Thoughts on Social Media Marketing

There’s a lot of buzz around  Social Media Marketing and the opportunities Social Networking Sites such as Facebook and Linkedin provide to market brands, as there should be, as today’s youth seem to spend more  time online and are keen on 'staying connected' and 'express' more than ever, be it from their PCs or mobile phones.  In today’s fast paced world wonder how many of them even have time to watch ads on TV like I did?

What has intrigued me is the ineffective manner these sites are used to build brands.  I am sure most of the stuff written here is nothing new, yet brand marketers and brand mangers seem to forget to apply thought, and don't approach it as an INTERACTIVE medium.

Let’s look at Facebook – Almost everyone is on Facebook and its mostly free!

It’s a great place to reach out to the consumer.It offers one the invaluable opportunity to interact with consumers. The fact that customers ‘likes’ your (marketeer) brand is a good starting point. It reflects their willingness to associate with the brand and to express this fact amongst their social group. The dialogue process has begun.

It’s a great place to disseminate information and seek feedback.  Brands that can initiate a dialogue will fare better at leveraging the benefits of SN sites such as Facebook or Twitter.  

It’s not just enough to talk about special offers or discounts.  Used as a platform to disseminate information that is line with the brand’s personality/brand creates a lot of traction and recall and becomes a great place for those seeking to spend a few minutes of their free time. For eg: if the brand is a lifestyle brand, focus on posting links about lifestyle choices, activities or trends that are line with your brand’s personality and attitude. Don’t restrict yourself just to promotional offers or pushing your products.  Be informative. Be a guide, a friend, a guru.

I have observed that smaller brands seem to do much better at leveraging the benefits that FB offers than large national brands.  A restaurant brand even accepts table reservations via wall posts on its FB page.

Even while advertising, remember you are not restricted by the 30 sec spot. Leverage upon YouTube to post longer videos. Add presentations, photos, conduct quizzes, contests and in general connect and communicate with your fan base.

Do respond to queries, comments and seek suggestions and ideas. It’s another destination to gauge your brand’s health and how it’s doing in the mind of the consumer. Use it for insight mining. 

If your brand has connected with the consumer at a deeper level, more often than not the consumer himself would initiate the dialogue. Be open to feedback, be willing to communicate and interact at a different level. Remember in the information age the brand is owned by the consumer, as much as we like to believe the opposite. They are in control and they have the power to make or break a brand with what they have to say. 

Thus it’s important for brands to get involved and to go where the discussions tend to happen, and keep their eyes and ears open and think hard about how they can leverage the power of SNS in starting a dialogue and involving the consumer in building their brands.