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In times of recession one of the first places companies turn to cut costs is the marketing budget.  This has always made marketing departments the proverbial canary in the coalmine that signals economic downturn.  Richard Moss puts it well in his recent post:

“If budgets do begin to shrink in the coming months there will be a real temptation amongst Marketing Directors to start backing safe options such as TV advertising (where they hold historic data) rather than the right options (taking into account the rapid change in the way customers now consumer information).”

Indeed, it is in these rough financial times that Social Media becomes even more relevant as a marketing tool.  Make no mistakes, Social Media tools never can replace traditional media campaigns, Chris Brogan explains the confusion surrounding the situation.  It’s not the use of the tools that brings value, as Matt Peters also asserts, but how the tools are utilized. They are simply another way to engage with consumers, through methods such as dialog and word of mouth.  But what should be catching the interest of Marketing Directors around the nation is the fact that so many Social Media platforms are free!

Word of Mouth 2.0

Despite the exponential number of ways people can get information on products, word of mouth is still one of the chief influencers over people and the decisions they make.  Marketers can tap into the potential of Social Recommendation through sites like Yelp or Mystrands for absolutely nothing.  They can also use the real time media rich opinion polling features of Next2Friends Ask to get feedback on a myriad of things.  Or there is the simple tactic of raising visibility and engagement through micro blogging sites such as Twitter.  Some brands are seeing some success by buiding fans on Facebook or Myspace.  And Social Mobile platforms such as Next2Friends certainly have the added advantage of extending the reach of traditional social networking into people’s mobile lives.

Either way, there promises to be some rough times ahead.  It will be interesting to see who adapts and survives and who get’s left behind.

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