Augie Ray serves Marketing Leadership Professionals. See the full Analyst bio.
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I'm On A Social Media Horse!
Posted by Augie Ray on December 3, 2010
Hello, marketers, I'm Social Media. Look at your traditional marketing; now back to me; now back at your traditional marketing; now back to me.
How's your traditional marketing looking? Time spent watching TV at home rose just 0.6 percent in the first quarter and newspaper circulation is down 5% after a 10.6% plunge a year ago. Meanwhile, traffic to Facebook is up 60% this year.
Now look at your television and print budgets. Better put on sunglasses or all those zeros and commas may blind you! Now look at your social media budget -- I'll wait while you find a magnifying glass. Now back to your television budget; now back to my budget.
Can your traditional advertising cut costs like me? Can it reach 150,000 with 98% positive sentiment at no cost like me? Can it cause 4.8M people to seek it out rather than be ignored as the DVR fast-forwards? Does it empower your employees?
Sadly, your traditional marketing isn’t me, but if it stopped focusing on itself . . . well, it still wouldn't be me. Why? Because consumers trust me (or at least they trust each other within social media) more than they trust your traditional marketing. They trust ratings and reviews, and they trust blog posts and status updates of the people they know. Your TV ads? They're on the sidelines while I'm on the field giving my all every play to earn trust.
Look down, back up, where are you? You’re on Facebook, and why shouldn't you be since that's where everyone else is? How many friends does your brand have? And how differentiated is your brand on Facebook?
What’s in your hand, back at me. I have it! It’s a smartphone, and the number of those handy little devices is growing rapidly. As more people carry smartphones, do you know what that means? More me: Mobile Facebook users are far more active on Facebook than non-mobile users. In fact, access to Facebook via mobile browsers grew 112% in 12 months, while Twitter experienced a 347% jump.
Anything is possible when your marketing smells like social and not traditional.
I’m on a social media horse.
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The preceding blog post may be evidence I need more sleep. Thanks to Old Spice and Isaiah Mustafa for the inspiration.
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Comments
Augie: You are the marketing
Augie:
You are the marketing my marketing could smell like!!
Nice one.
@tomob
Best. Comment. Ever!
I laughed out loud. Thanks for the feedback!
If this post is evidence you
If this post is evidence you need more sleep, you should stop sleeping altogether. Insightful, convincing, hilarious.
I don't get enough sleep as it is!
Thanks Blair! My wife already is worried I don't get enough sleep. Personally, I find sleep a waste of time--think of how productive (and hilarious) we'd be if we could skip it altogether!
They "shoot" horses, don't they?
... and not just with bullets, but on film and digital video too. I agree wholeheartedly with the social sentiment but don't kill the horse you rode in on. The Old Spice campaign began on tv. Great work is great regardless of medium.
Traditional and digital horses
Thanks Paul. I absolutely agree--it's certainly not an either/or. I was setting up the distinction in the interest of making a point (and being humorous), but your point is well taken. Of course, considering what most brand's traditional vs. digital vs. social budgets are right now, I think the horse that we rode in on could give up some feed to the other horses!
Excellent post. Thanks for
Excellent post. Thanks for posting this information.
SMM
Social media has been part of any internet user’s life for the last five years, with services popping up and falling down at an astonishing pace.
Hilarious! Thanks!
Best post of the week - thanks! "Now look at your television and print budgets. Better put on sunglasses or all those zeros and commas may blind you! Now look at your social media budget -- I'll wait while you find a magnifying glass."
Thanks!
Thanks for the positive feedback, Marjorie. Glad you enjoyed it!
last line
Augie,
Loved this take on what's to come - great perspective.
That last line was great, "I'm on a social media horse." In my head i heard it followed by, "and I'm riding it to the bank!"
Horses and Banks
Thanks for the positive feedback, Ryan. I laughed at your suggestion--would've been the perfect end to that blog post!