In this guest post, David Thomason argues why, from the point of view of the customer, social media was overrated
Of all the praise Steve Jobs last week, what most caught my attention was that of Advertising Age, cost effective Digital Marketing Maverick but traditionalist. That such a visionary who has transformed the way the world communicates still favoured traditional media to get messages from Apple should encourage us all to take a cold bath before following blindly the lemming into the abyss social media.
It seems that advertising and creative industries who embraced Apple with an almost religious fervor (OK, technology and design of Apple's fantastic) have adopted a social media as their next Messiah. The eyes light up when the interpersonal or agency submitting creative strategy turns to social media. And new media evangelists tell us that ' engagement ' is what communication is all about now.
Engagement has always been a crucial part of effective advertising, regardless of the means used. Remember the classic Volkswagen campaigns David Ogilvy? Or as we might hate the company, including Advanced Medical Institute today.
As a customer, I'd rather large run my campaigns using traditional means of communication as they use social media. Most people with money to spend still read magazines, listen to the radio, watching television, billboards and visit the shops.
Of course, like all marketing we try new things and see what is possible. But let's keep it in perspective. The fundamentals of effective advertising have not changed. There is no ' new economic paradigm ' as a blogger on mumbrella breathless said last week.
I like to think of social media such as the modern day equivalent of the door-to-door salesman. They are both one on one. Both require the potential customer to open the door. Both are "buy now", with few opportunities to build the prominence when the customer is really ready to buy. Both have a strike rate very low. Both require a significant investment of personal time. Both achieve relatively few people.
Ah, but what about Old Spice? ' I hear you ask.
While the engagement is one required for a communication effectiveness, it is useless without "reach". Yes, you might get lucky and score a phenomenon as ' Old Spice '. But when you're counting on luck (and the chances of success are extraordinarily thin), as a client, I can't afford it. I can afford to take a chance if I'm investing heavily in other forms of media and then my campaign's overall risk is low. But if I have a limited budget and can only afford a means, then social media would not definitely it.
I apologize to the campaign and Panasonic, but unfortunately their current campaign jokes (which I assume was hoping to go viral) proves my point of view. Very funny, clever idea, sort of related to the product proposition can help make the brand more ' cool '. That extends beyond 28 days is good, because then, even if you've watched some, Panasonic is likely to be more salient for a while. But even if their campaign generates a massive 50,000 views, this means that some Australians don't see 20.950 .000.
But are those you're seeing that campaign likely to be in the market for a Blu-ray burner in the near future? What does Panasonic? the next month to maintain his newfound prominence or months after that? How many cameras they need to sell to get an ROI and can deliver that 50,000 views random? And as a leading photography point effectiveness of sales activity when that photo remains unknown to most people, who are actually in the market for such a device?
Without reaching, the Panasonic is a real disaster. Pity, because the idea deserves better. But then again, if only they had a small budget to start with, this strategy should never have been proposed.
You return to the fundamentals of effective advertising. Byron Sharp nail succinctly – those "to build/maintain the availability of physical and mental. Clear and consistent branding, consistent use of distinctive heritage, reaching highs average near continuous spend ".
So can social media play an important role in modern advertising?
Absolutely!
Putting aside a good website that is a ' must have ', social media could be a good promotional mechanism, even if I have trouble thinking of a standout example. And you can add the scope, but only through ads or content already high flow or highly targeted pages. But then, so can other media and should be evaluated as such.
But a powerful advertising vehicle in their own right? I don't think so.
So the lesson from Steve Jobs is simple. If you're going in social media, make sure it's for the right reasons. And purchase of blades in a gold rush is not one of them.
David Thomason is the former Director General of marketing & meat Livestock Australia
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