A Silver Lining in the Current Downturn
With our global economy hitting a rough patch right in the middle of budgeting season. Unfortunately, things are so bad that some companies are more focused on survival than on 2009 spending reductions. For those who can move ahead with planning for next year, a difficult decision awaits.Many social media tools have moved into mainstream adoption - Facebook has passed 100 million global users and more than 133 million blogs are being indexed by Technorati. The early promises of word of mouth marketing seem set to emerge into reality - consumers passing along brands at zero incremental cost, out of sheer affinity and loyalty.
However, a small three-letter roadblock stands in the way of those wanting to add social media to the mix: ROI. And social media marketers are finding that getting serious means having to justify spend. Unfortunately, marketing measurement is difficult for channels we've been using for decades. So I don't expect social media to emerge as a strong marketing channel any more than mobile will.
There is a ray of hope in all of this. Marketers who take the time to understand how social tools best function will learn how to connect with their newly empowered consumers - and this collaboration will help marketing re-elevate itself to the general management role it has historically been. Any marketer who wants to work in something greater than the "make it pretty" department should understand how the channels work, spend wisely on program development and execution, and success will follow.
Peter is currently working with a stealth-mode startup, building an enterprise social services + technology company. He was previously a Forrester Research analyst, and prior to that, was in charge of PUMA's global interactive marketing, internal creative agency, and marketing finance. He also held strategy consulting positions at Razorfish and Coopers & Lybrand. He blogs regularly at Being Peter Kim and tweets once in a while as well.
Posted by Contributor on December 8, 2008 8:58 PM | Permalink | Comments (0) | TrackBacks (0)
Leave a comment