Social media marketing case studies
I never really liked the association of the words marketing and social. I suppose it's because I saw- and continue to see- misguided attempts to approach social with the same mindset used for other marketing channels. Wikipedia defines Marketing "...as the process by which companies determine what products or services may be of interest to customers, and the strategy to use in sales, communications and business development. It is an integrated process through which companies create value for customers and build strong customer relationships in order to capture value from customers in return."
The problem for me then is not marketing. It's bad marketing. Creating value... and building strong relationships is what social is all about. And I don't like the word media either. The very use of the word already lumps it together with advertising, POS, direct mail and the interruption style of sending out messages. Why is a community media? Too late. The labels are stuck.
I enjoyed reading Social Media Marketing at the largest brands in the world. A free report from Swix.You can download the pdf here. Some really good case histories where companies have thought carefully about their audience, what they want and how they can add value to that community. I'm feeling happier about the association of the words marketing and social. But I still wonder. Why do we see so many examples of bad marketing?
