What Big Companies Don't Understand about Social Media
It seems that you can't spend more than a few minutes in marketing without someone telling you about how important social media is. While this is may be true, I can't help but feel that many people lack a proper understanding of how social media truly works. Large companies are the worst offenders.
Everybody knows that social media sites account for millions of visitors everyday. The benefit of this sizable audience to marketing is obviously clear. The problem, however, is that far too many people operate under what I call "The Magic Box Misconception". For far too many marketers, social media is a box where affiliate links go in one end and money comes out the other but they have no idea why.
I think a lot of this stems from recent history. For a very long time, a big company such as Pepsi or Universal was the sole provider of its intellectual property. TV shows, movies, commercials and even advertizing were closely guarded. This worked well in the past as everyone had to come to the sole provider if they wanted to enjoy the intellectual property.
The problem we face these days, however, is that this has bred an environment of rampant copyright issues. People are being sued for infringing on a large company's right to be the sole provider of their intellectual property. Videos are taken from YouTube, accounts are banned on Tumblr and Facebook pages are shut down. All of this is done in an effort to remain the only store on the block.
Social media goes against this model. No matter what site you may use, whether it's Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook or any other, the most important thing that happens is sharing. People share what others post. On Tumblr we see reblogging what someone else has posted as a fundamental part of the whole site. Facebook relies on its "Share" button to help spread the word to its users. Twitter allows us to retweet what others have said.
Becoming the sole provider of certain material is no longer very important to the life of the brand and, by default, the company as a whole. There is always a lot of talk about "going viral" and how that can be quite profitable. The truth is that you simply can not expect to go viral, or even have much of a brand presence in social media, without abandoning the sole provider model of marketing.
Let's look at Tumblr. When you post something you may get some likes but what you really want is reblogs. Reblogs are when someone reposts your material to their blog. This repost will also contain your information and your clickthrough links. This reblogged post is then seen by everyone who is following the user that reposted your material. Their followers subsequently reblog it again and the cycle continues.
Now, it may seem a bit obvious that sharing is what social media is really all about but there's more to it. Many large companies, and even individual marketers, make the mistake of using traditional marketing tactics on their target audience. These often fail and most people don't understand why. The truth is that they simply don't understand why social media works.
When you use social media sties to market something you need to take a different approach. People aren't as interested in a brand which comes off as The Great and Powerful Oz, they want something humanized. Interaction is the key to all social media and your brand and marketing efforts need to keep this in mind. You want the social media account to be a humanized representation of the brand which is on the same level as those you are trying to market to.
Large companies seem to have a need to create old fashioned, over blown and entirely too obvious marketing strategies and then assume that having 300,000 followers is going to make them money. While it may make them short term money, it really does nothing to build brand equity and a closer relationship with the targeted customers. Building a relationship with customers is what social media marketing should really be focused on.
I'm sure that most of us understand that people don't really like to be marketed at. They don't like to be sold on something. People want to decide for themselves. People will most often choose something which they feel represents and promotes the image and lifestyle they are trying to achieve. This is why a brand needs to identify with their targeted social market and interact with them as much as possible. It changes a brand from a soulless, unapproachable, multinational corporation to an almost human representation of everything people like and care about.
It seems that many people in the field of marketing are realizing that social media isn't quite the profit promised land they thought it was. It's tricky to get users to interact, it's hard to build brand strength and many seemingly easy solutions, such as buying followers, are actually worthless. Despite this, however, social media still has massive potential and it truly is the future of the internet. The problem isn't with the social media sites or the users, it's in the approach that too many marketers take.
When you try to promote a brand (even if that brand is more of a concept or a niche) you want it to be humanized. You want to interact with your followers and have them share the material you post. We need to move away from the sole provider model and ignore the multinational corporation concept of branding. Social media thrives on individuals, millions and millions of individuals, and this is how we should be considering social media marketing. People aren't going to flock to your brand simply because they love Coca Cola, they're going to share the material you post because it's relevant to them as an individual.
The key to success in social media is posting material which users will actually want to click on and share. It needs to speak to them on a more personal level and you simply must allow them to share it as many different ways as they want. With the right strategy you could, theoretically, post something with a link in it and then have it shared multiple times across many different websites all with the click of a button. This creates a bit of a symbiotic relationship with your target audience. You provide material which they want to share because it promotes their own image and you get free marketing and a greater presence for your brand in return.
Stop using social media like a marketer or a large corporation and start using it like a regular person, like a normal user, and you will begin to build a relationship with your target audience.
These are a few thoughts I've had recently and I wanted to share them. I'd love to hear what others have to say as well.
Thanks for reading!
Everybody knows that social media sites account for millions of visitors everyday. The benefit of this sizable audience to marketing is obviously clear. The problem, however, is that far too many people operate under what I call "The Magic Box Misconception". For far too many marketers, social media is a box where affiliate links go in one end and money comes out the other but they have no idea why.
I think a lot of this stems from recent history. For a very long time, a big company such as Pepsi or Universal was the sole provider of its intellectual property. TV shows, movies, commercials and even advertizing were closely guarded. This worked well in the past as everyone had to come to the sole provider if they wanted to enjoy the intellectual property.
The problem we face these days, however, is that this has bred an environment of rampant copyright issues. People are being sued for infringing on a large company's right to be the sole provider of their intellectual property. Videos are taken from YouTube, accounts are banned on Tumblr and Facebook pages are shut down. All of this is done in an effort to remain the only store on the block.
Social media goes against this model. No matter what site you may use, whether it's Tumblr, Twitter, Facebook or any other, the most important thing that happens is sharing. People share what others post. On Tumblr we see reblogging what someone else has posted as a fundamental part of the whole site. Facebook relies on its "Share" button to help spread the word to its users. Twitter allows us to retweet what others have said.
Becoming the sole provider of certain material is no longer very important to the life of the brand and, by default, the company as a whole. There is always a lot of talk about "going viral" and how that can be quite profitable. The truth is that you simply can not expect to go viral, or even have much of a brand presence in social media, without abandoning the sole provider model of marketing.
Let's look at Tumblr. When you post something you may get some likes but what you really want is reblogs. Reblogs are when someone reposts your material to their blog. This repost will also contain your information and your clickthrough links. This reblogged post is then seen by everyone who is following the user that reposted your material. Their followers subsequently reblog it again and the cycle continues.
Now, it may seem a bit obvious that sharing is what social media is really all about but there's more to it. Many large companies, and even individual marketers, make the mistake of using traditional marketing tactics on their target audience. These often fail and most people don't understand why. The truth is that they simply don't understand why social media works.
When you use social media sties to market something you need to take a different approach. People aren't as interested in a brand which comes off as The Great and Powerful Oz, they want something humanized. Interaction is the key to all social media and your brand and marketing efforts need to keep this in mind. You want the social media account to be a humanized representation of the brand which is on the same level as those you are trying to market to.
Large companies seem to have a need to create old fashioned, over blown and entirely too obvious marketing strategies and then assume that having 300,000 followers is going to make them money. While it may make them short term money, it really does nothing to build brand equity and a closer relationship with the targeted customers. Building a relationship with customers is what social media marketing should really be focused on.
I'm sure that most of us understand that people don't really like to be marketed at. They don't like to be sold on something. People want to decide for themselves. People will most often choose something which they feel represents and promotes the image and lifestyle they are trying to achieve. This is why a brand needs to identify with their targeted social market and interact with them as much as possible. It changes a brand from a soulless, unapproachable, multinational corporation to an almost human representation of everything people like and care about.
It seems that many people in the field of marketing are realizing that social media isn't quite the profit promised land they thought it was. It's tricky to get users to interact, it's hard to build brand strength and many seemingly easy solutions, such as buying followers, are actually worthless. Despite this, however, social media still has massive potential and it truly is the future of the internet. The problem isn't with the social media sites or the users, it's in the approach that too many marketers take.
When you try to promote a brand (even if that brand is more of a concept or a niche) you want it to be humanized. You want to interact with your followers and have them share the material you post. We need to move away from the sole provider model and ignore the multinational corporation concept of branding. Social media thrives on individuals, millions and millions of individuals, and this is how we should be considering social media marketing. People aren't going to flock to your brand simply because they love Coca Cola, they're going to share the material you post because it's relevant to them as an individual.
The key to success in social media is posting material which users will actually want to click on and share. It needs to speak to them on a more personal level and you simply must allow them to share it as many different ways as they want. With the right strategy you could, theoretically, post something with a link in it and then have it shared multiple times across many different websites all with the click of a button. This creates a bit of a symbiotic relationship with your target audience. You provide material which they want to share because it promotes their own image and you get free marketing and a greater presence for your brand in return.
Stop using social media like a marketer or a large corporation and start using it like a regular person, like a normal user, and you will begin to build a relationship with your target audience.
These are a few thoughts I've had recently and I wanted to share them. I'd love to hear what others have to say as well.
Thanks for reading!
Dangerously Effective
Always Discreet
"If there is no door, it becomes necessary to break out through the wall."
Dangerously Effective
Always Discreet