Social media tools aren’t intended to replace the current marketing tools and techniques that we already use – and they won’t, at least not in the short-term. What they are is complementary and, to be most effective, they should be integrated with our better understood online and offline tools.

Let’s remember: at the end of the day, all of these tools from business cards, conferences and magazine advertising to search engines, emails and Facebook marketing, are merely being used to communicate and help convey a message. The message is the key element. However, the benefit that social media offers is that it does it in so many different, and interactive, ways … and it is these that our target audiences are gravitating towards more and more.

Integration still isn’t the norm

It is therefore somewhat disappointing – even disturbing – to see a recent survey carried out by Unica and reported in eMarketer. In it, they report that only around 40% of blogs, social networking and microblogging (Twitter essentially) activities are run as part of integrated campaigns.

I realise that to some this might seem quite positive, but it leaves the vast majority of social media activity sadly isolated and essentially stifled by being restricted to a single focal point. It also means that activities such as email marketing or offline marketing never get the extra boost that social media could easily bring to them.

Table from eMarketer

Even, as a startpoint, the use of a blog would be of great benefit to companies. Blogging continues to be an awesome comms tool for any business looking to promote its services and demonstrate its expertise. It also sits very comfortably at the centre of a social media campaign, linking and coordinating the information and indeed the people involved. However, the same is also true when it comes to other online marketing (and of course also offline marketing) activities as well.

Having an online space that you control where you can interact with clients and prospects is the ideal follow up in any campaign – try it with a blog, I think you’ll like it.

Coordinate from the start

Ideally though, it’s better to think about what’s the best sort of integration from the outset. Taking the different elements in isolation will inevitably lead to a fragmented approach – at worst, it can be actually negative if conflicting messages are sent out through the different media. Get them working together, however, and you can greatly increase the effectiveness of all parts of the campaign – a perfect case of the sum of the whole being greater than the individual parts.

Although ideally we want to design a campaign so that they can be best placed to work in parallel, this isn’t always going to be possible particularly for smaller companies. So what I’d probably recommend is that you do a bit if thinking about it beforehand and “Think Big, Start Small and Do it Now”!.

Make sure there’s a reason for linking up

However, it’s important not to try to create tie ups just for “integration – sake”. Earlier in the year, being a bit of an American Football fan, I watched the Superbowl and the multi-million pound TV ads during the breaks which hopped onto the bandwagon and linked through to a Facebook page rather than their website.

All well and good – great even – other than most of them left it at that. The integration went that far and little further with no clear reason why we were directed there as opposed to their website. No community activity or special call to action that only a Facebook type environment could achieve. Nothing. That’s not really integration – that’s wasting money.

So don’t try to integrate these things just because you have fallen for the Shiny Object Syndrome where you just feel that you have to get involved with social media without having a full reason why. There are lots of excellent reasons and benefits to be had, just identify the ones that will work best to achieve the goals that you have.

Start small but do start

While my Superbowl example is clearly reserved for those with an ability to spend which is outside of the reach of most, there are many ways to integrate social media – create a blog which is integrated into your website and allow you to interact with prospects attracted by your marketing, add social media links to your email marketing or press releases, or set up some “listening posts” to tap into the conversations already ongoing.

I guess the message at the end of day is that integrating your marketing is always going to benefit you and reinforce the messages that you want to get out there. Do plan in advance but at the end of the day do … do.

Related posts:

1. Being found via Social Media and Business Blogs
2. Who owns YOUR social network?
3. Your Social Media home online