I’m sure I’m not the only one feeling a little bruised and battered after being asked to watch a barrage of 15-30 minute videos starring Mark Ritson (link, link, link) and his convincing argument about why digital marketing is not what it’s been hyped up to be. So my question is, is it really worth it?
Lets take a look.
Referring to social media Mark makes a solid first point, when you break it down, Social Media is…a Social Media, “its revolutionary in person to person communication” and allowing people to stay connected across great distances. By definition a company is not invited. Keep in mind Facebook was created so that “the Zucks” could keep in touch with his homies from school. However, social media has now become, and is largely accepted, as a platform to communicate a message customised to your viewer. Looking at digital marketing as a whole, I for one am a believer in its power to share a message in different and entertaining ways that previously were not possible.
Earlier this year I looked at an ad dear to all of our hearts, the Cadbury Eyebrows ad. With close to 2 million views in the first month back in 2009, this resulted in the sharing and re-tweeting across social media platforms. Now I’m not trying to say that digital and social is the be all and end all, BUT, if they did not exist you would not receive the type of cult following and response that followed this campaigns release. Celebs jumped on and praised it, people were able to re-watch it, one girl even made her own video and titled it “Cadbury eyebrows girl epic remake”. That’s advertising that Cadbury didn’t even pay for, all thanks to digital marketing.
I think the key to using digital and social in todays era, is to pull rather than push. A fantastic campaign by Nike allowed people to create their own shoe design from their phones in real-time with their design appearing on a screen in times square (ignore the old phone). People had to call the number and only a few people would get through. Once you had finished designing you could even buy your customised shoe.
Nike gave away more than 3000 pairs of shoes, engaged with their customers and created such a buzz that Converse later created a similar campaign. All through the creative use of Digital Marketing.
With the ever-increasing amount of technological advancements I believe that digital marketing will continue to take us to new and exciting places. I don’t believe that digital has replaced traditional marketing however, what I do believe, is that it has the potential to.
So what do you guys think? Do you think its worth doing digital? I’d love to know what your thoughts are.
Unravelling Digital Marketing 
Thanks for the post, I think it’s always worth going digital, you just cant ignore the scope and potential of a good campaign, I do however think the digital marketing has reenforced the need for skilled marketers (lucky us) in the workforce in order the not only take advantage of the opportunities that exist with it, but to avoid the easily found negatives and disadvantages that can come from a poorly designed or implemented campaign.
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Yeh too true, lucky us! haha I don’t think you can just post a picture with a caption and expect sales to go through the roof, there has to be some level of engagement and enticing people to play with your brand further. Its a complicated tool in its ease of use but I think it just requires a bit of analysing rather than just jumping straight into it. Thanks for the comment Nathan!
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Great post mate!
I definitely felt the same after watching the videos by Mark Ritson. I think he delivers his point well and is very convincing but i’m just not fully buying it. I agree companies definitely aren’t using social media well, at least not in its paid advertising functions. But as you say the potential for virality and chance to instigate WOM makes it worth it. Not to mention the cost compared to television is pretty low really. On your last point id say sure, it has the potential to but I don’t think it will. To be honest traditional is here to stay, sure it may change a little but its going nowhere fast. I think true potential lies is the combination and even further than that careful selection of channels based on your objectives, product etc.
Thanks
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Exactly! Even if its that 1 in a million chance of going viral, you can increase your chances and just continue communicating to your market. Yeh I see your point, traditional definitely has a firm grip on the market and on how we do things. My point is that it only takes a radically new piece of life changing technology to change the way we interact with the world completely. We have seen this in the past with the smart phone and the question is ‘what’s next?’ In another comment i spoke about Microsoft Holo Lens (https://youtu.be/3oXEY1J7XxA) this may very well lead the change to mostly digital. Thanks heaps for commenting and challenging, always good to hear from you!
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Hi mate, nice point of view! I agree with you that social media is a pull rather than a push strategy. The decision of a company should use social media or not should be considered based on their characteristics and status. I also don’t believe that social media has been replaced traditional marketing and it won’t in the future too. My vision for future marketing is both of them will be combined to give the most value for customer. Btw, my blog this week shows about social media is effective as a marketing tools in two situations. I would love to know your thought. Link: https://kimnguyen12397.wordpress.com/2018/05/20/a-stricter-view-on-social-media-as-a-marketing-tool/
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Hey Kim thanks for commenting. Yeh I am with you, its important for you to understand the type of company you work for. In saying that, I’m certain all companies can create engaging ways for people to interact with their company. Yeh Ill give it a read! Thanks!!
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Great post Nelson!
I strongly agree with your point about the need to pull customers in when it comes to digital. This is especially important in today’s society where there is an increasing level of marketing clutter. Do you really think that digital has the opportunity to almost completely replace traditional marketing. I for one feel like there will always be a place for traditional media but its usage will change over time. I’d love to hear your thoughts!
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Hey Cal, thanks for reading and commenting! Yeh super important for the pull factor. These days if you get that typical “buy my product” spam crap you just try and find the x button ASAP but if you entice or intrigue, thats when the magic starts to happen. With regard to my comment, with the growing advances in technology, its not going to be long before we are wearing some sort of implant or glasses that will allows us to view content even in the world around us. In fact this is already happening right now, check out this video for Microsoft Holo Lens, microsoft’s mixed reality glasses (https://youtu.be/3oXEY1J7XxA). My point is that if this is happening now, what is going to happen in the future. Like I said, it may not replace it, but it sure has the potential to do some pretty radical stuff. Let me know what your thoughts are.
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Awesome read Nelson. I’m not going to lie, I honestly felt the same way after watch some of Mark Ritson’s talks; the way he critically shut down marketers using social media. I absolutely agree, digital marketing won’t replace nor overshadow traditional media. Social media however creates value and allows marketers to indulge in creativity when commuting the message to target consumers online. The Cadbury and Nike examples which you used, are just evidence towards the effectiveness of ‘Digital Marketing’
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Yeh I agree. Plus there is the possibility of something going viral. Before the days of digital media, Viral was not used for anything other than a medical term. If something does go viral, digital media allows all those millions of people to flock to their smart phones and watch something on youtube, facebook, twitter and the multitude of other platforms. You really can’t discredit digital and say there is no use but I think his point of do you research and work out if this is going to be right for you is key. Lets be smart marketers rather than just a bunch of marketing sheep. Thanks for commenting by the way bro! Look forward to reading your blog now!
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