The Social Media Playground Changes Customers' Expectations Of Brands

05/01/2010

Quick thoughts about social media on a drizzly afternoon. 

Second life playground  In a scant few years we've seen social toys change in popularity from My Space to Facebook from Pownce to Twitter. Recently Four Square and cool participation badges have made it onto the social media playground. 

Our customers are beginning to expect direct engagement with brands that go beyond interacting with the people behind the brands or playing games on social networks or solving customer service concerns. Our customers are assuming they can influence the direction of the brand through status updates, blog posts, comments, tweets, review sites .. and more.

What we call "marketing" is changing. However, social media is simply a conduit to that new direction. It is our customers who are leading the charge. A VIP of a F-100 company recently told me he thought of social as an new channel. That may be true, but sir, social media goes beyond that to impacting the way we will conduct 21st Century Business

The good news is that research confirms that social media positively impacts brand perception. What exciting opportunities are possible for organizations that smartly and strategically make those connections! 

Emarketer _attitudes of new media usersNo matter what the next cool social media toy, or as I like to think of as marketing tactic, may be .. one thing is certain ... companies that do not build social media into the DNA of their brands will miss powerful opportunities to build stronger emotional ties with their customers and stake holders. What's the ROI on that? Perhaps you might ask your competition. 

Inspired by a tweet with @tedrubin & thanks to @conversationage for the proofing help.

Sidebar update: Seems the post was streamed into the NYT Business Day Page via Blogrunner. Nyt bits 5_1_2010What's the ROI of that? 

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Comments

I know a rule of marketing is that you are supposed to be where your customers are, but sometimes you need to be there first in case your customers follow. If you do not engage in social media, you are not only losing out on building relationships with customers *today* but you also lose out on more potential customers because they couldn't find you.

Posted by: Elizabeth on May 4, 2010 2:20:35 PM

Cheers for the informative article - I enjoyed reading it! I always love reading this blog.

Posted by: gabriel phillips on May 5, 2010 3:10:55 AM

Interesting blog! I've written some articles on music marketing, whose objective is to share one's experiences.
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There are several online marketing strategies we can be used for our Internet marketing solutions.
Please feel free to check them out here: http://marketingcommunicationsblog.blogspot.com

Posted by: Marco on May 5, 2010 5:25:11 AM

Social Media allows the opportunities to build relationships between targeted customers who are valuable and also with unqualified customers who can eventually turn into customers(say prospective). But with the emerging use of SMM, marketers have to be aware that whatever applies to traditional market will also apply here, simply say strategies and ethics!

Posted by: Allen - Personal Brander on May 6, 2010 5:32:53 AM

Quite an informative article. Customers have become more aware of their role and their importance, that is why they interact with the people behind the brand directly on any social media platform. That is why companies are using this strategy to develop a stronger relationship with customers and working on their feedback. After all, customers are kings.

Posted by: Property on May 7, 2010 1:42:31 AM

Social media is the voice of the youth which complete the requirement of the customer in their way . They can select their brand with their interest.
Thanks for blog.

Posted by: innovative market strategies on May 10, 2010 7:35:21 AM

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