There is no better way to begin a marketing communication blog than with some constructive views on social networking and viral marketing online. Marketing, communication and blogging, this is how they come together – networking! There was a time when the consumer was elusive, hard to target, playing hot and cold with their interest on a brand. Marketers strived hard to research, analyse and segment markets to precisely arrive at their target group. Then there is buyer behaviour statistics and surveys, truly relying on statistical methods and by the time you decide your branding strategies, the climate of the market is already changing.
‘Boom’ came internet, web technologies and online communication and like a marketer’s dream come true, social networking! Networking online includes anything from blogging to networking sites and community forums. The conversation is always happening online and there is a huge amount of statistical data both qualitative and quantitative available to a marketer sorting itself deliberately. In-depth understanding of the internet and exploiting it is an acquired skill that comes with a rich and thorough web experience like ours.
Today’s consumers are flourishing with knowledge and awareness and never shy of expressing and communicating their interests and needs. So much time and energy is spent online by gazillions of people from around the world, trying to connect with like-minded people and share what they think they can relate to through their blogs, networking groups, forums and the like.
There are so many people living their lives online today, why including most of us reading this! Everybody’s a celeb on Facebook today and the need to flaunt one’s personality by associating themselves to specific topics, issues, news, activities, products and brands is the fad. That’s good news for us, to get our viral marketing embedded. All it takes is one smart idea, convincing strategies and engaging conversations with prospective consumers, if you hit it off, your brands a hero in no time.
This is the most fun-based marketing communication medium in history, promoting the concept of advertainment massively. Social marketing is pure showbiz; you got to learn your way up to become a star. If you can think alternative, join the consumers than merely monitoring them, create an interesting social personality for your brand, and keep an open mind, the rest is taken care of by the consumers. The code is a bit tough to crack but once you know the tricks of the trade, well it’s a cake walk!
