Breathes there a marketing person so out of touch with the current scene that he or she does not yearn to do a better job of social media marketing? I seriously doubt it.
In fact, it's safe to say there are only two kinds of advertisers in this day and age: those that are already involved with social media, and those that soon will be. Advertisers recognize that consumer attention has shifted to the social networks. Many advertisers have already put a toe in the social media water, and many more are testing to see what it's like and how it works.
There is a great deal to learn.
Dave Kerpen, chief buzz officer at theKbuzz, an innovative New York City word-of-mouth and social media marketing firm, says that advertisers "are discovering the power of social networks but in large part not using them well. In 2009, over 70 percent of Fortune 500 companies will attempt social marketing campaigns, and 50 percent of them will fail to achieve their goals."
While social networking still accounts for only a small part of the total online spend, it's already obvious that the social endorsements it provides are more powerful than plain impressions. But social media marketing is in many ways so unlike regular advertising that it's almost the opposite: The more you tout your product or service, the worse the impression you tend to make. In social media, it's common for less to be more.
That's why advertisers in social media must find the "sweet spot" between being too self-effacing and too aggressive.
Nick Gonzalez, marketing manager at socialmedia.com in San Francisco, an advertising campaign developer that provides simple and scalable word-of-mouth marketing for brands, encourages advertisers to consider this "sweet spot" to be the optimum point for their product, service, or campaign on the relatively conventional spectrum between reach and depth. "The extremes," he suggests, "might be text link campaigns versus social applications on Facebook, getting a link distributed massively versus a message shared among thousands."
To make social media marketing work for you, say the experts, aim in the middle.
According to Nancy Marmelejo, CEO of VivaVisibility, an online visibility and social media strategist based in Anaheim, Calif., "Advertisers are trying to understand what they can get out of social media marketing. It's not as overt as conventional advertising. There's a conversational aspect to it. By focusing not on the selling but on building a relationship, advertisers can build networks of followers. The trend [to do this] is definitely up."
And SM offers good potential for a wide variety of advertising campaigns. "Any marketing where you want to generate word of mouth or pass along information presents a good opportunity for social media marketing," says Gedioen Aloula, VP of marketing at socialmedia.com. "We think most consumer brands are good topics of conversation because, outside of price, a recommendation from a friend is a key driver of purchase intent for most things we consume. Social networks are a great platform to spread that message more efficiently across a friend network, and scales better, too."
For example, Zappos.com, the shoe company, has been using Twitter from the start. Tony Hsieh, the CEO, got hooked early on and encouraged everyone in his company to become a brand ambassador there. Marmelo calls this "the best example of encouraging social networking, using employee interactions as a form of marketing for the company." She adds, "You become fascinated watching their Totally Awesome Sandwich Board."
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