Are Consumers Really Shaping Marketing through Social Media?
By no means is it easy to be a marketer!
In today’s marketplace, the ever increasing pressures means conducting ‘business as usual’ is no longer an option. As business faces pressures, companies are looking for new opportunities to drive sales, attract new customers and build brands.
.....so, CMA’s Integrated Marketing and Customer Experience Council took on the task of examining the role of social media in today’s marketing environment. We used social media as well as an online survey to begin the discussion. Through sites such as Linked In and Facebook, we cast out a series of questions to marketers and consumers, asking them to define social media, how they use it and how it is impacting their buy and sell decisions.
The goal of this ‘social dialogue’ was to gather insights and begin to form an understanding about how and why consumers/marketers are using social media. We wanted to get a sense on whether or not consumers really are abandoning brands because a blogger disliked an ad. How widespread is the “voice” of the consumer online, and how does it impact purchase behaviour? Maybe more importantly, how are marketers planning to deal with this marketing shift where the brand is in the consumers’ hands (or so we are told)?
In the long term, social media may have a positive effect on margins by:
-Focusing less on selling and price and more on customer service
-Building a dialogue with customers
-Gaining a deeper understanding about who their customers are
-Trying to locate brand advocates
At this stage, many marketers responded with a common theme – that social media tactics today are useful for the more abstract roles of building brand awareness and enhancing/influencing brand reputation.
Social marketing efforts are in the early stages, from both a consumer & marketer perspective but exciting things are happening. In the short term it seems to makes sense for companies to start exploring/building their social strategies as an important component of the overall marketing mix. Consumers appear to be still in the process of building their networks.
...Findings from our online survey are accessible to CMA members on CMA's website.
Let us know what you think.
Authored by Ivana Mazon, Vice Presdient Client Services, FUSE Marketing Group
