Social media had a big ’09. In 2010, SM is going to be normalised.
In New Zealand, and around the world, the ‘early adopter’ businesses that took their first significant social media engagement strides in 2008 and 2009 will look to blend SM into the rest of their marketing and communications. The days of SM being a shiny, unproven subject of experiment and speculation are ending.
By December last year a range of brands in NZ had got stuck in. Big boys like Telecom, TVNZ, Vodafone and a host of others like V, Monteiths, Orcon, the NZ Army and their agencies, took the initiative. They had some wins and some learnings, but importantly took big steps in understanding how to plan and execute successful SM engagement.
Those learnings, and the growing acceptance that SM is a legitimate channel, combined with the fact that SM is the communications channel of choice for many, will see brands look to normalise SM and give it a more integrated place in their overall marketing and communications.
What will this mean in practice?
It means that doing SM is about to become a bit more boring, at least compared to the exploration phase of the last 2 years. It’s now time to get some processes into conceiving and implementing SM initiatives. The return-on-effort needs to improve so that SM can be more efficiently implemented.
It means that the technology will take a back seat to content and engagement, to doing what’s right to create and build relationships.
It means that measurement of SM engagement will get sharper. Metrics will move beyond internal campaign measures and include standard marketing KPIs, allowing SM initiatives to be compared to other channels.
But don’t think boring and normalised means a lack of impact. The very fact that SM will become a core part of marketing and communications teams’ everyday lives means its scale, and the rate of learning, is going to skyrocket.
There is also growing opinion that as SM becomes normalised it will become more useful and reliable for consumers. This will see it become the number one communications channel for even more people and require companies to ensure their SM activities move beyond brand experience to providing genuine consumer value. This will be a paradigm change in how companies communicate with consumers.
Author: Tony Gardner, Saatchi & Saatchi DGS and Chair, Digital Leadership Group
