Real Time Internet and Marketing

Ok, I’ll be the first to admit it, I don’t like the term “Social Media”. It doesn’t do it for me. Social is too friendly. Sure Facebook is a place to make friends and talk, but Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube, Foursquare and a host of others are very one-sided conversations. Media is also mis-placed. The sites we use are not media at all. They are user-driven communities, updated continuously by the participants in real-time. Back in March I attended a Meetup organized by Jeff Keni Pulver (co-founder of Vonage) and he used the term Real-Time Internet to describe Twitter. I think it makes sense and is self-explanatory.

The Real Time Internet’s impact on marketing has been huge. Without question, businesses have jumped into the real-time internet’s offerings and some have been successful, others are still learning their way around.

However, the real-time internet presents several pitfalls that can hamper even the best intentions. First, how to allocate people to the task of marketing in this new environment. Traditional marketing tactics are needed (testing, messaging, promotion, etc) but marketers with traditional marketing experience are cautious and tend to put too much emphasis on getting it right the first time. So the development can take long, too long.

Second, how does a business stay on top of emerging opportunities? When to jump is a big concern. Too early and it’s wasted time and money if that platform is not widely adopted. Too late and users have moved to the next big thing. Identifying that next big thing is a tough task for a marketing dept to do, because their resources are already stretched.

Companies who approach the Real-Time Internet with an open-mind, adaptability and no fear of failure will come ahead in the long run.