What does social media mean to you? I've asked that question to hundreds of people and two words run through most responses: people and relationships. However, more frequently I'm noticing marketing campaigns that are being called "social media" where the relationship aspect is not to be found.
Today when I walked my dog Max, he stopped to play with a pooch that was a little of this and a bit of that. It occurred to me that marketers have created a hybrid of social media tactics that combines a little of traditional marketing where messaging is of prime importance; plus a bit of social media or Web 2.0 functionality that taps into the virtual and (hopefully) viral world.
While these, call them Hybrid Social Media tactics for want of a better term, may encourage digital engagement with the brand - the object - they don't include connecting the customer with - the people - who are behind the brand. In the world of Hybrid Social Media building and nurturing relationships seems to take second or third place to the primary goal of driving traffic or increasing views. It's a numbers not a people game. Exploring the idea further consider these ...
4 Hybrid Social Media Tactics
- Videos - Leveraging technology to push messages on video communities like YouTube or blip.tv. FedEx's current series on YouTube is an example. While there may be a social element in open comments, the conversation is not being used to connect the customer with the people behind the brand.
- Blogger Relations/Sponsored Conversations - Capitalizing on relationships/influence of others who are active in social media (bloggers, tweets, vloggers, podcasters, etc.) to serve your message to their community. The brand manager usually forfeits the customer "ownership."
- Contests - Using Web 2.0 technology to engage your customer with a brand experience. Similar to video messaging the media many have social components but they are rarely utilized by those on the brand side of the equation to connect with the customer.
- Digital Idea Management or Viralsourcing - Soliciting customer suggestions on a platform designed to capture ideas to improve an organization's products/service or company. Frequently there are social aspects from comments to voting that digg it up or down. Dell, Starbucks, Best Buy are a few examples. Similar to contests, virtualsourcing can be an engaging brand experience. How much and when to participate in the conversations with customers who are going beyond a comment card or even to say "thank you" seems to be a challenge for many companies.
Is this old marketing with a technology twist? Does referring to these tactics as "social media" mislead or is "social media" itself changing? Should we broaden the definition? What does social media mean to you?
