Social Media Not a Marketing Medium. Huh?

Earlier this week, Knowledge Networks issued a study, “How People Use Social Media”, suggesting that although 83% of the Internet population uses social media, it has failed become much of a market medium.

“Obviously, a lot of people are using social media, but they are not explicitly turning to it for marketing purposes, or for finding out what products to buy. It’s really about connecting with friends, or connecting with other people,” said Dave Tice, vice president and group account director with Knowledge Networks, told Online Media Daily.

My initial reaction was “Well, that’s interesting”. Then, I thought about it some more, and said “Huh?”

While it’s left to be seen if social media is an advertising medium, it is becoming a powerful marketing medium that is already have a major impact on how consumers think and buy services and products.

What Knowledge Networks clearly failed to take into account is social media is a different kind of marketing because it has much to do with people communicating with each other and sharing ideas, feedback and recommendations.

If, for example, you talk about your happiness about a new Acer netbook, that’s a powerful marketing message being sent to your friends and followers. If these people have respect for you thoughts and opinions, the fact you recommended an Acer network could have a bigger impact than if they saw an Acer ad in a magazine or on a Web.

The effectiveness of this kind of marketing explains why many companies need to embrace social media so they can engage in different kind of conversations with consumers that’s different but potentially as effective as “traditional” marketing.

And contrary to Knowledge Network’s contention that consumers are not using social media to find out what products to buy, social media is having a huge influence on what consumers do.

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