Striking Gold With Social Media Integration
Author: Sid Liebenson // Category: Better Social Media Marketing
This blog entry picks up on a topic I covered in a recent presentation at the DMA Agency Council Winter Executive Briefing conference..
Having been deeply involved for many years on the Boards of the DMA International ECHO Awards and the John Caples International Awards, I’ve become a pretty knowledgeable observer of trends in effective direct marketing campaigns. A review of the past year’s awards season shows that many of the world’s top award winners put participatory digital media at the heart of their campaigns.
These campaigns invited consumers to join in online conversations on such contentious subjects as children choosing to enlist in the military and problems with healthcare policy. They solicited consumer-generated video content to apply for a “dream job” and let the public vote on the submissions. They showed projects unfold in real time to keep the audience engaged with the campaign over time. (Visit the Gallery at www.dma-echo.org and select 2009 Gold Award Winners for examples and inspiration.)
None of these campaigns existed purely in the digital realm. They used a variety of media to drive consumers to the online “hub”. And not every element of the campaign demanded action, because brand building was often as big a priority as response. As a group, they represent the global trend of multimedia campaigns — involving multiple marketing disciplines — built around the delivery of a unique online experience.
Several of these campaigns employed proprietary social media channels to stimulate dialogue, typically combining their efforts with broader, well-known social media channels like Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube. This lent an enticing sense of “now” to the campaigns, which not only made the brand messages more relevant to the target audience, but also made the campaigns more effective. Awards like the ECHOs are given on the basis or results as well as strategy and creativity. Surely, these campaigns generated buzz, but they also met — and exceeded — marketing objectives.
Interestingly, in taking a closer look at these award-winners, the campaigns’ digital customer engagement was not always directly linked to their transactional marketing objectives. It’s important to understand that consumers do not typically engage with social media to be solicited, and an indirect transactional strategy might be the right option. But more experimentation is needed to determine the best approach for each specific marketing situation.
Now that we know that participatory digital media can enhance campaign effectiveness, we need to get a better bead on “how?“ Our challenges as marketers include gaining a better understanding of:
– Participation vs. qualification: Are we attracting participants who are qualified customers?
– How do we best facilitate he conversion of online participation to profitable transaction?
– How do we quantify the loyalty effect of digital media engagement?
– How do we expand and extend the initial dialogue for greater long-term benefit?
– How do we determine the true ROI contribution of digital media engagement?
I believe that we are just beginning to understand the power of integrating social media as part of an overall marketing campaign, and soon the smartest marketers will learn to harness this power for better, more efficient results. What do you think? Please share your comments and ideas on the opportunities and challenges of putting social media at the heart of marketing campaigns.
March 7th, 2010 at 10:57 am
The whole concept of social media has become so trendy, I wonder if we haven’t lost our ability to “see the forest from the trees.”
All too often marketers feel they can just barge into a dialog, no matter where it is taking place, and blurt out their message. I understand, there’s so many of the target audience on Facebook, we just have to be there too, but we lose sight of how our message will be received – we’re not thinking from the audience’s point of view.
I see the social environment as a great place to listen and wait to serve. It is a place where stuff is discussed and experienced. Then, from time to time, a need is uncovered or some commercial thing comes up within the social dialog. Here’s where we marketers can carefully invite ourselves into the equation.
Then, as far as value goes, we might remember that people do business with people. Consumers, er, People, generally talk first, asking questions, trying to learn or might just comment about some need or business issue. When we get involved in that discussion we can definitely help answer or propose a solution, or provide a way for that person to learn for themselves. This then ‘pre-qualifies’ that person and moves the process along to either building a position within that person’s mind about our offering, or maybe even eases the transition from dialog to closure. That’s where the value is, as it has been in marketing all along.
March 28th, 2010 at 9:34 am
I can see that you are an expert at your field! I am launching a website soon, and your information will be very useful for me.. Thanks for all your help and wishing you all the success in your business.
March 28th, 2010 at 6:35 pm
Thanks for your comment. I hope our blog provides plenty of useful information to you as you launch your new Web site. Best of luck!
March 29th, 2010 at 5:06 am
Thank you for your help!
March 30th, 2010 at 12:13 am
“I see the social environment as a great place to listen and wait to serve.”– Steve Hausheer. So, in my mind I’m seeing myself ‘conversing’ with someone about cookware, and lo and behold, a cookware add pops up. Or, the sidebar changes from House Mortgages to great restaurants in Chicago — or Chicago Cutlery.. or something similar. Is that what you had in mind, or am I reading too much into it?
March 30th, 2010 at 9:21 am
We are Eric Harr Social Media — and we believe passionately that social media can unleash the greatest good our world has ever seen. We showed it in Haiti — and we are seeing it everyday among the over 10 million people we reach each month. We help individuals build their brands and brands build their business by coalescing the strengths of traditional and social media. We leverage the most powerful social media platforms to help our clients boost brand equity, win new customers, transform current customers into vocal evangelists — and catalyze social change. Bottom line: we do good business with good people as we do good in our world. Social Media For Social Good. Who’s with us?
http://www.ericharrsocialmedia.com
April 2nd, 2010 at 1:17 pm
Hi Rotor,
I wanted to make the point that campaigns that include elements of social media, such as the opportunity to join an online conversation, or upload photos or videos, or vote on/post reviews, etc., are now recognized for innovation and effectiveness. So if you were selling cookware, you might want your Web site to have a tips/techniques blog, a place where customers could exchange recipes of items made with the cookware (with uploaded photos and a chance for others to rate the recipes or vote on the photos), a place where people could review their satisfaction with the products, downloadable cooking demos with a celebrity chef, etc. All of this would engage the readers even more and increase your brand’s value perception. Including relevant pop-up ads or targeted banners might be something interesting to do, but I wouldn’t consider the practice as representative participatory digital media.
April 22nd, 2010 at 10:56 pm
Thanks for the comments, Burton. It’s great to hear from someone who is as passionate about the potential of social media as we are. Using social media for social good is can indeed be effective, especially when integrated with other communications channels. Not only do I expect to see social media used more productively by philanthropic organizations, I also anticipate cause related social media efforts to become part of integrated brand campaigns. (And, hopefully, both of our agencies will benefit from the trend.)