"Social networking sites represent a new mass medium for brand advertising"
This quote is attributed to Seth Goldstein at a talk during the IAB conference.
With all apologies to Seth, who I don't know...it's this kind of thing that really reminds me of how much people don't understand what the Social Phenomenon is telling us.
Advertising as we know it is over. There is no benefit to Mass Marketing; in fact it's kind of embarrassing. People want to deal with people...they trust human beings more than brands or institutions. They don't want to be 'marketed to' simply because they happen to be catching up with a friend on a network any more than they want a TV commercial interrupting "The Office".
This is why search is so important. The other Seth (Godin) taught us this lesson back at the turn of the century with Permission Marketing. Don't try and interrupt me or intercept me....just because I happen to be standing there.
The customer is in control and will tell us when they have a need for what we do. How? They search. It's so simple....."you vendor.....stand over there." "When or If I have a need I'll tell you."
They do this through the search engines.
Our jobs as marketers now become being really good at listening. What we can't control is how that person is going to describe their problem. They could use any of thousands of different keyword phrases to indicate a need for our solution. All we have to do is be ready to jump up when summoned. "Hey, yeah...I can help here!"
That is blog tools are so important...and why you need to engage everyone on your team in the corporate blogging effort. Creating lots of relevant content, organizing that content around your strategic keywords, and then having an engagement process that makes
the searcher happy all lead to a win-win relationship.Getting people to play your game isn't the same as doing business.
Mass marketing has been dead for years....but like the Subservient Chicken, it just doesn't know it yet.
