The Next Phase of Social Marketing
By: Brandon Evans, May 2, 2012
So you have millions of fans and followers… now what?
In the past few years, the explosive popularity of social media has ledbrands to collect massive followings on Facebook, Twitter, and othernetworks in what seems little more than a popularity contest to build out
a “social presence.” Now that most major brands have spent money and
time focused on collecting Likes and followers, the question posed tosocial media marketers is rapidly shifting to: "What comes next?"Connecting directly to millions of people with affinity for your brand isnot an easy feat, and is only the tip of the iceberg when it comes toutilizing social media as a marketing and sales channel. Now marketersmust begin to focus on how to activate fans -- turning them into brandadvocates and essentially evolving their social media presence into aresearch lab, idea store, and full-fledged peer-to-peer marketing channel.
The "popularity contest" is over
As a marketer during the rise of Facebook and Twitter, it was importantto embrace social communications as consumers began to focus theirattention and spend more time on online networks. The first phase of social marketing was a frenzy to be a leader and stay ahead of the
competition in a mad dash to collect “fans,” “likes” and “followers.” Butgetting the most people to “like” your brand will not ensure success in
this channel any more than collecting the biggest CRM database will.While those are both great assets, success lies in leveraging thecommunity in better ways than the competition to drive true brand value.
Crowd activation is beginning
We don't have to look back too far to see how fast things evolve intechnology and online. The start of the Internet brought on a rash of brochure wear, the most expensive of which contained an overload of Flash. The next phase brought about user-centered design, user-generated content, community and utility. Social functionality markedthe start of a whole new era of Internet and marketing strategies, and thefirst phase of this is just ending as marketers realize that collectingpeople on the hottest platforms is not in itself the key to success. Thevalue of social marketing lies in harnessing the value that social
technology provides with a brand’s most passionate audience
-- their
“brand crowd.”
Marketers should now be thinking about the value of the audience theyhave built and how stronger collaboration with specific crowds withinthis audience can be the key to their brand's future.
Four ways that brands drive value in social marketing
1. Real-time Insights --
with the proper tools, a brand’s social audience
can be turned into an advanced tool that keeps a company completelyconnected to the needs and wants of their broad audience and sub-audiences.2. Crowdsourced Ideation -- the guesswork of marketers brainstormingideas they think consumers will connect with will greatly lessen as toolsmake it easy to co-create new products and marketing campaigns withcommunities that brands have built on social channels.
Search History:
Result 00 of 00
00 results for result for
p.
More From This User
Notes
Load more
