What is Social Media's role in the marketing mix?

Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Tony Allwood on May 15, 2010 at 13:09

It is good to see that someone else sees that 'SN' is not the answer to your dreams, it is part of the mix, but just that PART.

Permalink Reply by Lynnaire Johnston on May 16, 2010 at 12:55

I agree with Tony, Brandon, SM's role is only a segment of the marketing mix. It's a brave company that markets only via SM. Or foolish, I'm not sure which. I see SM as increasing in importance, particularly in relationship building and for those companies which don't have the resources for a large marketing spend but want their customers to know what they're up to. However, so far I see very few companies doing it well. A few suppliers - business or personal - have invited me to join their Facebook page, follow them on Twitter etc, but they are in the minority. And those which have invited me aren't actively engaging me. In other words, their SM activities are ad hoc, there's little planning or strategy going into it.

Do you have any examples of companies doing it well? The only one I've come across is Siemens PLM so I'd be keen to hear about others who are maximising the opportunities SM provides.

Permalink Reply by Brandon Wilcox on May 16, 2010 at 15:39

I don't have any examples of companies doing it well. I'd love to study some though.

I do have plenty of examples of companies doing email marketing exceptionally well. These three do very good *daily* emails... hyper.co.nz, 1-day.co.nz, advintage.co.nz. They get away with a daily schedule because each day they have new [really good] specials, so it's more like news than a promotional pitch.

1-day do Facebook and Twitter and have a 1-day iPhone app too, so they're definitely into SM but I'm not sure they have a SM strategy. They got me to their Facebook page through a promotional incentive, but I didn't find it compelling and haven't been back. Is this because it's not compelling or because I'm the wrong demographic?!!

Permalink Reply by Jochen Daum on August 5, 2010 at 18:19

Hi,

I don't really know what social media's part of the marketing mix should be in a promotional context, because I have no experience in a mass marketing environment.

For us Social Media is a way to extend networking relationships into areas, where BNI and other local networking doesn't reach. As a result I have been able to land an average sale (which is high for us) customer in Melbourne through Twitter. You could say it took minimal effort or you could say I had to be on there twice a day for 9 months, but there is a myriad of other benefits to it (for example other people telling me what I will like to read on the Herald instead of me figuring it out)

HTH,

Kind Regards,

Jochen Daum

Chief Automation Officer
Automatem Ltd

Phone: 09 630 3425
Mobile: 021 567 853
Email: jd@automatem.co.nz
Skype: jochendaum
Website: www.automatem.co.nz
http://twitter.com/automatem
http://nz.linkedin.com/in/automatem
http://www.xing.com/go/invite/3425509.181107
http://www.aucklandbusinessnetworking.co.nz

Permalink Reply by Colin Clapp on August 6, 2010 at 2:01

I guess social media is an essential tool in you marketing activities to promote and advertise your products and services.
If I had to put social media in just one category of the marketing mix, I would choose promotion, i.e., communication. That’s not to say it doesn’t play a role in the other components, just not as BIG a role.
Social media’s primary benefit to your communication strategy is its ability to build relationships and communities between individuals who share interests AND who would not be brought together otherwise except for those interests.