Social media allows consumers to control conversations online through user-generated content and social interactions. It has become a fundamental shift in how people communicate as half of active online users read blogs and 750 million people use Facebook daily. While traditional advertising controls messages, social media requires listening to consumers and engaging in transparent, honest dialogue rather than self-promotion.
1. W hy Should
I Car e
About
Social
M edia?
Dustin Floyd
TDG Communications
2. Social Media
Mashups Blogging
Social Networking
Folksonomy
Web 2.0
Tag Clouds Social Engagement
Rich Content
Viral Marketing
User-Generated Content
Podcasting
Livecasting Conversion Rates
Vlogging
News Aggregation
Microblogging Social Bookmarking
Memes
Wikis
Photo Sharing
Semantic Web
Social Web
Social Media Customer Engagement
Social Shopping
Blogosphere Social Graph
Santa with Chesterfields comes up after print ads.
And that’s exactly what it was: broadcasting. One-way communication. Here’s our message, here’s our products, and if you want to watch your favorite sitcom, you’re going to listen to us, darn it!
How many of you like listening to TV and radio commercials? I mean, truly enjoy it? How many of you know someone who talks too much. What’s it like to be friends with someone who never listens? Usually you’re not friends very long.
Social media isn’t that fancy. Conversations are powered by sites: Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, etc.
No other choice. One or the other.
How?
Remember we discussed when brands really took off? Two things: industry and mass media. Mass media made it possible to broadcast a message to thousands – millions of people.
And that’s exactly what it was: broadcasting. One-way communication. Here’s our message, here’s our products, and if you want to watch your favorite sitcom, you’re going to listen to us, darn it!
It can’t be controlled like traditional mass media. You can participate or ignore: those are your only options. One other cool thing about social media. Who are marketers targeting these days? Who’s got the money? What’s the largest demographic group?
Baby boomers. They’re pretty affluent, and they’re numerous. And their parents are dying, typically leaving them with even more wealth. No wonder marketers want them. But it’s not going to stay that way.
By 2010, these guys will outnumber baby boomers. Young people. Or, if you’re a marketer, you know them as Gen Yers or Millennials. And how do you reach them? Social media. BTW, baby boomers are flocking to social media, too. Fastest-growing group at the moment, in fact.
So how do you start to make that emotional connection?