It's been some time since I've been part of a marketing strategy conversation that didn't include some element addressing social networks. Nine times out of 10, the conversation starts with: "We need to do something on MySpace." (The other one of 10 times, it's "We need to do something on Facebook.")
I'm all for it. Reach out to customers in their native online environments, and engage customers through their relationships.
But don't just assume you need to go big in social networks because social networks are big. This can be just another version of the tool-centric, shiny object approach I find myself mitigating almost daily in this busy and fascinating 2008. Think through instead:
- How important are social networks in the digital landscape of my customers?
- Which social networks are they using?
- Am I prepared to engage ongoingly with social networks? (One of my colleagues said, "Web sites are like sharks: If they stop moving they die." That isn't 100% true of sharks, nor is it it of web sites, but of social media marketing efforts it might be.)
If you're marketing to teenagers, especially teenage girls, and increasingly Gens Y and X, you actually do really need to think about social networks--not as a discrete campaign but as a facet of an ongoing strategy to engage users of social technology.
So, per the title of this post, here's a great resource sent over by my colleague Justin Marshall:
Awesome map here, plus the whole thing has a SUPER FABULOUS French accent. Enjoy.
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