The Rise of Social Media

Reaching your target audience has never been so complex in the media landscape. While I say it's complex let me also add that possibilities to do such niche targeting were never available a decade or two ago.

In the last couple of decades we have seen a major shift in media consumption habits. First, the media got fragmented; giving consumers a plethora of options to choose from and marketers an ability to do a better profiling over various media options to reach their target audience. Then, with the digital wave, the media landscape got fragmented further where the battle for eyeballs was not restricted to hundreds of TV channels or magazines but to millions of websites and billions of web pages � mass media had truly given way to micro media!

And now, the consumers of media have become the creators of media � welcome, social media! From being a receiver to a creator, we are seeing a new face of consumers. Consumers today are using digital platforms to share images, videos and opinions, giving rise to the so-called �user generated content� or �social media�. This changing landscape has brought new challenges and opportunities for marketers and calls for novel ways to leverage such platforms.

Talking about some of the opportunities first � this new world order is bringing consumers closer, and they are forming communities around their common interest and preferences. These are all consumer-driven communities where they are flocking by choice and not by chance. This has given marketers an opportunity to narrow-cast their communication and reach to their target audience in the right context with minimal wastage. These connected consumers are also sharing and forming opinions through blogs and message forums. The word of mouth is traveling faster today through the word of mouse. These being digital conversations, give marketers an opportunity to monitor consumer preferences and opinions leading to better product development or service delivery.

The �free for all� media content which users are creating and consuming �on demand� has given marketers an opportunity to get their message across to a larger audience at minimal cost - provided the consumers find a liking for their communication and brand. One can imagine the power of this media when a Nike commercial uploaded by some user gets more than 16 million views on YouTube. We all know how much media money one would have spent to reach an audience of 16 million!

Brands always had a personality which consumers could relate to largely because of the legacy, positioning and advertising of the brand concerned. The new media has also given a voice to the brands where they can talk to the consumer � it gives an opportunity to talk one-to-one with the consumers at an informal level through blogs and communities. Increasingly brands have become open to start this dialogue with the consumers. It gives invaluable customer feedback and helps establish a more personalized relationship with your customers. Along with these opportunities, new media has also made the life of the media planners and buyers more complicated. One can only plan what can be predicted and buy only what is up for sale. New media is changing so rapidly that at times the trends are beyond prediction, what is a cool technology today can become a potent media tomorrow. Take the example of search - it's the most disruptive media we have seen in recent times.

The simple media buying rules of the traditional media also do not apply here � the media owners are scattered all over the place. Advertising networks to a large extent have helped overcome this challenge, but is regular banner advertising the best way to leverage these niche interest pages? Or, there is some new technology waiting to surprise everyone? We will get the answers only if we keep moving along this wave.

Another challenge will be to draw line between advertising and participation on these new media platforms. Advertising is mostly a one-way communication where you convey what you want to the consumers and expect them to form a preference towards your brand over competitors where as participation is engaging in an active and trustworthy dialogue with your consumers. One should know where to draw a line between the two since both are received by consumers differently. For instance, users might not click on the banner ads they see on Facebook but they will be happy to install and circulate the Trip Advisors �Cities I have visited� application!

All said and done, the media space has never been so exciting. Today, there are no thumb rules to reach out to your target audience. As marketers, we will have to keep inventing new rules to ride on this consumer wave. The power equation of media has surely changed hands � the faster we accept this reality, the better!

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