Traditional Media or Social Media?

Photo Credit: Ain't Latina

I’m thinking it is the older generations that really patronise traditional media. It appears it has taken the backseat. 

Photo Credit: Tech Funnel

Nowadays, people don’t ‘swallow what is given to them’. They would rather do proper research about a product or service on a television commercial than rush for its at first presentation. Thanks to many search engines, people are likely to go online just to find out more from their websites, customer reviews and compare with their competitor’s advantage.

 This goes to show the evolution process of customers. This is where social media takes the lead. In times past, traditional media was the way to go. But it is now facing stiff competition from social media. One reason is that social media is spontaneous and immediate unlike its counterpart that can be delayed because of press time and rate of production.

Traditional media is basically any means to convey any information, message, news or any advert without going the social. It does not revolve around building a community. Yes, it adopts branding. Its audience are generally more specific and targeted. Once published, it cannot be corrected or changed. It is broad, having many outlets from the television at home to the radio in your vehicle to that magazine/ newspaper on your office desk.  Fliers you receive occasionally, and every billboard mounted on the road you drive also belong to this category. 

They are still very much ubiquitous, as the goal is to promote and influence people with their flashy ads and sales-heavy, hard copy. Now, traditional media is good for  when it comes things like news delivery but not for ‘marketing’. When information is digested from a source as newspaper, magazine or radio station, it is believed to be more credible. Traditional media, having a widespread and targeted reach, publicises its messages to hit anyone that would listen (read, watch, etc.). It remains a reliable source of information.

The question is; how good enough are they to influence a person in a way that develops trust with their product or service

This is the gap social media is filling and capitalising on. To justify the benefits of social media over traditional media, we cannot overlook its place in marketing generally.

In recent times, marketing has changed. Thanks to social media, which has played a significant role in its transition. Before now, traditional marketing meant broadcasting your message to people within your reach and budget as through blanket networks like radio and television. This was followed by the waiting period where the advertiser hopes the customer stays under influence to buy the product or service.

But then, the internet came with new twists. Social media was a by-product. Now, a shift occurred especially in communication and commerce. As a result, we do things differently in the way we conduct our daily affairs. With the level of innovations, consumers buy and businesses sell creatively.

Trust is the important emotion in conducting businesses. Traditional media makes people believe advertisers. Social media, on the other hand, has brought about transparency developed from informative content backed by statistical reviews.

Social media marketing uses content develop trust among customers. It builds its own community. It also gives one the opportunity to build relationships with customers when you include them in special offers such as coupons, freebies and the likes. Using social media marketing, you can  give the ideal customer an opportunity to learn everything they need to know about your product even before purchase. However, traditional media marketing uses ‘manipulation’ to win customers over.

Social media is less expensive compared to traditional media. It goes about this with precision. In most cases, one ends up paying a fraction of the traditional media price to reach the same number of people (or more) and one will reach the audience they want.

So which do you think is better and why? Traditional media or Social media?