Social media campaigns play to customer publishing strengths
'Customer publishing companies should not feel threatened or concerned by social media,' says Simon Tapscott of independent agency ST Media, 'rather they need to embrace it as in many ways creating social media campaigns for brands plays to their strengths.' Tapscott, who has worked in customer publishing for 13 years, says that good social media campaigns have quality content, independence, credibility, authority and offer great value for the readers. According to Tapscott these are areas that customer publishers specialise in.
However Tapscott acknowledges that customer publishers have been slow to embrace social media. 'Over the last few year companies have been focusing on building a digital element within their portfolio. They now need to focus on developing the skills that enable reach that takes digital work to as large an audience as possible and that is via social media.'
Tapscott believes that companies not only need to understand Twitter, blogs, paid search and social networking they need to be prepared to engage with their communities they have. He points to online fashion retailer ASOS as a good example of a brand that has been very successful in building a community. 'They have focused on building trust between the brand and its customers through a range of blogs, Twitter accounts and a very effective Facebook page. I have also been working with an agency called Punktilio which has produced some very successful social media campaigns for music label Syco.'
Ultimately if customer publishing companies don't embrace social media Tapscott believes that they may face problems in maintaining their role as a gatekeeper of the brands relationships with its customers. 'There is a whole new breed of specialist social media agencies emerging and they are drowning in work. It's a versatile medium with endless applications, such as building brand profile, promoting direct sales, and managing PR. Good content is key to social media so we need to fight to own this space.'
