Socializing Your Marketing Mix

Recently, Mars Incorporated backed a complete redesign of Skittles’ website to almost exclusively feature user-generated content, with links to its Facebook page, YouTube video account, Twitter updates, and Flickr search results. In essence, Skittles transformed what would traditionally be seen as a marketing or product site into an interactive social network.

Bottom line: It worked brilliantly. People, and importantly, younger consumers, are both talking about and engaging with it.

In an example of b-to-b media companies taking similar strides, look at IBM. They’ve utilized social media marketing to build awareness and sales among software developers. IBM marketers developed a campaign through YouTube, Facebook, MySpace and Twitter, and it reminds us that social media is holding strong as a large portion of the future marketing mix.

Here at ABM, our Twitter account was created and is administered by industrious Millennial employees; with a steadily-growing group followers, it’s presenting itself as an increasingly effective way to disseminate information and stay connected to our members.

The truth is, it’s not going to be as simple as it once was. Long gone are the days when a print or media AD yielded significant buzz and metrics that pointed to success. In the new media landscape, marketers must utilize a wide assortment of rapidly-evolving tools and foster an inclusive, collaborative atmosphere with their customers.

Millennials desire a platform to be heard, a place to share information and become part of a community. I can’t emphasize enough the need for companies to leverage the asset of their younger media-savvy employees.

Posted by Wally Koval
w.koval@abmmail.com

Comments

[Nick Stamoulis]

Marketing has certainly become more about two way communication between a company and its stakeholders. Social media is a great way to engage with a target audience. If used properly, social media can help a company gain key insights about how its brand is viewed.

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