By Mike Danielson, Director of Health & Nutrition Division, Media Relations, Inc.
This year, marketers will spend an estimated $716 million on social media marketing. Social media’s collaborative nature brings both unprecedented opportunities in terms of brand marketing and moving the audience closer to making a purchase, but also significant challenges. Used incorrectly, social media marketing can damage a brand.
Old-guard marketing gurus with their salesmanship mentalities, as well as fresh-out-of-college apprentices, often fail to understand the frailty of social media marketing. In stark contrast with the historically hyped-up and pushy way of approaching customers in the past, social media requires a kid-glove approach.
It is helpful to understand the lessons of traditional media and look at social media through the same lens. When that is done, proper business etiquette for social media will become quite clear.
The gatekeepers of traditional media outlets will not tolerate commercialized messages. There are specific guidelines for creating social media posts that appeal to the audience. When building a social media marketing plan, it would be wise for businesses to follow similar specifications that media gatekeepers do. If you ambush your followers with self-serving or ill-suited posts, there is a real risk they will turn their backs on you.
The casual atmosphere of social media is in stark contrast with the historically hyped-up and pushy way businesses have approached customers in the past. Advertising and Personal Selling, two primary and ubiquitous promotional channels, grew up using “in your face” sales tactics that served businesses well for more than a century. But as the public adapts to new communication channels and becomes increasingly resistant to old-school advertising methods, consumers are increasingly regarding any even remotely pushy tactics as outdated and offensive.
This “kid glove” approach to marketing can be counter to the personalities of top management, including marketing directors. They live, breath and believe in their products with a passion that isn’t always shared by the public. While their overly enthusiastic attitude is desirable when communicating within the context of the physical business and even traditional promotional channels, it can be seen as abrasive and obnoxious in the world of social media.
As businesses insert themselves and their offerings into social media outlets numerous things can go wrong. A common problem for many businesses today is old-guard marketing gurus with salesmanship mentalities who don’t completely understand the frailness of social media. They tend to overload their audience with sales-filled posts.
Another equally brand-damaging problem is to pass off the social media responsibility to novice, fresh-out-of-college apprentices. Because the world of social media is accelerating at an incredible pace, old-guard marketers often incorrectly choose to put their trust in young folks rather than try to keep up with the social media technology themselves. The problem with that is while these younger employees may have user knowledge and a deep understand of how social media operates, they have little to no experience in an area where the old guard are experts.
Too often young people make the mistake of filling posts with content that is useless in the scope of marketing and does nothing to move the audience closer to making a purchase.
It Helps to Think Like a Member of the Old Media
A shortcut to understanding the marketing rules for the “new media” is to examine the marketing rules for the “old media.” Whether a diehard salesman at heart or a recently graduated amateur, if one can understand the lessons of traditional media and look at social media through the same lens, proper business etiquette for social media will become quite clear. To counter the aggressive promotional habits that have been engrained in the U.S. business culture, marketers need to adopt a social media marketing strategy that is “heavy on the social and light on the pushy,” which in marketing speak can be translated to “heavy on the problem and light on the solution.”
Tackling social media with the “heavy on the problem and light on the solution” approach is the exact opposite of the tactic used in traditional advertising. In traditional advertising, the product or service is always approached from the “heavy on the solution and light on the problem” angle. If a company only has a 30-second TV spot or a 1/8 page ad, this “heavy on the solution” approach is the sole way to get its point across. These kinds of advertisements illustrate how their product is the solution, but lack talk about the problem that requires that solution.
Social media provides virtually unlimited time and space for posts. The “heavy on the problem” strategy is useful here because now the company can wrap relevant content about the problem around how their product can alleviate it. In providing this knowledge, the company confirms its position as an industry leader and drives its readers to trust it with their business.
Having generated tens of thousands of product news stories, Lonny Kocina, CEO and Owner of Kocina Branding & Marketing Companies, understands perfectly the need for the “heavy on the problem” approach in publicity and social media. For 20 years, our company has been turning sales messages into high-power publicity stories for clients and their products. “We are challenged every day with the nearly impossible task of balancing a company’s need to sell with the media’s need to be non-commercial,” says Kocina.
Heavy on the problem and light on the solution is the answer that leads to the thrill of turning advertising messages into news and information.
Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/marketing-articles/communicating-without-offending-in-social-media-5603737.html
About the Author
Mike Danielson is director of the Health and Medical Division for Media Relations, Inc., (www.publicity.com). For more than 20 years, he has been directly involved with hundreds of highly successful consumer and business-to-business promotional campaigns involving strategic planning, market research, content development, performance-based execution of campaign programs and evaluation.
Mike’s areas of expertise include consumer and trade public relations, media tours, retail and local event promotions, web site development and management, email and database marketing, social networking promotions, market research, video and multimedia production, custom publishing. He has significant marketing and new product launch experience within the health and natural products industry as well as experience with brokering industry-related connections.
You can email Mike at MikeD@mediarelations.com.
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