We are all familiar with the regular forms of media such as TV, Radio and Print. What is social media and how useful is it in the Information Age? According to Wikipedia,
Social media are media designed to be disseminated through social interaction, created using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques. Social media supports the human need for social interaction, using Internet- and web-based technologies to transform broadcast media monologues (one to many) into social media dialogues (many to many). It supports the democratization of knowledge and information, transforming people from content consumers into content producers. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).
In traditional media we had to contend with media owners, the broadcast media and the press… We had to have something worth mentioning before we could get their interest and get our word out to the masses. Following which, to find out whether the media relations campaign was successful or not, we had to pull out survey forms, interviews and polls to find out.
With social media, YOU OWN THE MEDIA. Each person, business or organisation has the opportunity to own his/her own media space, in Facebook for example, everyone’s profile page is their own media space (Billboards). Having a blog allows you to publish whatever you feel is news-worthy (Newspapers). YouTube gives you the opportunity to have your own TV Commercials (TVC), TV programmes. You reach out to your target audience, people who have shown some interest in your offerings by virtue of subscribing for your media spaces.
Of course it now comes to the next question. How do I get people to know I’m there? Social media is driven by the community. For any media campaign to work, you need to have an audience to speak to. Unlike traditional media owners, they have a community of followers by virtue of their presence and reputation over the years. We have to build our own community of followers, people who are interested in our offerings as a person, business or organisation. This can start from your own personal connections. We have all had experiences when we hear of a product through a friend who heard it from another friend. Social media gives you the opportunity to harness the power of the “Word of Mouth”. Depending on the content that you generate, in your blog, Facebook profile or YouTube channel, it has the potential to hit the millions of web surfers, giving you the power that even the media owners are working their asses off for.
Social media comes with the advancement of Web Technology. In this medium, all activities are stored in some form or other in logs. This gives you the ability to track and analyse habits of your viewers. In traditional media, there is no real guarantee that your news release is picked up by the masses. You have little or no idea on what the buzz is about on your product. With social media, you can retrieve actual numbers using Google Analytics. You will know exactly how many people read your blog post, watched your video or tinkered about in your Facebook Fan page.
And if you think that is all…
Social media opens up another area, comments and feedback. We have all been asked to fill up survey forms in our life. Businesses have also realized that at some point will need feedback from their customers for them to improve. In almost all social media platforms, you give your customers the ability to give you feedback on your posting, your services in general – or both. Through this, you get to monitor and respond to your community. Examples of this can be seen in portals such as HungryGoWhere.com and Wat2Eat.com. Patrons of restaurants and other F&B outlets write reviews on their experience dining at certain establishments. The management of these establishments can respond to complaints and kudos and improve their services.
Now another issue arises, “Why will I want my dirty linen to be washed in public?” Many businesses are averse to such avenues; many businesses would rather not have the bad points of their services and products publicised. Of course you can moderate the comments and even delete them, but doing that will only cause more dissension and the person or persons who started making the negative comments could move on to some other space and make themselves heard even more after that. When that happens, you have no or little control on how to handle it. What businesses do not realize is that there are advantages when such situations should arise.
- You know it when there is negative buzz.
Instead of looking through page after page of comment cards, feedback forms and survey questionnaires, negative comments on your corporate blog or Facebook fan page stick out like a sore thumb. - You get to address their concerns immediately.
You can engage in a conversation with the person posting the bad feedback. Find out more and possibly even include the solution and the outcome of your conversation for all to see. This helps you gain the confidence of the community. - Showing a human face to your organization.
When your customers and community members see that you are taking pro-active steps to listen to and act on your customer feedback, you gain even more credibility after a while. Following which, they could become your most ardent followers and even help you when another negative feedback comes up.
In the spirit of my commentary, which should not be a monologue, I open the floodgates and this discussion is open to the floor…
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They sang the same song when DTP arrived, putting the power of publishing in the hands of the common man. What’s technical difference is there between a business publishing content and an unknown writer publishing his own writings? But they called it a revolution.
The Straits Times as had its forum for decades. Nobody called it social media. But … Read moreput the same content online under the name STOMP and it becomes social media? Except for the fact that it’s lightyears ahead in terms of speed and extent, it’s still the same old horse, flogged by the same old b!tchy Singaporeans.
And your last three points… Every business worth their salt will have made them a priority. Offline channels would already exist. Online channels are just a bonus.
(First para) When DTP arrived, yes, the common man could get published… but he/she still needed a vehicle to do so… With social media, the vehicle is no longer an issue…
(Second Para) The Straits Times Forum… The paper dedicates 3/4 of a full page to that and there is only a limited amount of voices that could be heard. Also, there is a … Read morecensorship process and sometimes, pressing issues may get pushed aside just because it was worded too strongly or by being too controversial… Again, STOMP being controlled by the giant which is SPH you are still putting your content at the whim and fancy of the traditional media owner….
(3rd Para) By it being a bonus is already an advantage in itself and… by solving the “problems” publicly lends more weight and credibility to your organisation.
What’s your definition of a vehicle? I can print my writings on photocopy paper, staple it together and distribute it. Or record my songs on a cassette tape (like so many garage bands used to do) and pass them around. Am I published? Yes. Am I discovered? No. Am I worth discovering? That depends on my content, doesn’t it?
With “social media” what … Read moreis my chance of being discovered if I am but a single face in a crowd of millions? A single voice drowned by the cacophony of millions of others doing the same? I’d be better off with “social networking,” slowly working my way closer to the right people in the right places.
Whether or not there is censorship with traditional and/or big-business media owners is not the point. Worded rightly and politely, any point can be made. But I’ll put forward my question again — what is the real difference? Both are channels through which ideas, opinions and feedback may be aired. Both offer publicity to a greater or lesser degree…
But it is the more traditional channel that offers the most opportunity for a person to be seen/heard/read. Censorship and limited space/air-time have its benefits apparently, while the freer, less-controlled platform suffers from overcrowding and shouting contests.
Any and every organization needs feedback channels. What they don’t need is bad press, and solving problems publicly is, more often than not, bad press. (Some might say bad press is better than no press, but that’s another issue.)
To be able to solve those problems is not a facility of “social media.” It’s an internal function of the business. The way you’ve described it, what “social media” really offers is nothing but another channel of communication. It offers no real advantage over the traditional “Click here to contact us” button on a website. In fact, it may actually be more of a Pandora’s box….
Do you really want to open that can of worms?
The key at the end is content and content has to be compelling enough for readers/listeners to want to share it with the person next to them…
Many more “garage bands” now are getting heard through platforms like MySpace when just recording a demo tape and sending it over to a club for an Open Mic night or to music labels couldn’t get them anywhere.
Putting yourself up using social media and getting “flogged”. By handling the issue and responding to feedback in real time helps you to maintain credibility and at the same time show that you, as part of the organisation, are pro-active in making sure that all ends are covered. Bad Press is only bad when bad comments and feedback are not acted upon and swept under the carpet……
So I do not think that it is a Pandora’s Box…
Very well done Nick.
I’ve got an interesting video link to share with you about Second Life, which I reckon is also a form of social media
You’ve *finally* hit the nail on the head — at the end of the day, it is content that drives the success or failure of a social media marketing campaign. The thing is… that’s exactly what also determines the success or failure of every other traditional marketing campaign — Do we have something our target market will sit up and pay attention to.
Every good marketing guy knows this is what makes or breaks a successful campaign. Chosing the right media, though, is a little more tricky.
Take car ads for example. You see them on TV, radio and newspapers. TV lets you see the car and drool over it. Call to action? Almost none. It’s usually after hours that the ad gets seen, and it gets forgotten by morning. Run it over the radio from 8:00-9:00 in the morning and you’ll get a whole lot of people who’re actually at the wheel, experiencing their old/crappy/unsatisfying cars. Purchase influence? Potentially good. Newspaper ad. Big picture, big phone number. Call to action is right there.
A few questions arise: 1) Which media combo would you pick for optimum cost effectiveness? 2) What role does the Internet play in this whole process? 3) Can social media marketing work here, and if it can, in what way?
For my money, I’d run with the radio/newspaper combo. Assuming I had a good ad, I’d put it on the morning radio show, plug the … Read moreheck out of it, then hit the guy in the face with a big call to action in the papers when he hits the office. He *will* make that trip to the car showroom at lunchtime.
In the meanwhile, though, he’s going to use the Internet to find out more about the car being advertised. This is where he does his research. This is where you cash in on his weakness. Mail this postcard out to your friends. Use this as your IM avatar. Be our fan on Facebook. Make friends with like-minded people. GOSSIP ABOUT US! Get my drift?
Social media is not the revolution you’ve defined. It’s driven by people, but it’s not about people power. Yes, sure it can be a good soapbox for some, but more than that, it’s part and parcel of a much larger marketing mix. The Internet only influences part of our lives, not all of it. Just like you need all your faculties to gain a proper perception of the world. Lose your hearing or your sight and your perception is seriously handicapped.
Lloyd Salmons of the IAB Social Media Council puts it across very well: “Social media isn’t just about big networks like Facebook and MySpace, it’s about brands having conversations.”
Conversations. That’s something that none of the other traditional media are fully capable of. You don’t want to make your pitch here online. No. Not when I can turn you off with a click of a button, or pre-empt you with an ad blocker. Social media marketing is not about publishing, or the sale, or feedback. It’s about building a brand.
Yes, I agree with you… Well it is, as I quoted from wikipedia, the democratisation of content. And shifting it from a business to client monologue to a “many” way conversation which of course creates better and stronger brand awareness….
In response to your earlier post, as much as social media is a “Next Big Thing”… We cannot and should not… downplay or ignore traditional/industrial media. Everyone has his/her own preference to the type of media they are most comfortable with. A radio/newspaper combo to generate the interest… from there a call to action to follow the progress on facebook, a blog or even a virtual showroom in Second Life… followed by an actual launch event.
Leonard, I am not a business specialist or whatsoever, but social media is growing and is definitely a very suitable platform for marketing/advertising to target publics, especially youths, who spend more time on the Internet than anything else.
And with what you said about social media offering nothing else but a channel of communication, that … Read moreisn’t entirely true. For example, in Nick’s note, he mentioned sites like HungryGoWhere and Wat2Eat, and people actually visit such sites because they want to read reviews of a particular restaurant, they want to learn about the dining experience and quality of food. Such information cannot be found with the “traditional ‘Click here to contact us’ button on a website.”
Social media is not here to replace traditional media, it is just utilising the space-less arena to create a new form of public sphere for in-depth social interaction, community formation, and the tackling of collaborative projects.
Hi Nicole, I beg to differ. A newspaper without content is nothing but blank pages. A platform for publishing. A channel for communication. By the same token, social media platforms are nothing but channels for communication. Without the platform, there can be no communication. Without content, it is nothing but software on a server.
Food sites like HGW and W2E are gathering places for people to form special interest communities. Driven by the belief that majority opinions can’t be wrong, people tend to use these opinions to assist in their own opinions. It’s an old, old sales idea rebooted — “A million satisfied customers can’t be wrong!” But does this really make it “social media”? Or just an aggregation of feedback?
Social media venues are dynamic communities. Living organisms, literally. And managing social media marketing in this environment takes a lot of time and effort to nurture….
Aggregation of feedback is in a way a form of social media….
Social media presents itself in many ways… at the end of the day, it is user generated content… thus a democratisation of media….
i’m curious about what you are implying in your article about bad press is better than no press.
What if it is a situation in which nothing can be done to address the concerns/complaints (afterall, there are situations in which customers are just unreasonable) or it can’t be addressed in a very short time?
How do you ensure / get the buy-in of your organisation to support social media esp. if it’s a government agency (afterall, they are the ones who are most susceptible) to bad press?
Hi Jean,
Thanks for your comment.
Timeliness in response is very important, so that any bad press can be detected quickly. Google Alerts for example can provide you with daily updates on mentions of your keyword.
It is advised that as time passes, you have a dedicated team supporting social media. Somewhat like how you have a Public Relations team or and Marketing Communication team. Social Media will require a dedicated resource as you do not only deal with your website, blog, facebook fanpage or twitter account. You have the entire web of information to look at, monitor and broadcast as and when it happens.
When you get bad press… It could be due to a couple of factors.
• Bad service rendered, inferior product and many other reasons.
The key here is that you get the feedback from the client. And you know where your business or organisation is failing to provide the best possible service or solution. Hence taking proper corrective actions and announcing it to the community.
• in the case where the client is unreasonable and acts undesirably on the social media channel that your organisation uses, your customer service officers can step in to help pacify the disgruntled customer in full view of the community on your platform.
here you kill 2 birds with one stone, you help pacify this client, prospects seeing your proactive actions will be more convinced about the organisation as an organisation that aims to resolve all disputes amicably.
In the case of a government agency, you may be at a brunt of bad press due to an unpopular policy and you get flogged by a group of unhappy Singaporean banging away at their keyboards at home.
Using social media, you can take part in the conversation and possibly the ranting that may be going on. Explaining the rationale behind this “unpopular” policy. Of course if you cannot convince them, you can bring it up for review in the near future and following which make adjustments to make it better.
In all forms of social media, when you receive bad press, the key is not to take criticisms negatively, engage in conversation with the person/people propagating the bad press to find an amicable solution. If it really cannot be found due to an unreasonable customer, and the subject that this person talks about that is totally baseless and uninformed, your supporters are likely to “come to your rescue”.
Thank you again for your comment, i will be contacting you via email with my contact details so feel free to continue this conversation here, or via email.
Do read the other related articles and let me know what you think.