Advertising Planning - Social Media Overtaking Traditional Media

Submitted by Mitch Seigel on Mon, 4/04/2011

Is it or isn’t it, that is the question!

When our President was elected we learned that a good deal of his time and money went toward attracting a generation or two through social media. Yet politicians continue to pour millions of campaign funds into broadcast television, cable television and radio.

When Charlie Sheen built his followers on social media, it was combined with appearances on cable and broadcast television shows, and select radio shows.

Recently the founders of Twitter were on CNN being interviewed about their phenomenal success. The entertainers who utilize Twitter for financial gain were also interviewed. Several were stars of their own television programs that use Twitter to connect stronger to their fans.

Media Buying in 2011

Over the past three years, something that I have said so often with regards to advertising planning, is that it can be more difficult to select the media you need because of the numerous options now available, and at the same time, easier to select what you’ll use because the media is far more targeted than ever before. Let me explain.

When you only had three television stations, twenty radio stations, one or two daily newspapers and yellow pages in a large market, the audiences of each were so huge that it was extremely difficult to focus on specific customers. As deregulation became the norm and the same size market grew to fifteen television stations, fifty plus cable networks, eighty radio stations, several newspapers and multiple yellow page books, targeting became easier to manage. As the internet has arrived along with social media, mobile advertising and other new media, the time to plan the time to plan becomes longer and the segments of the population are even more targeted. For some, the extra time it takes to decipher what to utilize, overrides the capability of effective targeting.

As daily newspapers erode or disappear around the country targeting your customer becomes easier to achieve. But that doesn’t mean that skipping over traditional media is the answer. Right now, social media is a must augmentation to traditional media. The two work hand in hand very well to drive the point home, to reach a select audience, top build your brand.

No matter where I’ve worked in media, I never suggested my media could provide the results a client was looking for on its own, and I wouldn’t start now. In fact, it is now even more critical for media to work together to provide the necessary ROI for your business and their clients.

The optimum word in Advertising Planning is planning! It has become more difficult to achieve the results of yesteryear, yet it can be done, with a little more devotion to planning. We can take some good direction from our political or entertainer sisters and brothers. Right now it’s not traditional or social media, the suggested mix is traditional and social media.

What are your challenges when it comes to your company’s advertising planning? I look forward to hearing your comments.

Until next time …