Setelah model bisnis Freemium dan Afiliasi, ada tiga lagi model bisnis startup sosial media mendapatkan uang. Bagian pertama dari tulisan ini bisa dilihat di sini.
3. Model Berlangganan (Subscribtion)
Model bisnis ini mengharuskan penggunanya untuk membayar Fee berlangganan. Dengan periode bulanan atau tahunan untuk mengakses produk mereka. Contoh dari startup sosial media yang memberlakukan ini adalah: Netlix, Label 2.0 dan Scoorage Strategy
Sebuah wawancara dengan Label 2.0, sebuah sekolah marketing untuk para musisi yang menjual layanannya dengan fee bulanan. Layanannya meliputi tools yang mengajarkan para musisi untuk meningkatkan karir dan membimbing mereka masuk ke dalam industri musik.
1. Why did you decide to use a subscription based model over a one-off sales model?
When Eric [Hebert] and I decided to work together I was actually presenting him with an offer to promote a product that I had created and he was working on something similar. Instead of offering a one-off sale for both products and fighting for the same niche (our sites have nearly identical target audience and traffic). We decided that coming together and creating a long term relationship with the people we were helping would be better for our business in the long run. We have enough content and features that every month will be an exciting new journey. The business model was pretty simple. We took the features that we liked the best and least from popular internet marketing strategies for membership sites, continuity programs, etc as well as different ways to run the membership software and found what was going to be the easiest for us to use and easiest for our members to digest
2. How did you prepare to have a successful launch to your service?
Luckily Eric and I had been building up trust and a user base for years through our blogs, Twitter, live speaking events and client work. We have both worked on high profile projects and that helped us secure a great position in the market. We both posted teaser blog posts and within a few days we had over a 100 musicians testing it out and providing feedback for our public launch. We expect 300-500 paying members within the first 2 weeks.
3. What are your price-points and how are you maintaining a personal touch with your subscribers?
Our pricing model is high for the industry we are in and we know that. At around $50 a month and $400 a year we have priced ourselves to only work with those that really want to see an impact in their careers. If you look at the bigger picture and see that for consulting we typically charge $100 an hour, you are getting a great deal, but losing that one-on-one feeling. That is why we are having bi-monthly conference calls, webinars, walk-throughs, Q&A’s and really doing our best to ensure that every musician gets their bang for their buck.
4. What are the biggest obstacles in the subscription-based model?
1. Price – Musicians are used to free. MySpace is free, YouTube is free, there is free information everywhere and musicians would rather spend $500 on a new guitar pedal than invest $50 into something that can find them hundreds of fans with which they can begin to make a living on.
2. Stereotypes – Musicians do not think of themselves as marketers. They feel like that is what a manager, record label or promoter is supposed to do. We are helping them turn that stereotype upside down by teaching them how to market themselves to create better relationships with their fans which is going to help their business in the long haul.
3. Monthly membership sites have a high attrition arate – The reason is after their 1st or second time they login, they forget about it and never come back. We are doing everything that we can to ensure that there is always something going on, from new lessons to trainings to calls and webinars to activity in the forums to leveraging the community to make everyone stronger.
4. Virtual Goods
Model ini mengharuskan penggunanya untuk membayar sejumlah uang untuk membeli "senjata", Upgrade, poin, Gift dan lain sebagainya yang digunakan untuk website atau game.
Contoh dari model ini adalah: Aclaim Games, Facebook Gifts, Meez, Weeworlds
Intinya sih, mereka menyediakan Virtual Goods dalam berbagai skala dan ukuran. Yang memungkinkan kita untuk menggunakannya.
5. Advertising model
Model ini tentu saja menggunakan iklan sebagai senjatanya. Mereka menjual iklan berdasar dari trafik yang mereka miliki. Biasanya, mereka menggunakan batasan demografi tertentu seperti lokasi, umur, jenis kelamin, interest dan lain-lain. Sehingga, semakin tinggi trafik semakin besar pula potensi pendapatan yang dimiliki oleh model startup social media ini.
Bahkan untuk kasus tertentu mereka bisa memberikan space iklan berdasar batasan demografi tertentu tadi. Sehingga, dari bank data yang mereka punya, efektifitas iklan yang dipasang juga akan berdampak positif bagai advertiser.
Contoh nyata dari model ini adalah Yahoo!, MySpace dan TweetLatter
Walaupun para blogger yang menjadi publisher adsense atau afiliasi tertentu juga menggunakan cara ini (yakni membuat blog dengan niche tertentu), namun keberadaannya tidak masuk dalam kategori ini. Karena status startup social media yang berbeda dengan blogger.
Berikut petikan wawancara Jun Loayza dengan Dewald Pretorius dari TweetLatter yang memiliki pengunjung unik yang memungkinkan visitor melakukan bid atau tawaran lelang agar bisa menjadi sponsorship di situsnya.
1. Is TweetLater profitable?
Yes, absolutely! I run my business with very low overhead costs, and TweetLater has been profitable since the very start when I monetized it in February 2009.
2. How long did it take TweetLater to implement a business model?
I started TweetLater in April 2008, and ran it as a completely free service until February 2009. That period allowed me to build a solid user base, which was very willing and keen to dive into the paid side when I released it. Personally I think some people are too anxious to start making money immediately and underestimate the value of being patient and first building a reputation and user base.
3. How long did it take to get your first customer?
After I announced TweetLater Professional? If I remember correctly, it was about 10 minutes after I made the announcement that I got the first subscription. I might be wrong. It could have been 5 minutes.
4. How many users do you have right now?
TweetLater has around 71,000 users, and is steadily growing by around 600 users every day, seven days a week.
5. What are the bigggest obstacles that TweetLater has for getting members to pay?
It is never easy to monetize something that sits on top of a free service. I have done that successfully, and logically it is because folks feel they get real value for their money. Maintaining and increasing the value proposition is one of the things I think of every single day. I believe that giving people a free trial of TweetLater Professional has contributed to its success. People can test-drive it with no commitments and no catches before deciding whether it is the right service for them. I believe it demonstrates respect for the users, as well as confidence in the value that the service provides.
Kesimpulan
Dari beberapa model yang telah kami sebut di atas, secara umum kesimpulannya sederhana. Jika kita ingin memulai sebuah startup untuk menentukan dari awal arah bisnisnya seperti apa. Jika memang ingin menghasilkan uang sedari awal, cobalah untuk melakukan riset terhadap produk yang kita publikasikan. Tentukan modelnya, hasilkan uangnya.
Oleh karenanya, sudut pandang bisnis yang menyatakan bahwa kita harus mulai dari awal harus memiliki model bisnis dan perencanaan tertentu. Tidak sekadar ada ide lalu take action. Tapi, ada ide, lakukan riset, lalu tentukan model yang bagaimana yang kita gunakan untuk mendapatkan uang.
Jadi, kalau sekadar membuat sosial media tapi tanpa ada hitung-hitungan bagaimana cara mendapatkan uang, berarti anda benar-benar membuat sebuah pekerjaan sosial untuk membanntu banyak orang. Mungkin akan menghasilkan uang suatu saat nanti, tapi pekerjaan ini tentu tidaklah mudah.
Sumur: Mashable
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