Shannon's thoughts on marketing, public relations, social technology, entrepreneurship and other things

This video epitomizes what the Internet has become in the last five to seven years. Mateusz Zdziebko, the musician, has taken the ordinary and made it extraordinary by looking at it differently. Where most people see duct tape as an adhesive, he saw a musical instrument. In the same way, social media has taken the notion of community from those you can see to a global spectrum of people you may never meet and who are equally as valuable and important.

It is realm of the possible that makes the new frontier of social technology so exciting. For marketers, public relations professionals and entrepreneurs, now is the time to experiment on what can become viral, what will draw clicks to the site and how far can you push the envelope. Just as television opened up the realm of the possible in the middle of the 20th century, the social Internet has extended the reach.

Sampled Room from Mateusz Zdziebko on Vimeo.

Professional marketers have to get in touch with their inner love, peace and light...and it's all social marketing's fault.

Social technology consultants are telling traditional marketing professionals to be transparent, authentic, trustworthy and community focused. What??? Stop the presses!!!

Yes, social marketing revolves around a level of forthrightness, openness and collaboration that has been unheard of (at least not widely embraced) in the marketing profession. For years, traditional marketers controlled the brand and have cut their teeth on knowing how to deliver it to  the right audience at the right time for the right price. Marketing has been about brand management, conversion rates & conversion velocities, lead generation & close rates, paid media and surveys & focus groups. Then comes along social technology, and consultants are encouraging traditional marketers to listen AND engage with customers in public dialogue, as well as share OR relinquish control of the brand.

You mean...
You're kidding...
You want me to do what...

For some brands this is a sea change in the corporate culture, and for others, it is where they have wanted to go and didn't know how or have the capacity to do so. The key factor to keep in mind, social technology marketing and traditional marketing work together, they complement each other. As 2011 begins, it is imperative that social tools and tactics become a key component of your marketing plans, not a one-off or an add-on. It can provide marketers:

• unbiased market research: marketers should embrace customer ideas, comments and complaints; a user generated comment can be the impetus for the next great campaign;

• unique public relations opportunities: online contests are not a new idea; however, utilizing bloggers, Facebook, Twitter and niche online communities can increase awareness and participation exponentially;

• creative customer service: the ubiquitous 1-800 is still useful; listening to and monitoring online chatter about your brand is more effective as research shows most people won't congratulate or complain, consumers speak with their wallets;

• additional messaging channels: first there was the newspaper, then mail-order catalogs, radio, billboards, TV, direct mail, email and banner ads; now there are sponsored tweets, Facebook ads, Foursquare check-in specials, blog ads...and this is just paid media, imagine the possibilities for earned media;

• and out-of-the-box lead generation: all of the above efforts can lead to increased lead generation and increased sales.

Nugget of knowledge: Traditional Marketing + Social Marketing = A Successful Campaign

Marketers often speak about controlling their brand, which by definition is out of their control. In the most layman of terms, a product's brand is the individual and collective thoughts and feelings of said product's customers --> the product's brand is what people think and how they feel about it.

The most marketers can hope to do is influence what their customers may think of their brands. Marketing and advertising professionals have become experts in observation, research and human behavior, allowing them to give consumers what they want, when they want it and how they want it. On the other hand, consumer's believe they have the power to get companies to create, change or discontinue products through the use of or withholding of the almighty dollar. This begs the question, who controls a product's brand? The reality is closer to marketers and consumers share brands.

Social media is causing paradigm shifts (and some mild heart attacks) because of brand transparency. This phenomenon is causing fear and trepidation in the hearts of most traditional marketers and a false sense of bravado in consumers. For marketers, consumers used to call or write letters when they had complaints. Now they can blast brands on blogs, ravage products with scathing reviews and flog your flagship endeavors on Facebook. Brands are at the mercy customers, and truth be told, they always have been. The difference is customers now have a way to express and disseminate their discontent to hundreds, thousands, even millions of others almost instantaneously. For consumers, brands can easily share their cases of consumer abuse, exaggeration and fabrication to self promotion and gain. Brands and products can now go the offensive, telling their side of the story, heading off the firestorm of consumer ire before the clouds even begin to form. And while the axiom of "the customer is always right" may have been the governing principle for 20th century customer service, seemingly the pendulum is swinging back to center, where consumers and brands share responsibility for fulfilling the brand's promise.

As marketers learn to release their brands, they gain real time engagement, communication and recognition with their customers, all of which can improve the brand as its advocates take part in its success. Companies, C-suites, agencies and public relation firms should remember, consumers chose their products and services, they want brands to succeed, and working together, they can.

Additional resources:
What is a brand?
What is a logo?