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How is Social Media Changing the Face of

Marketing?
By Katie Ford

For years, traditional marketing involved a one-way communication effort. Through public
relations and advertising campaigns, companies put forth value propositions to generate
INSIDE market appeal, attract and retain customers, and drive sales. However, with the rise of social
media such as blogs, online forums, and social networks like MySpace and Facebook, the
voice of the consumer is quickly drowning out those carefully crafted company messages.
Why Companies Should
With 3.5 million brand-related conversations taking place online daily in the United States,
Include Social Media..................1 companies are realizing that marketing to today’s technology-driven consumers means
engaging in two-way communication.

Social Media Rules of “With the rise of social media, the transparency of information is increasing and companies
are not able to hide behind their branding experts any longer,” says Micha Mikailian, founder
Engagement............................... 2
and CEO of eBoost Marketing in San Diego, Calif. “The successful companies of the future
are going to have to establish a sense of community with their customers, listen to their
concerns, and get them involved in the company.”
Social Media Tools: Are
Some Better Than Others?..... 2 Indeed, with democratization of information through social media, marketers are finding that
consumers expect to engage in dialogue with brands rather than merely listen passively, says
Eric Weaver, president of Brand Dialogue in Seattle, Wash. “Marketers who leverage these
tools are showing their markets that they are not merely window-dressing when it comes to
Companies Least Likely To
expressing an interest in their customers,” Weaver says.
Benefit from Social Media........ 3

Why Should Companies Include Social Media in Their

Measuring Social Media
ROI................................................ 3
Summary.................................... 3
Marketing Plans?
Experts say that social media platforms are ideal for building community and soliciting con-
sumer feedback. Forward-thinking companies are leveraging blogs, in particular, to open com-
munication lines between product developers and end users. Like virtual water coolers, these
blogs become a meeting point for troubleshooting, relaying feedback, and offering ideas for
improvement, which can result in products and services that are more relevant and useful to
the consumer. Not only does this new level of “conversation marketing” enhance customer
satisfaction, but it also builds community. End users feel they are a part of the company’s
process and become evangelists for the brand.

“Brands don’t have to spend money to attract people; they just have to figure out how they
can add value to the existing conversations that are taking place online,” says Kim Gregson,
an assistant professor in communications at Ithaca College in New York.

Adds Weaver: “If marketers value their customers, they must consider social media as part
of their brand strategy. Any Google search — typically the first place customers go to find out
more about your brand — will not only turn up your official company Web site, but it will likely
show customer-generated commentary on your brand — both positive and negative. Market-
ers who ignore this community conversation do so at their brand’s peril.”

Adds Weaver: “If marketers value their customers, they must consider social media as part
of their brand strategy. Any Google search — typically the first place customers go to find out
more about your brand — will not only turn up your official company Web site, but it will likely
show customer-generated commentary on your brand — both positive and negative.

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 Hoover’s White Paper: A Guide to Marketing in the Age of Social Media
Marketers who ignore this community conversation do so at
their brand’s peril.”
Mikailian says ignoring the dialogue opens the door for your
competitors to forge more meaningful relationships with your
customers. “However, it’s important to recognize that social
media is more than a marketing tactic, and its success is de-
pendent on integrating it with a genuinely open and customer-
centric company culture.”
What are the Rules of Engagement
for Marketing through Social Media?
Though technology-based companies were the pioneers of en-
gaging consumers through social media, many household con-
sumer brands have taken the leap now as well. From Facebook
profiles to podcasts to virtual stores in the Second Life virtual
world, mainstream companies like Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Co.,
Toyota, Whirlpool, and Target are tapping into the online action.
These companies have learned – and some have learned the
hard way – that promoting your brand through social media re-
quires chucking out old marketing rules of thumb and adopting
new rules of engagement. Adages like “never let them see you
sweat” are mantras of yesterday.
“Marketers of old generations were taught to try to displease
as few people as possible and to be appropriate and acceptable
to as wide an audience as possible, in hopes of maximizing rev-
enue opportunities,” Weaver says. “In other words: high level of
polish, avoid dissent, and control your image.”
No more, says Weaver. Generation X and Y marketers have
learned to share more with others and to worry less about
façade and more about substance.
“To me, they seem less concerned about appearances and more
interested in being understood. They prefer to be themselves
and to find others with shared outlooks and affinities rather
than trying to be all things to all people,” he says. “With the
search and affinity tools inherent in social media, younger
marketers seem to embrace these tools more readily, compared
to older marketers who are more likely to vet image and copy
through management, public relations, and legal departments.”
According to Weaver, companies that decide to leverage social
media in their marketing plans should do four things:
1. Be transparent and honest. Consumers often assume mar-
keters are self-interested. By being transparent, you curtail
doubt.
2. Ask your visitors to provide feedback on your communica-
tion efforts. These tools allow you to easily gather feedback.
3. Be fearless. Many marketers will cringe when they get
their first scathingly negative comment. You will receive both
Hoover’s, Inc. • 5800 Airport Boulevard, Austin, TX 78752
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positive and negative commentary. Use it to learn about your
market and your brand impression.
4. Draw up engagement boundaries. When should you respond
to a negative critique? When should you be silent? When should
you ban someone from your corporate blog? Determine how
you will behave in the public eye – in other words, when you’ll
assert control and when you’ll let the market be itself.
Cory Treffiletti, president and managing partner of marketing
capital firm Catalyst in San Francisco, Calif., says a surefire way
to nip negative commentary in the world of social media is to
make sure your promise matches your experience. However, in
the event that you uncover unfavorable comments floating in
virtual space, damage control in social media operates pretty
much like it would with any other medium. You must catch the
negative commentary early on, listen carefully to what is being
said, and then react accordingly.
“If you ignore it, the momentum of the commentary will only
get stronger and worse,” Treffiletti says. “Even though you
might be drawing more attention to the problem initially,
you’ll actually increase customer loyalty if you address it and
respond. That says to the consumer, ‘We’re working on it. We
hear you.’ And if you can’t change whatever prompted the
negative comments, you have an opportunity to explain to your
customers why that change can’t be made. This type of proac-
tive engagement with your customers makes you a leader, not
a follower.”
John Cass, author of “Strategies and Tools for Corporate
Blogging,” says that being genuine with your customers is the
crux of success in social media. In fact, those who have tried to
manipulate the system in their favor have given rise to negative
new terms. One example is “astroturfing” -- the practice of rep-
resenting oneself as a disinterested member of an online com-
munity when you’re actually paid by a company to post favor-
able comments. Another example is “ghost blogging” -- when
the person doing the writing on a blog is not the showcased
personality, but a hired hand. Says Cass: “I think it’s fine if, for
instance, an executive gets his blogging entry ideas from peers,
but he should be the only one doing the writing in the end.”
Are Certain Types of Social Media Tools Better
than Others?
As with any marketing plan, it’s important to take the time to
study and participate in all types of social media as an audience
member before engaging in marketing to those audiences. Mis-
steps are painful — and very public.
Treffiletti says that the core marketing principles of yesterday
apply to marketing to tech-savvy consumers today: Identify
your audience and then find the best way to reach the largest
group with minimal waste. “As a general rule, bloggers are very
• 866-541-3770 • www.hoovers.com
 Hoover’s White Paper: A Guide to Marketing in the Age of Social Media
targeted to niche groups, whereas social networks tend to be
very broad,” he adds.
Just as marketers study the media kits of newsstand publica-
tions before placing an advertisement, they should also find
out which blogs, Web sites, or social networks their current and
potential customers are engaging in.
Audio or video podcasts can be ideal for brands that need a
personal touch — a “face” to which consumers can relate. “They
can create a stronger personal connection between the team
members behind the brand and their audience,” Weaver says.
“These are great channels for brands that need to show more
personality. However, audience quality expectations are high, so
devote the resources it takes to express your brand well.” (This
doesn’t mean you always need Hollywood-caliber production
values, but you should do better than a shaky handheld camera
with scratchy audio.)
Social networks can be good channels for disseminating special
offers and company information that might not be worthy of a
press release but is still interesting enough to share with con-
sumers on a particular network.
“Like viral videos, social networks make it easy to spread
interesting content to friends,” Weaver says. “This content will
have a natural advantage in breaking through market noise, and
if it’s a positive impression, it will be given more credibility than
highly crafted marketing messages.”
What companies are less likely to benefit from
marketing through social media?
Highly regulated industries such as health care are less likely to
leverage social media as a marketing tool, simply because of all
the red tape surrounding company information and documenta-
tion. More than likely, the rules would put a kibosh on any real
dialogue that could happen with consumers.
Gregson of Ithaca College says companies that aren’t willing
to put the personnel and time behind the effort should also
refrain from leveraging social media. “It takes time to grow a
social network and you need to give people a reason to belong
— information, access to products, access to behind-the-scenes
industry or company gossip,” she says. “Companies [that have
set up a store] in Second Life discovered that you can’t just
‘build it and they will come.’ They might come once just to see
what you did, but there has to be a reason to come back. The
same is true for a Facebook page, a MySpace profile, or a blog.
There needs to be good content and it needs to be updated
regularly.”
How do you measure ROI with social media
marketing?
That is the (multi-)million-dollar question, indeed. Opinions
vary in this burgeoning field, but generally speaking, traditional
Hoover’s, Inc. • 5800 Airport Boulevard, Austin, TX 78752
3
online metrics, such as page views, click-throughs, and number
of downloads no longer apply.
“How do you know that someone downloaded the entire pod-
cast? How do you know they listened to the entire podcast?”
Weaver says. “Also, many metrics are based upon the end con-
clusion of a marketing effort: a sales conversion. Yet, marketing
through social media is as much about building affinity as it is
about a conversion. Given this, many marketers are advocat-
ing measuring social media from the perspective of outcomes:
awareness or conversion. Rather than trying to measure down-
loads or blog comments, many suggest focusing on measuring
overall results.”
Yet Gregson says some of the traditional metrics are still worth
tracking and noting. She says you can measure the spread of
your message by the number of bloggers who mention your
company, Web sites that link to your site, friends or contacts on
your social network page, and requests for more information.
Summary
Social media is changing the face of marketing. The carefully
crafted messages of yesterday are giving way to a more open
dialogue between companies and consumers. As more of the
marketplace embraces communication through blogs, online
forums, and social networks, more consumers are giving unfet-
tered feedback about companies and their products every day.
Companies that don’t participate in these conversations are
neglecting the reputation of their brand and opening the door
for competitors to come in and build more meaningful relation-
ships with their customers.
Before engaging in social media, companies need to explore the
various options available and decide which methods will likely
have the greatest impact on their target audience. No mat-
ter which avenue they choose -- a blog, a podcast, a store in a
virtual world, or whatever else -- marketers need to think ahead
and be sure they’re devoting the appropriate resources to
ensure that their content is relevant, engaging, and frequently
refreshed. That’s how to fulfill every marketer’s dream -- by
keeping consumers coming back for more.
About Hoover’s, Inc.
Hoover’s puts you on the fastest path to business. We deliver
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lion executives provides you access to powerful research and
networking tools to find and connect to the right people to get
business done. Learn more at www.hoovers.com.
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