Social Media Marketing (SSM) is the big thing right now and companies are recruiting social media managers and community managers like their very survival depended on it.
The problem is that people have yet to “get” it. SMM is just one of the many channels in marketing, and each one of these channels does have a point of diminishing return. SSM strength lies in having conversation with your client base.
If all you want to to is converse with your customers to understand how your product is performing or to understand consumer behavior, then SMM is a great way of doing this. Otherwise, you need to have another engagement plan if your primary goal is sales or business leads.
Here are some thoughts on infiltration and intelligence gathering from the master strategist, Sun Tzu:
With advance information, costly mistakes can be avoided, destruction averted, and the way to lasting victory made clear. Subtly, very subtly, do not neglect the use of intelligence.
The five types of spies:
Wise rulers and capable commanders win because they have advance information abut the enemy.
1. Local intelligence uses natives to show the way
2. Inside intelligence uses officials in the enemy court
3. Counterintelligence uses bought-out enemy spies
4. Deadly Intelligence working to deceive outwardly and knowingly directs the spy to pass deceitful information to the enemy
5. Secure intelligence spy is one who returns safely to make a report to the king.
When all five types of intelligence occur together and none know what method’s being used, then this is called the divine intelligence, a valuable asset to any ruler.
None is more trustworthy than the intelligence force. None should be better rewarded than the spies and those who can work in great secrecy. Intelligence cannot be employed without enlightenment and intuition nor can it be used without humanity and generosity. The work of intelligence cannot succeed without subtlety and ingenuity. Therefore, the use of intelligence must not be neglected.
SMM is efficient only if all you wish to do is engage in light interaction and gather information about your firm, products, services and reputation. You cant just use SMM as an out-of-the-box tool.
Small companies can use SMM with relatively low cost as described in Groundswell by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. There are however, certain costs and commitments necessary for executing SSM.
One big problem with SMM is that it is NOT scalable. For mass message distribution, TV is still king, though online banners does have the ability to deliver to niche demographics and psychographics. Seeding SSM takes time and can be expensive depending how fast your want your community to grow. furthermore, the audience that may be willing to be a part of such a community is small, unless you bribe them and that might not be the best way to do it.
SSM is scalable and efficient in only starting a conversation with a brand audience for those who are willing. Treat this audience as your scouts/recon party they can provide good information. They are not your main army group and will not drive new markets expansion strategies or new product development. They will provide your market research team some great insights into their behavior, their purchasing rationale, their expectations and usage.
I think that without a doubt social media is changing the landscape for advertisers. Twitter, facebook, blogs, video, etc is a way to speak to consumers and not just at them.
I have tried social media marketing for increasing awareness of new products. It works well especially if the audience is targeted on the right social networks, content sharing sites and blogs. It’s a great medium for semi-instant feedback. Thanks for the Sun Tzu mix – it made this read fun.
Thanks Lauren. I agree – social media is a micro-targeted effort and should be carried out with specific objectives in mind. Awareness is one key objective – another key one is feedback. A third could be branding.