Social Media is the Future of Marketing
Posted on 18. Feb, 2010 in Social Media
Today I attended Thom Singer’s excellent seminar in Austin on personal branding and the benefits of networking, and I was reflecting upon how offline face-to-face networking is analogous to online social media.
Some of the high level points in Thom’s presentation reflect that…
- Decision-makers can no longer tell the difference between choices (applicants, vendors, etc) because each choice claims competence and looks alike. Consequently, decision makers go with what they like, know and trust.
- Saying you have no time for networking is essentially refusing quality business opportunities. “If you are not showing up in the business community, you are handing relationships to your competitors.”
- Relationships are the only effective defense against price-based competition – people will spend more on products and services from brands they trust.
- It takes 3-4 years to build a personal brand reputation – it’s a marathon rather than a sprint.
These points are true in the offline world, but they also apply for online presence:
- Your customers cannot tell the difference between you and your competitors. Social media gives you an opportunity to create a conversation that differentiates your business.
- Putting no effort into social media denies you one of the most cost effective marketing opportunities available. Customers will use competitors who are open to these channels.
- Social media builds an authentic, trust-based relationship that defends you from price competition, which is even more significant online.
- You won’t get immediate results from participating in social media, but will get substantial ROI in the long term.
Filtering out the noise
The reasons why relationships and friendship trees replace traditional ways of operating isn’t surprising: the sheer amount of noise we all face on a daily basis is practically insurmountable. Just as recruiters get swamped with thousands of resumes for a single job and have no meaningful way to separate applicants, marketers bombard us with messages constantly, screaming in a endless attempt to attract our attention. It’s no longer working, and as decision-makers ourselves we’ve become expertly trained at tuning out.
The power of networking among customers and vendors provides a new opportunity to replace blanket messages with targeted, meaningful and trusted content. It also enables us to accurately measure impressions and response rates of course, but more importantly we can receive honest feedback from our network about the quality of products and services, and use this to improve our offering.
As this movement towards each individual’s private network continues, the challenge to both individuals and brands becomes similar: how do we connect with the people who most reflect our values, and who would most champion our brands to their own network? As social media evolves, it will become the marketing platform to achieve this.
Thom Singer has several books on the subject of offline network-building and branding: