Traditional advertising is all but dead. Long gone are the days of the push strategy where companies used ads to tell you what to buy and why you should buy it. According to Erik Qualman, people will find ways bypass ads pushed at them through any media. Tivo and DVR are prime examples of tools people use to do this on televisions and Qualman says you better believe they will do it everywhere else as well. In this age, people listen to other people when it comes to many of the choices they make. They rely on family, friends, experts, and just about anyone else they trust to give them a real consumer-based opinion on what to search for, read, listen to, watch, or buy. Since they often find it on social media, it’s in companies’ best interests to be interesting and use social media to generate a buzz that will get people talking and start bring consumers to them.
One important consideration for companies that have accepted the fact that they have no choice but to use social media is whether to create their own social media platform(s) or to use existing ones. Qualman explains that a company can use existing social media platforms to create quick, cheap, yet quality advertising, contrary to the old adage which states you can only get two out of these three. Advertising with social media can cut back advertising time-to-market as well as allow for easier tracking of how a company’s advertising dollars are spent and how effective those expenditures were.
Companies must be mindful not to use social media as another avenue through which to push product. They must also listen to the consumer. See what consumers are saying about them and what they are asking for. When companies do “speak” or advertise via social media, they must keep in mind that what they say online is forever and can also have serious implications. The right ad can jumpstart their business beyond their belief while the wrong one can bring them down painfully fast.
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