Traditional vs social media
Will traditional, above the line media ever recover from the stealth rise of social media?
Print and broadcast have reached–exceeded–their saturation levels. Can they remain in the game by adjusting rates reminiscent to the “good old days” to reflect realistic CPMs? Just watch an episode of Mad Men and then fast forward to that same conference room, 2009. Traditional media today is feeling what it might be like to be in a museum.
Today, advertisers have too many choices with less ROI. Life was so much easier back in the Mad Men days when advertising was truly a glamorous career–with basically three networks and the seven sisters to consider, the quality or creativity of advertising wasn’t the issue it is today. With fewer media choices, reaching the intended market was a sure thing. Today, advertisers are tired of spending more and receiving less. This is why the potential of social media is so intriguing.
Magazine and newspaper circulation is lower than it has ever been. It’s survival of the fittest in the print industry. While broadcast had to make a paradigm shift over a decade ago to compensate for the intense saturation (cable), its legs remain wobbly.
This doesn’t mean print and broadcast are dead—yet. It means social media has proliferated beyond expectations, reaching consumers by the millions and at rates that make it seem like an even better strategy. With consumers in the digital space now—where they live work and play–reaching them through their desktop, laptop or iPhone seems like a marriage made in heaven. Magazines have become wrinkled collections in doctors’ offices and newspapers are simply of limited interest to the newer generations…even boomers. Social media is print and broadcast’s wake up call—change or die.
After all, the next Facebook is just around the corner. Remember when MySpace was the digital darling? Not any more. Facebook owns the social media world today. It almost has more members than the U.S. has citizens. And, they’ve just announced they are finally profitable, which is admirable, given that it was launched from a Harvard dorm room in 2004!
Aggregately, social media is huge. The potential to reach customers is unfettered. Marketers have to think creatively as to how to use social media to garner the best following. Remember when TV and newspaper went from black and white to color? That was considered “radical” and “amazing” back in the early sixties. Fast forward fifty years and we’re doing it again, only this time it’s digital. Digital is definitely the new black.
Consider what YouTube did for Blendtec. Blendtec now has a cult following thanks to its “Will It Blend?” video series. It’s one of the largest viral phenomenons to date. Not only did it get millions of viewers, it got, and continues to get, tons of media recognition. It’s success stories like this that inspire today’s creative marketers to take advantage of the social media frontier.
Social media is still a toddler. Just imagine the reverberations as grows into adulthood!
How has social media affected your business?
