By Ron Callari
Stanley Milgram originally coined the term ‘six degrees of separation’ in 1967 to underscore the fact that everyone in the modern world was capable of connecting to another like soul based on common interests. But in today’s world of social networking, links between strangers are much closer than in Milgram’s day, and Kevin Bacon’s circle of influence may have shrunk dramatically.
A new study from the European Mobile carrier O2 asserts that the old ‘six degrees of separation’ may have been reduced as much as fifty percent. By his calculations, due to the new world of Web 2.0 and the social networking capabilities of the internet, today we may be talking about only three degrees!
According to this study, the average person is now connected by just three degrees within a shared “interest” or social group. In fact, it determined that people are usually part of three basic sociological networks: family, friendship, and work.
It should be noted that this research is not the final word on this topic, since O2 did pay for the analysis. And anyone who has a LinkedIn account knows that their sought-after contacts could be more than three degrees away, and they may need several levels of introduction to ultimately reach their designated target. But the study does underscore something we all are coming to understand: Everyone is connected in some way (even if only tangentially).
On the other hand, another study dated September 1, 2008 from Synovate claims that only 42% of consumers know what social networking truly entails.
Global head of media research for Synovate, Steve Garton said the survey was conducted to explore some of the myths and facts that have built up around the online social networking phenomena.
Synovate's Senior Vice President of the US-based Consumer Insights group, Bob Michaels, says, "While a majority of Americans have access to computers there are still others, particularly seniors and immigrants, who do not. Online social networking just is not part of their world."
Garton explained: "When you're in the world of marketing — reading about it, planning campaigns, researching people — it's sometimes easy to overlook the basics. So we started our study by simply asking 'do you know what online social networking is?”
"And that's where our first myth was debunked. It turns out social networking is not taking over the world. Well, not yet anyway," stated Garton.
In 2002, Ben McConnell and Jackie Huba published "Creating Customer Evangelists". As a marketing consulting firm they focused on training business leaders how to create global communities of customers. Their treatise shows how to convert already loyal customers into influential and enthusiastic evangelists, with the premise being: What better sales force for a company than its own customers?
The authors document inspirational stories behind large and small companies that have been successful in producing unofficial salespeople. Companies noted include Southwest Airlines, Krispy Kreme, Dallas Mavericks and IBM. If “pull” marketing is today’s norm, where customers are more in control of the products and services they purchase, then a Social Network is an ideal forum for a company to receive ongoing feedback about their buying habits.
In the airline and hotel industries, this concept is beginning to gain traction. While Hyatt was rolling out Yatt’it for its Gold Passport Members, Starwood had already debuted with theLobby.com, designed to update and involve Starwood Preferred Guests.
It's their "foray in the 'social networking' world," stated a Starwood spokeswoman. "The most important thing for travelers is word of mouth ... other people's experiences," not just the accumulation of frequent guest stay points.
According to a recent report from comScore Media Metrix saying that while the growth rate of many top Internet sites is cooling, it's soaring for sites focused on social networking, blogging and forums pertaining to hotel visits, destination experiences and personal accounts.
Hyatt’s Yatt'it, in an attempt to distinguish themselves has introduced several unique services for the frequent traveler. One actually benefits the entire travel experience. Since a hotel stay for a business man or a vacationer is often inextricably tied to air travel, Yatt’it offers a FlightStats tool that shows arrival/departure times for all airlines, and listings for the most reliable flights for a specific route based on historical data.
Marriott’s entrée into the social networking world is still in ‘beta’ testing. Marriott’s Rewards Insiders is a lightly moderated online community, and is built specifically for members to share their travel stories, ask questions from other members and give advice and recommendations. Powered by leading social media marketing agency LiveWorld, the site is open to the program's 3.5 million Elite members and will open to all members later in the year.
"Our members told us they wanted a place where they could talk to each other without interference from sponsors trying to sell them something," said Ed French, senior vice president, Marriott Rewards. "We designed an innovative digital lobby to give them a place to share their stories and get authentic, honest information from other frequent travelers just like them."
How does it work? Members can either use the site to just read information or set up their profile and post questions, comments or responses. They can also sign-up for alerts, which are sent when a post is created in a forum the member wants to follow. They can be emailed or posted in the member's profile. Marriott Rewards Insiders offers "expressive profiles" that allow members to personalize their online identification by uploading pictures or avatars, providing travel preferences and personal interests and identifying their home town.
Up till now, there have been unfortunately only negative situations when traveling by air that warranted travelers banding together in a community. Regrettably, it occurs when they are distressed by flight delays, lost luggage and/or airline personnel indifference. Apart from the "community" of frequent flyers, the airline industry has typically not risen to the occasion of de-commoditizing their service nor fostering social interaction between passengers.
In turn, aggregators have spawned to fill this void. One such community is FlyerTalk. This and other sites like it are dedicated to travelers sharing tips with one another on how to manipulate the system, travel smarter for cheaper, achieve preferred status in frequent flyer programs faster, or simply talk about the airline industry from a traveler's point of view. So it attracts a broad audience from vacation travelers to mileage junkies!
AAdvantage Milestones will connect and engage the more than 56 million AAdvantage® members through a new community forum and a series of video features that offer viewers quick tours of American Airlines and oneworld® destinations. In addition, AAdvantage Milestones uses a combination of static and rich-media content to deliver interesting and user-friendly information related to travel and the AAdvantage program.
“Finding innovative and creative ways to increase consumer participation in the AAdvantage program is one of the company’s top priorities,” said Kurt Stache, President of AAdvantage Marketing Programs. “Our customers tell us they want more information on vacation destinations. We think our new e-magazine will break through the clutter and deliver that content in a contemporary, engaging and entertaining way.”
The e-magazine’s community forum encourages members to share personal photos of the featured destinations. Additional aspects of the community forum will be introduced with the release of subsequent editions of the new e-magazine. Over time, American hopes the vault of valuable information gathered, along with the entertainment features, will become a guide to future travelers and AAdvantage members.
KLM has taken a different approached, launched through several social networks - including ones targeted at entrepreneurs and business travelers in China and Africa, as well as a robust social network all about golfing where travelers can enter their destinations and scores, use miles to purchase golf related merchandise, and even book golf get-togethers with other travelers that happen to be in the same location.
The way that KLM has done these (and presumably will do others as well) offers some interesting lessons to other struggling airlines on how to better connect with customers by using social networks:
- Offer what business customers are interested in. If you are going to see mom and dad for a week, you probably won't be interested in social networking with other golfers or business folks. The beauty of focusing on business interests here is that it is not only more useful, but obviously more profitable for KLM as business travel is where the higher margin tickets are sold. For that reason, every airline is trying to stand out for business travelers. But when everyone offers 180 degree flat beds and the same video capabilities - you need to go further. You need to offer something that no one else has, but that business travelers would be interested in.
- Capitalize on existing trends (and the underlying meaning). The "trend" of social networks points to the underlying need for people to connect with other like minded individuals. Every successful social network has some element that allows it's users to do that. Being part of the club is a part of your identity - and the incentive is not a reward (as with frequent flyer points). The incentive is building your own personal network, finding a new golf buddy and perhaps even doing a new deal or two.
- Understand what brings travelers together. Passion for a subject, whether it's work or golf is the primary reason, but there is another interesting insight KLM is using to its advantage here. For many business travelers (particularly those traveling internationally), there is a familiar moment of recognition and bonding when you find someone else in a strange place who is from where you are from. It explains the rise of strong expat communities in cities around the world, and the immediate bond with a "seatmate" who comes from the same city, and leaves on the same flight as you to the same destination. Focusing a social network on helping people to forge that bond is what distinguishes social networking from other personalized offerings.
The traditional way to interact is face-to-face public forums. Social Networking is the next best thing to being there. Interactive technology makes it possible for people to network with their peers from anywhere on the planet 24/7, in an online environment. And now that everyone’s sphere of influence has been reduced to only three degrees of separation, all the more reason to bond with your fellow man!
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iOptimize Marketing is an Internet marketing firm that specializes in search engine optimization, search engine marketing and social networking. Because of the heightened interest in social networks, the firm has focused on a multitude of vertical markets that can benefit from the development of customized communities. A hotel brand of boutique hotels, a major domestic or international airline, an insurance firm, a university or a trade association are all viable candidates. Whether a membership body entails frequent flyers, brokers, agents, alumni or organizational members, a Social Network is the type of platform that can bring these firms affinity audiences together.
Ron Callari is the Chief Marketing Officer for iOptimize Marketing, Inc. and a veteran of the hotel industry for the last 25 years. As is a freelance journalist and editorial cartoonist his published work has appeared in Alternet, Counterpunch, Sacramento News & Review, Albion Monitor and the World and I. He is author of “Uncle Dubya’s Jihad Jamboree”, published in 2005, and the creator of kidd millennium’s editorial cartoons, www.kiddmillennium.com.
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