According to a group of copywriters on the professional social networking website LinkedIn, social media has ruined marketing.
As absurd as it may sound, it is true; social media ruined the traditional form of marketing to which many copywriters had become so accustomed.
Traditional marketing was often company-centric instead of customer-centric. Instead of focusing marketing copy on what a company could do for consumers, most businesses just talked about how good they were or why they were better than the competition.
The social media revolution ushered in a new standard of interacting with consumers to generate leads and capture sales – which isn’t a bad thing once marketers understand how they must adapt to the changes.
Monologue vs. Dialogue
The stage is no longer set for businesses to ramble on and on about their own greatness. In order to succeed in social media marketing, companies must engage consumers and get them to feel comfortable with the brand.
Blogs, social networking accounts, forums, etc. are all options for holding conversations with your audience. Failing to do so in the age of social media only hurts business.
Bells & Whistles vs. Substance
Back then, fancy graphics on a direct mail letter or ad caught loads of attention. Once the software came about to incorporate vibrant designs into textual marketing materials, companies hopped on the opportunity to use them to stand out from the rest.
What they lacked in substance, they made up for in pretty colors.
Social media set a higher standard. Shared images, videos and infographics make it harder to capture an audience’s attention by using nice graphics.
In fact, fancy graphics are actually the norm. And that leads to the most important aspect of marketing that social media ruined.
Marketers Must Work Hard for Their Money
A well thought out concept and good delivery is only the beginning. Marketers must work a lot harder to break through the mountains of marketing messages thrown at consumers on a daily basis.
They have to work hard for leads. They have to work hard for conversions. They have to work hard for the money.
Social media requires marketers to get EXTRA creative. In order to keep audiences engaged, social media campaigns have to be strong, specifically tailored to a targeted audience, unique in your niche and led by savvy marketers who truly understand the dynamics of web marketing.
Out with the Old?
Although social media made a lot of traditional marketing ineffective, be careful not to disregard traditional marketing altogether.
Social media is an extra tool in the shed, not the toolbox itself.
Traditional marketing materials that are created with the equal time, creativity and effort required to drive an effective social media campaign contribute added success to any business in any niche.
The ruined aspects of traditional marketing needed to be done away with. Hold tight to the elements of traditional marketing that are tried and true. Combined with social media, the two optimize your business for success.