I Network

Sunday 20th December 2009 just before 7pm, I was sitting in my living room with my son in the centre of the room dancing along to the new Christmas Number One – Rage Against The Machines Killing In The Name Of, while I sported a big grin, one which was mirrored around the UK.

Why was I grinning, was it the fact that this moment broke the X Factor Monopoly on the Christmas Number One was broken by a song with the lyrics “F**k You I won’t Do As You Tell Me”, the fact that it had become the first exclusively download only single to hit number one or the that nearly £70,000 was raised for the UK homeless charity Shelter through a JustGiving page?

No, it was because to people such as me and anyone out there who are involved in marketing online, this is seen as a ‘Cold War’ as such between believers in established traditional Media and believers in Social Media that’s been going on for a while now, which Social Media well and truly “stuck it to the man” again.

What started out as a good idea by a disgruntled husband and wife team of Jon Morter and Tracy Morter on Facebook quickly snowballed across social media networks and groups of followers emerged and started spreading the word. The real momentum gathered on Twitter using hashtags #RATM or #ratm4xmas and of course there was the Rage Against The Machine For Christmas Number One website.

Simon Cowell and his army of marketing and branding experts, a multi million pound TV series that’s been on our TV for months, radio and public appearances and a massive advertising budget Versus an advertising campaign with a marketing spend close to nothing but instead, time and effort of an army of supporters, nearly 750,000 on Facebook alone.

At 8pm, my mobile beeped with a text message from a client saying “I know it’s a Sunday, but can you give me a call this evening.”  This normally isn’t an uncommon situation for me, the client in question is a workaholic and would frequently fire off an email, text or drop me a quick answer phone message over the weekends which I don’t normally mind from a select few clients.

What was significant is this is probably THE most traditional advertiser I have ever met in my life and despite each time we meet I tell him you should really look at Facebook and/or Twitter, I was met with the same response, Twitter/Facebook is for teenagers and ‘computer geeks like you’ we’re not interested in that for our business, the Yellow Pages/BT phonebook/Community Telegraph/Belfast Telegraph/Ulster Tattler is all the advertising we need.

I was expecting this call to consist of “we need you to knock up an advert ASAP for to be put into the Belfast Telegraph” however I was completely taken aback by the conversation, “I went onto Facebook and Twitter tonight to register accounts for the company but someone have already registered them but put nothing up apart from coming soon, is there anything I can do to get those accounts into my name?”

My response? Give me 20 minutes and I’ll email over the passwords and reset the email’s to your admin address. That’s right, as a standard part of my preparation for every client, if the client doesn’t have these bases covered, I secure them to ensure they aren’t stolen until I can speak to the client regarding their social media strategy. Since that call I’ve had 3 more clients emailing me wanting to discuss social media before Christmas.

What happened this past couple of weeks, especially this past 24 hours will have sparked the smart businesses across the UK into reviewing their marketing strategies asking do we continue spending thousands of pounds on TV, Radio, Billboards and printed media or do we start looking at new advertising possibilities that don’t cost thousands of pounds a year, advertising channels that are accessible to the masses and quickly becoming mainstream advertising channels such as twitter and facebook.

However, if you are reading this article and are thinking to yourself, I want to integrate social media into my marketing strategy, then just like you would consult with a graphic designer over logo design or advertising design, or an accountant over financial issues please speak to a consultant who specialises in the use of social media.

Social Media, is not a quick win for businesses, it needs worked on, time to grow and effort to maintain, it cannot be forced, automated or streamlined. It can also do massive amounts of damage to your businesses brand if not correctly utilised.