Tuesday, 22 July 2014

Social media marketing is dead

In today’s millennial-inspired economy, social media marketing is dead. I didn’t say social media is dead — just the idea that social media marketing is the most effective approach to win over millennials.

Yes, millennials are heavy social media users and are 2.5 times more likely to adopt new digital, social and mobile tools. What drives social media activation for millennials, however, is content excellence.

Marketers are often pegged with questions related to the future of social media such as: Is Facebook still relevant? What’s the next social platform? Which is most powerful — a like, a share, a re-tweet, or a favorite?

While these are all fair questions, attempting to grade the social landscape in this manner is counterproductive and missing the greater point.

Your approach to content is what will make or break your marketing communication efforts in the future. Social media is simply one way to activate your content strategy.

Re-imagine creative excellence within a content excellence framework

For more than 40 years, the great brands of yesterday were focused on creative excellence. They crafted the perfect message and then pushed those messages out via various shotgun methodologies, hoping to build brand awareness and regard for their cherished products.

Brand awareness and credibility alone will not correlate in any way to extraordinary and sustainable financial performance.

Think of content as an opportunity for your brand voice to live everywhere you are not. We used to think of advertising as a means of communicating a message to a certain audience. But traditional advertising messages are limited to their medium. People experience brands in fluid ways and we can no longer simply rely on creative advertising to make an impact. Content is about the message and the context.

Your content strategy should be about activating and engaging your digital community in ways that traditional advertising never could.

Focus on creating content that is “share-worthy”

Millennials share content that interests them, not content that companies want them to share.

The idea of content being “share-worthy” is nothing new. Marketers used to encourage sharing by word-of-mouth. Today we talk about sharing by word-of-mouse. The “share” is no anomaly — we’ve just shifted from a mindset of advertising ideas to creating ideas that are worth advertising. Treating content in that manner ensures your message is meaningful to your audience.

Remember the Seinfeld “Break Up” episode? George says, “It’s not you — it’s me.” Sharing is rooted in peer affirmation and how millennials feel about themselves when they share content with friends, family and random strangers. The great brands of tomorrow will not simply push out social media messages — they will inspire sharing. Millennials share content that adds to their story, and bypass content that doesn’t.

Unique content will drive sustained brand success

In the future, the most successful brands will get consumers who are active participants to create more content on behalf of the brand than the brand creates for its own benefit. The key to this content is maintaining a certain level of uniqueness and meaningfulness.

The most unique and meaningful brands will have the highest probability of sustained economic performance. Uniqueness will be a proxy for brand-pricing authority and meaningfulness will be a proxy for sales volume potential.

5 implications for brand strategy professionals:
  1. Build a content excellence strategy first.
  2. Think about content and social media as different players. Integration will drive performance. Social media marketing isn’t a strategy.
  3. Inspiration is your brand responsibility.
  4. Useful is the new cool. Your content should be functional and inspiring.
  5. Participation increases brand value. Find ways for your most avid brand fans to join the movement.
For read original Article source: http://www.bizjournals.com/jacksonville/how-to/marketing/2014/07/social-media-marketing-is-dead.html

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