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Are you ready for Social Media?

ready for social mediaRight before our eyes, the landscape of marketing is changing. It is not so much that the principals of marketing are changing but the methods of reaching the market (Meredith, 2010). This change is not local or regional, but global. All across the world communications are advancing and technology is presenting new venues on which to seek customers. The audience is no longer captured solely by a television, cable, or magazine ad. The new customer can be found only with a new medium – social media on the Internet.

The Internet has spawned many new interactive channels that complicate the process of reaching potential customers. Leading social sites such as Facebook, Twitter, My Space, Blogger and You Tube are capturing increasing numbers of viewers – exponentially and at break-neck speed. Social networks have introduced a couple of new, interesting dynamics that will impact how businesses reach customers.

  • Social media is live. There is no lag time between initiating a campaign and releasing it. The viewer’s reaction, feedback, and response can be immediate and unforgiving.
  • Social media is two-way communication. The notion that company’s can push information to the customer is coming to an end. In order for today’s marketing campaigns to reach their customers they must engage them in a meaningful conversation and allow them to share their voice (Anonymous, EContent, 2010).
  • Customer’s now have a voice – a say in what they want, how they want it, where they want to get it, and when. Word can spread very quickly between consumers and from the consumer to the company (Meredith, 2010).
  • Control. The customer is now in the driver’s seat and can influence company products and decisions, changing the shape of marketing messages. In social marketing the company no longer has control of the message they want shared with consumers (Meredith, 2010).

It is easy to fall into the trap of counting views or followers to gauge success. The real numbers will come from measuring how many buying influences your social campaign initiated or how many customer service issues were resolved as the result of social networking (Vancil, 2010). The challenge for the future will be to discard everything we have learned about reaching mass markets and turn the new focus to one-to-one social relationships (Gillin, 2010).

Anonymous, . Engage [review of the hardcover book Engage written by Brian Solis].(2010, May). EContent, 33(4), 16. Retrieved May 29, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2037037721).

Gillin, P.. (2010, April). Putting the ‘social’ in social media. B to B, 95(4), 34. Retrieved May 29, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2017006481).

Meredith, B.. (2010, May). Making sense of marketing chaos. NZ Business, 24(4), 71. Retrieved May 29, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Trade & Industry. (Document ID: 2030688661).

Vancil, R.. (2010, April). Social media making its mark on marketing. B to B, 95(4), 34. Retrieved May 29, 2010, from ABI/INFORM Global. (Document ID: 2017006461).

Posted in Social Networks.

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4 Responses

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  1. Christinia Bokanovich says

    This is really interesting. Thanks for posting it. By the looks of the comments, many others think so too.

  2. rapidshare search says

    So helpful and so useful post Are you ready for Social Media? . Thanks for such informative post. Good job.

    [WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.

  3. Lenora Ambagis says

    I don’t always agree with your posts, but this was dead on, way to go!

    [WORDPRESS HASHCASH] The poster sent us ‘0 which is not a hashcash value.

  4. BioBasics says

    Hey, very nice site. I came across this on Google, and I am stoked that I did. I will definately be coming back here more often. Wish I could add to the info and bring a bit more to the table, but am just absorbing as much info as I can at the moment.



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