Social Media Creativity

By: Joseph Kiefer, ASM

As social media continues to evolve it is shaping itself into a consumer friendly platform that is also finding very real business models.  Some of those new social media tools, apps and sites were on display at the Internet Retailer Conference last week.  This was my first trip to the Internet Retailer Conference and it was well worth the 6 hour drive to the McCormick Place in Chicago.

I will be the first to admit that I have been a skeptic at times of the role that social media will and potentially should play in each of our lives.  As the Marketing Director of a business to business marketing company I have also struggled to find the right fit for social media within our marketing mix... if it belongs in the marketing mix at all? 

Don't get me wrong, I have found some definite uses for social media, but as a direct response business to business marketer it has been a journey of faith to hope we will find ROI.  At the Internet Retailer Conference there were some very creative social media ideas on display in the exhibit hall.  I didn't see any that were tailored for the business to business audiences, but you can take the ideas and fit them as well as you can into your own business.  My hopes for finding ROI driven social media strategies have been lifted greatly.  The show has expanded the box in which I was thinking about social media and hopefully that will help me come up with some great social media uses for our business.

Social media shopping was probably my favorite.  Grab a couple of friends on Facebook, hit the online stores and share the group shopping experience from the comfort of your couch.  Personally, I'm not much more interested in online shopping than I am in going to the mall, but I definitely see the appeal for individuals who happen to like shopping.  As a marketer, I do like people who like shopping so it all works out in the end.

I am not here to pitch any products or even necessarily state that social media is 100% going to be a marketing medium you should be adopting today, but I do feel like social media continues to transform itself into a model in which marketers and consumers can co-exist.  I think a key component to this will continue to be the ability of marketers to find ways to improve the experience of the users within the social media sites, while selling their product at the same time.  Social Media consumers are not very accepting of intrusive messages.  We have all kicked someone off of our friend list for the repeated product pitches showing up on our wall.