The reality of our society is that every person is connected in some way. Forget the old x6 rule that says that everyone is connected through no more than 6 people. Nowadays it is no stretch to say that everyone is directly connected in some way to everyone else. How is this possible? SOCIAL MEDIA. Today I used Twitter to communicate with a guy named Vernon Wells. He is a professional baseball player and one of my idols. I told him I was sad that he was traded away from the Blue Jays and crazily enough… he responded! Imagine that….me, an ordinary student, talking directly to one of my idols. This is possible because of Social Media resources such as Twitter. These resources that connect us all can be used to gain a competitive advantage in business by helping us communicate our brand. Philip Kotler, writer of our first year marketing textbook, explains the theory of Create, Communicate and Deliver as it pertains to marketing in the following video, check it out
Kotler talks about Mind, Heart and Spirit. As marketers, we need to capture people’s minds by offering them a relationship that they trust in. This relationship must go beyond that of customer/service provider. We need to establish a real relationship that targets a person’s heart, much like a relationship with a family member might. In their hearts, people need to feel like this particular relationship is good for them. Through the heart, we capture the spirit. Our spirit allows us to connect for the benefit of society. It is our spirit that drives us to give back to the things we believe in. If people believe in the relationship that we establish with them through our brand, they feel a sense of loyalty to it. All of a sudden you gain an asset more valuable than anything else you could possibly imagine… a loyal customer. This is someone who will fight to defend the relationship that they have established. Have you ever tried to bad-mouth an Apple product in front of an avid Apple supporter? If yes, you probably got chewed out for it. Apple has done a good job of creating a relationship with their customers. Apple buyers feel like they are part of the Apple “community” which gives them an unbelievably strong attachment. Social Media is a storm that is taking the world over, we absolutely have to take advantage of this buy using these outlets to create hype about our brand. Then, when the world watches with mind, heart and spirit, we separate the hype from the science by giving them a product that helps to shape or define the relationship that we have with them.
The wonderful thing about this is that when this relationship is established and defined, all of a sudden people start to talk. Word spreads by what is called “word of mouth” marketing. When people begin to talk about a brand, the name spreads like fire until the above-mentioned hype is created. In what seems like the blink of an eye, a community is formed around a brand that defines what the brand means to people. Now look back…did you spend a dollar on this? No.
Marketers need to listen to their target market in order to create value for them and, in turn, turn a profit. The relationship that we build will be stronger than any business-based force that has ever been implemented in our society. Social Media Marketing is the doorway to a huge opportunity for organizations to connect with people through new channels. It is a good way to create a poetic sense of “I Belong” within a person and when it does…you have them.
