One of the most insightful social marketing podcasts out there is Bob Knorpp’s show, The Bean Cast.
I had the privilege of joining in with some solid folks including Joe Jaffe, Angela Natividad, and Christopher Baccus for BeanCast 198. I highly recommend you check it out.
Some of the topics discussed were
- earned vs. paid vs. owned media
- the value of Olympic sponsorships
- mid-roll ads
- Geo-fencing for mobile commerce
- is Starbucks making a smart move by crowdsourcing charitable contributions
At the end, Bob asked for “Trends to Watch.” I had a long list, but only got to share one of them. So, figured I’d share a few here and ask for comments/feedback.
Trend #1-The Brand Adaptation Gap
Twenty years ago, if I would have told you that Kodak was going bankrupt, you would have laughed.
10 years ago…that Best Buy would have to shutter stores. Inconceivable.
What fascinates me is how many large brands of today are going to not be here tomorrow because they don’t successfully adapt to social.
And when I say “social,” I don’t mean “Facebook” and “Twitter,” what I mean is “fundamentally changing the way they do things because of social (and mobile) technologies.
The pace is just so much faster now and you need to be on the lookout for the early warning signs of impending brand disaster.
Trend #2-Trusted Filters
I think the combination of the perception of “Information Overload” (thought it’s really ‘filter failure,” according to Shirky) and the increased focus by social platforms on catering to brands/businesses means that the amount of “noise” to which most people will be subjected is going to be on the rise…significantly.
Add to that the increased concerns about privacy, what companies do with the information, and a perceived lack of control by individuals (potentially) over how companies use that info (see Target and the prediction of women’s pregnancy) and you have a strong need for organizations that will serve as your personal advocate/watchdog.
You are already seeing this in the form of MyPermissions.org which helps you keep track of who has what access. It’s the beginning.
I think you’ll start seeing more of these tools/sites/services pop-up as people become more aware of just how much of their info is out there.
Trend #3-The Signal/Noise Balance
We touched on this briefly in the show and it’s connected to #2.
As social platforms move towards a more brand-centric view of the world (and I think that is fine…Sprinklr is a Facebook Preferred Marketing Developer for a reason), they and the companies which build solutions on top of Facebook (as well as Twitter, LinkedIn, etc.) must be cognizant of the fine line they walk in terms of the “permission” bargain they have with users.
Too many “promoted” stories into my, or your, NewsFeed and pretty soon you will either stop liking a brand (on FB), hide their updates, not “like” a brand in the first place or, in the doomsday scenario for Facebook, abandon the platform all together.
The temptation for marketers, developers, and social platform providers may be to take the money and run, but there’s a fragile bargain with users and it must be respected.
You don’t want to kill the goose that lays the golden egg after all.
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Of all the podcasts where I’ve been a guest, Bob’s preparation is, by far, the best. That makes for a high quality content experience worth investigating.
Tags: community manager, inbound, outbound marketing, podcast, SME Marketing
