And now mature teams are starting to treat it that way, and getting better at coordinating and scaling the effects of their work across the organization, its brands, and customer communities.

Smart CMOs are championing the opportunities social presents to collaborate with customers, go with what helps people express themselves (even when in some cases it makes them a bit uncomfortable), and have some fun in the process.

On AdAge [hat tip David Berkowitz], Antony Young shares takeaways from a recent Association of National Advertisers (ANA) event.

I have a slightly different take to offer:

• From single channel or tactic, marketers are starting to appreciate the role of social in creating value at strategic level — because we are talking about what produces advantage for the business by connecting with the right people and actually helping grow relationships

• Consider content creation and active brand participation in addition to creative advertising. That is shifting how you plan, resource, and execute — media is a platform for interactions

• Human involvement, purpose, and ideas are more valuable in
  conceiving social strategies than logic and data — use data to prove and disprove your thesis; do start from what people want to do

• Indeed, social success is being measured at a tactical level using marketing
  metrics such as sales, brand opinion, reach, and impressions, not just follows
  or likes. However, part of the evolution of social is adding a more qualitative (building equity at brand level) dimension to measurement

• The CMO owns social, the organization becomes the “social team” — why? Customer experience is a major component of the
  brand. Marketing owns it, and now requires information like customer feedback,
  analytics, and social activity to manage it well

• Social is the glue that ties all interactions — paid media supports owned and earned, not the other away around. Hierarchy is situational and contextual

• The top marketers are demonstrating that the future of the ad industry
  is not about social marketing — it's about creating value in the social era

Grown up businesses are figuring out that awareness goes hand in hand with mindfulness, integrity, care, and imagination. Grown up organizations are creating meaningful opportunities to express ideas and connect through their brands and stories.

 

[Mars' Betty White Superbowl ad]

+++

Valeria is an experienced listener. She designs service and product experiences to help businesses rediscover
the value of promises and its effect on relationships and
culture. She is also frequent speaker at
conferences and companies on a variety of topics. Book her to speak here.