Why are companies beginning to pay attention to the potential of social media?
It’s pretty simple. People believe people they have connections to. People are now trained not to trust traditional advertising.
Traditional advertising often tries to carpet-bomb a bunch of “strangers” with a message. However, these strangers now understand that they are viewed as wallets, not friends. Objects to be exploited, not collaborators in the product development process.
Social media allows us to interact with friendly tribes, and thus, we are armed to resist the overflights of one-way, exploitative marketers.
Kind of like…well, these folks who have been in the news this week. ->
How can you reach those who don’t trust you or your message?
Think about it.
(Here are some interesting related thoughts from Christopher Penn)
[...] social media means that people-to-people conversations have a rapidly growing influence compared to traditional marketing/advertising. These “outsourced” conversations (esp. facilitated through on-line platforms) will [...]
[...] you marketing to hostile tribes? Do red-painted folks shoot arrows at you? Time to think about new approaches (from my Stickyfigure marketing [...]