Five Foundations For Your Emerging Media Strategy

Gone are those days of creating a campaign that you push to TV, print and radio and then sit back to see what happens.  Today emerging media is becoming the methods of choice in reaching your audience.  So what does emerging media mean to you? Do you solely think what’s new in social media? Perhaps you think of video, mobile marketing, content marketing or gamification, but it really all of these areas rolled up into one.

 

Leveraging the various platforms in emerging media can make a world of difference in accomplishing objectives for your business.  How many times have you watched ABC’s Shark Tank and heard Mark Cuban ask about marketing and advertising? They almost always say, “I used social media to get the word out.” What I find simply amazing with emerging media is the fact it is disrupting every single industry out there.  Ryan Holmes, CEO of Hootsuite, recently said that companies adopting social have 20% more revenue and 60% higher profit growth.  Thinking about those percentages, what would that mean for your company or business? While most businesses can create a Facebook page, Twitter profile, Vine, Instagram, and YouTube account, many don’t have a strategy for publishing and interacting on these emerging social media platforms.

• Point 1: BE AUTHENTIC – I can’t stress this point enough! Really show what your company is all about in your posts, pictures, videos, and tweets.  If you post, make sure to be ready for the comments to roll in and respond to followers.  While gaining new followers is great, creating brands advocates is your goal.  Make sure to show that human side of your brand too!
• Point 2: BE INTEGRATED – your emerging media platforms should be integrated across every department.
• Point 3: BE ENGAGED – your passionate fans will engage you, be ready to engage them back.  This is where you will find the true value of your Facebook fans and Twitter followers.
• Point 4: UTILIZE YOUR INFLUENCERS – your influencers are your brand advocates.  While brands still use celebrity endorsements, that word-of-mouth marketing that comes from your brand advocates will help influence your customers.
• Point 5: BE OMNIPRESENT – your fans and followers are everywhere, be everywhere! I had a meeting with an executive about a year ago and we were discussing social media within the organization.  I made the point that people were already at the table having a conversation about the brand, now it’s important for that brand to pull up a chair and join in the conversation.  We hear a lot about real-time content marketing, but I would argue real-time conversation is extremely important to your customers who engage you.  Over time, this can create those brand advocates mentioned in point 4.

Jay Baer of Convince and Convert wrote a book called, Youtility.  Jay’s definition of being a “youtility” is about help and not hype and Jay gives a great example in this talk:

Being a “youtility” is one of the best ways to create brand advocates and I think sums up my 5 points in this post.  Are you seeing any brands out their incorporating this strategy and what emerging media platforms are they using to accomplish this? I would love to hear your thoughts in the comment section below.