Blogs and RSS are heralded as "open source media" where no one controls the medium and all have equal access to any social discourse and ideas related to ones personal interests.
This trend is greatly changing the way marketing and communications are being conducted online. Print, radio, and TV represent the old way of reaching markets with your business offerings. Print, radio and TV are not irrelevant but businesses do need to recognize a new way to reach their markets.
The new way is Social Marketing with blogs and RSS.
Blogs and RSS represent the rise of social networks and community that are exercising great influence on the minds and purchasing decisions of consumer groups all across the Internet. Your markets are now comprised of a living and vibrant community of voices that you can no longer speak to but now you must speak with.
As a business you must now become a community builder. This means you are now reaching out and driving value for your business by how well you grow relationships in your market niches.
Old Media vs Open Source Media
With print, radio and TV a message is all about the product in 30 and 60 second pitches. With this media you have to craft a compelling ad with a call to action that addresses the want and need of your target market. You only needed to (and I'm being very simplistic here) ensure a quality product or service at the end when someone is moved by your marketing message to make a purchase. You want them to be happy with the product of course. It was all about the product pitch and how to get the customer to buy and keep them buying again and again.
Now it can be said that the more things change the more things stay the same and that's true but with allowances for basic progress and innovation. Marketing principles whether you consider them art or science haven't really changed fundamentally although the ways in which marketing principles have been applied have changed with time and technology.
At the end of the day a business needs to distribute a marketing message and advertising that creates continual business and adds to the bottom line. At the end of the day a business must conduct business to remain in business. This has not and never will change.
However, when some of the tools change...the rules change.
New Tools Means New Rules
Blogs and RSS are new tools that have introduced new rules.
Print media used the written word. Radio media added voice or sound to the written word. TV media added sight or vision to sound and the written word.
Blogs and RSS represent the new social media and is a marriage between the powerful social dynamic of people talking to other people about the products and services they like and the speed, reach and efficiency of Internet technology.
Call it customer evangelism, buzz or word of mouth. There is nothing new about this in form but in substance is a whole new game which requires thoughtful consideration when blogs are the tool of choice.
Why Do Blogs Buzz?
Blogs provide buzz and word of mouth a more spontaneous outlet for reaching more people in the real time with a specific message but buzz and word of mouth can now be strategically coordinated with precision and measurability. It's really simple: someone speaks and many others are listening and passing the message on. Someone shares information who shares that information with someone else. It what humans do naturally.
Print, radio and TV represent a media where the marketing message is usually sanitized and distributed as a controlled broadcast of one business to many consumers. Blogs on the other hand and as open source media tools are comprised of unmediated conversations that are connected in a multilateral fashion between groups of people which are tied socially to same wants and needs.
You just can't broadcast a pure marketing message. It is the peoples medium and the people are the gatekeepers of relevancy and authenticity.
Your have to socialize your marketing message. You have become a community builder, join conversations and create conversations instead of abruptly inserting a marketing message like a TV or radio commercial or print ad. As a community builder you take an active part in building acceptance of your messages through socialization.
Going Beyond Marketing Metrics
This goes beyond understanding the trends and percentages affecting your markets. You have to collaborate with consumers. You half to work with them, walk with them and respond to them. Consumers are making the choice to choose what messages they want, when they want them and how they want them.
Consumers are increasingly customizing their experiences online which means that they are only letting the most relevant information become a part of their online experiences. Your markets are now qualifying your products and services based on the quality of your information and communication and what it says about your credibility and reputation. Their assessments are being shared with many who share it with many others- instantly and in real time.
With blogs the power of the people IS the power. You have to recognize where the control is and what your people want.
For the online business this would be niche markets with consumers connected to other consumers in a type of "water cooler" discussion about the latest information developing in their areas of interest. These conversations are very informal and personal and are the foundations for what is sometimes called The World Live Web. This is the part of the WWW that is constantly updated in real time with digital conversations that are really people talking to people.
Technorati describes the World Live Web as a syndicated subset of the World Wide Web. The World Live Web as a subset of WWW is comprised of what I like to call content consumers and content creators. I talked a bit about content consumers and content creators. Here's an excerpt on Content Consumers:
Content Consumers are people that are apart of the growing trend in consumer controlled marketing where consumer feedback and discussion are a major influence in driving how businesses conduct their communications online. Content consumers participate regularly within markets that are directly related to or similar to their interests. These citizens know that their markets are influenced by providing valuable feedback and they look for opportunities to help shape their market.
Here is a an excerpt on Content Creators:
Content Creators are citizen journalist or news masters who specialize in filtering and presenting information to a target audience based on focus, topic or theme. Content Creators are bloggers...Content Creators are Content Consumers on steroids as it were. They can spread ideas faster and farther than anyone else because of the power, reach and efficiency of the blog and the World Live Web. Content Creators evangelize at a higher level than Content Consumers because of the tools they use. Content Consumers pull information for decision making and feedback. Content Creators push information for the purpose of influence, reputation and authority.
Realize now that your market dynamics have a highly social component that now has an outlet which bypasses mainstream media control and doesn't except random messages whether they be marketing messages or otherwise.
Social Marketing
You have to now become a merchant of community who trades in communication with a specific group. Credibility and reputation are the new currency of these digital social communities forming in your market. You are the product, the brand or the service.
There are 4 characteristics that I consider important for social marketing optimization with a blog. You are the blog and the blog is you. Blogs extend personality which creates a more personal feel for your business, which in turn fosters community and connection. Any thing short of a personal experience may be a little sterile or anonymous and consumers want personal access.
These 4 characteristics are assets when your community feels that these are what they have access to as they engage you discourse about your information and communication.
1.Credibility
2.Reputation
3.Authority
4.Authenticity
Blogs reflect the real life dynamics of social community. Social Marketing Optimization is about ranking high as a trusted source within your niche market communities. You want your business to be the "go to guy or gal" for authoritative information. You want your expertise to dominate your niche but more importantly you want to drive the greatest value in your market through social contact.
When you have a large community of supporters who can and will voluntarily vouch for your reputation how powerful is that? Can you tie a dollar sign that, really? That customer evangelism, buzz, word-of-mouth, people telling other people about you...voluntarily.
Blogs are tremendous amplifiers. You can extend and build your credibility, reputation, authority and authenticity by doing what you do best and doing it with a blog. Blogs do it better!
Information is the foundation for everything we do online. Blog distill information in the form of digital conversations that represent the thoughts and opinions of consumers influencing consumers. Consumers are checking facts and talking back. They are using blogs to spread the word.
Your business should consider how blogs combine information and personality to create an effective communications stream that will not only deliver your message quite effectively but also allows you to respond effectively to the social changes occurring among the digital communities that are now representative of your markets.
John Furrier talks about semantic ontology and social marketing as the future of online advertising. He says:
With the accelerated acceptance of Blogs and RSS ..etc .. online marketing in the Open Source Media era is about social marketing. I see this being the focus when the (click fraud laced) CPC market slows down. Information is the key to the future of online advertising. The publishing and broadcast aspect in particular. Search engine optimization will soon evolve to social marketing optimization. The semantics of the content and how it's distributed will determine relevancy.
Embracing Open Source Media and social marketing is key to success in the future of online advertising. Big media companies like, New York Times, USA Today, CNN, among others, have to either embrace Open Source Media or be killed by it.
Your market is the medium I say. Your market is living media that you can now use to socialize your business and a message that is adopted because of relationship is way more powerful than the 30 second commericial spot. Blogging as a medium to seriously consider. Your should start socializing your business now by creating a community around the value that your business has to offer.
Why should anyone do business with someone that won't talk to them? This is the evolution now taking place. Markets are conversions. But the question is, "Are You Talking Yet?".
More Good Stuff:
Search Engine Optimization - Not just Keywords but Integrated Marketing Communication - John Furrier, Bostonian in Silicon Valley
For corporate marketers the key to succes is developing what I call a "Marketing Ontology"... you are what your keywords say you are. If you're an online marketer integrate a keyword vocabulary (ontology) into all facets of your marketing communications. Consistency is key. Read More...
Bill Flitter of Pheedo - Advertising on blogs - AMA HotTopic Blog Seminar - Dana's Weblog
The history of advertising started with Print, Radio and TV, and has evolved into social marketing. In Bill's view of the world, we're moving to a consumer controlled marketing environment. It's all about control, time, and relevancy
Think: TIVO, Podcasting, Content Syndication
- View, listen, read: On my own terms, thank you very much.
Bill feels that there is a seismic shift away from "talking at" our customers, to a model where we're arm in arm in communication & collaboration with our customers. It's happening because consumers want CONTROL. Read More...
Blogging is NOT a direct response medium. It's a relationship medium. - Bill Flitter, Pheedo.com
It's no secret that a successful blog can be one of your most important tools in your marketing mix. There are several examples of companies doing it right and many companies the blogosphere has called out as doing it incorrectly. I've provided a quick-start guide to help you incorporate blogs into your marketing strategy. Most companies that failed have ignored these simple steps or refused to understand the basic of the new medium
There are three key points to understand about the new medium...Read More...
[UPDATED 01.18.2005 11:20PM EST]
