Social media is here to stay.  Social media is a fad.  Which is true?  I say both.

I wrote last week that digital marketing wasn't a piece of the marketing pie, it was a key ingredient in making the pie.  Well, social media is a key ingredient in leveraging digital marketing.  It is called out today as being a separate phenomenon.  Social media is being used as a buzzword. It is hot.  It is a fad.  I think the fad is calling it out as separate from digital marketing.  The long term reality is that social media is here to stay, and it should be embedded in the fabric of the digital marketing blanket, not a throw set on top.  

The ability to reach and engage with customers has changed and will continue to change as a result of digital connectivity - convergence, communities and content will evolve, not disappear.  There are two general observations on this front which have wide ranging implications for business today.

First, there are offline and online sales/marketing campaigns that might appropriately be kept independent of the other by virtue of the business objectives at hand.  However, the first assumption should be that they will be coordinated, and the exception are those times when the message is just better in the Wall Street Journal.  Most PR, marcomms, sales or branding campaigns simply benefit from a coordinated approach, with varying mixes.  And, as social media is part of the fabric of online, unless there are reasons not to include the social elements, they should be a component of all campaigns.  Any determination not to include social elements should be made on an enlightened basis, however, hand in hand with those who bring that expertise to the table, not due to a lack of understanding.

This gets to my second point.  Effective digital marketing requires enterprise wide change.  This sounds like a bold statement, but it really isn't a new one.  Traditional media can cut across multiple business units, including PR, marcomms, branding and sales.  Digital marketing 'bridges' these, as well as other departments such as legal, IT, CRM, product development and research and development.  It is just a different way to do business and interact with customers.  Done correctly, there is tremendous value to be realized through lower acquisition and customer service costs, higher customer service ratings, lower R&D costs, and so on.

Of course, there are legal elements related to most business units, but digital media will keep lawyers busy for a while developing new policies, procedures and precedents.  IT needs to ensure the right equipment, software and support are available, particularly if social media is being used by staff in addition to corporate initiatives.  Customer service through chat or Twitter really works to cut costs, both in head count and in addressing issues before they become crises or risks to your brand.  R&D can benefit from lower costs through crowd sourcing, and product development can benefit the same way through community evaluations.  This is very high level, and the tools for each vary, but they all exist today in the digital domain.

At New Marketing Labs see the challenges faced by large enterprises, both B2B and B2C, but we also have measured partner success gleaned from constructing and leveraging the digital bridge.  Businesses can lead or follow, but the land grab enabled by digital marketing is in the form of developing real relationships with customers.  Once these relationships are built, it will be very difficult for competing others to break the bonds.

What is your take on social media helping to build the digital bridge between different departments?  Have you seen it within your company?  If so, what were the results of it?

Photo by: WildVanilla