I want my MTV & Social Media

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Are we entering a “new era”     MTV Age of Marketing?

Think About it….

I remember the day MTV became a channel on our cable network.  The music industry abruptly changed. Music artists and groups not only produced albums, but now they had to produce videos as part of their promotional package.

• Dire Straits – “Money for Nothing”
• A-Ha – “Take on Me”
• Dexy’s Midnight Riders – “Come on Eileen”
• Madness – “Our House”

Music artists were defined not only by their music but also their videos. Both  were a key part of their brand identity. Older rock groups like the Rolling Stones and Pink Floyd slowly entered the video age by producing videos of concert footage and then migrated toward producing their own storied videos. New artists like Madonna and older artists like Michael Jackson, quickly embraced the new medium and became megastars based on their branded music and “high quality” videos.

Slowly, the music changed from a collection of videos, cassette tapes and albums to compact discs, “cd’s” by the end of the 80’s. In the 90’s, MTV shook up the whole course of music by leaving videos and migrating toward reality tv, documentaries, movies awards and other issues.

Music also migrated from “cd’s”  to the web through .mp3 files, YouTube videos and itune songs. Now we are seeing more music options in the areas of Spotify, Pandora and Google Music.

In addition, music artists have moved away from record and cassette sales to performing more shows and posting their own content on their own websites and social media sites.

Which brings me to my point!  Sorry for the long history!

From a Social Media standpoint we are in the MTV age. We have old options that are still effective with direct mail, email, tradeshows and telemarketing integrating with new online marketing efforts in the areas of Google Adwords, Blogs, Social Media Sites: (Twitter, Linkedin, Facebook, Google+ and others).

It is an exciting time!

There are many options and people are getting their information from several different sources. I find it particularly exciting because I don’t know where it is headed. I think it is still evolving, and ultimately I think it is headed toward mobile technology, but it is not there yet. I think, just like the MTV era of the 80’s;  we are still in the 80’s with respect to marketing and the different marketing channels we can use right now. Remember when cd’s were being introduced and players were very expensive and only a limited number of cd’s were available. The market had to mature and that is where we are today.

Lots of technical advances!

I think we will see some major advances in the coming years..(the iPad, iPhone, and Android are helping shape that technology for the future.  However, not everyone is there yet, but we are getting there.

Summary

• Embrace the number of channels you have available to you.
• Watch your audience and see where people are migrating.
• Always keep your eye on your current clients and new clients, they will tell you where to best reach them.

Don’t fall in love with the technology or a particular platform. As you can see from this example things change and people need to recognize “Your Brand” on those platforms that are most popular. It may take a lot of work as the 80’s showed us with respect to music, but one thing is for sure change is on the horizon.

Picture Source  Berto Garcia