If 2009 was the year social media became mostly mainstream, 2010 will be about how to make money off the phenomenon ”“ albeit too late for some traditional media outlets that have seen their readership and advertising crater amid the onslaught of alternative sources of content.
In a sign of the times of how traditional media outlets are struggling, the industry trade publication Editor & Publisher reported last month it would print its final issue in January, although parent Nielsen Co. held out hope it would be able to pull off a midnight miracle and remain in business.
If the local readership and advertising bases that long sustained daily newspapers are spending their money elsewhere, a blogger on the Mashable.com website that chronicles new media sees the growth of “hyper local” websites that focus exclusively on their local areas as one of the four biggest social-media trends of 2010.
The top industry trend of 2010, according to Mashable author Vadam Lavrusik, will be the “monetization” of social media channels ”“ making money.
Easier said than done, most in the industry agree, although some businesses are making big bets that it can be done. Purchase, N.Y.-based Pepsico Inc. announced last month that it is taking advertising dollars it normally spends on Super Bowl advertising and instead is channeling it into “the Pepsi Refresh Project,” a social media marketing campaign that will feature $20 million in giveaways.
It is an unusual move even for a company with the resources to stay on the cutting edge of advertising.
“The actual budget allocations within media aren”™t shifting too much,” said Ben Kunz, director of strategic planning for Mediassociates, a media buying agency in Danbury. “Yes, social media gets all the buzz, but it still is a tiny fraction of all ad spending. It”™s worth noting that Twitter still doesn”™t accept advertising and the companies such as IZEA that try to buy their way inside Twitter and blogs are having difficulty getting off the ground. Nielsen reports the average U.S. consumer still watches five hours ”¦ of live TV a day. The lesson for anyone in business is to be careful ”“ just because there is buzz in the marketplace about a new tool doesn”™t mean it”™s the right tool for the job.”
On Jan. 28, the industry will gather in Miami at the semiannual Social Media Conference, with sponsors including Armonk, N.Y.-based IBM Corp. Scheduled speakers include Sandy Carter, a social-media “evangelist” with IBM”™s software group, who plans to address social-media strategies at Big Blue.
As might be expected, other sessions address forming a strategy for using social networks within an organization, and maintaining a corporate image over such outlets; as well as dealing with leaks of sensitive corporate information over a social network; and research on social media in financial services.
The Social Media Club, which has a chapter in New Haven that holds monthly meetings, has scheduled Social Media Week in New York City for five days beginning Feb. 1, where the topic of monetization will likely also be addressed.
“It”™s like the old saying goes: nobody buys a drill, what they are really buying is a hole,” said Larry Brauner, a Rockland County, N.Y. resident who has a blog called Online Social Networking. “What they are really interested in is getting traffic to their website, getting solid leads, getting a solid reputation ”¦ It”™s not really about finding technological ways for getting your name out there. It”™s about building and nurturing relationships.”
