Replacing Marketing With Search And Social

Sept. 28, 2011 - PRLog -- Why it’s called social media marketing when the last thing consumers want is to be actually marketed to in the social space is, maybe, another reason why some businesses are still challenged by the search and social web. Defining the free exchange, help and interaction of content and information by word of mouth is not marketing, it’s creating connection and engagement.

The social networks allows users to come together and freely contribute to the content search and receive process. Individuals participate in their chosen  public space to both give and take content communicated in a multiplicity of forms - social media.

The appearance of the sales message is largely ignored. The community are aware of their presence and might know what their brand offers and, if interested, will respond.

Over the last twenty years of the internet, the tendency has been for eCommerce to evolve an online marketing approach based upon ‘push’ advertising and direct email marketing. At the same time, the rising tide of spam links, scam sites and low quality content has driven the online user to defend against unwanted intrusion, malicious malware, identity theft, computer takeover, fraud and worse.

As a result, computers are armed with a battery of software such as spyware, spam filters and pop up blockers to combat the increasingly polluted online environment where 80 to 90 per cent of emails are spam.

It’s the reason why mass push marketing and message broadcasting no longer yields the results they once did. Consumers have taken to going online to offline and back again via new and different platforms using mobile and smartphone via mobile apps, QR codes, etc.

Today, you don’t ‘market’ to an audience, you create awareness! You no longer ‘promote’ your brand identity, but instead offer channels of engagement to the face behind the screen! The real work of integrating search and social into marketing strategies is to lose the ‘marketing’ and focus instead on looking and listening, and identifying target audience interactions, behaviours, interests and locations.

The process involves becoming known and trusted – a genuine authority presence which organically creates word of mouth advocates who share your content and prequalify  their network on your behalf.

The whole point of social media networking is that it is  -  social!  And the online user/prospective consumer now demands to be allowed to dictate the time and space on their own socially determined sales funnel journey.

In other words, they will come when they’re ready!   Today’s ‘marketing’ strategy is to simply remain visible by continuing to ‘give’ on a daily basis. If you push too hard, your credibility will be lost. But if you are seen to be not frequently active, then you’re not seen at all!

On today’s multi disciplinary web, you keep your audience interested by continuing to give out great content, which aims to keep you in their conversation.

Visit http://www.weprovoke.co.uk for more information and advice.

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