October 31, 2011
Posted by Chris Kocek
Social Media Infographics from the Consumers’ Perspective
There are a lot of social media infographics out there. Here’s one that seems to pop up in just about every presentation and webinar on the planet.
While I love the way this infographic looks, here’s the underlying problem with it. It’s brand-centric. Not only is the brand at the center, but it suggests that the brand needs to find a way to be in all of the social media channels that are out there.
It’s enough to give a client heart palpitations.
The real question is: “What does the world look like if we put the consumer at the center of the social media universe?” To get to that answer, let’s take a quick trip down memory lane.
In the traditional era, you had word of mouth and you had traditional media outlets. Word of mouth was powerful, but with enough media weight, those traditional channels could wield a lot of influence. You might ask your neighbor what kind of peanut butter she bought, but chances are you saw a dozen ads that told you, “Choosy moms choose JIF.”
Fast forward to the 1990s. With just about everyone getting their own personal computer, digital media enters the scene. Just as filing cabinets and manila folders transformed into digital folders in Windows 95 , so print ads evolved to become digital banners on magazine websites. The direct mail envelopes stuffing people’s mailboxes became e-mail blasts cluttering their inboxes. It’s a natural progression, but at the end of the day it’s a lot of analog concepts with nothing more than digital icons.
At the turn of the century, magic happens. All the content on all those websites becomes searchable. Consumers go from being passive to active, surfing the web (how did such a confusing, mixed metaphor come into existence?) and searching for answers. Sure, people still ask each other questions, but more often than not they Ask Jeeves or go to Ask.com or pay a visit to AltaVista, until eventually Google becomes a verb. For a few years, people are in awe of the answers provided by sophisticated algorithms.
Then along comes Napster. Followed by Friendster. Followed by MySpace. Followed by Facebook. And so many others. Peer- to-peer networks that put consumers back at the center of the conversation. With so many opinions and reviews and ideas created by and shared between people – who has time anymore to listen to another hum drum ad trying to sell you something? Why trust an algorithm when you can trust your friends?
This is what the social media revolution looks like from the consumers’ perspective. It’s a white picket fence made up of conversations and word of mouth, with a sign that says, “Friends only. Brands stay away. (Unless of course you have something that can make me look cooler or smarter in front of my friends.)”
So if you want to be a brand that’s successful in social media, start with these infographics, with consumers at the center of the universe.
5 Comments
November 2, 2011
Thank you for including the Conversation Prism. You read to easily into it. There are several posts that dive into depth of its meaning and how to use it. Here’s a quick and easy read: http://www.briansolis.com/2010/10/introducing-the-conversation-prism-version-3-0/
Everyone has a brand, whether it’s business or personal. The sole reason it was created was to say two things, 1) YOU DON’T NEED TO BE EVERYWHERE…be only where you need to be and 2) There’s more to social media than Twitter, Facebook, Foursquare and Youtube.
November 2, 2011
Thanks for the link, Brian. I think the intention/idea behind the Conversation Prism is fantastic. The challenge we experience on the advertising side is when clients see all those channels, they cover their mouths and say, “Oh my gosh! We need to be in all these channels?!!!” You’ll be happy to know that at GSD&M, we always tell them, “No, you don’t need to be in ALL these channels. You need to first figure out what your objectives are, who your target is, then listen to your target’s conversations and figure out which channels to get into. So I think we’re on the same page. While our infographics are a little less robust than the conversation prism, we hope you like them as well.
November 3, 2011
Chris- how did you come up with the placement of the rings in relation to the consumer? Based on value? Proximity? Preference? I need more info- not sure I understand.
November 3, 2011
That’s a great question, Sam. Word of Mouth is closest to the consumer through all the eras b/c of trust. Whether or not someone follows through on a brand recommendations hinges on trust and reliability. People often trust recommendations from friends and family because they assume their friends and family are not trying to “sell” them something. Search is also more trustworthy than traditional channels because it’s algorithmic (although, as we have seen, search recommendations can be influenced by sponsored links). One of the reasons why social media can be so threatening to brands is because WOM has more or less leveled the playing field in terms of persuasion. In the past, with enough media weight, brands could persuade people much more easily (at least in terms of stimulating trial – think about old Buick posters from the 1920s with lines like, “More people drive Buick!” How could you really find out if that was true?) Today, you have search and social media (WOM on steroids) either counteracting or verifying any given advertising claim made in traditional channels. In the next several months/years, I think we’re going to see a very interesting battle between algorithmic and social search. So far, social search still needs to work out a few kinks, but we’ve seen some very interesting experiments with Yahoo! Answers and Facebook Questions. That’s why I believe Google keeps trying to crack the social code (now with Google +), because it sees this battle looming on the horizon. Because, ultimately, when it comes to the business of brands, it all comes down to trust.
November 10, 2011
Thanks for posting, great timeline! Indeed, the development of the Internet industry over the past 2 decades has been nothing but incredible! And now Social Media affects every aspect of our life. As for a personal one, I recall a recent episode of “How I met your mother” (Mystery vs. History) where the point was that we actually make a research for a background information on a date via Social media channels
From a business perspective,I would like to make a point regarding Social Media Marketing particularly in China.
The rules of the marketing game have changed, it’s not enough to just push messages; brands need to interact and engage with customers. Any company has a great possibility of getting the wheels turning social media into a valuable and powerful weapon.
There is a a recently released eBook that contains the latest Chinese Internet facts via a series of infographics. These representations outline critical usage metrics, media consumption patterns and demographic breakdowns. For those interested, here is a link:
http://www.slideshare.net/digitaljungle/infographic-chinese-internet-fast-facts
Cheers!
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