Social Media Marketing (My Shoes Made Me Write This)
Posted by Trey Ho | November 18, 2009
Social media marketing is such a broad term, yet most marketers are so quick to stereotype it with an association to Twitter, Facebook, and other social networks of the like. Broadly speaking, I tend to look at social media marketing as the closest thing we’ll get to the modernization of the oldest (and still the most successful) form of advertising, that is, word of mouth. For example, Yelp relies on real people to share unsolicited recommendations on almost everything under the sun. Therefore, the age-old act of somebody recommending a restaurant to a friend is a primitive microcosm of Yelp’s service, or should I say, Yelp’s service is simply the modern day (technology-powered) macrocosm of that same act.
Unfortunately, it’s too late for some brands to unlearn what they already know about social media. Most campaigns tend to take an existing brand and plug it (sometimes force-fit it) into a ready platform such as Twitter, Facebook, or Yelp. I’m not suggesting that there are no smart ways to activate on these websites but often times, this plug-and-play strategy is executed in a way that’s no different than buying online banner placements on high-traffic websites. These websites just happen to be social networks.
Social media has the potential to do so much more. It presents a unique opportunity for brands to develop marketing programs from the ground up. Meaning, instead of being an afterthought, social media has the ability to be a key aspect of the product development process, resulting in a great product that’s innately capable of social interaction. Meaning, social environments, whether it be Facebook, Twitter, or brand owned, should work naturally with a product’s functions. T-Mobile’s Sidekick does this with built-in social apps that are custom to the device and Blackberry does it with Blackberry Messaging (or BBM) that’s an exclusive service for Blackberry users around the world. Communication devices are certainly an obvious application but it’s when we apply social media to less “social” products that it gets innovative.
A prime example is Nike+, which is a truly (buzzword alert!) holistic program with social media at its core. Nike+ does a tremendous job at combining brand awareness, product innovation, and an extremely engaged online community, all working towards the sales of the Nike+ line of products and as a result, we have ROI at its finest. Buy the gear, track your runs, challenge yourself, challenge your friends, or challenge the world. Get motivated, get running tips, find new trails, make new friends – all of this centered around the world of Nike+. Nike built it and we came running, literally. It’s a never-ending marketing campaign that’s mostly user generated. Genius! Nike+ gives us the ability to interact with our shoes as well as the ability to interact with like-minded people via our shoes. It’s a good example of how a product developer had the foresight to integrate social media into a product at its nascent stage.
Social media marketing only exists because today’s world is more social and more connected than ever. As marketers, we tend to approach new ways of advertising with preconceived notions from television, print, and radio but it is important that we remove ourselves from these constraints and approach social media with a fresh outlook.
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