Marketing in the 21st century, we all know, is not as simple as it used to be.
With massive shifts in the consumption of traditional media, the maturation of a generation that were born with cell phones seemingly embedded in their hands and a post-recession consumer base that’s far less trusting than before – how are marketers supposed to know where to begin? And when tech-jargon like ‘Web 2.0’, ‘augmented reality’ and ‘f-commerce’ are thrown into the mix, it’s easy to get caught up in a whirlwind of social media hype.
Let’s take a step back and look critically (and without buzzwords) at the ways in which the social web can deliver business value for your brand.
Why social media?
Let’s start with the first question we all inevitably ask ourselves. Isn’t social media just for geeks, Americans and teenagers? Nope.
- There are 5.5 million South Africans online, and around 70% of them are using social networks
- Five of South Africa’s top 10 websites are social media sites
- 74% of South African Facebookers log on every single day
- The average social media user is between 25-35 years old
- The fastest growing group on most social networks is females over the age of 55
That’s a big (and economically very active) potential target group. But so what? Aren’t they all just out there playing Farmville? How would giving health or nutrition advice through Facebook help sell product?
The reason is trust. The Edelman Trust Barometer publishes a study every year publishes that measures which sources consumers trust the most, and least. Year on year, we see traditional marketing channels like advertising, traditional media and company spokespeople fall further and further down those rankings. Increasingly, the two most trusted sources of information are one: university professors and two: ‘people like me’.
The truth is that people don’t trust anything you tell them anymore; they trust each other. This is especially relevant for industries like food and beverage, where the decisions made by consumers are so dependent on testimonials and recommendations from friends and family. This makes social media the perfect avenue in which to build trust – because it’s built out of networks of real people and powered by word of mouth and peer recommendation.
How does this play out in practice? If I ‘like’ a food brand’s Facebook page because they give me fun cooking tips, my friends see that I have ‘liked’ this page and this acts as an explicit endorsement of the product. This also happens every time I comment on or ‘like’ one of the food brand’s Facebook posts, or even a news story on their website.
Worried that entering into the social media space may open the brand up to attacks? That’s like being worried that buying a newspaper will expose you to negative articles. Those conversations are already happening on social networks. If you’re not there, you just don’t know about them, so can’t respond.
How do you ‘do’ social media?
There are some basic guiding principles that will help you to make a success on social media:
Seven easy steps to getting started:
Happy Facebooking!
