Real Time Marketing Is A Big Benefit Of Social Media Marketing [Video]

Real Time Marketing Is A Big Benefit Of Social Media Marketing

Video Transcript:

Hey, I'd really like to speak with you and I have something really cool to tell you…but I can't tell you until sometime next year.

Sound like a marketing campaign you've been involved in?

Hey, I'm Barry Cunningham from the Social Media Agency and what I'm talking about is how marketing teams at many brands are continuing to work.

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In this day and age of social context, brand managers and marketing directors across the country are making plans and readying budgets for campaigns they expect to launch sometime next year.

I was recently working with Delta Airlines and I was told that their budgets and marketing plans were set through 2012. Really? Seriously?

Here we go again. no matter how much these marketing people are told they just don't get it. They are creating these grandiose marketing campaigns and planning launches 6-12 months away. Those that feel that they have some grasp of social media even have ideas and plans as to how to integrate social media into these campaigns.

What they're missing is the world doesn't work that way anymore. Here's the next wave of marketing as I see it and I'm telling all of my clients to toss conventional wisdom out the window!

The future is real time marketing. Marketing that is now, fresh, vibrant and relevant. Real time marketing is engaging. real time marketing is communicative, it's alive and it's what today's wired consumer wants.

Let me ask you something. I want you to tell me which of these things could have been predicted, planned for or been spoken of in boardrooms across America.

1. Did anyone know that the St. Louis Cardinals would make a miraculous turnaround and win the World Series?

2. Did anyone know that Kim Kardashian would get divorced after just 79 days?

3. Did anyone know that Wall Street would be occupied by a bunch of kids who wanted to change the world?

I would venture that other than maybe guessing ahead that the kardashian marriage might not making it a year, that there wasn't an iota of thought of any of these things happening when you were planning your 2012 marketing 6 months ago.

But, these were arguably the biggest news stories of the past week and people were talking about these stories all over the interweb. But more than likely, you weren't.

You were busy executing a dusty marketing plan created in 2010 and you did not have the flexibility, creativity or ability to engage with prospective customers about stories that THEY were interested in.

You were too busy trying to get them to notice you that you completely missed the opportunity to speak to people about what matters to them. You missed the opportunity to speak to people in real time. You missed the NOW moment. You missed the chance to be there when they had something to say.

You see it's not about moving product or pushing campaigns or launching products. It's about creating influence, increasing engagement and substantially enhancing your relevance…and you missed it.

I suggest that brand managers and marketing directors start looking very closely at enlarging their perspective and preparing themselves to be socially relevant and engage in real time marketing.

There's a lot going on in the world and people are talking. Whether it be about who won the big game last night, how much fun the concert is going to be tomorrow night or when the NBA is going to get their act together.

The only question is what are you doing to be a part of those conversations and how real time marketing can put you smack dab in the middle of what is relevant to your customer base.

Remember the cardinal rule of communications: Know the audience and reach out to them where they are.