Is social media like marmite?filed in: blog
written by Marcus on December 30th, 2010 |
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Having spent many hours during this Christmas break talking to (at) pretty much anyone who will listen to my drink induced mutterings about communities, I have concluded that there are two types of people in this world – those who love social media, and others who hate it. And there doesn’t appear to be anything in the middle.
So what about brands, is it the same?
Social media isn’t the next big thing, it is THE big thing right now for a rapidly growing number of brands keen to fully embrace it and see it as a real opportunity. And then there are others who are sceptical for two reasons: uncertainty; and seeing a hard earned image put at risk.
Where brands are different to people, is the definite middle area. These are the brands that have always followed conventional marketing techniques and are now trying to shoe-horn an idea into social media, and expect it to work the same way. They are likely to fail, and probably fail miserably.
For social media to work for brands and companies, they first need to understand the new shift in communication, appreciate new consumer trends, learn new types of metrics and start to see the new opportunities available. When there is an understanding of this big change would a brand or company be able to make use of social media.
Over time the number of sceptical brands will decline, but those wanting to embark on becoming a social brand will need to evolve and avoid getting caught in the middle.
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