From my latest contribution to Ad Age/Digital Next:
"There's a growing number of case studies of brands that go beyond
putting their ads on social networks and it's becoming increasingly
clear that brands that figure out how to engage customers meaningfully
through the use of social media can reap rewards, but there is some
risk. To help understand that risk you need to truly understand how
different social media is compared to something like, say, interactive
marketing.
For starters, it's social which means it's people-to-people, not
technology-to-people. Secondly, you can't walk away that easily from
social initiatives the way you can walk away from that microsite and
banner campaign you just launched. (Well, you could -- but I wouldn't
recommend it.) And lastly -- and most importantly -- you have to
understand that social media as the killer app of our time has one
killer feature which is designed to make your legal department cringe.
It's called feedback. Even putting a simple video on YouTube means that
you are opening yourself up to the opinions of anyone and everyone who
has something to say. So what's a business, brand or large organization
to do? I have a few suggestions."
Read the full article on Advertising Age
