Traditional social marketing is now a thing-a real term that people use to describe a marketing style that encompasses platforms like Facebook and Twitter, but also may or may not induce sound sleep.
To some of you, this may come as a shock, or perhaps incite a little laughter. Facebook and Twitter aren't old enough to be considered traditional in any way, you think.
Au contraire. If Facebook was a kid, it would be in its full-on awkward, gangly phase with buck teeth and a serious Playstation habit.
Here are three ways to think about social marketing and online branding in 2015 that will help you throw out your rule traditional book-your typical way of engaging-and write a new way of doing things.
1. It's time to get hungry-again.
Social media usage is now commonplace, not only for individuals but for businesses. That might be a hard pill to swallow for you late adopters, or those that still don't "get it," but it's true. Instead of thinking about why you should or shouldn't be on social, just jump in and see what happens.
Yes, it's a full-time job, and yes, it takes commitment to generate a community, but you've done it before.
Remember that time you opened your doors, no one knew you, and you built your business based on making relationships? Hey! There you go! Except now you're not starting from scratch and you're not as limited in resources as you once were.
2. Stop thinking about yourself.
Typical or traditional social marketing includes pushing out a lot of information about your company and hoping some of it sticks. But people are getting less and less interested in that. It's not novel for a brand to be on social anymore. So the challenge now becomes to stop thinking in terms of "being there" and start thinking in terms of how you can engage, educate, inspire and incite action in your audience. It's not about them knowing they need your service or product necessarily, but learning something valuable and then attributing that value to your company. Then they'll take action (transfer to your site, sign-up for your newsletter or request more information), providing you with information about themselves on which you can act.
3. Stop making your copy work so hard.
Listen; social marketers are generally English nerds, writers, journalists and PR veterans, so it bums us out, too, that people aren't reading much anymore. But the fact is that people want to digest their content quickly and with lots of entertainment. There's a reason cat videos are more popular to view than 240-page Congressional bills.
A 20-second video is usually going to be preferable to a three-page article. And though people are reading more lengthy articles on mobile devices, that's not all they want. Therefore, you have to think outside the box on how to deliver your message (that engaging, educating, inspiring stuff) and mix it up.
How can you tell people about your service or product without written words? Start there.
Let people try an interactive demo.
Host a webinar.
Create a series of videos about it.
Create an animated, stop motion or fast-forwarded video about each of its features.
Host a focus group to test the new product and publish testimonials about what each person says.
Create a series of brand stories behind the developers of the product and why they created or upgraded it.
When in doubt, put up a picture of a cat.
That last one wasn't even a joke.
Copy is still important-especially the witty kind-but you can't rely on it completely. (Or hashtags for that matter.)
4. All news is good news.
We hear this all the time, "but I don't have anything to put on social media." And every time, we giggle. It's not because we think you're dumb; it's because we think you're too smart. Traditionally, marketing and advertising was just about a store opening, a new product launch or a new executive hire. Now it's about anything-from a slight change in packaging, to a new shipping partner, to an awesome shirt the intern is wearing. Anything you might find interesting about your friend could be interesting about your brand. Use your "all news" lens to inform your content calendar and exhibit your brand's personality and tone of voice.
Only you can prevent traditional social marketing from negatively affecting your business.
And remember: we made up the rules, so they're easier to break.