Note: This post originally appeared on Stuart Foster's and Carla Blumenthal's excellent "The Lost Jacket" blog.
I’m old enough to remember the days before widespread use of the Internet. My favorite part of the early days of the Internet was the insane amount of niche listserves and message boards that covered every random topic one could fathom.
I loved the e-mail listserve. I have to admit, at 10 years old, I was a bit of a nerd (and probably still am if you ask my girlfriend). I was a VW Beetle fanatic and I absolutely loved the things. I would go to classic car shows, read up on VWs and couldn’t get enough of them.
Back then, message boards were the original form of social media. And they were huge! If you were a big-time fan of something – anything – or an expert or key influencer in a field, you were on a message board talking up your passions at all hours of the day.
Even back in 1995, I could see the value of engaging with like-minded people in an open forum. Thinking back on it now, though, I often wonder, why wasn’t a representative from VW on those listserves and message boards, answering our questions and helping to build the company’s engagement efforts?
Simply put, why weren’t we engaging consumers, key influencers and our target audiences all along? If in 1995 it were as simple as becoming an active member of a message board and providing some great, valuable feedback, then why has it taken us until 2009 to even begin to figure this whole social media thing out?
I don’t know the answer, so I’m asking all of you. I would love to hear your comments below. I’ve read much of the commentary from the experts on social media, but I have yet to hear a really good answer as to why we weren’t using social media all along to truly engage with our key influencers and target audiences.
And please don’t tell me it’s because clients never wanted it or asked for that kind of engagement. In my opinion, one of the biggest parts of our jobs in PR, marketing and advertising is to counsel clients on what we believe is best strategies and public outreach initiatives for their company. It still baffles me that company would not want to hear feedback from its customers when the ability to do so is relatively cheap In a service business, our primary focus should not always be on what a client wants. We should give equal consideration to what we would be best for a client’s business.
My point of this post is not to disparage those who were in PR, marketing or advertising in the 1990s. My real point is this: If it’s taken us 15 years to realize, “Hey, this social media stuff really works!”, are we in danger of missing the next big movement? After all, we seemed to have missed the boat when it was staring us right in the face in the 1990s. Who’s to say we won’t miss it again?
We have to constantly be on the lookout for the next big thing in PR, the next big digital movement in advertising or the next movement beyond social media.
After all, that new lifestreaming platform that many have scoffed at (and which I am a big fan of) could be what we are all talking about and trying to sell to our clients 10 or 15 years from now.
But why wait until then? Get out there now and find what you think will be the next big movement to help a company better reach its customers and enhance sales. Experience it to the fullest and figure out how tomorrow’s “next big thing” might help your business reach its customers that much better today.
We can’t afford to wait other 15 years to figure out what the next big thing is. This industry already did that once, and it’s unlikely anyone will allow us to do that again.
So what do you think will be the next big thing in PR, marketing or advertising? What are you doing now that will help propel your clients and their brands in the next 10-15 years? I would love to hear your thoughts below!
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