BOSTON, MA--(Marketwire - May 24, 2012) - BzzAgent, the social marketing arm of dunnhumby, today announced the release of its latest eBook, "To Sell in Social, Stop Getting 'Likes,' Start Building Advocacy" (Available at: http://u.bzz.com/sellinsocial). The eBook shows that marketers focused on Facebook "Likes" are missing a valuable opportunity to build brand advocacy. By applying fundamental direct marketing practices to social media, marketers can build high quality advocacy around their brand and track its impact on product sales and ROI.

"Marketers have been using direct marketing for decades, and applying these same principles to social media, creates a highly effective marketing technique that can be measured against the sales impact of traditional media," said Dave Balter, CEO of BzzAgent. "We've seen it generate an average return of $1.50 for every dollar spent, and in some cases, social marketing has been the most effective component of a brand's media mix."

Key direct marketing practices illustrated in the eBook that can be applied in social media marketing include:

• Define your target audience: Loyal customers make the best brand advocates. When marketers combine the targeting of customers based on their purchase history with demographic data and social influence profiles, they pinpoint the ideal audience for an advocacy program.
• Engagement is everything: Slick ads, emails and direct mail may trigger a response, but they don't promote advocacy. In social, the product is the message. Marketers should immerse advocates in rich product experiences so they are excited to share their opinions.
• Develop your call to action: Social marketing can have a call to action, but "buy now" isn't the best approach. Ask advocates to get involved by writing product reviews and sharing recommendations on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and anywhere people are talking about the product.
• Optimize your performance: A social marketing program isn't a one-time interaction. Participants are engaged in a series of activities over time. Individual influence scoring enables marketers to make adjustments to the campaign in order to emphasize what, and who, is having the greatest influence on others.
• Measure sales and ROI: "Likes" and engagement analyses don't represent sales impact and ROI. Marketers should apply proven practices like marketing mix modeling and matched market analysis to measure the ROI of social marketing side-by-side with all other media.

The complete eBook is available for free download at http://u.bzz.com/sellinsocial

About BzzAgent
BzzAgent, the social marketing arm of dunnhumby, activates influential customers to drive sales for the world's largest brands. With insights from over 400 million shoppers around the world, BzzAgent provides marketers precise targeting and a powerful engagement platform to turn loyal customers into advocates. Proven measurement practices provide detailed analysis of key retail metrics, incremental sales and ROI. BzzAgent has been a leader in word of mouth marketing since 2001, running thousands of programs for global companies including Unilever, Wrigley, L'Oreal, and Green Mountain Coffee. For more information visit: http://about.bzzagent.com.