What’s Most Important To You On Social Media? Is It Having A Community To Go To For Anything You Want/Need? Let’s Talk about How Orkut Did Just That!
Orkut was a platform that was owned by google that owned the social media market share worldwide during its heyday. At one-point Orkut was the largest social media in the world. With most of its market coming from Brazil, India, and the US. Orkut was launched a month before Facebook and topped Facebooks numbers internationally for years despite Orkut being a invite only platform.
Orkut hit the in markets like Brazil and India because of their periods of early digital growth due to middle class economics in those countries. The exclusive nature drew people to the brand by people being curious of what is behind the wall. Then finding someone who was in the “In crowd” to invite them to Orkut communities. There were an immense number of communities that made up the Orkut social platform.
With the power of Google and Search Engine Optimization (SEO) in its infancy stages google was a major player in early SEO through keywords. They set the president for SEO and Search Engine Marketing (SEM). Orkut monopolized SEO tactics through keywords to drive the platform. This opened the door for SEM for companies to target the exact communities that fit their target market. They Brazilian market relies heavily on interpersonal reviews of products and Orkut did not stray from this type of social interaction.
Even though Orkut had market control, a strong foundational platform for social interaction and business. They failed to evolve with times and they sadly were left behind by platforms like Facebook and Twitter. Orkut had a number of functionality issues with the platform. Social media culture shifted from text-based platform content to graphical media-based content. Orkut failed to update the platform to support more media content and shareable content. Hence, they just became less social by the standards of an advancing market.
Brazil had a very social society that believed in blogging, social gaming, and directly engaging with brands. Orkut allowed them to do all three of those things. Brazilians got the social interaction they need from each community that affirmed their brand interactions and decision making.
In the Indian culture Orkut catered to India like no other platform had ever done before. Orkut translated their entire site into Six Indian Languages. They directly infiltrated the Indian culture by tying together communities with no language barriers. This connected different Indian societies that would not have conversed on their own.
As a brand you should continue to seek new ways to identify with your audience and to openly interact with them in ways, they wouldn’t think was possible. Do not only sell your brand, but also do giveaways, and push educational information. Take time to get to know your patrons.
How a App Called Weixin Cracks The Social Media Code? How well do they really know their audience?
Weixin has targeted young urban individuals with smartphones who desire a all-in-one social experience. Weixin combined a lot of convenience in one package. Theses conveniences hit the exact need of Weixin’s target market. This is how Weixin insured the use of their app with their target market. They made sure the app provided everything that makes up the typical day for young Chinese patrons of the Weixin app. Weixin physically made everything easy by making each function a two button tap on a smartphone. By simplifying the flow of the app and making each desired function effort less they attracted their target. Due to the ease of getting everything done in a quick and simple manor all in one location.
Weixin created a app that not only allowed people to communicate but they also integrated a marketplace for people to buy and sell items. They also integrate mobile rideshare taxi services into the app. These are some of the top features people interact with besides the social interaction within the app like the sending of money for events like holiday giving when they ran a red envelope campaign in china. These are the things that kept users coming back to the app and making it apart of their daily life.
Weixin uses in app widgets and extensions to keep every characteristic local to the Weixin app. They us the different functions with a master navigation bar at the bottom of the app and a navigation pane to filter the other features of the app. Even though the app is jam packed with features everything is found with two taps and a swipe.
Because of the style of the app it is easily replicated for other markets. WeChat is the international version and it is going well even though it does not have all the jampacked features of Weixin at this time.
How A Couple Pair of Lost Glasses Turned Into A Designer Eyeware Brand With Affordable Pricing Called Warby Parker
You buy a pair of glasses and they give a pair away!
Most people don’t know that an Italian company by the name of Luxottica Group S.p.A. owns over 80% of the world’s eyeglasses and sunglasses market. Luxottica owns all of the major luxury brands like Ray-Ban, Ralph Lauren, Channel, Prada, Oakley, and retail chains like Pearl Vision, Lenscrafters, Sunglass Hut, and many more brands and retail chains. It’s hard to compete with a company that owns everything from your $1 Dollar Tree sunglass rack glasses to your $383,609 Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses.
Companies like Luxottica own traditional channels that are related to eyeglasses and sunglasses. This is where Warby Parker comes into the industry by disrupting the eyeglasses and sunglasses market with nontraditional methods.
How did Warby Parker succeed against a market full of Luxottica brands?
Warby Parker started with the idea of going direct from production to consumer to sacrifice price for the quality. But keeping their glasses at low cost online where people could not feel the quality was an issue. So they took to social media and gained social proof through review promotions, an online learning community, and their program that allowed patrons to order five pairs of glasses and pick the one they liked the most and send the rest back free of charge. This new way of doing business redefined the buyer’s process.
We all go to the internet for reviews of products and services before we buy them, Warby Parker found an effective solution to that issue. The promoted that people share their experience with Warby Parker glasses through social media, creating an unofficial brand ambassador community. Therefore, when people look up a product or the Warby parker brand, they will see non-brand pages posting honest reviews and showing off their Warby Parker glasses.
Why didn’t Warby Parker leverage traditional methods like other brands?
In the traditional environment, Warby Parker would have needed to get their brand recognized through the styling of their frames and the social impact of them giving a free pair away every time someone purchases a pair of their glasses. However, they would have been needed to seem genuine due to the television commercial market being seen as a scripted medium. Also, with traditional mediums, most times, you cannot track the progress of the campaign, they get overlooked often, and typically reach to broad of an audience.
Is Warby Parker eyewear is just as good as my name brand glasses?
Warby Parker makes the process easy and stress-free by eliminating all risk. By allowing users to pick five pairs of glasses and keeping one as their final decision removes all traditional fears and risks. We all love to try on the glasses to see how they feel, if they look good with our facial structure, if they have all the features we like in glasses, and lastly, if they are big, small, or just right.
Why should I support Warby Parker instead of other brands?
Since Warby Parker is vertically integrated, they control their production cost as well as profit margins. This is how they can afford to donate free pairs of glasses every time someone buys a pair. This not only boosts the company’s social impact, but it makes consumers feel good about their purchase. Each pair of eyeglasses that Warby Parker gives away comes with a story to be told. Those stories are the foundation of the brand, starting with the owner who lost his glasses and went a year struggling to see because he could not afford a new pair for eyeglasses during college.
Overall, Warby Parker innovated a space where there was little to no wiggle room for new businesses in the eyeglass market. They devised a risk-free buyer’s program and leveraged social media for the growth of the company. They have done something that no other eyewear provider has done for its customers and also tied in a giving aspect to add to their social impact. In a time where brick and mortar businesses are in jeopardy, Warby Parker had it’s online eCommerce system mastered.
