Welcome to the Digital Marketing Inner Circle

Just a few years ago, marketers would never have contemplated the impact that social engagement would play in digital marketing. This rise of social media as an influential marketing channel has generally caught many in the industry off guard.

Previously, online advertising had been criticized for its creative limitations but the trend towards Web 2.0 sites has seen the internet landscape provide new opportunities to engage with customers in ways not possible through offline channels. However, with new opportunities, comes a new challenges! For marketers, it is learning to effectively use a social engagement medium- not just making blatant product placement and brand messages in the social networking community.

In contrast, marketing with traditional media like newspapers, television or ‘content’ websites it was about delivering a specific product message; marketing with social media is about building a relationship and conversation with your audience. So given this social element to digital marketing we no longer have a simple one dimensional interaction but a two-way process engaging a brand and an audience. Marketing within social media is not just about telling and giving a message, rather it is about receiving and exchanging perceptions, beliefs and ideas.
Social media marketing is based on the premise that community engagement can be tapped and leveraged in developing an ongoing conversation with potential consumers.

However, from the perspective of the social media site, they must be mindful that the characteristics of flexibility, freedom and community ownership that initially attracted their vast audiences need to be carefully balanced with any attempt at monetization. This Facebook generation is highly mobile and their loyalty to a particular site will and does change when they are faced with unpopular site policies or overzealous advertising methods. This was highlighted by the ‘Facebook incident’ this month when Facebook management tried to change the privacy policy and make all content ‘property of Facebook forever”. A community backlash resulted and then Facebook management rapid withdrawal this policy.

As digital marketing channels become increasingly blurred, social media marketing will provide brands with one of the most personal, trusted and direct points of access to these consumers. Social media marketing provides a good opportunity now, and a great opportunity moving forward. It is essential that brands begin leveraging the medium now, or they risk being left behind as more of their consumers move online and get exposed to alternative products and services.

As digital marketing professionals, it is absolutely critical we not simply use social media marketing for the sake of it but strive to show measurable and effective outcomes for advertisers. Should we not be able to demonstrate to the broader advertising community that using social media marketing can be a legitimate offline sales driver, we will see this great medium stall and at worse not be used. Advertisers want to see measurable ROI, and the success of our online marketing industry is dependent on having clients willing to invest in social media marketing. Unless we marketers are able to benchmark our success, provide case studies and showcase accomplishments, we will be unable to gain the credibility in using social media marketing.