SOCIAL MARKETING – New Kid on the Block ?

 

Social Media Marketing is the new buzz word in the marketing circles. 67% of marketers want to do Social Media. There are consultant mushrooming all over the countryside specializing in Social Marketing. There are statistical numbers being generated 35% no 51% of people trust opinion from their fellows then the might critic in the news papers who languishes at paltry 10% (and you were planning to fly him Business class to HQ). And lo and behold, all that money that you spent on advertisements, well actually only 30% of the audience believes you or your advertisement across Radio/TV/Cinema Hall.

Did I hear you say, that is why we moved to Online advertisements. Would you like to know efficacy of those Search Engine Ads, Online Videos and Online banner ads. 4%, 3% and 3% respectively.

 

Picture turns pretty dismal when you start looking at the other end of the graph i.e. people who do not trust and suddenly all your marketing strategy seems like Big waste of money and time.

In light of all these, Social Media comes as the manna for the dying. Thus we find the 67% wanting to “do Social Media”. What does the marketer do ? He devices an aggressive Social Media Plan for the next quarter with even more aggressive numbers. He wants people to listen to him and his company.

Approach to Social Media is blow your own trumpet just the same as one was doing on the other medium.

Will this ME centric approach succeed? Are we not forgetting the basics? We seem to equate Social Media with the other medium and have forgotten to understand the very basic reason of why Social Media sites not just exist but are thriving.

Let us examine this ?

What is Social?

The term Social refers to a characteristic of living organisms (humans in particular, though biologists also apply the term to populations of other animals). It always refers to the interaction of organisms with other organisms and to their collective co-existence, irrespective of whether they are aware of it or not, and irrespective of whether the interaction is voluntary or involuntary.

Term “social” is used in many different senses referring among other things to:

Attitudes, orientations, or behaviours which take the interests, intentions, or needs of other people into account (in contrast to anti-social behaviour);has played some role in defining the idea or the principle.

What are Social Needs?

An excellent  representation of Social Needs is using Maslow’s hierarchy

 

Thus needs have been classified and also ranked according to a person’s stage. A person who has basic Physiological Needs is not necessarily looking for Respect. Either his need is satiated or his need has been extinguished for him to move up the chain.

19th Century Man

Let us now examine the 19th Century Man. The world of a 19th Century human was centred around his village or town. He worked in the perimeter of his village, his needs were satisfied by the fellow villagers. For most of the people their self esteem was centred around recognition by the village elders or the village squire, their friends were from the childhood and more often then not he married within walking distance. His doctor or healer was also nearby.

Centre of this universe was the Village Square. One could get the pulse of the village and also the rumour of the village right then and there. Who has landed a plum deal or who is dating whom or who is suffering from viral fever or whose child has flunked his 5th examination were all available

  

And the marketer of 19th  Century was on the Village Square talking to his clientele in the local lingo, using the local props and discussing man to man for his needs and requirement and also to his peers addressing their concerns and queries. Any purchase decision was made in accordance with the comments and views of the members of the Social Network

This was the Social Network to which a person subscribed and companies sold to.

Cut the chase to here and present.

21 Century 

 

More and more people are moving out of their parental homes and taking up education and employment across the globe. It is easy not difficult for buddies of school to be working in not just two different provinces of a country but also across time zones in two different countries.

 

 

Hence the need arose for better communication tools for people to communicate and a phone would not suffice as night for one would be day for another. Internet became the medium of the century and people started using strictly offline communication mode of email. Limitation of email was it was a hub and spoke model in the sense originator and receiver were the only ones connected onto the communication and was also limited in terms of visibility in terms of Social updates one would associate with Social Networking like family updates or photo graph sharing. For the receiver it was also intrusive, let us face it I may be friends with Mr. John Doe but may not be interested in pictures of his first child drooling over his living room rug but via mail I could not restrict what I got from him without offending him.

Online Social Networks like Facebook owe their success to Social Needs. Here was a medium where I could do my posts in an unobtrusive way, post photographs which my contacts could access at their convenience and their wishes. I could also seek out the opinion of my peer group on whether to buy the iPAD or the Netbook. Could also check out where to get the free ebook downloads for my Kindle. And share this with the larger community at large without actually intruding on someone else’s time or mail box.

One started to connect to a social group which was beyond one’s geographical  location and started interacting. Next thing to happen was congregation of people with similar interests or hobbies from within the extended Community. I may be connected to 1000 people but amongst them and why just them over a extended world community it became easy for me to connect with say Diabetics across the globe. Or for a photography buffs to connect. Discussions on these forums were around the specific interest group.

SOCIAL MARKETING

Would Social Media marketing also work the way traditional mediums work, put in an advertisement or an editorial implant?

Let me ask you a simple question. You move houses to a new city and want to make new friends, can you do this instantly? Do you ring the doorbell to your next door neighbour and expect him to be best of the buddies with you? In my view NO, you may make acquaintance with your neighbour or your professional colleagues but it takes time for you to open up and also to trust the other guy. Yeah, you may take the mundane daily chores advise around finding the household maid or location of super store for buying groceries.   

Why would the other guy also trust you or what you say? he is also evaluating you, your trust and your company. Doesn’t it happen that we do not get along with a push over, someone who tries to thrust his opinion upon us or tries to lead us.

Most companies in their zeal or may be due to background of aggressive product based marketing forgot that the dynamics of Social interaction. We first need to listen in to a conversation for us to make useful contribution. And so it should be with Social Marketing.

STEP 1 : Please listen to the conversation. Get the drift…

STEP 2 : Offer timely and useful advice on the forums. Just the same way as you would do to a new found friend. Make sure that what you saying is meeting some need of the recipient and not just a rejoinder or a blank bullet with no real concern. Empathy can not just be seen but can also be heard and read.

STEP 3: If you are out of depth on a particular topic, listen and learn. Many times we would learn something new if only we were listening for content and not for an entry to conversation. Who knows you may get a great idea for a new product or a new killer feature for your product.

STEP 4: Once you have build trust and credibility then only try to market your advice or your product.

STEP 5: Listen, participate and adapt. May be the group does not want to hear what you are saying or the way you are saying or the timing is off. You will make mistakes but then that is a sure way of learning things.

Some statistics on FACEBOOK

 

Number of Users in India : 11.5M

Male Members : 7.9M 

Female Members : 3.6

Facebook Users in India have doubled in 6 months

31% of Indians on Facebook are 18-34 years old

The Key to Success on FACEBOOK

Is not what you know, BUT who you know and who knows you

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