We have weathered the frenzied dot-com era and the imprecise digital age, and are now moving full steam ahead into the post-digital age. The humanizing effect of today’s social media platforms and the sociological shifts they have delivered are affording forward-thinking brands an unprecedented opportunity to dynamically assimilate and rapidly react to the diverse wants and needs of their vast base of stakeholders.
The democratizing power of social media has enabled mass engagement on an unprecedented level—bringing millions of people closer together, if virtually, by facilitating real-time access to countless communities built around shared ideas, interests, and activities. Accessing these very same communities, brands are gleaning invaluable insights that can help refine all aspects of their brand relationship—from product development, promotions and pricing practices to customer service delivery and supply chain management—all via a healthier, more immediate, and mutually beneficial exchange with consumers. It is indeed a brave new world in which ‘Our brand is bigger than mine.’
Yet enthusiasm for the possibilities must be tempered with a healthy dose of realism. Brands seeking BFF status with their buyers are frequently met with disappointment, as consumers don’t invite brands into their social circles for the same reasons they include people. It is important to acknowledge that brand-buyer relationships in the social channel are fundamentally different than interpersonal relationships between people, and planning for a brand’s social activity should take this into account. Those who are already doing it well understand: Conducting a brand’s social engagement is a highly nuanced endeavor, and one that must openly respect the emerging medium’s unique sensibilities.
Yes, now is an exciting time, and moving forward effectively demands that brand managers quickly adapt to a new zeitgeist, where ‘pulling in’ confederates with compelling content and conversations is quickly replacing yesterday’s more aggressively ‘pushed’ tactics. This requires thoughtful consideration of the impact a carefully integrated social media marketing strategy can have on the sum of your marketing investments and activities over time – paid, owned, and/or earned. A multi-dimensional approach effectively ensures the development of purpose-driven investments in the social space that can be appropriately mixed and phased as changes in the marketing environment dictate.
Over the past several years, there have been few media-mix strategy discussions that have not included “Twitter” or “Facebook” assumptions. As a result, businesses are feeling lots of pressure to just jump in and ask questions later. And most of them are doing just that. But if you ask most of them what the actual return on their Social Media Marketing investments have been—prepare to enter the spin zone.
A proper evaluation of the effectiveness of any social initiative must consider its impact across the broader landscape of a brand’s communications—paid (traditional advertising/CRM), owned (digital and physical assets), and earned (PR/outreach) media channels. Social “returns” are quite often realized in less-than-orthodox ways, and calculating these can prove challenging for some. Cross-channel strategic planning and oversight at the onset will ensure your social media marketing dollars are invested with a purpose, your programs are efficiently integrated, and the results properly evaluated in consideration of the sum (and ROI) of all your activities.
Whether you want to call it ‘Return on Conversation’ or (insert SM marketing-speak phrase-of-the-week here), the fact is you should better understand how, where, and why your content and conversation development efforts are driving commerce in meaningful ways. Forward thinking brand managers understand that sustainable micro-media and micro-marketing are more than a ‘new media’ to augment their existing media repertoire. They understand that the dawn of the Social Media era represents nothing less than a mandate for listening that will determine which brands survive the next decade—as mass media lumbers toward the point where the critical mass (audience size) that once supported their CPM demands is finally lost.
"Innumerable confusions and a profound feeling of despair invariably emerge in periods of great technological and cultural transitions. Our 'Age of Anxiety' is, in great part, the result of trying to do today's job with yesterday's tools—with yesterday's concepts."
–Marshall McLuhan, The Medium is the Message, 1966
