Other Sites - Marketing Profs

Have been enjoying the posts at their collaborative blog, Daily Fix.


J

Democratic vs. Social

Reading in Google Reader earlier today and ran across a reference to blogs as “social” media. Interesting. For me they are not so much social as they are democratic. I think that this is an important nuance in our dialog concerning the evolution of digital marketing.

Democracy can be defined as:

“the doctrine that the numerical majority of an organized group can make decisions binding on the whole group”

reference

Thus, democratic media or marketing would be concerned with control of media, pricing, marketing, etc, being in the hands of the masses more so than in the hands of executives or corporations. I believe this is indeed part of the impact of the blogosphere (and digital media/access generally).

So for me, blogs are more democratized-media than they are social-media.

Social can be defined as:

“living together or enjoying life in communities or organized groups...”

reference

So social media or marketing would relate more to places where community happens, where people aggregate to enjoy and share common interests. Facebook, MySpace, and LinkedIn all come to mind.

Perhaps at a macro level a set of blogs on the same subject with lots of linked and shared topics may be a social phenomenon.

A little analytical? Sorry. But being very clear on this distinction could be useful as you try to determine whether or not you are leveraging both forces to your advantage.

J

5 Digital Musts

Here are Five things that you need to be testing or doing now:

1) Loosen Your Grip

Find some area of your business, products, or brand that you can loosen your grip on. The most powerful force in business today is democratization. By ceding some control to your customers you will gain far more insight, buzz, and loyalty more that you will risk. Connect with your customers via dialog and collaboration. Let them create your next commercial. Look to Amazon's user reviews and Apple's iMix for inspiration.

2) Be Social

It is no accident or teenage fad, social is a force. LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace and others are for real. Can you allow customers and prospects to share, discuss, explore, and contribute to your brand? Can you leverage what is happening already in those spaces? See the Microsoft Student Group on Facebook.

3) Speed Up

While still developing, real time or instant marketing is coming on fast. Email is slow by today's standard. I have to notice and open an email. IM, mobile, micro blogging, and other touch points are compressing time. If it's hot, get it out there right away. Check out Dell on Twitter.

4) Get off the Page

User experiences based on clicking from one HTML page to another are going away. Broadband is here in a big way, already in 48% of homes. Your website and digital marketing experiences need to be rich. Customers should be in an experience that moves smoothly and that transitions and updates seamlessly. Check out Kayak's great shopping interface.

5) Do It

Get yourself and staff involved in this stuff. You need collaborative workspaces for your teams. Thought leaders need to have blogs. Play around with Twitter, start a social network of your own with Ning. Only by living with these things will you be able to understand their value, challenges, and be able to implement them to your advantage.

J