What Better Way to Market to Women Consumers? The Wonders of Social Design
Have you heard about the poke?
The poke is a wing man to social networkers. It was strictly an offline player until popular social networking site Facebook built its network based on human-to-human interaction. It’s known as social design, and it’s turning the poke into an online idol.
Social design speaks of a time, long before flash-dominated web design and scrollable copy blurred vision. “Today’s web designers are returning to original design principles—simple shapes, contrasts, and colors. It’s not like 10 years ago, when it was all about what tools you could use to create animations on a web page,” says Kate Aronowitz, Facebook’s director of design in Reena Jana’s Design Mind article, “Facebook’s Design Strategy: A Status Update.” ttp://tinyurl.com/3fm8xlg
Social design is a friendly poke in the right direction if you follow these truisms:
1. Humans crave interaction, but not with websites.
“Facebook is very much not about Facebook,” says Facebook’s Ethan Beard in a Knowledge@Wharton interview “Facebook's Ethan Beard: Driving Engagement — and Growth — Through 'Social Design'.” http://tinyurl.com/3l25fcr
What is the social network about? It’s about breezing users pass the machinations complex web design and leading them to the human interaction that they crave. Perhaps it’s the Internet in its most elemental form: connecting people to other people and information without roadblocks.
2. “You're too simple!” “Hey that’s actually not bad at times...”
The names of Facebook Features such as Photos and Groups prompt laughter from creatives who are perplexed by the simplicity of the social network’s design. “We design a place where there aren’t new objects to trip over,” says Christopher Cox, vice president of product in Jana’s article.
There is definitely something behind Facebook’s savvy approach. PixInk (http://www.PixInkDesign.com), a San Francisco-based design microagency serving a macro niche: businesses marketing to women, who drive 83% of purchase decisions features a crucial post “Click, Connect, Convert: Marketing to Women with Persuasive Technology,” http://tinyurl.com/4xrul9x that states, brands should not expect consumers to change their technology channels and behaviors at the same time.
3. The early bird integrator gets the consumer engagement.
Changes in terms and privacy settings often send shockwaves throughout the blogosphere. How can brands transition to social commerce unscathed? Beard believes nimble startups and smaller retail platforms have the advantage over large corporations like Amazon. Why? They can integrate social design early on. “For example, you could imagine a store that says, ‘By default, when you shop in this store, everything that you look at and everything you put in your shopping cart will be shared with your friends,’” Beard reveals to Knowledge@Wharton.
“These technologies can make life easier, can let us touch people we might not otherwise,” said Steve Jobs. Integrating elements of social design into your website can spark consumer engagement.
They are craving connection and information. And you didn’t bring them to your website just to poke around.
Did you find this story informative? Want to get more of the scoop on the world of women business consumers, social design, and businesses marketing to women? Say no more! Ayesha Mathews-Wadhwa, Founder and Creative Director of PixInk (http://www.pixinkdesign.com) can immerse you into this world. PixInk is a San Francisco-based design microagency serving a macro niche: businesses marketing to women, who drive 83% of purchase decisions. Ayesha nurtures emerging brands and strengthens iconic ones through powerful design, insight and a deep understanding of the female shopper. Her web-site's microagency structure works extremely well for iconic yet nimble brands such as Apple, Facebook, Oracle, Cat Footwear, Riverbed, Camel, Sephora and Picaboo, among others. Check it out!
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Hey Everyone, I’m Kamerin Chambers. I am currently a DePaul Student majoring in Public Relations and Advertising. I have over 10 years of writing experience which includes work as a columnist, previous editor at GirlSpeak webzine, play-writer, and creative writer. I previously interned at Terry Hines & Associates as their Digital Marketing/Social Media intern which sprang my passion for Digital Marketing through Social Media and copy writing. I am a member of PRSSA (Public Relations Student Society of America) at DePaul and outside of academics, I love to enjoy life to the fullest.