by Evan GeorgesWho’s Speaking & Who’s Listening?
With the emergence of mobile, user-generated content, and increasing connectivity, the term “marketing” can be hard to define. As the public begins to capture, post and trend, audiences look towards social media for an instant opinion. So how are we to know: who’s speaking and who’s doing the listening?
This question is broken down into three categories that require unique definitions. When defining marketing, one must understand the differing forms.
Here’s the scenario: A sneaker retailer releases a new shoe on their website and social media accounts on a Friday night. Their influencers have been seeded the product and they use their phones to record their reaction and set the opinion of like-minded audiences. That footage is then published onto several sneakerhead social media accounts. A few moments later, a key athlete on their roster wears the new shoe during their game on cable television. In the nightly news recap, both the influencer’s content and the athlete’s highlights are used in the retelling of the story.
So where is the marketing?
Technically speaking, every person who published information for the public, on social media or television, was a marketer that day. The digital team that rolled out the initial content created the buzz. The influencers who produced original content helped to elevate that buzz. The athlete who brought the shoes to the living rooms of millions set the tone for what is cool”. Lastly, the nightly edition of the news utilized a collaborative journalistic approach, using both the footage from professionals supplemented with footage from influencers.
Essentially, marketing breaks down to three E’s: expansion, expertise, and editing. In order for anything to be classified as marketing, it must expand one’s outlook or knowledge on a subject or issue. However, for the information to be classified as civic journalism, it must undergo editing from skilled experts.
Mobile marketing allows everyone the opportunity to tell a newsworthy story. It just takes a camera and timing.