One of my favorite metaphors for the social web as it relates to marketers is the ocean. Although metaphors are often overused, it’s a great way to think about – and explain to others – Web 2.0 as a marketing medium.
I have been a certified SCUBA diver for several years now and have had wonderful experiences exploring the underwater wilderness. Every time I do it I’m reminded of something that my certification instructor told me – “This is not your world. You are merely a visitor.” Submerging always makes me poignantly aware of that fact, with all of the awkward, heavy equipment restricting my movement, a mask limiting my vision, and the rattle of my regulator a constant reminder that under normal conditions I can’t even breathe here.
To marketers, who are the lifeblood and to a great degree the masters of other communications mediums like television, radio, and print – the social web is a vast, foreign world that belongs to the fish (the users) and where they can visit, observe, but never feel truly at home or enjoy any degree of control. It is highly unique in that way.
Occasionally, the marketer can throw some bait in the water to attract the fish, but when the fish see him or her they might get frightened away by that foreign presence – and one always runs the risk of attracting sharks (aka “the wrong audience”) when there is bait involved.
As a result, a lot of marketers remain safely on dry land, but staring longingly at the ocean. Why? Because the very thing that makes it awkward for them makes it preferable, and natural, for the fish. And marketers by nature want to be where the fish are. But there is another phenomenon underway. The Internet as a medium is starting to absorb the others. Radio is becoming Pandora and Last.fm, Television is becoming YouTube and Hulu, and the print industry is becoming blogs, RSS feeds, and Twitter. Dry land is shrinking, and learning how to swim is evolving from an opportunity into a matter of necessity.
But marketers have time, are getting more savvy, and are figuring out new ways to deploy their resources. They are starting to get keen on another option – the lagoon strategy. Lagoons are the shallow tropical pools connected to the ocean where fish can feel completely at home, but which are safer and more comfortable for people as well. There is a slightly higher degree of control in a lagoon – you let water flow in and out freely but can typically keep unwanted fish out (and fish can keep themselves out, if they like). You can decide on the dimensions and features in the water ahead of time in order to make sure the lagoon is for you as much as it is for fish. Because it’s safer, it’s also a great place for new swimmers to get comfortable and learn about the ocean.
Social marketing is all about building lagoons. “Lagoon websites” built by marketers must emulate the places where your customers spend most of their time online, meaning any content has to be valuable and relevant to them, and they must be able to contribute and share using a full suite of social tools. Lagoon sites work best when connected to those social sites in the open ocean (Facebook, YouTube, etc.), but the tactics employed out there have to be designed to give customers a taste of what is available closer to shore. Putting a display ad on a social network is like putting it on the bottom of a boat. The fish just don’t care – they’re too busy swimming.
Likewise, lagoon-builders have to know at the outset that a lagoon requires the right kind of constant maintenance and oversight to stay healthy and populated with fish. More than that, they must be willing to jump in and take frequent swims. And most importantly they have to be passionately dedicated to doing things on their customers’ terms. This is, after all, not their world.
~ Photo uploaded by bluangelsdream
Filed under: Social Marketing Tagged: | Social Marketing, Social Media
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