Comments on: Social Media: Just Another Marketing Channel?

By: Liliana Milano

Liliana Milano — Thu, 26 Nov 2009 15:33:30 +0000

Hi,
Yes for sure It is a super channel for marketing, but no the way companies try to use it, with advertising.
It will a succes when we use the marketing “mouth to mouth” trough the social network
Example: People don´t enter in to a logo or a offer that flashes to take our attention, but I have some trusted friends that reccomends me some places, activities, or products. Then I get interested.

By: Jonathan Moody

Jonathan Moody — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 08:08:39 +0000

Great post and as several others and you point out, I think this study misses the point. As you say:
“To summarize – this study showed that when I want to buy a new car or a cell phone I don’t go to Flickr or Last.fm or YouTube or Twitter to find out which brand I should buy.” There are myriad other long standing, active and influential social media where people go to inform purchase decisions. These can be far more specialised (ie targetted) than social networks: blogs, forums, review sites, message boards, usenets, debate strings following reviews in specialist of generalist online media – BBC.com, NY Times, What Car?(often with high traffic.) Jon Moody http://www.asomo.net

By: Scott Davila

Scott Davila — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 15:40:09 +0000

April,
Well said. I encourage all marketers, espcially B2B, to read The Cluetrain Manifesto. It puts it all in the right perspective. Maybe one day we will start calling social media what it really is, which is online networking.

By: Anne Verghese

Anne Verghese — Mon, 15 Jun 2009 08:25:30 +0000

Hi April,
A very interesting post. Got loads of information just from this article. And I also like the way you have written.
However, in some other article that I came across, it says that e-mail & social media have apparently merged to create a marketing channel.
Would recommend you to go through it once. Here is the link -
http://www.webguild.org/2009/06/email-social-media-merged-to-create-marketing-channel.php?p=p2

By: April Dunford

April Dunford — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:28:17 +0000

Thanks for the comment. I totally agree.
April

By: April Dunford

April Dunford — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 23:27:37 +0000

Hi Julie,
Thanks so much for the comment (and the compliment)!
I totally agree, there is nothing as powerful as relationships when it comes to selling.
Thanks again!
April

By: Steve McAuliffe

Steve McAuliffe — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 22:20:03 +0000

Great Post April. We now have a responsible way of communicating and harvesting thoughts and information from our customers. It becomes a comfortable communication among “friends” thus generating sincere insights into products and services. This is the essence of sound marketing.

By: Julie Fogg

Julie Fogg — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 17:23:43 +0000

As usual, your posts are worth my time and more. Even when I have 50 fires demanding my attention, I never skip your posts (same for Chris Brogan). Plus, I would buy products you suggest if I was in the market for one of your suggestions. I don’t watch TV, don’t listen to the radio, don’t read newspapers – I don’t read 95% of my email and I don’t touch my physical (snail) mail. I pay someone to do that because I don’t have time. Bottom line: the only way to sell me something is through my relationships and information streams (like Twitter). So suggest away.

By: April Dunford

April Dunford — Tue, 02 Jun 2009 09:53:40 +0000

Hi Jim,
Thanks for the comment. I think we’re moving toward a situation where consumers are getting as much as they are giving when it comes to dealing with a company’s marketing department. I see that as real progress.
April

By: Dr. Jim Anderson

Dr. Jim Anderson — Mon, 01 Jun 2009 23:02:23 +0000

Great post! It sure looks like the study missed the point – today’s social media is redefining the types of conversations that we can have with our customers. The old days of yelling at them (“New & Improved!”, “Buy Now!”) are pretty much over.
What we can do now is have a longer term relationship that is actually much deeper: why did you buy my product, how did it work for you, what would you like to see changed. This is more talking and less advertising.
Change can happen even when we’re not set up to see it and it sure looks like we are right in the middle of a sea of change…!
- Dr. Jim Anderson
http://www.TheAccidentalPM.com
The Accidental Product Manager Blog
“Home Of The Billion Dollar Product Manager”
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