Incorporating Social Media into the Conversation

I came across an interesting Fast Company blog article from Steve Rubel titled “How to Captivate and Hold Attention in the Age of the Stream” that caused me to think about parallels between digital media and physical media. Here is an excerpt:

“Imagine for a moment that you’re standing on an overpass high above a busy L.A. freeway like the 405 or the 5. It doesn’t really matter which. Pick one.

At the end of the experiment, if I were to ask you to recall ten cars and trucks and what was memorable about them, I guarantee that you would be hard pressed to do so. What’s more, none of the cars would have been “repeat impressions.” You saw each car only once, and likely not every vehicle on the highway. That’s precisely the same challenge that marketers face in the ‘age of the stream.'” (article excerpt)

Of course you can’t make exact parallels, but it struck me that when people view social media as a distribution channel (which it isn’t purely that), the following parallels emerge:

Steve Rubel concludes his article by saying that the solution to the streaming challenge of social media is to be ubiquitous. That of course is easier said than done and I don’t feel goes far enough.

In this new digital world, excellent marketing campaigns will require integrated physical and digital planning, strategy, and execution that streams “conversation starters” through multiple physical and digital ‘channels’ to lead naturally into longer conversations in both corporate and uncontrolled social media outlets, before circling back into new “conversation starters” informed by this customer dialogue.

What do you think?

Braden Kelley is the founder of Business Strategy Innovation, a consultancy focusing on innovation and marketing strategy. Braden is also @innovate on Twitter.