Social Media and Marketing: Finite Versus Mass
In business we’re conditioned to think big, want more, and right away. Success is gauged by mass markets won instantly. In social media we want followers by the thousand. Are huge “body counts” the ideal goal? Better that your audience be well-defined. The mass part can come after.
Three networks once ruled the broadcast airwaves. Today viewers siphon off to micro-channels. Viewership is smaller in absolute numbers, perhaps, yet holds massive purchasing power.
But for how long? A new Arbitron study reveals that consumers now consider the Internet the most essential medium, supplanting TV. What is more massive — or fragmented — than the Web? Google is built on micro-marketing for the masses.
A best-selling author’s first 10 books sold no more than 5,000 copies each. That’d be Larry McMurtry. Surprisingly, The Last Picture Show and Terms of Endearment were not top sellers. But they won a loyal following and paved the way for Lonesome Dove.
Makes you wonder what “popular programming” and “best seller” really mean, doesn’t it? The answer these days may be: “followed by the dedicated.”
Smart marketers know to trim their message laser-thin. It’s the finite, well-defined body of customers that buys, comes back for more, and forms the base for the future mass break-out.
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