The Value of Conversations

I recently read about an initiative that one of my VCU Brandcenter classmates, Luis Carranza implemented at his agency, Iris Digital. The shop, based out of London, experimented by bypassing traditional advertising and focusing on social media to engage its audience for a party sponsored by Sony Ericsson. The invitation-only party was centered on the World Cup, so Luis obviously built his strategy around Soccer. He used Facebook, Twitter and built a presence on soccer blogs to get the word out. Based on his strategies, I believe it is safe to say that his goal was to develop conversations around the party as well as what Iris is doing. It is safe to say it was a success. Please view this article that explains it in more detail.

Luis Carranza featured on BrandRepublic.com

The aspect of the article that is important to all is what Luis sees as the advantages and disadvantages of using Social Media:

Advantages:

1. Knowing that there is a person, someone with a heartbeat behind a brand is good for business.
2. People will look for you if they like what you have to say.
3. People have names, and too often we simply refer to them as consumers. It's more difficult to think of someone as a consumer, when they tell you their name. This approach is more human.
4. Reaction time is faster. You can make adjustments on the fly if something isn't working.
5. People opt-in and out as they wish.
6. Engagements and experiences more memorable than page views.
7. Consumers have more control and input.
   

Disadvantages:

1. Finding the right people takes time. You can't talk to every single person, so you have to spend time finding the right ones.
2. Social media campaigns don't start at 9 and end at 5. Constant monitoring is required.
3. It's not easy. You can't just say you want to use Twitter and just start doing it. Expect obstacles and set backs, but push forward.
4. Bud Caddell said it best in his slideshare presentation: "Digital Media isn't Mass Media for Cheap".
5. It's complex.
6. Much of the value added by a campaign like this isn't measurable in the traditional sense. An offline conversation as a result of something online doesn't register until after the campaign is over.
7. What worked today doesn't always work tomorrow. There's no cookie cutter way to be honest with your audience.

This idea brings up a much broader topic; The Value of Conversations vs. Messaging. I will explain my thoughts on this tomorrow.