I recently read an interesting article about social media and the difficulties associated with planning them into marketing plans.  The gist of the article is that until precise demographic data is available, social media will be an afterthought for most marketing planners.

MY THOUGHTS ON SOCIAL MEDIA (Like Facebook, Youtube, FLICKR, Myspace, Twitter etc.)

There may be a lack of demographic data on many social networking sites, but I feel strongly that this should not stop savvy marketers from using these sites to reach people.  I think that the lack of data represents a negotiating opportunity that could be nicely balanced against the risk associated with paying for presence in an environment with imprecise reach numbers.

Imagine if Ford, GM P&G & Lever decided in the early years of TV not to advertise because the demographics were not precise.  Makes me wonder how strong those brands would be today.

Out of curiosity I wonder if US President Barack Obama worried about the lack of demographics prior to deciding that he needed to create a dominating internet presence?  Can you imagine this conversation:

B.O. ” I want to be everywhere …not just on TV and in newspapers and magazines.  And everywhere includes the internet.”  I think we need a presence on Facebook, Myspace and YouTube as a starting point.”

Campaign advisor:  ”Barack.  I just don’t see the strategic reason for being there.  Facebook is for kids and Myspace is basically for musicians and actors.  We’ve already got that demo sewn up.  We’re weak against readers of the Washington Post and The NY Times.”

BO:   “I hear that.  But I want to connect and be able to respond faster than we can on TV and in print.  And I do get why we need to be on TV and in the newspapers.  So let’s do that.  But for once let’s beat the Republicans in the alleyway and own the internet too.  I think we need to show real change…not just talk it.  And by creating a Presidential internet campaign we can demonstrate that we are connected to what is happening and will continue to happen in the world.  WE ARE DOING THIS IN A BIG WAY…so let’s make it happen fast.”

Campaign advisor:  ”We’ll get on it right away.”

Barack Obama may be the best marketed President brand in history.  There’s a lesson in his success for us marketing people to absorb.

Here’s a thought for today.  If you believe, as I do, that the time people spend getting information and entertainment from internet sources is going to continue to rise, shouldn’t it be a fairly easy leap to make the internet a must-have in your marketing plan?

I say, be in the vanguard…or be on guard for brand decline.  Here is the ad age article.

Social Media Playtime Is Over

That Many Marketers Still ‘Experimenting’ Is Not a Good Sign

Posted by B.L. Ochman on 03.17.09 @ 09:06 AM

Fifty percent of corporations surveyed in Forrester Research’s “Social Media Playtime is Over” report are increasing social media spending in the face of the recession. But that’s far from the point of the recently released report.

Three-quarters of those surveyed who knew their budgets said they allowed for $100,000 or less for social media tools over a 12-month period, according to the report, written by Forrester analyst Jeremiah K. Owyang. And they are not integrating social media into their overall marketing strategy. Instead, they are “experimenting” with isolated tactics and hoping that they will take the place of long-term strategy.

Furthermore, Owyang notes, social media is more of an after-thought than a marketing line item. “45-percent of marketers say their social budgets are determined as needed and 23-percent say they scrape together funds from wherever they can find them.”

“Our data shows that marketers intend to invest more in social media but have yet to justify substantial budgets. If you continue to fund social applications only as experiments, you’re unlikely to be able to do enough to make an impact or to have a secure source of funding for the future. One way to put these efforts on a firmer footing is to concentrate on objectives and measure progress toward those objectives, rather than just experimenting to see what happens. … Without concentrating on measurable objectives, it will be difficult to justify further investment in the future.”"…As one of the few marketing budget items increasing during a recession, social media marketing needs to be taken seriously and treated as a corporate asset. To be successful, social media marketing must be managed as long-term programs, not short-term experiments. To succeed, make sure you have dedicated resources in place, including both social media strategists and community managers,” writes Owyang.

Unfortunately, many social media strategists are still confronting conversations like this one, recently reported to me by a fellow social media strategist:

CMO: We want you to get bloggers to write about our site and generate 250K monthly visits through their posts.

Agency: What is your demographic? What is your goal for that traffic?

CMO: We want them to spend money on the site, and we want to see how much traffic social media can generate.

Agency: What support will you give to your “experiment”? Does your budget include search engine optimization? PR? Google advertising? Company blog? Advertising on targeted blogs? A forum? An interactive website? Content sponsorship? Sponsored blog posts? Videos? Print advertising? Email campaign?

CMO: Those cost money. We don’t have budget available for any of those.

Agency: Who on your staff has this campaign as his/her full-time responsibility?

CMO: Nobody.

Agency: What other marketing tools can we employ? Can we create a blog? Facebook page? Flickr group? YouTube videos? Twitter? Can we participate in social networks including Friend Feed and other online communities?

CMO: Our legal department says we cannot allow people to write on the wall on our Facebook pages. We can’t participate in Twitter because everything we say has to pass through legal first and approval can take several days. So any site where we are expected to engage in public conversation would be out.

As the Forrester study indicates, until the corporate side of that conversation changes. not much else will. In other words, companies need to KISS.