Social Media Biggest Shift In Marketing Strategy Since Television?

by on 6 March, 2008 - 21:37

by: Karl LongHyperbole? I don't think so. I believe that social media is reshaping the business landscape and is changing, or requiring change from every aspect of the business, from business strategy, to product development, to marketing, to human resources (hey, even Microsoft is taking notice see this FT article "A revolution is taking shape").

The Newcomreview.com just posted on a report from TNS media intelligence/Cymfony that found 50% of Marketing Executives Believe Social Media Is a "Vital Component" of Corporate Communications, that's a pretty huge shift if is really representative of marketers across the board.

I really like the way they seperated between "wait and see" folks who are just dipping their toe in with social media and and "revolutionaries" who have embraced the change.

The survey reveals that the early adopters ("Revolutionaries") are more advanced in their understanding and execution of social media marketing initiatives than more cautious marketers ("Wait-and-Sees"). First, nearly five times as many Revolutionaries are already implementing social media in their organizations and three times as many Wait-and-See companies are only at the learning stage. In addition, Revolutionaries are far more optimistic about the future of social media with 81% saying it will grow in significance over the next five years. Only 33% of the Wait-and-Sees agreed with this outlook.

and even more fascinating and how do they approach marketing differently?

When asked about how they would use social media to influence their marketing initiatives, Wait-and-See companies put more emphasis on using social media for new types of marketing campaigns such as viral marketing and videos, while Revolutionaries focus more on listening to consumer and bloggers' points-of-view. One area where they were in accordance was that both Revolutionaries (95%) and Wait-and-Sees (60%) are eager to connect with other colleagues to study consumer feedback and learn from

In other words the wait and see folks are still hooked into the "campaign" big bang fire and forget model, and the revolutionaries are "participating in the conversation" and building deeper relationships with their customers. Hmm, I wonder what has a better ROI.

So which one are you? Wait and see? or a revolutionary?

Original Post: http://experiencecurve.com/archives/social-media-biggest-shift-in-marketing-strategy-since-television