I was reading a Wharton article(http://knowledge.wharton.upenn.edu/
article.cfm?articleid=1892) on why marketers arent moving into the online space. It is indeed interesting to note that marketers spend 22% of their advertising dollars on TV and only 6% online. The time spent online is 14 hours per week and the time spent watching tv is the same then why the bias towards offline media?

I think the major aspect that prevents marketers from going online lies in the way the web has evolved. From being a resource of information,it has become a participative medium and a platform for discussions and reviews. Marketers are scared that they might have to give up control if they allow the community to define their brand.

I feel this thought is totally unnecessary. If you look at traditional advertising methods such as Tv and print advertising, you only delay the participation of the community. Take for example, a brand like the Maruti Suzuki Versa launches itself amidst a slew of ads both on the print and the TV medium. It uses superstars like Abhishek Bacchhan and Amitabh Bacchan and spends a sufficient amount of ad dollars on the same. The result : expectations get higher but the product turns out to be a damp squib. The launch of the car beholds the participation of the community and as word of mouth(through offline and online media) spreads the sales dip and keep dipping.

In an online advertising campaign the results would obviously have been the same. You cannot save a bad product. However precious ad spending dollars could have been saved. A video upload of the same ad on a You Tube or placed on a well targeted microsite or widgets and ads placed contextually would have given Maruti greater coverage and savings. Participation through blogs and forums catering to the automobile world would have given them a feel of what the consumer needs. Add to that the mechanism of instant feedback and you exactly know where your product is. The greatest advantage : you know exactly why your product failed or succeeded and you have metrics to analyze the same.

Participating in Web 2.0 and making use of the technologies that enable it gives you certain advantages that an offline advertising campaign can never give. Some of the advantages would be:

• Instant Feedback
• Portrayal of a brand image that is willing to evolve
• Portrayal of a brand image that is willing to take feedback constructively.
• Measurement of the success of the brand
• Contextual targeting
• Behavioral targeting

The web having become a strong medium of communication also allows one to measure the success of an offline campaign as well. Blog posts,comments,forum posts,the sentiment being reflected,all of these can be measured online. I think marketers need to or would be forced to look at the realm of Online Marketing. With the web emerging as the social media it is one channel that no marketer can afford to ignore.

As the year moves on, we observe that more and more clients are asking for Social Media Marketing proposals.There is definitely an awareness in the marketing circles on the feasibility and advantages that an SMM campaign can provide.

The biggest gain that any Social Media campaign can provide is of course the traffic.However what kind of traffic and what does it mean to the client are some of the things that one needs to gauge.

How does a news channel for example gain from traffic through Social Media.
For a subscription based journal such as the WSJ, it does make sense if the traffic converts into subscribers

For an ad based online model it would make sense as the probablity of clicks increases.However this traffic translates into clicks,impressions and subscribers only and if only your audience has been well researched.

Theres a plethora of web 2.0 sites on the web each claiming to enable the participant through unique features and functionality. A Youtube would allow you to post videos while a Digg would allow you to submit article content as potential link baits. Each of the sites does have an individuality which needs to be explored before taking the plunge.

As Jeremiah Owyang mentions in his post ,http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2007/12/17/how-to-effectively-talk-to-execs-and-clients-about-social-media/,it is not enough to simply say that “We will do SMM through blogs,blog submissions,social Bookmarking and RSS” or focus on the technology “We use Ajax etc”
A focus needs to be made on how best a client can add value by using or rather enabling social media.As such sites that are catering to his niche need to be evaluated.The advantage of having a plethora of Social Media sites is that you will probably find sites that are catering specifically to his domain.These are the sites that can drive conversions on the client sites.

The next question that obviously rises is where can I actually find the resources to enable Social Media for the client.

I can provide you with three starting points :

1. www.crunchbase.com
2. www.killerstartups.com
3. www.go2web20.net

Apart from this monitor mentions of the client site on the web.A simple search on Google for the brand name can give you a kitty bag of ideas.

Use the Social Media effectively and always look to provide value.His ROI is what defines your success.Convince him on that.

Many a times I come across people who take traffic generated from Social Media to be a given.The primary purpose of a blog,to them, then becomes writing articles and submitting them on relevant resources.

Keyword research, anchor text optimization,syndication and other on page optimization factors are taken care of but they simply forget the primary principle driving Social Media which is that your bait/article/content/post needs to add value to whoever browses through it.

The content might be good but if there’s nothing novel about it, it will be buried deep within the mass of other articles. To understand what the community wants I feel every marketer needs to participate.Participate could mean simply observing passively.

If I am trying to attract links or gain visibility through an online marketing social media site like Sphinn or Gooruze, my first step would involve becoming part of the community.
An observation of the top bookmarks on Sphinn can easily tell you what content is popular and what is not.

Again establishing a presence is also very important.You need to have people to be aware of your name.A level of credibility needs to be established before you start posting.One way of doing this is through comments.Comments on blogs of other credible members of the community gives you a lot of visibility.Comments also allow you to mention your site URL as well(generally).As such you get brand exposure as well.

It is only then that I would start posting.Again each Social media site has its own individuality and you need to cater your strategies around them.A microblogging platform like Twitter can enable you to network,follow and be followed.A large network,once established,again drives a substantial amount of traffic to your blog/site.However,as before,simply twittering or marketing upfront your blog or site wont help.The network needs to feel that they have something to gain from following you.You need to convince them through your microblogs. If they feel that you can be a source of value to them they would be more than ready to connect with you.

How do you plan to market your blog? Think about it…Its not just about the articles but defining a comprehensive strategy to implement it.It is this strategy that the makes traffic,syndication and other on page factors relevant.