Createlondon - Tom Ernesto - Experiential Marketing Blog

What is the future role of social media in experiential marketing?

The future of experiential marketing will be defined by the use of social media in the coming years. With social media growing at a phenomenal rate (e-marker predicting a rise by 11% this year to 88.1 million) combined with the mediums cunning ability to hit the target audience direct on the nose, this is a force that will provide rich rewards for companies that can harness its power.

Innovation is the key in this field, with social media evolving at such a rate, the extent in which this medium can be integrated into campaigns is vast, and is providing new and exciting opportunities. The medium is allowing better personal communication between brands and customers, enabling wider integrated campaigns that immerse the consumer in engaging, interactive experiences.

Within the context of experiential marketing, social media can play a variety of roles, from the recruitment of tight knit teams of brand ambassadors through to the integration of blogs for pre campaign promotion and post campaign word of mouth. The medium can either be controlled by a company/agency creating their own groups online, or can be grown organically via a stimulus, as with the recent t-mobile mobile ad discussed in this blog.

Working on the Nokia Connectors campaign recently, the agency Smartfusion used the social media platform facebook and viral media posted on youtube to both recruit, and create teams of brand ambassadors. Production teams then followed different teams in the UK creating small video clips on their progress in the field which were then uploaded, in doing so creating a buzz between the teams and therefore increasing morale and work efficiency. Online groups created by seeders then became a porthole for ambassadors to exchange ideas and experiences, literally living and breathing the brand.

Brands can use social media to seamlessly blend into social groups of their choosing creating emotional connections and promotion for the brand in return for perks to BA’s such as free parties, good pay and company cars.

As the growth of experiential marketing and social media increases I believe cunning brands will entwine themselves more and more with social groups in a seamless fashion, becoming less obvious but providing more perks for their target audience in doing so becoming true lifestyle brands.

It is becoming understood that brands do not define themselves by their customers anymore, rather customers define the brand. This makes the exploitation along with the innovative and dynamic use of the relationship between social media and experiential marketing more important in the future.

I believe the key will be the seamless integration of brands with social groups, using up to date trends, new media, and engaging experiences as fabrics of communication.