I was doing my usual catch up on blogs over the weekend and I was amazed at how many social media commentators rarely mentioned any other marketing channel (e.g. TV, radio, DM, email etc) – and when they did it felt just a tad snooty.
Admit it, we’ve all done it to some extent or another.
But now we’ve got a good few years of working in social media under our belts, do we still think social media is the be-all and end-all?
Having previously worked in traditional marketing for a long time, specifically direct marketing and CRM, I have found that this experience is invaluable in my social media work now.
The fact is that social media might be only one answer to an overall marketing challenge to reach and engage with audiences to build sales, awareness, data, customer loyalty etc. But it is likely to sit alongside other media channels.
And this is my argument: a thorough understanding of other channels and where social media fits in to the overall marketing strategy is vital to achieve business objectives.
Increasingly social media IS the strategy – it works perfectly on its own. Sometimes it leads strategies and other times it will support strategies. Some argue traditional media still has a key role to play.
Or does it? What do you think?
Can social media work on its own?
November 25, 2009 @ 11:30 am
You’re right – we do all get a bit myopic when it comes to social media marketing.
There is one good case for using social media on it’s own though – cost !
SME’s can’t afford TV and large scale DM – social media marketing can largely be a DIY channel, so gives the best ROI.
Although there isn’t that excuse for the other ‘digital’ channels (e.g email, natural search) I’ll admit.
November 26, 2009 @ 7:09 pm
I agree absolutely that having a background in traditional marketing is of great value in navigating the social media ocean. I’m so grateful for having had a fab grounding in traditional PR and corporate comms for what seems a scary amount of years – mash that up with the last 6 years in digital marketing and I feel pretty at home in the world of the online pr and social media landscape.
As to the question of ” can social media work on its own?” … the short answer is: I’m not sure. Nope its not a cop out answer! honest.. And No I’m not being a lazy thinker.
Ultimately it all depends on the brand, the size of company , the target audience and the marcomms objectives;
So for example a ‘challenger brand” aimed at students might rely heavily on aspects of SM strategy and tactics to kick start WOM in order to get much needed credibility within a very demanding ‘student’ audience. Or an SME might open up a twitter feed and facebook fan page to show off and start sharing its favourable customer feedback; smart thinking & cost effective thinking if you are a small company with a teeny budget.
However, like any other form of marketing, especially one reliant on the oxygen of content and conversation, Social Media probably really does need regular shots of other forms of marcomms activity, radio, pr,advertising, outdoor, dm and networking and so on if you want to keep the conversations bubbling beautifully.
December 2, 2009 @ 4:29 pm
On-line and off-line pr are the yin-yang of the marketing world. Of course on-line pr is proving a cost effective edition to marketing campaigns. But as with most marketing campaigns it must work together to provide a coherent strategy.
Consumers aren’t only influenced by the internet because consumers won’t be at the computer 24/7. This means marketing campaigns must talk to the consumer in a variety of media.
How many times have you googled something when you’ve seen it on the TV or a bill board?