According to The Nielsen Company, a message from a friend is trusted 67% higher than a message from an email list you have signed up for.

Think about it:

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From: Anybrand.com

To: bjorn@vinatta.com

Re: Join this competition – win a trip to Paris.

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From: My friend

To: bjorn@vinatta.com

Re: Join this competition – win a trip to Paris.

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In addition to legal matters, this is why Vinatta always sends messages from a friend rather than from a brand. It simple works better.

With Vinatta, you can even improve the heading by adding a new dimension: Join this competition – win a trip to Paris with me.

An effective social media referral campaign is one that provides value to all the participants.

What’s in it for the referrer?

You must give the referrer a good reason to engage in a campaign. However, there are numerous ways you can do that. The question to ask is what would feel like a good motivation for the referrers in this particular campaign? Prices, coupons and free stuff would motivate some. The feeling of helping out friends and colleagues, maybe even solve a problem for them, would motivate others.

What’s in it for the recruited?

New recruits sign up for a reason. It could be a better offer than elsewhere, it could be timing, or any other motivation. The trust in the referrer is amplifying any reason.

What’s in it for the brand?

Marketeers think metrics. What’s the referral effect, conversion rate and ROI?

Studies show that social media users trust their friends and colleagues more than they trust brands. It makes sense. If you were looking to try out a new restaurant, would you rather get a recommendation from a friend who just had a great meal or the restaurant that’s promoting its latest special?

Word of mouth matters, especially on Facebook. To get your fans talking about you, the key is to make it easy to spread the word.

One great way to do this is to create a contest or promotion that rewards fans for spreading the word. By using a platform such as Vinatta, you can track and reward the fans who invite their friends to join your contest.

You may promise extra chances to win for every friend encouraged to enter a contest.

Tip: Think of your ideal audience before you create a special promotion or campaign. What would get them excited to spread the word? When you make the experiences on your page about your fans rather than about your brand, your fans become more invested and engaged and in turn are more eager to tell their friends about you.

According to a survey from Lab42, almost 50% of  Twitter users follow brands to participate in contests.

15% of Twitter users followed brands, which is a pretty high number in my books.

Even with 200 million users, it is still early days for Twitter, but for the social-media minded companies the marketing opportunities are good. Twitter alone is obviously not the only channel needed for a successful online campaign, but it is a very powerful ally.

Our reputation and credibility.
People are generally concerned about their reputation. A world wide fact. In one way, it’s all we’ve got. We spend our entire life to get it, and we sure don’t want to throw it away.

Every time we give a recommendation, we use our credibility and put our reputation on the line. Why do we take that risk?

Because we sincerly believe we will do our friends a favor. We are genuinly passionate about it.

The best way.
Our credibility is a major force which no marketing manager can buy. But he sure wants it. Because word of mouth is the absolute best way to promote products and services.

The receiver of the recommendations will instinctly include our credibility in what’s been recommended. Because he knows that nobody is putting his reputation on the line for giving it, unless it’s a genuine recommendation.

That’s why 90 % of consumers trust recommendations from people they know. (The Nielsen Company, 2011.)