Social Media - The Dawn Of A New Marketing Era

If you have been paying any attention to the marketing trends in the last decade, you may have heard the term 'social media' thrown around. Social media describes the revolution towards media being communicated via social interaction through the employment of digital technologies. It is essentially what the internet is about.

Social media is possibly the scariest development in the marketing world. Why, you ask?

It hands the power back to the consumer. Social media enables and even encourages the consumer to have a say. Consumers can now say what they want, when they want and if they don't like you, they can bring you down. If Jeff Jarvis the blogger can bring Dell, the largest online computer retailer, to its knees for shoddy customer service, imagine the effect he could have on smaller businesses!

Now don't fret. This doesn't mean that you stay away from social media. In fact, we highly advise against sticking your head in the sand.

Social media isn't a fad like bell-bottom jeans or Tamagotchis that you can avoid until it's over. There is no end to it. Far from that, you need to listen to it, follow some discreet rules, and embrace it. The old age philosophy truly applies here: "If you can't beat 'em, join 'em".

Joining The Social Media Revolution

When planning any traditional media campaign, marketers spend hours carefully planning down to the minute detail for the perfect execution. However, many marketers often ignore social media, for various reasons. Usually, it's because they feel that there's no point as they have limited control, but that's just silly. Logic dictates that that is grounds for even more excruciating planning and execution.

To start off, it's important to listen and get a feel for what is out there. Find out what everyone is saying about your company and your industry, whether they are customers or not. Check out blogs, Twitter, YouTube and forums such as Vogue.

Also find out what social media is available that may be suitable for your use. Most consumers do not take it kindly when businesses infiltrate their social media for propaganda purposes, so if that is your mission, cease and desist at once. You can have a MySpace page or a fan page on Facebook, but beware of creating insincere hype about your product, by pretending to be something that you're not.

Finally, decide on a social media marketing strategy and implement it. There's lots of stuff out there that can help you with this, but just remember that not everything is suitable. It really makes little sense for a business-to-business company to have its own Facebook profile. Stick to what meshes well with your product and your brand.

Once you know what you want to do, and are actually doing it, go back to the beginning - continue to keep track of what people are saying. While you can't do much about biased slander, you can do something about genuine problems consumers may have. Don't become another Dell and ignore the problems. However, if it is only biased slander, there isn't much you can do. But don't worry too much - if your consumers like you and your service, they'll watch your back.

To find out even more about social media or to get advice on your social media strategies, contact us. You can also download our eBook or register for a free online analysis report.