Generated
One Directional – Push Marketing Two Directional – Social Marketing

Less Trusted, Trusted,
Becoming Less More Effective,
Effective Wider Reach

4


EVOLUTION OF SOCIAL

Social 1.0
•  Social Media Monitoring

•  Social Profiles & Social Connections

Social 2.0 – Social Communities & Social Graph
•  Facebook Brand Profile – Amass Likes

•  Twitter Profiles - Followers/Customer Service response

Social 3.0 – Social Commerce
•  Customers as a powerful marketing channel
•  Social signal creation
•  Social buying

5


CONSUMERS TRUST PEERS

•  90% of
consumers
trust friends
•  70% trust
consumer
opinions

6


CONNECTION TO CONSUMERS

Consumer

7


SOCIAL BY THE NUMBERS

•  Social networking sites reach 82%
of the world’s online population;
representing 1.2 billion users
worldwide
•  Facebook ~800M estimated 1
Billion users by Dec 2012
•  Google + currently ~90M users;
on track to reach 400M in year
•  Twitter ~200M profiles
•  LinkedIn ~135M members
•  1 in 5 minutes spent online is
social networking; 3 in 4
minutes on social networking on
Facebook

8


GOOGLE SEARCH BY THE NUMBERS

•  Google Searches
– ~1 Billion per day; ~42M per
hour ; ~47K per second
– ~15% all searches came from
mobile devices, Early 2011

•  Google Revenue
– $29B 2010 Digital $
– 97% from search
–  $10B Quarter Q4 2011

9


SEARCH IS BECOMING SOCIAL

1

2

3

4

10


WHAT’S NEXT
So if…
•  82% of online world is spending time on social networks
•  ~1 Billion Google searches per day
•  Google’s digital revenue in 2010 was $29B; 97% from search
•  Brands & consumers depend on search to find info & buy things
•  Google doesn’t have access to Facebook data
Twitter & Google used to have a contract which allowed Google
to have a “pipe” into Twitter

It makes sense that social & search would intersect AND…Google would
include social signals (tweets, posts, shares, authority, relevancy) into
search algorithms affecting search results

11


Consumer-to-Consumer Social
Marketing

12


COMPANY OVERVIEW

Extole is the leading Consumer to
Consumer (C2C) Social Marketing
Platform for brands and agencies to turn
customers into social advocates, tapping
into a powerful new marketing channel

•  Powering 200+ leading brands & agencies
•  Founded in 2009
•  Based in San Francisco with over 70 employees

13


C2C MARKETING DRIVES MEASURABLE RESULTS

Acquisition
& Sales

Traffic &
Awareness

Social ROI
& Insight

Social Advocates Social Content Trusted Referrals Measurable Social
Promote Brand Amplifies Awareness from Friends Results

14


C2C MARKETING BENEFITS

Grow Acquisition Increase Traffic & Gain Social Insight
& Sales Awareness & Measure ROI

• Increased volume • New referral traffic • Understand your
of new leads to brand.com brand’s social
graph
• Higher AOV • Increased shares
(Average Order in the social graph • Track advocates &
Value) & LTV influence across
• Improved Social
channels
• 3-5x conversion SEO rankings
over other channels

15


Social Referral Case Study
J. Hilburn

16


J. HILBURN OVERVIEW

•  Custom luxury menswear, online ordering
•  Network of over 1,000 style advisors to measure for a
proper custom fit
•  No direct marketing

17


J.HILBURN – THE CHALLENGE

•  Historically relied on stylist referrals for new customers
•  Customer base organically referring new customers
•  Needed way to track, amplify & optimize customer referrals
•  Wanted to reward advocates, increase the brand’s social
presence, and gain insight into its customers’ social
behaviors

18


J. HILBURN – THE SOLUTION

•  Launched Social Referral program in Sept 2011
•  $50 voucher to social advocates for every referred friend
who purchases
•  Referred friends get $50 discount on first order of $100+
•  Easy-to-use share tools to refer friends via Facebook,
Twitter, email and personal URLs

19


J. HILBURN – PROMOTING THE PROGRAM
1

2

•  Promoted referral program via owned channels such
as blog, Twitter, email, website and Facebook

20


J. HILBURN – SHARING WITH FRIENDS
1

2

3

4

•  Easy-to-use share tools
•  Consumer to Consumer referrals via Facebook, Twitter,
email and personal URLs
•  Default messages social advocates can personalize

21


J. HILBURN – PERSONALIZED FRIEND LANDING PAGE

•  Personalized friend referral landing page
•  Ensures highest level of friend trust, engagement,
and conversion

22


J. HILBURN – THE RESULTS

45 Days After Launch

•  Identified over 1,000 brand social advocates
•  Averaged 12 shares per social advocate
•  Generated 10,000+ social shares via Facebook, Twitter,
and email
•  Drove 600+ new transactions and $250,000 in sales
•  Not only increased sales, it also improved overall
customer experience

23


J. HILBURN KEY TAKEAWAYS
TAKE AWAY POINTS
ü  Social referrals amplify word-of-mouth

ü  Referral program improved customer experience

ü  Drove new and repeat sales

ü  Drove average order value up

ü  Must re-market program keeps users engaged & encourages
sharing (ongoing)

ü  Strategize on how referrals can tie into other social efforts

Key Takeways & Q & A

25


CONCLUSION
TAKE AWAY POINTS
ü  Consumer behavior has drastically changed, consumers trust
content from friends and peers

ü  Social is becoming an integral part of search

ü  Social advocates can be top marketing channel

ü  Consumer to consumer referrals drive results

ü  Social referral programs encourage the creation and sharing of
consumer-generated content

26


Q&A

Thank you so much for your time today. We look forward to
your questions!

Resources:
•  J. Hilburn Case Study
–  http://extole.com/case-study/j-hilburn/
•  Extole Social Referral Best Practices
–  http://extole.com/bp_guide/

For any additional questions, please contact us at
webinar@extole.com

The Power of Social Referrals
Nichole Goodyear, Strategic Advisor, Extole @ngoodyear
@ExtoleInc
Neal Patel, VP Technology, J. Hilburn

February 8, 2012


The Power of Social Referrals

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