Using Social Media to Enhance Channel Partner and Consumer Relationships

The rise of the Web 2.0 web based applications adds to the popularity of social networking sites like Facebook, Multiply, Twitter, Linkedin, etc. Because of their popularity, virtually every company from the fortune 500s to micro-enterprises has a Facebook page or a Twitter account.

Since majority of consumers in the world are connected via these websites, how can channel partners take advantage of these new marketing opportunities?

While the rest of the world is wondering where social media had been all their lives, majority of channel partners still hesitate in diving in to this new medium of virtual interaction. But for those who see it as an exciting opportunity to promote new products for vendors, social networking is proving to be a boon to the industry.

Why is social media important for the vendors? The new media provides a free glimpse of the target markets. Consumers freely review, buy, and rate products and services online and form niche communities dedicated to a specific subject. Traditional marketing methodologies used to require tedious surveys that might or might not even be accurate.

Sifting through the information, companies will know how to improve and develop their existing and new products. At the very least, they would have a general idea on issues and problems of their product based on what the consumer is saying.

How do virtual social communities benefit resellers? Forward-thinking vendors have used earlier versions of the social networking like the Bulletin boards, newsletter, and forums. They use the Internet for efficient and cheap channel recruitment. With the surge of new and more comprehensive web applications, resellers have a lot of great opportunities to sell to their target consumers. Unfortunately the resellers who have taken advantage of these new interactive sites are still very few and those that have are not utilizing it properly.

Studies have shown that resellers especially the executives are aging but are keen on experimenting marketing strategies on popular sites. This shows their willingness to accept and learn these new trends because they realize that this is where the future is headed.

Vendors need to train their resellers on how to optimize the use of social media to benefit their partnership. YouTube for example, is a site for videos which are being utilized as a tool for training. Just like the way they use new media for channel recruitment, resellers stand to profit from social communities on the web if only they can learn how to properly sell to their target market already connected via these social sites.

Some vendors and resellers are now forming their own groups on the web. Channel Partner portals are providing pages like the popular sites so partners can communicate with the vendors easily and efficiently. Real time interactions provide quick response to problems and issues that may come up.

The opportunities that resulted from social networking sites are seemingly endless if only vendors and resellers can learn to harness them. More studies and training are needed to fully understand the impact it has on business.