Distributors' Social Networks

Social Networks are popping up all over the Internet and are the latest trend.  They help us connect to each other through our shared interests and passions.  In the last year, a lot of companies have noticed this trend and created pages related to their businesses.  Nowadays, it seems that every business has a “follow us” on Twitter or Facebook somewhere in their marketing.  A few companies have taken this idea a step farther and created their own propriety social networks to help them promote and distribute content.

One such company is the current technology innovation king, Apple.  Last year, Apple released their special social network, Ping, that is built right into their iTunes program.  Apple requires iTunes for its customers to manage their music and other digital content.  Having their own social network for music built right into their store offers a unique way for people to connect and share their music.  It is basically Facebook meets Twitter meets iTunes, all for free.  It was a great move for Apple because as soon as they made Ping live they had a potential user base of 160 million users in 23 different countries.  With customers already familiar with how to use iTunes, and who may have never used Facebook or Twitter, it is a great way to bring a new audience to the social media scene.  Users can make a profile and see what their friends and favorite artists are listening to and downloading.  Ping also has partnered with Live Nation to provide concert listings for the artists as well.  Ping is becoming the one premiere site for social networking about music.

Another company is AMC theaters.  AMC recently launched their AMC Stubs program, which is a reward and social networking site for AMC moviegoers.  It costs $12 a year to join and offers rewards galore.  For every $100 dollars you spend, you get $10 back as well as free concession upgrades.  Once a member, you get your own online ticket stub collection of all the movies you have seen.  This way you can always have the memories of going to the movies and sharing what you liked and saw with friends.  The service also waives all online fees for buying tickets so you can buy a ticket and go straight to the theater with no extra charges or hassle.  This is not a game changer by any means, but a nice step by a traditional movie theater company into the realm of social networking.  It will be interesting to see what AMC does with this in future and whether other movie companies will look to jump on board with similar sites.

These distributor social networks are a great way for these companies to maintain business while keeping up with social media trends.  With the amount of time people are spending on social networking sites, Apple and AMC have found a way to incorporate that into their business.  They have begun to further blur the line between social media and online stores.  For more on Apple’s Ping and AMC Stubs check out their official websites, http://www.apple.com/itunes/ping/ and https://www.amcstubs.com/.