The Recession and Resulting Shift

"Yes, we still need traditional media partners and integration will become more and more important," Mr. Farley said. "But then post-launch we can't just go away. We have to allocate [social and digital] resources because these different resources change the content and the dialogue of the product after the launch. It's much more manageable, and it impacts how we build the product."

from the Advertising Age article "Ford's Jim Farley Says Recession Was a Blessing for Digital"

Commenting on Five Reasons Social Media Marketing Comes Last

Earlier today I read "Five Reasons Social Media Marketing Comes Last" which is an excerpt of Shama Kabani's book, The Zen of Social Media Marketing. While I thought overall it was a good read, I don't agree with all the points.

But first let me say that I do agree with this:

"To start with, social media isn’t a marketing platform.  It’s a consumer platform."

Here are the 5 points listed and my comments in italic:

1. Customers look for recommendations and reviews on social media – and then head to your website to make a final purchase decision.
   
   Actually this is reversed. Customers visit your website first to check specs and other facts, but they won't make their decision there. They'll make their decision after reading reviews, perhaps researching some forums and then talking with their friends on Twitter or Facebook to get their opinion.
   


2. You own and control your website, but you don’t own or control any social media platform.
   
   Agreed - but you can definitely influence what occurs on those platforms.


3. Social media is a great amplifier – and it does just that.
   
   For good and for bad.
   


4. Marketing platforms – advertising, websites, email, e-newsletters, PR, webinars, special events, catalogs, etc. – reach the audience you define.  Social media reaches an audience that defines itself.
   
   Not for long. Facebook knows who you are and will most likely be selling that data to companies sooon. Twitter has just instituted their Promoted Tweets and you can be specific on who you want to reach. See http://mashable.com/2010/04/13/virgin-america-promoted-tweets/
   


5. Social media is a broad platform – but it isn’t deep.
   
   This is the one I have the greatest issue with. Sure if you define social media to be Twitter - but that's not the case. Blogs and forums are all forms of social media, and I'm not sure how you can classify those as being shallow.
   
   Also as far as Twitter is concerned - yes it's a social network but it also becoming the backbone of all social networking. Almost all the platforms now have an option to send updates and other bits of information on Twitter. It's like email - except anyone can read it. It's why FourSquare and Gowalla are now viable.

As far as websites are concerned - I believe that the integrated social presence is the future. It's a site that blends your blogs, pics from Flickr, videos from YouTube, tweets from Twitter, and any other presences you may have in a singular branded location. A great example of this is The Ford Story.