A few years ago the sh
ift to Internet media viewing was spoken of in terms of “lean forward” vs. “sit back.” This was exemplified by the way we view media on the Web (searching, choosing, interacting) vs. television (grab a bag of chips and turn it on!).
Nowadays (some 4 years later!) we speak of the shift from “one-to-many” communication (TV, radio, newspapers) to “many-to-many” (Twitter, Facebook, Wikipedia, YouTube, etc.). Every day more and more marketers are rushing to hop on the social media marketing bandwagon: building YouTube channels and creating Facebook fan pages and Twitter profiles.
Today it’s imperative that both marketers and content providers (TV, radio, newspapers) address their audiences’ shifting behavior and preferences. This is accomplished by offering content that is meaningful to those audiences. Don’t do this and you risk losing those audiences. We are in a period of rapid behavior change. The old rules of thumb now are counted on six fingers, and many marketers have legitimate concerns about influencing behavior that they don’t fully grasp.
Not sure what to do? Here’s my advice:
Don’t let fear of the unknown make you lose sight of the knowledge and experience that you do have. Before you jump to working with a new hot shot company that promises to give your brand a big following on Twitter, focus on what you know about your market, your brands and your budgets, and deepen that knowledge. What is your marketing strategy? (hint: it shouldn’t be, “Competitor X has a Facebook site, so I need one.”) Does a social media tactic fit for your market? I suggest you look at how other companies are addressing social media. Here’s a great example.
The lesson: bring the same care and attention to your social media marketing planning that you do to your traditional marketing. Don’t fear it, but don’t overdo it either.
Tags: many-to-many market strategies, marketing planning, marketing strategy, one-to-many, social media, social media marketing, social networking, twitter, YouTube
