tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044216626568795010.post1027953818649679450..comments2019-08-02T17:01:49.125-03:00Comments on Ideo Locator: Social Pariah or MessiahAshwin Kuttyhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05312582093192214511noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044216626568795010.post-11741711863786699782013-04-03T02:57:15.700-03:002013-04-03T02:57:15.700-03:00Its interesting to see the varied responses I have...Its interesting to see the varied responses I have received thus far and to your thoughts, I do not disagree that social media as a tool is not currently equipped to do the "selling" per say. I do however look at it from a value proposition standpoint and purely from that aspect, I do believe we need to quantify it. Businesses cannot make decisions on building a brand without knowing what the impact will be - so in the traditional world its not just about how many eyeballs I have on an ad, but more about purchase intention (6 out of 10 are now more inclined to buy my product and 3 out of 10 will do so in the next 30 days). There is a cost vs benefit analysis that can be attributed to this quite simply.<br /><br />I do agree that social media as a whole is an engagement platform; I guess my point is that it is being sold as a commerce vehicle by "gaming" the social network constructs. Favourite your own posts, or promote one developed by a client to receive enough traction via the search mechanisms and/or get the social influencers to retweet or like your post or worse yet have a gimmicky campaign where you tell folks to follow you and you will follow them back, etc.<br /><br />To me the value proposition needs to be clear and businesses need to see value generated from their social strategies. I do not agree with the value propositions being proposed by the social gurus these days in that the # of likes or the # of followers equate to a brand association/loyalty as it truly does not.<br /><br />To take your point on graphic design, as you know, I do also have an entity that dabbles in marketing/communications/design/PRstrategies and although I do not hail from that world directly, I firmly believe that if we cannot show the value proposition of a campaign or a design strategy, it is good art but not commercialy viable to be considered in-part or whole a strategy. I was fortunate enough to get this quote from David Ogilvy who in short said "if it doesn't sell it isn't creative".<br /><br />Thanks for the feedback Duane.Ashwin Kuttyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05312582093192214511noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-9044216626568795010.post-34085809119464922422013-04-01T10:38:49.956-03:002013-04-01T10:38:49.956-03:00I agree with you, but I think that it comes down t...I agree with you, but I think that it comes down to what our expectations are from "social media". I have a business that I have been casually promoting through social media for about 4 years and can only think of a handful of engagements with customers that may have possibly led to a sale. Maybe my product sucks or maybe I'm using social media wrong. These are potential reasons for my lack of success, however on the other hand I have never purchased a product from a company that I follow based on my relationship with them on a social network either. The problem with social media is that it was "sold" in the wrong way. Social media is simply a communications tool that enables brands to have two-way conversations vs the conventional method of one-way broadcasting. A brand is a living, breathing, evolving thing and social media is a step towards humanizing brands in a way that didn't happen previously unless brands were active participants in local communities. They can now make the world their local community. They try this with celebrity endorsements but the public is sophisticated enough now that they know a celebrity endorsement is just a pay check for that celebrity and not a true endorsement of a product. Social media isn't a magic sales bullet. If a product isn't suited to you, you won't buy it regardless of how engaging a brand's social media presence is. <br /><br />Graphic design is sold in a similar way. At the most basic level most clients hire graphic designers because they believe good design will boost sales. However, at the end of the day, I can design a great ad or a great package that makes a product more enticing but if the product is bad then the public will eventually find out and word will spread. Organizations need to be real and focus their energy into doing the things they tell the the public they do. This doesn't mean that design has no value. Design is about how a brand engages with their customers and vice versa. If a customer, connects to you on a visual level they are more likely to engage with you further and "potentially" spend money with you. I see social media in the same way but social media allows for a deeper intellectual connection.<br /><br />When I first started using Twitter, my intention was to generate sales and blog hits for my business through social engagement. I would still love for that to happen but I realize that this may not be realistic based on what I said previously. I now see social media's value as a way to build brand awareness through relationships that I have nurtured in the CoC's you discussed. Not everyone wants to buy my product but most people in my network are at least aware of it, and know that there is a person behind the product whom they connect with. As a result, I've met some great folks that I either have worked with or plan to work with in the future that I never knew existed before Twitter. In my opinion, there's value in that, that possibly doesn't need to be quantified.Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01456572321160812387noreply@blogger.com