The Illusion of Power: Social Media or the Victory of the Guerrilla Model
Posted by Guillame Foutry @ May 4th, 2009 in Social Marketing
I really liked the video “The Break Up”, released over a year ago, as it was an entertaining way to show that advertisers where not choosing the right path to address to customers. But if I had to do the video today I would emphasize on something a bit different: the shift of power.
It’s quite clear how the Web 2.0 has enabled people to communicate more easily and obliged brands to adapt. But the fact that social media is now very mainstream has completely changed the game. Brands which are actually very powerful and could overwhelm us with advertisement, are using the wrong tools. And sometimes their lack of knowledge regarding technology or their contempt for it (e.g. Facebook is for teenagers only; Why should we waste our time on Twitter?) has led them into the wall.
I think we could make an analogy between social media and the Vietnam War (well social media is less bloody of course). America was more powerful than Vietnam, had the air superiority and was a country well more developed than its opponent. However, they fought an enemy that was invisible, could strike anywhere at any time. It was at some point impossible to predict attacks. I guess many companies are beginning to feel this now with relation to social media: the Dell Hell, Domino’s pizza or Amazon affairs have proven that a couple of well-organized people, for different reasons and with very different purposes, can harm a brand. Social media is the land for guerrilla, where both positive and negative propaganda brand can be quickly spread.
History teaches us that winning over a guerrilla is not only painful, it requires time and lots of energy as well as resources. Since social media is here to stay, brands should adapt to the guerrilla model and copy it: be flexible, responsive and more imaginative than the others. Some brands have already evolved (look at the presence of Dell on Social Media now) and you can be sure that when you have been burnt once like Domino’s Pizza you will not get burnt again (so watch what they are going to do over the next year, could be useful). The best tactic would be to anticipate a crisis, but sometimes it is truly impossible.
The shift or power engendered by social media is also a reflection of globalization as it re-introduced what the British called “The Great Game”: the world is like a chessboard and you have to act smartly as there are many centers of influences/powers that can act with you or against you according to their interests. Brands have to take that into account and resort to more soft power (engagement with their customers) than hard power (traditional mass advertising) if they want to win the “battle of hearts and minds” of customers.
Last 5 posts in Social Marketing
- Twitter's Red Carpet Era- the real and the fake users - March 11th, 2010
- B2B companies increasing interactive marketing spend and using social media - March 4th, 2010
- Small businesses learn from the big guys and adopt social media - March 2nd, 2010
- Online social network advertising spending up, up, up - February 18th, 2010
- Social Media involvement and evolution - February 10th, 2010
Comments
Sérgio Rodrigues
May 6th, 2009
I think that companies are already aware of the potential of social networks, but many had not yet established a strategy and do not know how to make the most of them.
A tool such as E-goi can combine all the potential of e-mail marketing and disseminate the information and / or products automatically in social networks.
I think this article is illustrative:
Send all your campaigns for social networks