Thoughts on Traditional Media Meeting Social Media

I saw a commercial the other night from Coleman, the lantern and overnight camp gear company. They claimed they were the original social network, pretty clever, I thought, and pretty much on target. While brands that target a younger and more geeky (for lack of a better word) consumer with social media never get a second thought, Coleman and their ideal customer don’t fit that typical thinking. Coleman jumped in and tried to stake a claim that the original social media is brilliant, and by looking for an association with today’s social media campaign, he says it’s more extensive and more robust with a broader reach than what some people are willing to think. Toyota’s national social media campaign is a story-telling message, and they ask for your stories at Facebook/Toyota.com. Ford revealed the new Explorer on Facebook, not across all television stations multiple times that we are so accustomed to, but on Facebook. Today, I heard a radio ad that ended with “Don’t forget to like us on Facebook.” Have you watched CNN in the past year? CNN hosts are asking for tweets, commenting on stories, reporting on the Twitter trends of the day, and reading comments from Facebook. It’s like one big social media party. Social media campaign are everywhere, no escaping it, no matter what demographic you fall in. Every day, we get more and more of our news from social media, and every day, it inches closer and closer to what one day will be described as traditional media.