Thursday, April 26, 2012

Help my sister by answering some social media questions

My little sister is in an organizational communications program and is currently working on a project to find how corporations are using social media both within their organizations and to market themselves to the greater public. She reached out to me to help her get some operational insight to companies using social media as part of their marketing/advertising strategy.

I'd really appreciate it if you would help her out by answering these questions in the comments.

Thanks so much, and please share with your networks.

  1. How does this type of marketing better a business or the marketing plan?

  2. How do you explain to a client that social media platforms are the best marketing for their business or product?

  3. Why advertise using social media? What is the benefit?

  4. Do you find that a certain age group or culture is influenced more? Who do you gear the advertising to?

  5. Do some of the companies exclusivly use social media?

  6. Do you have studies or test that give you information about who you are marketing to?


 

1 comment:

Bryan Reynolds said...

How does this type of marketing better a business or the marketing plan?
This type of marketing allows an organization to tell their story, not just advertise. People love the organizations they shop at, donate money to, etc. If that organization can interact with their consumers, it only lends to build that relationship and keep the consumer coming back for more. A TV commercial comes on, and a few people actually watch it, even fewer actually remember it, but if an organization responds personally to a tweet or FB post, that consumer feels a strong connection. 

How do you explain to a client that social media platforms are the best marketing for their business or product? 

It would simply need to be explained that the consumers are already there. If the organization refuses to enter the space, it will not stop the consumers from talking about the organization in those spaces, it simply means the organization will not be involved in the conversation. Being absent from social media is conspicuous in today's world, and the client needs to know that their consumers have already noticed their absence. 

Social media takes the idea of mass customization out of manufacturing and applies the concept to marketing and communication. Every follower on Twitter can get a personalized response (time permitting) if they need it. That one on one conversation is powerful, and the client likely has no other way to create that experience. A phone center is nice, but they are extremely expensive, and answering a question over the phone can take 10-15 minutes. On Twitter or FB, it can be answered in one line. 

Why advertise using social media? What is the benefit? 
It can't be said enough. The benefit is in the conversation. The consumer can reach out to the organization, giving the org. insight they may never have had access to in a standard consumer / org relationship. The personal connection to the consumer is incredible. There are benefits from that conversation, but there is also the avoiding of being labeled an organization that is not involved in social. You have to expect that orgs not involved in social are going to get left behind. 

Do you find that a certain age group or culture is influenced more? Who do you gear the advertising to? 

This all depends on the type of organization. Gap is going to have a different age group than say, Defending the Blue Line (the org I work for). In general, I think Facebook has become omnipresent, and across age groups. I don't have the stats to prove that (I bet Nathan does), but older people are flocking to FB. Twitter is likely a younger, more social savvy group. The rest of social really depends on the mission of the org, and if Pinterest, Youtube, etc fits with the brand and what they are hoping to accomplish. 

Advertising has to be geared toward one of two groups. Either your core consumer base, or toward new consumer bases. This doesn't change from traditional marketing.

Do some of the companies exclusivly use social media? 

I cannot come up with any off the top of my head, but DTBL is pretty close. We have one TV commercial that runs on the NHL network and some of the Wild games on FSN, but that was donated to us. The only other marketing we do is social.

Do you have studies or test that give you information about who you are marketing to? 
The "insights" page on FB can give you a start, though some of the information is a bit misleading. The data on Google Analytics is also helpful, when taken in context. DTBL has a pretty set consumer base (military and hockey), so going into detailed studies sin't overly necessary. However, I would have to assume big organizations like Target or the Red Cross have detailed info in their CRM process to be able to tell them who their customers are and then use that to tailor marketing to them.