03 Jun Social Media Is Changing More Than Just Marketing
Social media is doing more than just changing advertising and marketing. Some think that it is changing the world and there are plenty of examples that support this claim.
Maybe the greatest example of how social media is changing the world lies in a quick overlook of Barack Obama’s run at the White House. From the very beginning Obama and his campaign team utilized the power of social media. They understood what it meant to connect with people and the staying power of campaign videos on YouTube. Did you know that Obama’s campaign videos received 110 million views at an estimated 14.5 million hours of viewing? Experts believe that this kind of exposure would have cost somewhere near $47 million.
With the help of Facebook, MySpace, and Twitter, Obama took social media all the way to the White House defeating two better-known politicians in the process.
This Is A Great Reminder for Marketers
Besides Obama’s presidential campaign, social media is altering the way we communicate, learn, and consume. It is important to remember that social media was designed for communication, not commerce. While communication has always been an intricate part of commerce, it’s still preceded when it comes to social media.
This has always and will continue you to be the big mistake made by marketers and companies. People are on Facebook to talk and interact. This can most certainly be with brands but the communication aspect must always come first. You have to earn the right to sit at the table. You wouldn’t sit down at a random table full of unfamiliar faces and just start trying to sell real estate would you? You have to form relationships first.
People use social media for reasons other than consumption and commerce. These are secondary reasons for its use and marketers need to remember that. It’s about making yourself accessible on their terms and gaining their trust. It’s not about sending all of your friends and followers direct messages about your product. This is what most of us call spam.
