Mowing the Digital Landscape

Let’s start off by defining social networking. Professors Danah Boyd of UC-Berkeley and Nicole Ellison from Michigan State University define social networks “as web-based services that allow individuals to (1) construct a public or semi-public profile within a bounded system, (2) articulate a list of other users with whom they share a connection, and (3) view and traverse their list of connections and those made by others within the system. The nature and nomenclature of these connections may vary from site to site.”

For a layman’s description of how social networking actually works, I invite you to check out the following video.

According to the internet research company Complete, two out of three people that access the internet visit a social networking site. With recent survey results showing that 1,463,632,361 people world-wide access the Internet, that means that roughly 975,754,907 consumers are reaching out to each other via a social network. Throw in the fact that these Web sites have experienced a 109% growth over the past four years, and I think you’ll find it’s time to begin including social networking into your integrated marketing plan if you are not already.

So how do you leverage the interactive nature of social networking without losing control of your brand? By being diligent, active, and tolerant. Social networking provides an opportunity for your company to engage in a discussion with consumers, providing them information about who you are and what you are selling in a variety of ways, including blogs, photos, and widgets. In order to keep a consumer’s attention, your marketing efforts must be delivered in a consistent fashion, providing regular updates. The last thing you want to happen is for a brand loyalist to visit your social networking group site and to find that nothing new has been added in a couple of days. Stale content breeds discontent. Finally, you must be willing to bite the bullet and accept a negative comment here and there. As Abraham Lincoln said “You can’t please all the people all the time.” Never has this quote been truer then in our increasingly flat world.

Which of the more popular social networks lend themselves to working for your business? Well, that depends on who you are trying to reach. While senior citizens are more likely to be interested in social security than social networking, a few sites have popped up that are trying to attract their attention. One of them is Eldersvoice, which sells itself as a “social networking site for senior citizens who are young at heart. We don’t like labels. We know one thing for sure, our souls never age.” Most of the advertisers that are featured on this site are selling services such as in-home care, active living neighborhoods, and dementia services. You are probably better off utilizing a more traditional medium when trying to reach the 55 and older crowd.

They didn't meet on Facebook

Reaching 18-25 year olds is another story. Facebook and MySpace dominate this age group and companies are taking notice. If you are trying to reach someone in college or a recent graduate, it is becoming harder and harder to avoid the social networking phenomena. And if you hope to reach the Millennials as the move through high school, into college, and through their young adulthood, marketing via social networking will be a necessity. Don’t believe me. Check out this recent BusinessWeek article that details the success of companies such as Jersey Mike’s and Folgers’s in leveraging the 21.4 million millennials that spend a significant amount of their disposable time on Facebook. I guess the best part of waking up is a successful viral marketing campaign that results in 500,000 YouTube hits.

Welcome to Mowing the Digital Landscape.  I’m your lawn boy, Matt.  As a graduate student in an Integrated Marketing Communications program for the past two years, I’ve spent countless hours researching various forms of media in order to increase my ability to leverage them during my day job.  It’s my hope that I can use this blog as a way of thinking through some of those options. I’m not promising to have all of the answers, but I hope that you’ll join me in asking some interesting questions.

Where are we going?

As I type, my two year old son is speed racing his toy shopping cart around our living room (don’t ask me why).  This blog is meant as a forum for discussing the emerging forms of media that my son and his peers may engage with as they grow up as technology literate Americans in an increasingly flat world.  Will he receive customized digital messages via his iPhone?  Will blogging be a requirement for all of his middle school assignments?  Will recess be turned into a 45 minute social networking exercise sponsored by Hasbro?  Who knows?  But I intend to have some fun talking about it, throwing some ideas out there, and seeing what sticks.

So what does mowing the digital landscape actually mean?  It’s my way of saying that there are a plethora of emerging media that may truly benefit a marketing professional in reaching his or her strategic goals.  But not all new media are created equal.  By mowing the digital landscape we’ll be able to keep what works, bag what doesn’t, and hopefully enjoy an ice cold lemonade when we are finished.   

But before I relax, it’s time to cut the grass.