The exponential growth of social media usage has revolutionised the marketing world. No, no please don’t stop reading; I know it sounds like I’ve got a degree in the bleedin’ obvious. I promise this won’t turn into a ‘Top Ten Twitter Tips’ thing, so hang in there.
This isn’t really about social media, or the internet and certainly not technology – it’s about people.
You don’t need to have been in the marketing industry as long as I have to have sat in interminable meetings discussing brand attributes, brand values, target audiences, niche markets, demographics, segmentation etc. etc. Notice anything missing there? Yes, people. And I don’t mean people in the abstract ‘18 – 24 year old males in South East England’, ‘Empty Nesters’ – that type of thing. I mean actual, real people. Yes I know we do focus groups ‘representative of the target audience’ and listen to their views. But are they really? Let me ask you this: What other person do you know who would give an accurate representation of your views? And what’s the chance of a market researcher bumping into them?
And what about brands. What are they? There are many, many definitions such as ‘a series of perceptions in the mind of a consumer’ etc. So we’ve spent all these years getting brands to ’talk to their target audience’ or ‘Influence the market’ or ‘communicate its values to opinion leaders’ – that sort of thing.
It’s nonsense really isn’t it? Brands and companies can’t talk. Or communicate. Only people can. And they are not heard by amorphous masses of demographically sorted groups. They’re heard by John Wilson of Abercrombie Terrace, Whitehaven or Amina Patel of Goldfinch Close, Nottingham.
So what’s all that got to do with social media? Well let’s look at it from the consumer’s point of view first. The growth in social media usage by brands and the general population means that for the first time, millions of people are now directly connected to a brand or its spokesperson (be that in-house or a social media agency). Many brands now have millions of Facebook fans or Twitter followers for example. And unlike A TV ad, a piece of direct mail or roadside poster we know there is a real, live person with a personality, opinions and interests driving that social media channel.
When watching a movie we ‘suspend disbelief’ to enjoy the experience. We know they are actors surrounded by cameras and lighting people. And we know those special effects are CGIs or visual tricks. But we choose to ignore it. And for years we have treated communications from brands in the same way. We’ve chosen to ignore the fact that those ads were dreamt up by an ad agency and produced by a production crew. We’ve bought into the glamorous celebrity endorsing the product.
But not in social media we don’t. On social media we know there are real people behind the brand. We no longer just see a bottle of Coke with that logo on. We know there are thousands of marketeers in Atlanta and people working in bottling plants throughout the world. And delivery drivers on the road right now. So it’s not just the brand that has values, but the people who make and represent that brand.
Which, for a brand manager, is very, very scary. But it’s also ripe with opportunity. A misplaced comment, opinion or prejudice can now be instantly attached to a brand. There are many dreadful examples of this already. But the opportunity is huge. As human beings we have a fascination for other human beings and are enormously influenced by them. People we love we really love, much more than any object or ‘set of perceptions in the mind’. So the potential to become trusted and desired is there to be grabbed. Or not.
Now let’s look from the brand’s point of view. ‘Brands’ have rarely talked one-to-one to their consumers before. They’ve hidden behind TV screens and magazine pages. And yes, they’ve hidden behind that impersonal website on the computer screen. But now they’re talking directly to their forum users, blog readers, Facebook and Twitter followers. A copywriter could claim in beautiful prose that a washing powder ‘smells like a field of freshly mown hay’ in a TV ad with little fear of refute even if it smells like old Ammonia. Try that on Twitter. And there wasn’t much chance of anyone mentioning the destruction of rainforests during Kit Kat’s ad in the break in Corrie. There was on their Facebook fan page. So brands and their representatives have to learn to talk to their consumers as individuals not as a ‘type’ and expect and deal with an immediate response if they don’t like what they hear.
People marketing is new. And it’s a challenge. Get it right and the rewards will be great. Get it wrong and…well ask Gerald Ratner.
By Steve Downes
Juice Digital
Social Media agency, Manchester
