Real-time

For the past few months I have been writing about a vision of social media where social networks are not the only playing fields and where social media’s place within the marketing mix does not exist entirely within “online promotion”.

Understanding that people have different learning styles and different starting points, I used pen, paper and elementary venn diagrams in a meeting with “traditional” marketers to illustrate where the “online” and “social media” elements fit into their marketing world.

Although simplistic and elementary, they helped them get over their initial block as to the “why, where and how” of social media.

Writing down the “five P’s of marketing” I asked them to circle where they saw social media having a role to play within the marketing mix. Below is a tidied up representation of what they produced.

Taking the same “five P’s” I added my interpretation of where social media tools and thinking apply to the marketing mix.

This opened up the discussion as to how an integrated marketing plan, using “traditional” and “new” tools adds value to an organisation. It was able to break down the resistance to social media. After further discussion, they could see how having access to real-time information and knowledge adds value when used in conjunction with retrospective measurement and information gathering tools. It also allowed the penny to drop that opening up and fostering collaboration and engagement can actually help grow an organisations IP, not loose it.

Social Media, a Vehicle to Organisational Change

Author: Alasdair Munn

tcg: The Communication Group

Our shift from the industrial age to the information age has been led through our ability to make better-informed decisions. To achieve a competitive advantage we have had to have instant access to real-time information, harness our collective expertise and intellectual property and ensure we are nimble and efficient when adapting to change. Technology has played a starring role in this transformation, however, we are rapidly realising that the value of technology goes beyond chips, computers or software.

The industrial age was characterised by economies of scale through standardisation, retrospective measurements such as ROI and market penetration through demand creation. The information age has seen a shift, led in part through changing consumer behaviour and expectations. We are increasingly living, working and interacting in real-time.

It is estimated that within a year the amount of digital information in the world will double every 11 hours. This information is largely unstructured and will be produced in a multitude of formats, originating from an ever-increasing number of intelligent devices. To stay informed and nimble we need to change the way we structure our organisations and analyse our data.

Capturing, processing and analysing relevant data so it is seen in context and helps direct and inform decisions is essential. The ability to recognise patterns, to analyse content in motion and present this information so it allows for effective management and decision-making is the new competitive advantage. Managing your content through a permissions based hierarchy so it can inform, grow, have value added to it and be accessed when and where it is needed is an organisation’s new intellectual property.

Social media has an important role to play within this eco-system. The collaborative and real-time essence of social media, be it across open or closed networks fuels the information age. The tools and thinking behind social media, applied in relation to an organisation’s unique business rules and objectives drives this shift.

In this context, social media is not just about brand or reputation management. It is about giving organisations the tools they need to succeed in an age where change is rapid, collaboration essential and expectations are real-time.

Photo by The Rocketeer

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