Communication in the Digital Age

Email. facebook. LinkedIn. MySpace. twitter. Blogger.com. The Internet. Instant Messaging. Google Groups.

These are just some of the tools available to planners in the digital age. Taken as a whole, these digital communication tools and channels comprise the social network and have led to the concept of social marketing. Yet some (many) have difficulty using these techniques, let alone embracing them, including clients and colleagues, internal and external to our organizations.

It’s not a stretch to argue that with so many outlets one might spend all one’s time communicating and none getting work done. A planner must choose the communication channels, just as a VP of Sales needs to select sales channels. And one does not have to choose all of the above. A, B, C or D, or two or three of them, are acceptable and I would argue better.

The two key aspects of choosing the channels are what resources are available to the planner and what are the communication preferences of the target audience. So when a planner has strong support in place for graphics, printed materials and website design and is an email user a sensible way to proceed is to build with that toolbox. A meeting website uses graphics either similar or identical to those in the printed material, amplifying branding. Constant Contact or another email program can facilitate group communication from the top down and individual replies bottom up. A password protected portion of the website can be created for attendees to view who else is coming. And so on. One might argue that much of this can be done with, for example, facebook. But compared to print and good websites, facebook lacks the branding and customizing ability required. So in this context it is useful only as a portal. Further, for a social networking novice, adding the numerous bits such as tweeting and blogging will be time consuming and thus have only modest returns.

On the other hand there are markets comprised of people that spend a great deal of time in the digital or social networking world. If your target audience is that market then it makes sense to eliminate the printed materials. (In 2008 through 2009 I managed the vendor and sponsorship marketing and sales for an international IT conference and did not use any printed items.) The audience doesn’t do mail much, thinks it’s not green, is on the road all the time, works virtually from laptops and handheld devices, so electronic and social networking tools are optimal for this communication. The audience likely has the facebook app. They probably have a Google account so with a password can access a Google Group. They communicate with each other electronically by text, tweets, Email, IM’s. If you have a tribal leader, an influencer, who will tweet or blog on your meeting’s behalf, you can really leverage these tools. Using social media to drive traffic to your website for details and registration, access to documents and so forth will probably be effective.

These examples show that both traditional and digital strategies are still very important. Use your strengths, the best tools in your toolbox, but don’t let your comfort with the tried and true stop you from making the effort to use the new.