Is Social Media changing the fundamentals of marketing?

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With the intense focus on online tools like Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn etc, it is easy to believe that the cornerstones of marketing have shifted and that there is a new skill set needed to be successful. Is this true?

The answer is no!

When I asked this question some time ago to one of my colleagues @ACloke his simple reply was “core marketing skills are more relevant then ever when new channels are introduced”. He continued to explain “audience segmentation, value propositions and relationship marketing are just some examples of core marketing foundations that any successful strategy will build on”. In short, when in doubt, fall back on your core marketing skills and figure out how to apply them to the new social channels.

The answer is yes!

But it is also true that the new channels make some things significantly easier, some things harder, and also introduce some new elements. For instance, LinkedIn has made it possible to look up virtually any business professional and get to know the person, and his or her colleagues, before you have even met (however people are getting more careful with what they share publicly); you often see who runs a department in your favorite company, sometimes you can find who the people are in the purchase department, and often who the HR recruiter is that can help you explore your next job opportunity.

On the other hand, the social channels have put a lot of the information consumption into the hands of the consumer which means it is harder to get in front of the people you previously could reach with a straight forward advertising campaign. One of the new elements introduced by social media is the “immediacy” of the communication; this is fantastic as you can get instant feedback on your product or customer relations, but it also puts new responsibilities on the marketer since negative sentiment can spread like wildfire.