Is there more potential for Social Media Marketing?

I spent today reading a PR2.0 post by Brian Solis and following the links through to the Bokardo blog (my first time there) by Joshua Porter where a discussion about social media marketing was well under way.

What is all the fuss about?

Joshua points out that social media amplifies opinions about your products, it doesn't turn bad opinions about your product into good ones.  You can leverage social media to get feedback, listen to the feedback, improve your product and start positive conversations - the key is that you improve your product.  The point, as he puts it is that good results "happen(s) as a result of having a commitment to improvement, not simply because you implement social media tools."

While I agree with all of this, I think that there are still other opportunities for marketing companies to leverage Social Media.  It isn't just to use social media as a feedback tool - that is but one of the many marketing objectives that may cause a company to engage in a social media strategy.

Marketing objectives can range from creating awareness to generating new customers to building loyalty and preference among existing customers.  Social Media has a place in all of these objectives - the problem is finding creative ways to achieve these objectives.

A GREAT example of a Social Media strategy aimed at user acquisition was oovoo and the my oovoo day execution from Crayon.  They asked a number of people who were active in social media and marketing to host discussions on oovoo, and in return donated to The Frozen Pea Fund.  This clever execution created much buzz in the social media sphere, and created both awareness and trial for oovoo.

The point is, that with good executions that leverage social media and the community vs. force themselves, uninvited into the space, companies can use social media for far more than a feedback conversation (not that this use isn't valuable).  Social Media marketing requires creativity and a non-intrusive style of marketing, which is new to organizations who are used to old media.

Anyone know of any other great social media marketing campaigns?

Comments

[Paul Terry Walhus]

Speaking of Brian Solis, we are scheduled to interview him in the next few days.

Geek News Central ( http://geeknewscentral.com ) and AustinCast ( http://austincast.com/sxsw ) are doing interviews at SXSW with attendees, panelists and trade show exhibitors. GNC has a series running on itunes now of CES 2008 interviews if you want to see a sample of what we do.

We'd like to interview if possible by phone or skype before SXSW and in person during SXSW. If this is agreeable to you please send us either your phone or skype id and a good time to call or skype you. If you have skype with video that would be perfect.

Interviewers are myself, Dina Knight and Cheryl Hill. My email is walhus@gmail.com and the cell phone number is 512.699.4000. My skype id is walhus

I hope you can do this!

Thanks,

Paul Terry Walhus
http://austincast.com/sxsw
http://justin.tv/austintexas
http://geeknewscentral.com
http://sched.org/sxsw2008/springnet
http://twitter.com/springnet