Coke Zero, a Coca-Cola low calorie brand specifically marketed to adult males, uses SocialTwist to launch their social referral program on Facebook. You can see the campaign here.

Social referrals don’t just improve and amplify product awareness; they also result in superior targeting. Referring parties (in this case, young males) tend to know and refer others who are similar to them, thus improving the targeting and effectiveness of the underlying campaign.

Our January newsletter went out this week. The Opinion piece is reproduced below:

Online Strategies for Offline Retailers

Vijay Sundaram

The biggest challenge for retailers, in an increasingly online world, is to get consumers to visit the store. Retailers use several in-store strategies to encourage visits. Store-perimeter traffic magnets like banks, cafes and bakeries, self-service checkouts and in-store kiosks are all ways to drive traffic, by increasing consumer utility. Retailers are even changing time-proven product-centric displays to occasion-centric or demand-centric displays.

But an overwhelming part of in-store activity starts online. 97% of consumers research online before they visit a store. 74% rely on social networks to guide their purchase decisions. All retailers have an online presence. Most already have pages on Facebook. Some like Walmart – with more than 3,600 store-specific pages – use social to get local.

How can marketing strategies leverage all these retailer online investments? Website and Facebook pages must be used to engage consumers, and to present and promote offers. Every strategy should seek to authentically get customers to refer others through their social networks. Local offers must focus on driving in-store traffic and building loyalty within communities.

SocialTwist is running an online campaign for H-E-B, a large Texas supermarket chain, in partnership with Kimberly-Clark. The campaign offers valuable coupons to customers, gets them to refer others, and makes coupon redemption the lead to in-store sales. It uses online social connections to drive offline sales, from new customers.

H-E-B, a Texas-based supermarket chain, partners with Kimberly-Clark, a leading consumer products company, to drive social referral programs on the SocialTwist platform. Participating brands include instantly recognizable leaders like Huggies, Scott, Kotex, and Cottonelle.

The campaign marks a partnership between a leading consumer products company and its retail partner to get new business using the social networks of their customers. The campaign sets up online promotions that drive offline retail visits and sales.  It is increasingly important for the retail industry to drive in-store visits and purchase, even as online purchases continue to grow.

Kimberly-Clark is a global consumer products leader with revenues of almost $20 billion from leading brands sold in more than 150 countries, many of them in the 1 or 2 market share position. H-E-B is a privately-owned supermarket chain with revenues of almost $15 billion, from 315 stores. The company was named Retailer of the Year in 2010.

Dollar General launches social referral programs for multiple brands on the SocialTwist platform. Participating brands include market leaders Degree, Huggies, Airwick, and All - from leading consumer products companies Unilever, Kimberly-Clark, Reckitt Benckiser, and The Sun Products Corporation.

You can see the campaign here.

Dollar General is the nation’s largest small-box retailer with more than 9,500 stores and an annual revenue in excess of $13 billion. Dollar General ranks among the largest retailers of top-quality brands made by America’s most-trusted manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble, Kimberly Clark, Unilever, Kellogg’s, General Mills and Nabisco.

Our December newsletter just went out today. In our opinion piece, we discuss how social referrals can simplify marketing strategies, yet improve marketing returns.

As an aside, when working with our customers we urge them to measure outcomes, impact, and return. We ask if they set the same benchmarks for their existing marketing programs. Have they concluded what constitutes good results, average results, and bad results?  This puts them in a good position to evaluate highly innovative customer acquisition campaigns, and make informed decisions on new and reallocated marketing investments.

The Nestle Purina PetCare Company - one of the largest global pet care companies – launched a customer acquisition and referral program today for their Tidy Cats brand. The customer incentive is a $2 savings on cat litter package, redeemable at any Dollar General retail outlet.

Dollar General is the nation’s largest small-box retailer with more than 9,500 stores and an annual revenue in excess of $13 billion. Dollar General ranks among the largest retailers of top-quality brands made by America’s most-trusted manufacturers, such as Procter & Gamble, Kimberly Clark, Unilever, Kellogg’s, General Mills and Nabisco.

The program is unique in two respects. First, it marks a partnership between a leading brand and a leading retailer to get new business using the social networks of their customers. The offer is valid only at Dollar General. It also uses an online campaign to drive offline sales. Recent research from Nielsen shows the link between online brand metrics and offline sales. Their research suggests that Brand Effect metrics like Awareness, Recall, and Association are easier to influence than other metrics like Brand Favorability and Purchase Intent, given that the latter require a change in consumer opinion or behavior.

This campaign sets up social referrals to create offline Sales (a step beyond Purchase Intent in the customer engagement process) that can be readily measured and attributed. Customer opinion is influenced by the referral coming from a trusted party, while the sale itself is proof of behavioral change.This is far down the customer acquisition process from Awareness and Intent. We fully expect that marketing programs – using social media – will increasingly follow this route.

This article in SocialMediaToday describes the notion of a “social customer” and their behavior. In summary, they interact a lot… and expect interaction.  They exercise undue influence in driving opinions on brands and products and in influencing the purchase decisions of other consumers.

Various methods have been used, over the years, to identify these customers and quantify their influence.  One earlier method used the concept of a Net Promoter score which ranked the response of a consumer to a single question: How likely are you to recommend [our company] to a friend or colleague?  More recently, Klout has set up a set of “connectedness criteria” to determine individual influence.  Other measures exist.

But whatever be the measure, companies have started innovative marketing programs to target and leverage the influence of these customers.  This article in Advertising Age reports that Chevy will offer a 3-day drive of their newest subcompact to consumers with big Klout.

Companies are finding innovative ways to use the connections and influence of their customers to drive value for their brands and products. Their primary focus was using social connections to increase awareness and generate positive opinions. In 2012 we expect the bar to go up – more companies will start using the connections of their customers to acquire new customers and drive additional revenue.  They will discover that customers are not just influencers of brand opinion, they are engines of brand and revenue growth.

We will be there to help them.

Bacardi Mixers, a Coca-Cola brand that offers a refreshing set of fruit mixers for in-home entertaining, launches a referral program with SocialTwist.

This is another example of a program built on the clear recognition that current customers offer one of the best ways to acquire new ones. Brands that work with us find that many of their customers are eager to talk about their brand experience. They are also enthusiastic about sharing offers with like-minded friends, driving value for a new customer and new business for the brand.

You can see the Bacardi campaign here and participate in their offer.

Bioworld, an industry leader in manufacturing and distributing licensed, private label & branded apparel, footwear and accessories worldwide, launches a referral program with SocialTwist.

The incentive – matched to their target audience – is a sweepstake with a chance to win the ultimate gamer’s prize pack. This is also the age category that is most active on social networks and constantly seeks advice from friends on purchase decisions.

You can see the campaign here and participate in their offer.

The November issue of our newsletter is not available at your favorite news stand. But you can get it here. Our opinion piece is on marketing incentives and consumer behavior. You can also see what we’ve been up to over the last month.  If you have feedback on what you’d like to see or not see, leave a comment here or on our Facebook page.