The Next Engine: Beyond Campaign Thinking

Saw a pretty sad article in Adweek this week about how hard it is to measure social media. I started reading in the hope of gleaning insight into how some thought-leaders in the space are engaging in SM analysis – identifying and leveraging consumer ecosystems, gaining insight into the ideas and opinions consumers are sharing, measuring conversation volume and brand sentiment. That kind of thing.

Instead, the first 60% talked about how hard Facebook and MySpace are finding it to “monetize their services”, ie use personal user information and behavior to sell ‘relevant’ banner ads. Unfortunately (for them)

The vast amount of applications, music players, wallpaper and other doodads tends to distract their (consumers) attention from the ads relegated to the page’s periphery.

Perhaps I’m just not cynical enough but I find it incredibly depressing that marketers and agencies still look at social media and simply think about how best to interrupt user activity with traditional (display) advertising.

For us here at the Next Engine social media in all its forms has nothing to do with banner ads or click-throughs. Instead it’s become utterly indispensable as a proxy and complement to the real world - delivering unmatchable consumer insight, targeting and engagement.

In fact it’s so central to what we do that it permeates all facets of program design – just as it has permeated all facets of the way consumers use the web.

We use it to determine what’s being said and where it’s being said. We use it to intersect users with relevant, valuable content, entertainment and information. We use it to provide real utility. We use it to measure shifting opinion and sentiment through time. We make it the core of everything we do. Not just the core of “digital”. That’s it. What else is there?