Marketing is to Social Media...

What would happen if we stopped talking about social media as if it were the equivalent of a savings account for your marketing messaging? There are many differences between the dynamics you expect with an ad and those of social media.

Companies may be finding social media applications are useful marketing tools, but are people finding companies on those applications welcome? Chances are they aren't if the mindset is the usual top down, talk at you, push and pull.

Recessions, which are part of the economic engine, tend to bring forth the thrifty in us. Yet, they are the perfect time to take risks, get creative, and invest in the long term health of your business.

One of the clear outcomes from last week's BRITE round tables was that marketers are looking for help. The traditional programs are too expensive and work less and less for fewer and fewer people. Many are thinking about social media in the same ways as they are used to thinking about advertising. Now is the time to get expansive, to think big picture, to change the game.

This means a shift in attitude and a different work plan:

• Talking and writing from the point of view of the customer - not how many "x" you have, but what it means to them
• Telling a story - not a collection of scattered data points that they will have to put together
• Coming out from behind the walls to be yourself - not technical speak or legalese
• Investing the time and attention in learning about what customers want - much more than research, focus groups, etc. real conversations
• Becoming more inquisitive about what your colleagues across the organization see and do - I'm hearing internal alignment often these days
• Approaching every single day and interaction as if it were the defining moment of your business - in many ways, it is

Many recommend a list of to do's like creating a MySpace page, creating a blog, sharing photographs, adding social bookmarking tools to your web site.

It's more about doing things differently and learning about the results than talking about results and doing the same usual things with different tools. You are welcome to complete the title with me: marketing is to social media...

Comments

[David Tillinger]

I can't come up with a witty way to complete your sentence, but I do agree with your point. Social media is a great way for companies to get the word out to a different audience than the one traditional advertising is reaching.

It is interesting to note that the article refers to the businesses trying to conform to social media in lieu of just throwing money at it and trying to use traditional marketing methods. As you note, the more that these companies take advantage of the unique opportunities offered by social media, the better off they can be.

[Joanna Young]

I can't complete the sentence either, too early in the morning, but I do agree with your points. It's the shift in mindset that's key.

One of the biggest challenges I guess though is the time factor - that working through social media can generate phenomenal rewards in the long term... but probably not so much in the way of obvious, tangible benefits in the short term

I know this is something you've covered before in terms of different metrics people can and should use, but maybe a different perspective towards time or immediacy of results needs to go on the list of mind-set shifts.

Joanna

[Valeria Maltoni]

@David -- I think the way the phrase goes is fluid. It may mean different things to different people. The other point that I would think about in the article is that social media is changing constantly. Blogging, for example, was different to what it is today years ago. That is good, there is opportunity to find a fit that matches a company's culture.

@Joanna -- yes, the gratification has become instant even with a lot of other traditional marketing programs. For example, I am getting more resistance to building an integrated PR program. Too long to wait. As we say back at hoe, Rome was not built in a day, but it sure got taken down quickly.

[David Tillinger]

Finding the fit is key for me. As a corporate blog, you can not always push the envelope in a way that an independent blog can. I find myself balancing my opinions and thoughts with the reality that I am part of a sales website.

Your second comment falls in with what you discussed in today's article about facebook and dating sites. Adapting to change is one of the biggest challenges facing marketers today. Popular culture can be very fickle and changes rapidly. As someone just learning these things, I'm still finding myself having to adapt on the fly as I form impressions and then find out they were not correct.

[Valeria Maltoni]

You are going to the heart of it - the stilted and unnatural language we find on many corporate sites today does the opposite of what it was created to do. It was meant to build a bridge and start a marketing conversation. Yet no human would speak that way. In the haste to sound professional, it sounds devoid of human voice.

Marketers should be driving change, not merely adapt to it!

[David Tillinger]

You've hit on a major problem of many corporate blogs and corporate websites in general. They are so concerned with presenting a certain image that they forget that the purpose of social media is to bring a more human face to the company, not just to make the company more visible.