Reaction Paper: Everyone's Social (Already), Jessica Tsai

The article by Jessica Tsai “Everyone’s Social (Already)” (CRM Magazine, Jun 2009) deals with exploiting social media from marketing perspective. The main point is that social media marketing is still in the early stages and constantly adapting its form. The article describes the setting around social media by pointing out the marketing oriented characteristics of it. It is enhanced that social media is consumer driven and thus must be taken a new perspective when approached. Tsai provides many interesting points when guiding the way to successful marketing without burning the fingers.

Social media allows unprecedented possibility for everyone involved to talk and listen. Customers and companies are talking with each other. Most important thing that social media provides is a natural way to lay back and listen. The customers are getting more and more active and this way providing valuable information for the companies. The situation where customers are willing to talk and tell with the company is incredible. It’s unbelievable that some companies are still not willing to listen. The will for the modern and active consumer to talk can’t be exhausted, neither denied. It will happen anyways. It is the company’s task to provide a platform where a productive two-way conversation can take place. If this kind of facilitation is denied, the conversation will take its place somewhere else and the nature of it is more like pointless criticism. This comes to the fact that consumers’ actions in social media can’t be controlled. This is what companies are afraid of and thus not facilitating a place for such a communication.

The messages that the consumers might be telling are not always the most pleasant ones for the company. Dissatisfied customers come up with their issues and tell about those in public. From company’s point of view this should be taken as a possibility rather than a problem. Usually it’s really difficult to get in touch with the unsatisfied customer through conventional channels. If the customer’s issue is stated in public, it also can be solved in public. And think about the ways that social media allows to be used in this issue solving. It can be done with a great style and this way it may even provide viral material. The unsatisfied customer could also be taken as built-in quality surveillance. Post-purchase communication with the customer will increase the understanding of the product lifecycle and all of the stages in it.

It’s difficult to set the strategy for social media marketing as the world of it is still mostly unknown. The attendance itself can’t be the reason for attending. “We do this because, we are supposed to do this”-thinking won’t take the marketer all that far. As Tsai writes, marketing in social media must be relevant already in the first place. The company has to have a clear vision and reason for their acts in social media. Relevancy will make the use of social media meaningful both for the company and the customer. Right now brands and products are represented in Facebook, but the content provided is not relevant, neither do they engage the customer. It seems that companies are thinking “build it and they will come”. Of course it has to be remembered that companies are hesitant to invest to social media marketing as the advantages can’t be measured. It is true that the marketing needs to be done blindfolded in a way. Although the benefits can’t always be measured with quantitative metrics, the marketer surely knows that in the end of the day well conducted, strategic and target-oriented marketing in social media has ability to gain huge advantages. Those advantages are mostly something that can’t be reached with traditional ways of marketing. That is what eventually is valuable for the company.