New media is a promise. It isn’t the solution.
It’s a promise that you’ll turn the narrative from one about the brand to one about the customer.
It’s easy to be seduced by the technology. Want to engage youth? Go mobile, go Facebook. Avoid the Meatball Sundae. It’s the Moon not the finger pointing at it.This is typical, Macy’s has 60,000+ followers on Facebook but “hasn’t figured out how to take advantage of their growing fan base“.
Yes, mobile and Facebook can form a key part of your execution and are integral in engaging youth but the narrative and message need to be relevant first. Simply creating an Iphone App isn’t the answer to your problems. Technology isn’t the solution…Bluetooth shoe anyone?
Pepsi is a good case study in how not to use technology. Think the Bluetooth Shoe was Star Trek gone mad, here’s a prime example of the ultimate Big (and largely irrelevant) Youth Brand; if the medium doesn’t engage youth – simply add steroids. Pepsi Youniverse is another… why exactly do youth want to network with Pepsi?
Part of the problem is the culture of the quick-fix. We perpetuate myths that shape the received wisdom; youth want mobile advertising and so on. It’s the lazy man’s answer to a more substantial challenge – how is your message going to help me belong, how is it going to help me be significant? Simply adding Twitter to your message will not make it more relevant as Fox found out. The relevance starts with the message itself.
That’s why if you’re a Social Media agency, you need to live it rather than say it. Just as youth today aren’t convinced by what you have to say, simply offering clients new media but business as usual simply isn’t enough.
The game has changed. You may talk social but you’re walking industrial.
Social Media agencies shouldn’t be contacting partners through press releases:
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Nike’s move to digital is all about using the platform to facilitate the lives of young athletes not attain greater reach or visibility. Nike saw that new media formed one tool in a wider toolkit of capacity to create context rather than jazz up the content.
Social Media means creating context for your brand like Nike San Clemente, Procter & Gamble’s BeingGirl, Smak’s Cheese Rolling event or Youth Conspiracy’s work with Durex. The aim isn’t going mobile or Facebook but how you can use mobile or Facebook to facilitate this context.
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