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Social media and media strategy

13 Jan 2009

After the first impact of the economic hardship, 2009 will be the year for change. With the growing need for boosting the performance of marketing and communication campaigns, this is the time to re-think models, approaches and tools.

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After the first impact of the economic hardship, 2009 will be the year for change. With the growing need for boosting the performance of marketing and communication campaigns, this is the time to re-think models, approaches and tools.

Marketing directors seem to swing between the need for change and the fear to adopt new models and to try new tools.

Amongst the other media that have become fashionable lately, social media attracted my attention. Actually, whether it is a low cost media, that answers to customers' need for personal relationship with brands , people still question its efficiency.

Reading the article by Debra Aho Williamson, eMarketer senior analyst, I thought that if advertisers are still standoffish, it's probably because nobody has been able to crack the code to this media.
For sure social media and/or 2.0 platforms (blogs, IM, shared games / apps…etc) are a digital reality no one can ignore. The more you get close to Generation Y, the more social networks (myspace, facebook, viadeo, linkedin, Friendster, hi5…etc) are adopted and used.

The real challenge for a marketer today is to make up their mind on how to use that phenomenon to reach their goals.

First of all let's remember that Internet engage much more than any other media (at least if leveraged properly). If we consider engagement (see ISARA model), Social networks go further than editorial sites enabling people to share information, photos, speak (IM), call for confrontation (virtuel gaming)and is more about experience than information or search. As people participate, they are less receptive to advertsing diverting their mind from their "journey" (or at least advertisers should consider that the emotional aspect of an ad won't generate the same results as a message delivered via a program on TV). Because the engagement degree is much higher, the way you (brand) will try to join the conversation will be different.

Social media is hard to understand because it is not linear, nor controlled, nor marketed. Contemplating to invest in social media requires you to understand your brand position and monitor it (WOM flash & tracking). What consumers (or non-consumers) think , talk about and share from you is the first thing to understand. Aside from a strong and appealing call to action (promotion), your message or presence (through dedicated apps/content) will be accepted and transmitted among the groups only if your brand is eligible to a "like a friend" status. Mass media advertising (a lot are used to it) is far from that behavior.
Every marketer dreams of a "Blair Witch Project" or "Coke&Mentos" effect which leads to millions of people reached through this "free" media and can lead to significant increase in turnover (+15% for Mentos due to videos on Youtube). However, this free media requires time, focus and mid to long term investment which affects the ROI but is compulsory for a successful investment. Like SEO, social media presence (Ad, editorial, apps) needs mid term investment (at least).

Social media ROI measure is not an easy aspect. What 's the weight of engagement ? For this part more than the other the right KPI definition and ability to monitor it is crucial.
Can you make without ? 77 % of online shoppers read consumer product reviews and rating before they buy. 2$ billion of online travel purchases a year are affected by social media. 24% of online car shoppers have changed their mind about a vehicle purchase based on social media…
As we can see, influence is a reality even if monitoring it is not yet a common practice.

To sum up: first identify and track your brand position, select your media and focus on a targeted approach ( permission/promotion), test first to understand what benefit (while measuring) you can get before investing more - and above all, don't continue if you consider this action as purely tactical.

Yann Carré
General Manager 6:AM
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Innovation worth sharing

  • Wrap up of main creative and innovation trends accross the world, delivered every quarter by the FullSIX Group creative teams.
  • Twice a year, an analysis of how consumers have continued to change, delivered by the FullSIX Group Consumer Intelligence team.

Innovation worth sharing

  • Wrap up of main creative and innovation trends accross the world, delivered every quarter by the FullSIX Group creative teams.
  • Twice a year, an analysis of how consumers have continued to change, delivered by the FullSIX Group Consumer Intelligence team.