Honest Marketer » Books

Social Media Long Tail

Nick Footer — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 06:22:27 +0000

First of all, the Long Tail idea has been around for the past 50 years, but Chris Anderson coined the phrase in 2004 in a Wired magazine article. He explains how selling to a niche market is useful to companies such as Amazon or Netflix who sell a lot of unique items. They found that a demographic of people who would buy more of the non popular “non hit” items. From this the Long Tail was formed.

Social Media has helped many companies reach their customers in ways that they never realized was possible. New ways of connecting and marketing are being created everyday to reach more and more of the long tail of products and services. As these new ways of interacting with customers evolve and grows it takes some of the traditional market. The days of TV ads is dying due to services like TiVo, E-mail marketing is eliminated by spam blockers, direct mail gets thrown away and online advertising gets looked over or eliminated with RSS readers. We have to start changing with the times. The days of interrupting us over dinner with a phone call or commercial are not over, but dying.

As social media gets bigger at some point doing old school marketing will actually become the Long Tail, the way of reaching the minority. I’m not saying it’s today or even tomorrow, but in the coming future these two markets will swap. There will never be a time where advertising, direct mail or telemarketing will completely fade off the scene but pretty soon we will be putting it on life support.

Now you may be asking what can I do? We have many of the products available above and have a team of designers at our fingertip to create and mold your marketing vision. If you want to take things into your own hands I would suggest starting by creating a LinkedIn account, Facebook fan Page, and start Twittering. These are all great tools to start you off in social media that will help you get to the Long Tail of your customers. Now these all take your time and energy, but what would you rather part with, your time or your money. The way the market is now, I sure hope it’s your time, but if it’s not be sure to call us and we’ll gladly help with you with your money.

Nick Footer
LinkedIn
Facebook

More From Immutable

Nick Footer — Tue, 25 Aug 2009 05:41:20 +0000

“Everyone is interested in what’s new. Few people are interested in what’s better.”

This basic idea has spawned many new categories throughout the years. By creating a brand new category it allows your company to market more efficiently and with no competition. Trying to go up against a competitor who has an inferior product can spell disaster when they were first in category.

“You can’t change a mind once it’s made up.”

This statement rubbed me the wrong way. From my own experience you can change a mind and perceptions. One of two things have to happen though. Either price must rise to make the amount of value a consumer obtains no longer relevant or quality drops to do the same. Perception can be change although I will agree it can be difficult.

Check out the book The Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries & Jack Trout

Perception or Product

Nick Footer — Sun, 23 Aug 2009 18:28:17 +0000

“Marketing is a battle of perception, not products.”

I just picked up The 22 Immutable Laws of Marketing by Al Ries and Jack Trout. Our entire class was given a copy by the President of Willamette Valley Vineyards at our visit with him. It seems to be a quick and easy read with good insight.