Social Networks aren’t new

They are just better engineered websites that allow for a user’s personality to come out. That is the key, allowing user’s personality to flourish. That’s why they are compelling for friends and that’s why they are compelling for marketers.

However, the oldest still used wide appeal technical social network is email and that’s massively important. However, there is a change to needing to focus into niches with the social space, and that’s where applications come along.

Applications and Widgets

There is now a need for simple applications that add value to a user’s social networks. These can be full-blown applications, or widgets that sit within a user’s social network profile.  These applications can be vital to allowing a brand to get itself “out there” on mobile devices or for generating brand awareness on a social network.

Application Development

We at Vida can create social applications and widgets for you. We have transformed our business from building forums (many years ago) to building full blown social networks.  However, the landscape has changed again so now it is the users who choose what applications and widgets they use and they are on the networks. The networks want to keep them, so how do we engage with them there?  Developing widgets and applications.

Vida can develop strategies for social applications and widgets, and as such, we can provide the development resource for this as well.  We do social applications.  These are very different from normal websites, and are more complex to develop, and therefore will be costed differently, but they are very achievable for a marketing campaign or longer term for brand awareness.

Get in touch for your applications

iPhone applications, android applications, facebook applications, myspace applications, opensocial applications and widgets are all going to become much more important for brands, and marketing agencies need to become aware of them now.

For more information on how it can transform a brand, and generate a Return on Investment, contact Vida.

Agencies are going to have to increasingly focus their attention on
hiring really fabulously experienced senior, client facing people
who can think as business people as well as account handling.
Clients now really understand digital … as a component of the marketing mix, they
understand digital as a business delivery environment. What they need help
with … is bridging the gap between marketing the brand, retail, their customers,
their internal stakeholders, technology and making the whole thing work seemlessly.

That to me seems like the challenge now which is a sort of funny hybrid of business
consulting, brand strategy and marketing.

Tom Adams of Mook – NMA Podcast
http://www.nmapodcast.co.uk/podcast-56.mp3

I was listening to the NMA podcast and came across this quote. I find it very revealing about the state of the digital industry that there would be a significant comment that shows companies want something different from digital.

What is Digital?

Digital is the marketing channel that uses digital technology in it’s various forms, mostly the web, email and mobile (currently) but also including interactive TV and now social media.

It’s become increasingly important in the past few years, given the rise of the ubiquity of the internet and the increase in data to mobiles has now made digital marketing an essential part of any marketing strategy.

What’s interesting is…

That digital marketing is not about being clever creatively any more. It’s far more than that. Some of the most innovative campaigns are the simplest, and this is often missed. A large proportion of digital agencies think that it’s imperative to spend serious amounts of money on “creative” when actually, this is not the case.

Far more important is the business case for the work, and especially now.  This is why it’s vitally important for companies to change their outlook on account management.

As a company, we are very used to managing blue-chip clients and creating a business case for campaigns over and above the normal metrics and ideas that are created.  We have a strong understanding of the part social media plays in marketing and have done for over 7 years.

We aim to take agencies and companies on a journey into the cutting edge of digital and want to take maany more companies there. I think the quote above shows that digital is changing from being an extension of marketing to being something altogether more intuitive and fast-moving.