The interesting thing about social media is the breadth of areas within an organisation that it can touch. Unlike some marketing initiatives, which are all about a campaign, social media tends to be more about the relationship and the dialogue that customers (and potential customers) have with a company and each other in relation to a company.
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Consumer recommendations are one of the most credible forms of advertising because people trust people. Peer to peer recommendations and word of mouth have long been recognised as powerful marketing tools. While online, most companies rely heavily on search ranking to drive traffic and awareness, social content in e-commerce is the merger of these two ideas and represents an incredibly important area for any online retailer to consider.
I’ve had a few conversations with marketers recently when I’ve been told that there is still a need for ‘social media 101′ information in the market place. It seems that there is still a gap in understanding exactly where social media fits into the big picture of the digital media plan and the marketing strategy as a whole. And also, that actual execution – and predominantly resourcing and accountability – is a big challenge too. I can understand this because when you start working on social media from a business point of view it immediately takes a lot more time than you had anticipated and suddenly it seems a whole lot more complicated.
What do you think? Is this something that marketers in Australia still need to learn about? Are there particular elements of this that are more pressing?
Jenny Williams met Jye Smith to get a preview from his session at ad:tech – The Relevance of Twitter. Jye shared some of his thoughts on the market, the role of Twitter and what to expect from his panel discussion.
Jye
Social media has emerged as a powerful force for brands, both from the perspective of engaging consumers and in the ability for brands to conduct a two way dialogue .