Ever been so scared you can’t move?
It’s a common reaction to a really scary situation. We know we’re in trouble. We know we need to move. But we can’t seem to convince ourselves, so we do nothing. Well, that’s the path to failure in this ever-changing media landscape. I remember the old saying: rather fail at trying than fail to try.
Traditional media marketers and content creators resist jumping in and exploring new platforms, especially when they can’t commoditise or monetise a platform – or think they can’t. If I told you five years ago that there would be these free marketing tools available to build an audience, build a brand and build business and they would be free, you would have vomited in your mouth! You would never have believed me. Social – no, business media – in the future will provide a field day for everyone with talent, because they will no longer be forced to exist within the confines of the old-guard institutions.
I think that everyone who is screaming that magazines and newspapers are dead is insane. What has happened is that the old platforms are in trouble, but that’s the best thing that could happen to publishers and journalists; well the good ones, anyway. Social media is redefining the journalism landscape. It’s not new; actually it’s been around for five years and is easier to learn than most office phone systems. If you are not using these social media tools because you in the camp that thinks social media is stupid, you’re going to lose out and be left behind. As a marketer, that’s a dereliction of duty, because it is free, powerful and the eyeballs have moved there, so there is loads of money in play. If you can’t get your head around creating the content, brand interaction or building an audience on these platforms, then at least identify tools, applications, games or even just the conversational tone that you can apply to your core products. And remember, the primary goal of using social media has to be communication, not technology or viral marketing. Treat it like a network party: go in and work the room and bring your business into the conversation. If you provide a local garden service do not, repeat do not stand on the cocktail table and shout out, “if-you-have-grass-up-to-your-ass please come talk to me”. Treat the online world like you’d treat reality.
Everyone has heard of Facebook. In the past five years it’s become the fastest-growing social networking site in the world, attracting pre-teens keeping tabs on the next party to grandmas trying to reunite with their old school flames. Twitter has already become a verb. We all have voyeuristic tendencies; Twitter has legitimised it for us! Thank you Twitter! It’s has incredible endorsement power; Twitter is a huge research and development tool and press release opportunity; it allows businesses to have a closer relationship with their audience by responding to their needs. Search.twitter.com gets you to the pulse of anything happening in the world right now!
Media revolution? I think so. The biggest thing since the French Revolution? Maybe; just make sure you have a dog in the hunt.
So we have the digital platforms, but what about the content? Great content is based on a great story and yesterday’s model favoured originality. Be the first to break a story or write a fresh new take on life and the audiences would come, bringing with them revenue and sales. In the current model, originality and exclusivity are the kiss of death. SEO-driven advertising depends on knowing what people are already looking for, and delivering content that satisfies that desire; nothing more nothing less. SEO-driven content is the opposite of great storytelling and creativity. The barrier to entry has changed forever with user-generated content, bloggers, thought leaders and anyone and everyone publishing content. For media owners, the challenge has to be speed vs. quality: do we chase Google rankings, volume or SEO play or do we publish a spectrum of quality, trusted and credible content. I see three levels in play: brand content, eg. CAR, BBC, SKYnews, etc that offer high quality specialised content; a middle level of bloggers and opinionators, who are relevant and important to pull into your core products; and then the race to the bottom, the lowest denominator. The lower level plays a role, but remember, we learnt about Michael Jackson’s death on Twitter, as well as Justin Bieber – like baby, baby, baby, ooh no, he is still alive – so facts are a little challenging at times.
What are we at RamsayMedia doing when everyone is shouting out as loud as possible that traditional media – especially print – will be defunct? We describe ourselves as an innovative traditional media company connecting across many relevant platforms. We will always include the word “traditional” because it has gravitas and charm, and it’s like the older guy who is always wiser.
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Ever been so scared you can’t move? It’s a common reaction to a really scary situation......
Dean Dicks
Associate Publisher, RamsayMedia Automotive