The SOBCON presentation “Integrating Social Media into the Larger Mix” that I gave on Saturday sparked quite a discussion at the event as well as on Twitter. Here is a brief narrative version to accompany the deck, which is also embedded in this post.
Integrated marketing communications (IMC) theory and campaigns were very common until the disruptive nature of social media. IMC was a big movement in the 90s to ensure that all outbound communications worked together. For example, AOL used banner ads, store displays, direct mail CDs, newspaper inserts, PR, etc. to become the number one dial-up service in America.
As social media has arisen, we’ve come across the strange duopoly of social media experts who are tactically proficient and corporate communicators who don’t know what to do with two-way communications. The resulting confluence creates a stand-alone silo where social media is experimented with and regarded as a shiny object. In essence, it’s not safe to (or unfathomable to) integrate social media as part of the natural, larger communications mix.
The problem lies in that people don’t consume media in a single-track fashion. People don’t use just Twitter, they participate in multiple social media conversations in different places. Further, they use more than just social media. They read traditional media properties, watch TV, see billboard ads, listen to the radio, etc., etc. It’s a multichannel world.
Complicating this matter is the ROI problem. Business efforts in social media are confounded by how to demonstrate actual results that impact the bottom line or drive perception change. It’s really hard to make a conversation into something more than that… Unless you can create ways and means for people to do more than just talk.
That provides the ideal opportunity to use social media and content as a form of relationship building and attraction. Coupled with non-intrusive “soft-sell” calls-to-action provided through more traditional forms of media, conversations can become more and turn into “results.” In that sense, the social media conversation turns into the top of a self-identified prospect funnel. To progress deeper into the funnel, our stakeholders have to trust our organizations and the people behind them. Then they may want to opt into a deeper conversation or discussion.
Here are some forms of traditional calls-to-action that can be used:
Of course, social media can be used as a call to action within traditional forms of communication. It only makes sense. Again, consider that people don’t single track their media usage. So as communicators, why should we?
I’ve worked as a concepter on many web2.0 projects in the past 2 years where big brands massively incorporated social media. My learning is: adding web2.0 links, mashups and media is not the problem. Stakeholder profit attitude is. Social Media forces values back into the business, that universities forgot to infuse into the manager graduates that are now heading brand marketing departments. The social media market demands a willingness to communicate, be honest, show business ethics and stand behind a company’s band values that exceeds what these young managers have learned to deliver. These are weirdly young managers that replaced the previous generation in astounding masses in the past 5 years for half the money and with half the resistance to go lower, cheaper, harder to achieve that extra 10% of profit they are demanded to bring in by shareholders every single year. The pressure from the shareholders to go beyond values for that constant profit squeeze on the one side, the pressure from the web2.0 customers to go back to them on the other, there is no place to go for those managers than into half-hearted solutions. Cost cutting prevents them from hiring people guiding a brand through the social media jungle. They are smart people, they understand that modern stuff, they don’t need to be lectured about what they would do if they had the budget. Their heads are full with numbers instead of values. They are fresh meat in a loose loose situation.
Just read Beth Harte’s piece as well. It’s definitely an interesting conundrum but one I think as marketer’s we will be able to overcome (as long as we haven’t become to tool reliant). The trick is integrating all the new ideas into the comprehensive marketing strategy already in existence.
Geoff! You were awesome at SOBcon!
Here is a copy of your presentation as it was streaming.
http://www.ustream.tv/myvideos/1/1456758#
Would have loved to see this presentation live, but the slides get the main point across: Integration is critical, and creates opportunites. Thanks for posting it; I’ve shared it with some colleagues.
Great presentation, Geoff. Thanks for linking to my session summary! :)
Just catching up on my feeds and read this post. Good stuff. In trying to explain the nature of social media to clients I often remark that social media requires a “light touch”, not the sledgehammer approach often used in traditional marketing.