Question: Why should brands embrace social media?

Answer: Brands should embrace social media because social media will soon be the only cost effective to reach consumers.

I have noticed two trends both as a marketer and as a consumer –

Trend 1: The cost of interrupting people with advertising is increasing.

Tired of the over-clutter of things in their lives, people are going “off” consumption. Tired of the bombardment of commercial messages, people are learning new ways to block out advertising. At the same time, media consumption has become more fragmented. Therefore, it has become more costly to interrupt people with advertising.

Trend 2: The cost of engaging with people via social media is decreasing.

“Listening to” consumers, “engaging with” consumer, and “touching” consumers has always been the holy grail of marketing. For the first time, social media allows marketers to “listen to”, “engage with” and “touch” people, both as individuals and consumers, in a cost effective way.

Today, it’s still more cost-effective (in terms of time + money + goodwill) to interrupt people with advertising than engage with them via social media. That equation will change tomorrow.

Very soon, social media will be the only cost effective way to reach consumers.

If you don’t learn how to listen to people today, you’ll discover that you are blocked out of their lives tomorrow.

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