Companies are taking Social Networking to the Next Level
Many of us are very proud and think we’re pretty savvy now that we’re on Facebook, MySpace, StartUp Nation, and send out a Tweet or two a day. That’s great, but how about creating your very own online community or social network? Companies such as Juicy Couture, St. John, Sears & Kmart, as well as Wet Seal Inc. are doing just that, reported Cate T. Corcoran of Women’s Wear Daily (the Apparel Industry trade newspaper). The interactivity of each website varies from just being able to create a profile and rate virtual outfits to a full fledged social network as St. John is planning to launch next year.
The benefits of creating an online community for your brand are numerous, particularly the ability to communicate openly with your customers and get their feedback on your products and services on a daily basis. Wet Seal Inc. has seen a 10 percent increase in site revenue since the launch of its’ fashion community. Sears and Kmart cut their delivery time to Japan from three to four months to two to three weeks based on advice offered by a customer living in Japan.
You may be thinking, well that’s great but I was just about able to get my website up and running. How in the world would I be able to create an online community?? Well, thanks to Ning now you can. Ning is a website where users can create their own social network for anything. The creation of your network is very straight forward, virtually as easy as setting up any other social network profile. Users have the ability to add a blog, forums, chat, videos, photos and it’s all driven by you, initially. Hopefully, then your users will take over and you can take part in the discussion. What a great tool to facilitate an open dialogue with your customers!
October 7th, 2008 at 11:53 am
Thank you for the validation. When we began ‘She Just Got Married.com’ it was simply from going to be a Central Site to buy and sell previously owned wedding accessories and apparel but it became very clear that there would be a sudden disconnect for the newlywed woman from the community she had established while single and planning her wedding. I watched it happen first had with my daughter. The need for a community that was dedicated to the needs and wants of a woman in that specific time of life became very clear. It’s like begin thrown into the deep end of a pool and told “SWIM” with not life jacket. There needed to be a ‘home’, a place of encouragment and positive energy that centered around HER. This is why we have worked passionatley to become a resource that will allow these woman to speak from their hearts that they are passionate about being in a relationship that CAN be everything they have dreamed. Let’s face it….women ARE the Social Networkers and we want to know that someone else has ‘been there, done that and come through even stronger!’
October 7th, 2008 at 11:54 am
Wow…I should have done a bit of editing first. Sorry for the typos…..multi-tasking took its toll there.
October 16th, 2008 at 1:44 am
I have a Healthy Cooking Ning at:
http://healthycook.ning.com/