Social networks offer marketers more than just large audiences. Red Door Interactive's president describes some opportunities.

We all know that social networks play a significant role in marketers' budgets these days. But there continue to be unique and undiscovered opportunities within these networks for information gathering, as well as for truly connecting with targeted consumers.

Take my case, for instance. I maintain a few profiles online. I have my bio on our company site; I have a LinkedIn profile, a rarely used MySpace profile, a Facebook page, a Dandelife, a MojoPages profile and more. I am pretty accessible, in this way, to people who want to connect with me. I get updates from these sites, which help me maintain relationships with both the site and my extended network.

Through these sites I run with a few different sub-circles of friends. I have those with whom I connect for business -- whether general business topics and interests, or specific industry topics, such as analytics, search, creative, technology, etc. On the personal side, I have groups I belong to related to San Diego (where I live), philanthropy (I am in Rotary), University of Oregon (where I went to school), past and present colleagues, real-world friends, and this list goes on…

This social framework is pretty consistent with those of a lot of people online today -- credit Facebook, MySpace and LinkedIn for propagating much of this. I am, like they are, a target for certain brands and products; I buy things and I am passionate about certain brands. In an advertising world, I am a "user profile" or a "target profile." My profile, background and interests are readily available. This information is not written by an account planner or a research strategist, it is written by me, the target. Such profiles as mine are becoming invaluable to marketers and agencies because they help us get into the head of the passionate consumer. 

A brand's fan club born on MySpace
The Souplantation Lovers Association, with 120 MySpace members, is an example of how consumers use social networks to demonstrate their passion. Souplantation is our client, but we didn't build this MySpace page, and we don't cultivate it. We just discovered it and now find a treasure trove of useful, up-to-date opinions and preferences from our most loyal customers.

I am not suggesting that these profiles replace what an account planner might present, but they are a useful supplement. They allow us marketers to experience our targets' world and to better understand their voices so that when we do market to them, we know exactly who they are.

Injecting your brand into discussions on social networks
Another aspect of social networking that marketers need to start paying attention to in 2008 is the concept of "purchasing-influence" -- or influencing a consumer's purchasing habits. A user's social network has the ability to influence what he buys. Evidence of this concept was brought to the fore by Facebook when it launched Beacon, which was good in concept but poor on execution. Beacon not only caused many privacy concerns, it was also limited to a passive recommendation platform. However, with features such as "Answers" on LinkedIn and "Ask Friends" on MojoPages, social networks are becoming a way for consumers who are at the front-end of the purchase process to search for answers to their questions -- regarding purchases, too -- from their trusted "friends."

Take my case: I was recently looking for a storage solution for my home computer's multimedia files. I could have used a traditional search query, such as "multimedia file storage" or "personal backup solution." But in both cases I would have run the risk of getting a myriad of options that don't relate well to what I need because I don't have a way to define specifically what I am looking for. Another option would be for me to review a list of product categories on a site like Amazon and then sort through product reviews from people I don't know or trust. 

Instead, I reached out to someone I do trust -- someone within my network -- for their opinion on how to solve my problem. This happens all the time on social networks. People are asking questions like, "Does anyone have a good solution for [insert rough challenge here]?" The network, likely made up of "friends," responds with answers and guides the user to a solution.

Marketers are now going to have to recognize this trend in search/shopping and capitalize on the resulting opportunity. This is not about influencing the influencers in the way marketers have been doing lately within the blogosphere (reach one to reach many). With this approach, marketers need to work within the social network structure and look for opportunities to inject the brand or product into this question-and-answer process.

Right now, I can't say that there is one specific "best practice" that I am advocating. Attempts can certainly be made through contextual advertising placements, or by connecting with relevant groups.

I do encourage those brands that participate in these groups to be useful to the users. One way is to build and maintain current profiles and pages on these sites to remain top-of-mind. For example, creating groups, like the one that developed organically for Souplantation, is a great way to encourage people to bond around your brand.

We, as marketers, need to recognize this phenomenon and accommodate for it. I hope that this article will motivate readers to take advantage of this growing opportunity. And perhaps you know more, or better, ways to achieve "purchasing-influence" than those listed above. Let me know what innovative ways you or brands you know have developed. I'd love to start a dialog, if not in the comments below, in the marketplace. I look forward to seeing the results.

Reid Carr is president, Red Door Interactive. Read full bio.