Everyday I read through a fairly large number of blogs, some general, some tech, some marketing and some social media pundits. I get alerts for various keywords mentioned on Twitter and I get my daily SM2 reports. I’ll respond if someone connects with me on LinkedIn or Facebook but I’m definitely not a power-user. One of the things I see people grappling with in these places is an ongoing conversation about how to market in social media. One recent column repeatedly referred to social media as a ‘tactic’ like PR or advertising or guerrilla marketing. Social media is not a tactic, it is a medium. A very unique medium.
A medium is defined as (from Random House Unabridged via Dictionary.com):
| 1. |
a middle state or condition; mean. |
| 2. |
something intermediate in nature or degree. |
| 3. |
an intervening substance, as air, through which a force acts or an effect is produced. |
| 4. |
the element that is the natural habitat of an organism. |
| 5. |
surrounding objects, conditions, or influences; environment. |
| 6. |
an intervening agency, means, or instrument by which something is conveyed or accomplished: Words are a medium of expression. |
| 7. |
one of the means or channels of general communication, information, or entertainment in society, as newspapers, radio, or television. |
| 8. |
Biology. the substance in which specimens are displayed or preserved. |
| 9. |
Also called culture medium. Bacteriology. a liquid or solidified nutrient material suitable for the cultivation of microorganisms. |
| 10. |
a person through whom the spirits of the dead are alleged to be able to contact the living. |
| 11. |
Fine Arts.
| a. |
Painting. a liquid with which pigments are mixed. |
| b. |
the material or technique with which an artist works: the medium of watercolor. |
|
| 12. |
a size of printing paper, 18 1/2 × 23 1/2 in. (47 × 60 cm) in England, 18 × 23 to 19 × 25 in. (46 × 58 to 48 × 64 cm) in America. |
| 13. |
Chiefly British. a size of drawing or writing paper, 17 1/2 × 22 in. (44 × 56 cm). |
| 15. |
in medium, Movies, Television. with the principal actors in the middle distance: The scene was shot in medium. |
–adjective
| 16. |
about halfway between extremes, as of degree, amount, quality, position, or size: Cook over medium heat. He is of medium height. |
Origin:
1575–85; < L: the middle, n. use of neut. of
medius middle.
Let’s look at #6:
-an intervening agency, means, or instrument by which something is conveyed or accomplished: Words are a medium of expression.
An Intervening agency. I like this a lot. It is a layer that enables communication that is global, public and free. If you buy this then the idea of marketing to a medium is a conundrum. You can market to people, you can’t market to a tool. What social media is, from a marketing perspective, is a strategy. Your social media strategy answers the following question: How do I leverage the power of this new medium?