It’s a Mad Mad Social Media World

My husband and I were watching TV the other night when he turned the channel to Mad Men. I will admit that I binge-watched the first five seasons while on maternity leave and thought to myself, “Where have you been all my life!” My husband, who did not partake in Mad Men Bingefest 2014, asked me after the episode was over, “So that’s basically what you do, right?” My answer: Yes and no.

The two are more similar than not but the differences are big enough that social media has quickly pulled ahead in world of marketing.

Forced vs. Social
Traditional advertising consists of media that the audience does not have a choice to view, known as forced media. This includes printed ads, billboards, radio spots and T.V. commercials. Though these methods are still effective to certain audiences, it is being surpassed.

What social media does that traditional advertising doesn’t is give the customer the option to view you. This actually makes our job harder and more challenging because we have to dive deeper into what makes the audience tick in order to persuade them to want to engage with us. If traditional advertisers create a boring ad, they can replace it with little worry because the audience will be forced to see the new one. If we create a boring ad, we potentially lose the customer’s engagement forever! Who wants to freely look at boring material? No one!

“Out with the old” is NOT in our vocabulary
This is the biggest difference between social media and traditional advertising. Social media loves new fans yes, but it’s the old ones that really matter in the “here and now”. If I can establish one solid relationship I can potentially reach more people than a single ad placed in a magazine. Why take the time to nurture fans like this? Word of mouth is gold. Say it again…Word of mouth is GOLD.

That one person can tell ten people who in turn tell ten more and so on and so forth. This also results in a better organic reach. Score! Every loves FREE!

You can call me Jack, of all trades that is
Unlike Don Draper’s team, I am a one-woman-show. I’m creative, writer, publisher, researcher and analytics all wrapped in one awesome person! Additionally I interact with the audience post deployment to ensure the post has been seen, understood, and was successful. Not only am I the woman behind the brand, I am the brand! Take that Peggy Olson!

Of course, Mad Men’s tactics are not much different than what we use today.

Relationships sell
Here it comes again, word of mouth is gold. We are not robots, yet. (joking!) At the end of the day, we are people selling to people. Building and maintaining a trusted relationship does not happen overnight. You must plant the seed and help it grow. Social media is the only marketing platform that allows you to have two-way engagement with your audience.

Do your research
Know who your audience is and what products interest them. People want to feel unique; this concept has not changed in the past forty years and won’t in the next forty. Knowing your target audience can be what makes your campaign successful and can also kill it. Researching your target audience is so easy because people love to be on social media. A person’s life story is only a click away!

Creativity matters
Man Men became a hit because people are fascinated with creativity. The same goes with social media. Channels like Facebook, Instagram and Pinterest wouldn’t be the huge communities they are if you couldn’t show images. This is exactly why Twitter recently changed their design. Images catch attention! Use that beautiful mind and be original!

After I was finished, my husband had one last question, “What about the booze?” I’ll take a tall Americano with cream, extra hot, straight up!

A social media manger’s job is never done. Cheers.

Follow Stacy on Twitter @WTWH_Stacy