Social media is no doubt a new sensation which has become very popular, very quickly but social media experts still have to learn some marketing basics. Social media has enjoyed tremendous growth recently. However, the importance of traditional media cannot be ignored. Initially, some business executives were reluctant to use this new phenomenon but this is rapidly changing.
It is a new entrant in digital marketing and for this very reason, social media experts mostly do not have a marketing basis. This new phenomenon has a large space to innovate. It does not have to follow the hard and fast rules set for traditional media. One-to-one customer interactions can be created easily and social media staff can effectively help the users.
Some people allege that social media experts have gotten into a sense of superiority. Well, social media does have great potential, but there is no denying the fact that some social media newbies do not have a basis in marketing. It’s time that social media management learns some marketing basics.
- It seems as if social media experts are underestimating the importance of traditional media. While print media has experienced a decline in the past few years, digital traditional media hasn’t. Newspapers are finding it a little hard to compete. People don’t want to pay for general content anymore due to which the newspapers are experiencing a decline. Television also suffered a small decline but now it is again well adopted by users. Even with all of this traditional media still has a huge audience. It is more conventional and considered easy to use.
- The thought that social media is replacing traditional media is more of a myth. Even on social networks most of the chat is about popular TV shows, movies, game shows, and reality shows. People use social media channels like Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter to promote their movies and TV shows. Most brands prefer to get Instagram followers and views from this site to get instant popularity that proving once again that traditional media has a huge audience.
- Broadcast is still the major source of information. In a way, social media is also, to a great extent, dependent on broadcast services. Writing a post on your Facebook profile and inviting comments is a form of broadcast. Social media is in no position to compete with broadcast services as it is itself using it. Broadcast is a flexible medium and can be used in a variety of ways. Social media experts need to look into this and not try to compete with broadcast services.
- Social media is a good place to advertise brands but it is at the moment not overpowering traditional media as advertising is not just about counting click- through. Advertising is about understanding customer behavior. Social media people expect customers to click ‘buy’ buttons straight away but this usually doesn’t happen. These people need to learn marketing tactics from the ones who have been in the business for some time.
- People associated with social media seem to have the perception that people believe whatever they read. This isn’t true in most of the cases. With so much information available customers have become far more informed. Moreover, with services such as Digg and AllTop, they can filter out the content they don’t want. For example, if somebody isn’t interested in movies he can set up the preferences and movies related content won’t reach him.