The adoption of social media vastly changes the way brands and consumers interact with one another. Traditional marketing is still relevant, but social media marketing is becoming a must-have for all companies in a technologically expanding and innovative world.
Traditional Marketing
Traditional marketing focuses on push messaging, or in other words, one-way communication delivered to the target audience using a lot of television/print/radio to reach a mass audience. With this type of advertisement, there’s very slight opportunity for the consumers to interact with companies. In this type of marketing, boundary spanners, employees who interact with consumers directly, are the only means of two-way communication. With push marketing, the brand message is controlled by top-down power, meaning the company’s leaders are in charge of it, and it filters down the food chain.
Ecommerce and Micromarkets
The rise of ecommerce has vastly changed the buying and selling environment; it started offering faster speed, cost effectiveness and significantly easier access to micromarkets. A micromarket is a group of consumers that used to be considered too small and difficult to reach, so marketers never pursued them. These micromarkets allow marketers to offer niche products specific for very small groups of people.
Digital Marketing
Digital advertisements make it possible for people to respond directly to an online display ad by clicking on it and going directly to the company’s website. Search advertising makes it possible for marketers to get messages to both a vast audience and a niche audience, essentially giving advertisers the best of both worlds. Direct marketers have adapted email marketing to assist or even replace direct mail and telemarketing.
Traditional Marketing Versus Social Media Marketing
All these developments still are primarily vertical, one-way, mass communications and are largely impersonal. Integrating a horizontal two-way communication with potential consumers is vital in attracting their business. While both traditional and digital marketing works for an interruption-disruption model, meaning consumers will receive the information whether they want to or not, a more niche model of advertising is more effective if you have a designated target market.
The focus of marketing has switched to putting the consumer in control. Any good marketer is looking for consumers to participate in the ads placed online. Social media empowers people, so taking advantage of that trait is what’s going to make the difference in your marketing campaign. Social media allows consumers to discuss, contribute, collaborate, and share with not only brands, but with each other as well. Social media can help businesses to create customers who create other customers.
