(As published in Tempo magazine, April 2012) By Ian Mason
I like to think of myself as a modern guy. But when it comes to marketing, I have arrived at the awful realisation that I am decidedly pre-historic.
As a marketing professional, this equates to disaster. I was like the proverbial ostrich with its head in the sand, naively thinking the phenomenon that is social media was a passing fad – if I stayed buried long enough, it would pass over and we’d return to the traditional mainstream media I am so familiar with.
Doh!
Opportunity lost
Now I am pedalling harder than the Tour de France cyclists to catch up, but I am not sure I ever will. I know a wall from a tweet, a connection from a twinkle, but even these are almost archaic now as even newer technologies develop.
My slowness to catch on is like bypassing a whole generation. No longer can marketers simply talk in terms of television, newspapers, magazines and radio. Social media should now be a part of most marketing campaigns, for good reasons. It is cheap, it is targeted, it is measurable – everything a marketing manager wants.
Twitter vs LinkedIn
I am a user of Facebook – though not a good one – but I don’t use Twitter. My social life is my own and I don’t want to share every aspect of my day. However, I accept that Twitter is an influential marketing tool and the clever use of tweets, re-tweets and hash-tags can be a potent communicator if harnessed correctly.
I have, however, emerged from the sandpit for long enough to become a convert to LinkedIn, and not just in terms of building contacts for future employment (don’t tell the boss). LinkedIn is also a business development tool. People who accept connection requests – or ask to be connected – understand the nature of LinkedIn so using your contacts as business leads is fair game, as long it doesn’t become pestering. That’s not the spirit of the game.
New twist to an old concept
The key to unlocking the clout of social media is in the words. Social. Media. Or, in simpler terms, broadcasting messages to friends, and friends of friends, and friends of friends’ friends, and so on. Engaging with the community is exactly like the old-fashioned ‘word-of-mouth’, it just uses a computer screen and keyboard.
Therefore the power of social media lies in being social. Many marketers boast that the number of ‘Likes’ on Facebook indicates their company’s popularity. While this certainly helps in marketing terms, it is also very similar to the old ‘hits’ measurement on a website – a quantitative methodology, not a qualitative one. It adds up to numbers but it does not indicate the depth of engagement.
Be active, not passive
Marketers need to connect with their social communities on a regular basis with offers, competitions, information, handy tips and all sorts of things that develop a relationship with the user. It’s so much more than just accepting their click on the ‘Like’ button.
Savvy marketers know they need to keep up with the latest trends. Perhaps a Tamakkan workshop on social media is one way to keep ahead of the game.
In the meantime, I’ll just keep pedalling. Hard.
