Social Media is Just One Big Referral Network

Hop onto Twitter or Facebook pretty much any evening during prime time and you’re almost certain to see some friends posting comments or tweeting about TV shows. Who hasn’t seen many a comment about Lost or Glee? In fact, I’ve seen so many comments about Glee, I’ve thought about watching it just to see what all the hype is about. Those friend recommendations piqued my interest more than any TV commercial I saw about the show.

That’s the power of social media. And it’s a power NBC is harnessing as it continues its “Fan It” initiative into the 2010-2011 TV season. Fans signs up on the NBC website and then earn points for talking about NBC shows on Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. Points are good for NBC merchandise (wonder how many points I’d need for an Office bobblehead?) or for entries into mega contests (wonder how many points I’d need to appear on Parks & Recreation?).

In an Associated Press article last week, Adam Stotsky, president of NBC Entertainment Marketing, is quoted as saying, “A recommendation from a friend is infinitely more powerful than any message we can put out through conventional marketing channels.”

That’s sums up nicely what social media is all about and why it’s critical for businesses to be part of the landscape. Social media has expanded the concept of word-of-mouth marketing beyond asking our neighbors to recommend a good plumber into a global network of referrals.

If your business isn’t paying attention to social media, it’s missing an opportunity to reach potential customers, reward them for their business and respond to their questions or complaints. Last week I asked on Twitter if anyone could recommend a good company to pressure wash my house. I received a recommendation from a Twitter follower so plan to call that business this week.

What would have made that example even more powerful is if this particular pressure washing business was on Twitter and could have reached out to me directly, possibly offering a free estimate or a discount.

I applaud NBC for recognizing the massive referral system that is social media and hope it serves as an example to other businesses that engaging your customers, rewarding them for their efforts and thinking beyond conventional marketing channels has to be a part of your business plan.

The Office and Web 2.0

I would be remiss if I didn’t address one of my favorite TV shows, The Office (though I must profess I like the British version better), and NBC’s clever tie in of lots of Web 2.0 tools. If you saw the episode last night, you’ll see Second Life, a virtual community that has gained much hype of late, was featured in the show. One of the main characters, the very geeky Dwight, was using it as an escape from his life (he recently broke up with his girlfriend) and had even created a Second, Second Life application within the world to further remove himself from reality.

But in the real world, NBC has creatively used many Web 2.0 tools to further engage fans of the show. Head over to the Office Web site and there’s a world of things you can do.

Social Networking: One of the most creative applications is the Dunder Mifflin (the name of the company in The Office) Infinity site, which is a social network where you can do all kinds of fun tasks related to the show. You can “apply” to be an employee of the company and get assigned an official position. Then, you can perform all sorts of tasks, just like the characters do on the show. For example, last night the crew was tasked with creating a local ad. Go to the site, and you too, can create your own ad campaign for the company. According to an article on MediaPost, this network now has 100,000 “employees.” Not bad.

Blogging: Read character blogs, including Dwight Schrute’s “Schrute Space” blog and Creed’s thoughts.

Video: NBC (along with several other networks) recently started offering full episodes of its most popular shows for download for free. So you can get past episodes, download deleted scenes, watch Webisodes only available online, see interviews with the characters and more.

Misc: There are lots of other interactive tools, like message boards where you can chat with others about the show, a contest where you can try to make Creed look young using a variety of online tools and submit your entry, subscribe to the Scranton (the city where the office is located) newsletter, play office basketball and more.

Kudos to NBC for coming up with some creative ways to keep the fans involved and coming back again and again. It seems to be working — MediaPost reports the site has had 800,000 unique visitors to date.