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Bridging the Great Divide: how bloggers and marketers can work together

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Fi is a leading interactive and digital specialist, and managing director of Bendalls Group. She has over 20 years experience in the digital sector. As well as developing key ISP strategies for the BBC, she has worked on an international gaming industry portal, ATE Online, and on digital strategies for Australian clients such as Microsoft, News Interactive, Tourism Tasmania, RaboPlus and MTV. For more information email Fi at: Fiona@bendalls.com.au

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Working in social media for me is an ongoing learning curve. I spend a lot of time researching international case studies, good and bad, participating in all sorts of social networks, reading and learning.

It frightens me that people are already setting themselves up as 'Social Media Experts' when we are only just learning the affect that social media will have on the marketing industry, let alone the affect it will have on consumer relationships with brands.

My guts tell me we are only scratching the tip of an iceberg. Bigger than anything that the Titanic ran into. It will undoubtedly turn the marketing industry upside down and inside out.

I have enjoyed some recent success in social media on behalf of the clients who are getting involved in this space and Scott here at marketingmag.com.au suggested I write up some case studies with clients such as Amnesty International (their Chinese Internet Censorship Campaign) to share.

No problem, they will be coming up, as long as the clients are OK with this!

So while I am checking it out with them, I hoped it would be valuable to take you through the very first steps I take before embarking on any social media campaign. I will also share some insights from the real social media experts, the blog community and what they think of us marketers!

My view is BEFORE any one, any company, or any 'thing' gets involved in this social space they need to research. They need to understand to whom they are connecting, what’s on their minds and in what context, as well as where they are hanging out. You have to be humble enough to ask for some advice in your approach.

And most importantly LISTENING is social marketing, not SHOUTING your message out!

Hugh McLeod is a god!

What is becoming very obvious to me in the dash to deliver social media to clients, is that marketers are forgetting some fundamental things about basic communication practices. As a result there is a massive disconnect between the blog communities and would-be social media experts promoting their clients' wares.

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2 Comments

daveyates
  • Wrote on 2 Sep, at 03:34AM
Our experience (Realitus) is that corporations have been caught by surprise and there is a collective head-scratching session going on.

Certainly most corporations are a part of the 'social networking' scene whether they like it or not because people will be passing judgement, deifying or damning them all over the web anyway. Any marketing minded company is going to want to do something about that. But traditional marketing intervention in this space is not appropriate nor is it that welcome. So who does the marketing man call? ...probably a social media expert, whether they are any good or not.
Editor | Scotland
  • Wrote on 2 Sep, at 10:09AM
Good point daveyates, but I would also say that it's really important not just for marketers to buy some expertise, but that it's actually vital that the marketers themselves invest in their own underastandings around this area.

If they don't understand what it is they are buying, there's every chance they will either get ripped off or that they will have unrealistic expectations of what social media can achieve or where it's place int he markeitng mix is.

If you look at some companies around the world, they aren't viewing being social as an adjunct to their core business of not talking and engaging with their core audiences. They're actually incorporating social media and social outreach into the core business functions of their organisations.

A good (and much discussed) example of this is Zappos shoes in the US, which has every employee on Twitter. If your business is built fromt he ground up to be sociable, human and approachable, there's far more chance your customers will already have a relationship with you before they experience your new products.

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