Editorial Articles

With social media shifting the marketing model and redefining the rules, many are looking at how to get the most out of this evolving space. However it’s not always about what you can offer, sometimes it’s about what you can take away!

In a society driven by competition for market share each of us is now subjected to thousands of marketing messages every day.The necessity for resonance with your target audience is even more critical than ever, something which social media is ideally placed to help you with.

Complex ad serving systems exist across the web, with the aim of delivering the most relevant ads based upon page content or search terms, but these are only as relevant as the content they communicate. These systems aim to provide relevant ads to the visitor, so we need to continually ask ourselves more and more often “what does the potential customer want to hear?” So I now ask you, how well informed are your marketing messages?

Social media has already changed the marketing space in dramatic ways, giving an opportunity for brands to engage directly with their customers, identify issues with products and resolve customer queries. However, I believe that there is still something of a disconnect between the more traditional marketing messages which brands use in their ads and the conversations which are occurring in the social space. These conversations within specific industries are gold dust for creating relevant informed messaging which can resonate with a target audience.

Consider a scenario where active listening of conversations in social media has identified that a product from ‘Manufacturer A’ has not lived up to customer expectations, it’s battery lasting just five hours rather than the specified eight hours. With a social media monitoring function in place, ‘Manufacturer B’ can identify this limitation with its competitor’s device and more importantly, it can see that this is a core concern for its customers. ‘Manufacturer B’ is now perfectly placed to either look at its products in development to ensure that the batteries do last for the promised period, or if it has products that are already on the market, it can leverage this competitive intelligence through its marketing campaigns and tailor the messaging to attract its competitor’s customers. So whilst 'Manufacturer A' is engaged in damage limitation and product redevelopment, ‘Manufacturer B’ is armed with the weaponry to create highly relevant and focussed campaign messaging to win market share from ‘Manufacturer A’.

In everything that we as marketers do in this evolving media age, we have to consider that in reality the messaging which we broadcast to an audience is often widely disregarded once substantial conversation about that product/service has begun in the social space. It is for this very reason that we should be looking to utilise social media to help define our messaging, to identify potential opportunities and to subsequently create online discussion as a result of the targeted campaigns bought about by the refined messaging.

These valuable conversations are happening all the time; this intelligence is being freely voiced directly from potential customers who are unhappy with their current product or service.
So, just how well informed are your marketing messages?You could be missing a trick if you’re not listening to the conversations in the social space and you can be sure that if you aren’t listening, one of your competitors will be.

Felix Hemsley
Social Media Marketing Manager, Essential Communications
Twitter: EssentialComs
Twitter: FelixHemsley