What’s So Hard About Social Media?
Social Media Isn't That Hard
I see a number of Ad Agencies not sure what to do and how to incorporate Social Media into their repertoire. In the advertising sense, some of them try to apply the standard broadcast methodologies to it, while others do this, some do that, and some don’t do anything. It’s a new medium, and everybody is fumbling around with it, (at least we’re doing something) whether they want to admit it or not. But what makes Social Media (which is simply another cog in the Internet Marketing wheel) such an axis shift for Ad Agencies is it’s an environment and atmosphere for conversation and exchange. This makes Social an active and maybe a “perceived” participatory medium, just like the name implies, and so unlike any of the staple “broadcast” mediums that Ad Agencies skill-sets have evolved and adapted for. This makes sense, because for the most part broadcast mediums were all any of us really knew, until the Internet, to get the skinny on what services or products were around. Traditional broadcast mediums were and are a one way street… and a brand could keep its distance.
The one alternative before the Internet to have a conversation and exchange with a producer, seller and customer was by going to a market place, like a farmer’s market for example, where people congregate, shoot-the-breeze, and the conversation is king – with broadcasting relegated to the back seat. But that’s all changed. A gazillion’ of us, and growing, are yakking away on a turf called Social Networks, brought to you wherever-the-hell-you-are thanks to the Internet. Words aren’t so much broadcasted here either, they’re exchanged. And if the Social Network explosion has proven anything it’s that broadcast advertising doesn’t work as well with people in an environment where conversation, exchange and expression can happen, and obviously flourish. Broadcast advertising isn’t going anywhere though, hell, it’s an American staple, like baseball and apple pie, it just isn’t “the top banana” like it used to be, it’s “part of,” meaning it isn’t the biggest dog on the block anymore.
Go to a social function, networking event, maybe a non-profit, this or that, and people are talking, listening, conversing, expressing themselves, not so much of the broadcasting stuff going on, then, after some good conversation you might hand them a business card or suggest they go to your Website or give a call. This is pretty much what happens within the Social Networks – only digitally, it’s a nurturing ground for rapport - first and foremost.
And therein lies the rub for a lot of Ad Agencies. Some of them just might have to learn to converse with people again - not broadcast to customers. Putting the stuff aside that makes the Social Media choice possible maybe the future of some Ad Agencies is in their past, with guys like David Ogilvey, who’s advertising said something perceived genuinely worthwhile to people of a particular interest group, which in turn led to a bit of a conversation within that particular interest group, which in turn persuaded parts of that particular interest group to say “you are now worthy enough to try and sell me on your product – so take your best shot – because you don’t have long.”
Smart Ad Agencies know they have to adapt themselves to Social Media by thinking another way. Not a new way, just a way they always knew and maybe some forgot. All the same, I haven’t seen yet the entry of a new medium replace any of the old, maybe knock the king-of-the-hill medium down a few pegs or shove it around a little, but that’s about it. And sometimes, depending on the type of new medium, when it’s hatched and takes hold, it can really throw a monkey-wrench in the works - which seems to be what’s happening now with Social Media, (that’s kind of an understatement I think).
Based on that mumbo-jumbo, let’s look at a few of what I see as the fundamental hurdles some Ad Agencies need to contend with as far as Social Media goes:
First: At the core of what a lot of Ad Agencies are about is winning awards, pure and simple. It’s difficult in the current Ad Agency Award structure to hand out a “paper-weight” for the most stunning print ad and the most breathtaking TV spot or the most acid-trippy Flash Site when Social Media is not print, it’s not TV and it isn’t Flash.
Second: The nature of Ad Agencies is to think in terms of we, (the ad agency) broadcasts, the consumer receives, while the Social Networks just keep saying “nice try buster, but that dog just doesn’t hunt here.” So, if the heart of Social Media isn’t a message displayed or broadcast on a billboard or TV, or an acid-trippy Flash thing-a-ma-bob, what is it? Well, from our experience it’s a “Table for Two” (thank you Clue Train Manifesto) which I’ve peppered-up a bit to say a “Table for Two with Seating Accommodations for a Zillion.”
Third: A lot of Ad Agencies still just wish all this Social-Media-Network-Conversation stuff would just go away. It’s probably not.
So, before we put a sock on it, a thing we’ve learned about Social Media, (and we’re just scratching the surface) is this: For the most part the Conversation is King and Broadcast Advertising is Court Jester… and we’ve picked this up mostly from our clients.
On one of my next ramblings, which will happen to be in the form of a Blog post, I’ll share with you deep down what I really feel Social Media is about. It’s one word, one of the oldest words in history, and if you base your Social Media escapades on it we believe you’ll have a shot at some success…and we got a client to thank for this little insight too. Maybe we should be paying our clients instead.
Hasta la vista, baby.
