Cover Story: 50 Best Tips of 2009

26. Build a ‘social corner.’
Create a social area of your site with engaging content focused on lifestyle vs. products specifically to help deepen loyalty, increase referrals and drive sales.
Aaron Strout, Powered
“Get Real Social Media ROI,” Aug. 18, The ROI Report

27. Create a social media database.
Every time a Twitter user has something to say about your brand — positive or negative — enter the information into your social media database. If the user retweets one of your articles, capture the user name, date it happened and action (retweet). Did the user link to one of your web pages? Capture that information with the link.
Kevin Hillstrom, MineThatData
“Build and Reap the Benefits of Social Media Databases,” July 20, AllAboutROIMag.com column

28. Focus on customer-centric communities.
Acquire customers by using the viral power of social networking, focusing that power on targeted communities of people known to need a specific company’s products/services. This consists of a sponsored branded portal that acts as the homepage of the community and a tool suite that includes alerts, message boards, photo and file sharing, and other social network-type functionality. Let individual members create personal discussion groups consisting of friends, family and business associates. These groups by default create unlimited opportunities to acquire targeted new customers and prospects.
Neil Rosen, eWayDirect
“Do Customer-Centric Communities Answer the Scalability Question?” March 10, Catalog Success: Tactics & Tips

29. Encourage call-center upselling.
Empower your telephone sales reps to make offers while they have customers on the phone. Be willing to pay a commission. You’ll be surprised how much incremental revenue you can generate.
Stephen R. Lett, Lett Direct
“Can’t Afford Catalogs Anymore?” May, Catalog Success

30. Cater to customer influencers.
Make it easy for your key influencers to recommend your product. Give them samples, information and discount offers for their “audience.”
Shari Altman, Altman Dedicated Direct
“Find Your Key Influencers,” September, All About ROI