Marketers like to give things names. Whenever there's innovative technology, innovative strategies, or just a new trend, we're quick to label it. Digital marketing. Content marketing. Inbound marketing. Native marketing. And on and on and on.
At first, these labels are useful. They help marketers understand concepts and group together new tactics. But as they mature and the world catches up, they often no longer make any sense or provide any value. Then, they actually become prohibitive.
Let's use "digital marketing" as an example. When smartphones and tablets, YouTube and Facebook, and online news sources weren't mainstream. When full advertising campaigns comprised TV, radio, direct mail, print, and billboards. When advertising agencies were just exploring digital banner ads and video content NOT made for televisions. When our everyday lives weren't consumed by screens. That's when the term "digital marketing" made sense. But today, very little of our lives is not digital. Very little marketing is not digital. In successful marketing today, digital elements are no longer just small experiments tacked onto the "real" campaign-they frequently are entire campaigns. "Digital marketing" is synonymous with marketing.
Even though it's often subconscious, the byproduct of the "digital" label signifies that the rest isn't and shouldn't be digital, creating a harmful wall of separation. All marketers need to be thinking digitally--even TV spots and print ads benefit from digital integration.
The same thing is now happening with social. For the last few years, it's been very apparent that companies have bought into the power and potential of marketing on social media. But as social has evolved and matured, consumers are behaving in such a way that social is always on. Have a few minutes in line? Check your Instagram feed. See something funny on the street? Snapchat it to your friend. Have a quick question for your coworker? Gchat them. Even more than just the big "social networks", human connection and communication is social: messaging apps, email, even ecommerce--they all have social elements.
As for advertising agencies and brands' marketing departments, when social media was just taking off, it was understandable for social to be siloed away. Brands weren't sure what to make of their social channels or how it fit with the rest of the marketing strategy. But now, just like how social is always on for consumers, social must always be on for marketing departments. And to be always on, it must be integrated with other facets of the business.
Here are just a few ways social is multifaceted:
- Research. To start, social is a prime channel for customer and competitor research. There's a goldmine of data, where people share their thoughts and feelings, and many companies are dedicated to making sense of all the information (including us). Not only is the social insight a a great tool for external marketing efforts, it should be used to help develop and refine a company's product or service.
- Customer Service. Social is often the first line of customer service. By nature, social is democratic-with nearly every brand on either Facebook or Twitter, brand's have never been more accessible. Anyone, anywhere can write on a brand's timeline or tweet at them. And the best brand's do a great job at being responsive. It's valuable customer interaction and a great way for brands to learn what is and isn't working.
- Awareness and Conversions, Too. Social has long been known as a great brand awareness channel, and is now proving to be a conversion channel, too. Despite the dramatic decline in organic reach, social remains a powerful marketing channel. One of the reasons is its sophisticated ad targeting capabilities. Brands can build awareness with a precise target audience far more efficiently than other channels. The same is true for driving conversions. With advances in tracking and retargeting tools, like FBX, delivering the right content to the right people at the right time has never been more in reach. Additionally, social channels are making efforts to make converting as seamless as possible. Tumblr just added a buy button for select partners and Twitter is planning a full rollout of their buy button in early 2015.
- HR and Recruiting. It's also important to not forget how big of a role social plays in more internal affairs, such as HR and recruiting. Since social is so ubiquitous, potential recruits are certainly doing their research on companies' social properties. They're looking at content and tone to identify a company's values. Is a company transparent? Are they rewarding their employees and praising them on social? Does it look like a fun place to work?
- Non-"Social" Marketing Campaigns. Here are five times social was the key to non-social marketing.
Social plays a huge role in all of these marketing (and even inter-department) functions. It's a powerful position to be in, and the insights that can be gleaned through social should certainly be used to impact traditionally non-social areas.
It's not at the point where digital is yet, where it makes sense to drop "social" altogether, but that's the direction we're moving. At some point in the not-too-distant future, I believe, social will be so ubiquitous to every aspect of consumers' lives that it will be silly for marketers to be thinking in a social/non-social dichotomy.
So where does social fit in a company today? Social should be integrated in the entire marketing department and beyond-connected to ecommerce and product development, not in its own silo. It's an always-on function, no longer just a side element. If social is integrated, you'll be far more successful.
This article was co-written by Inside Social CMO and Co-Founder, Joey Kotkins.