Traditional and Social Media

Traditional media includes:

• TV and radio
• Newspapers and magazines
• Billboards and advertisements
• Posters and flyers
• Telesales campaigns

For the majority of these media, the communication is one-directional and does not allow for feedback. It is passive, in as much as it is there if people choose to pay attention but there is no requirement for the recipient to engage. Traditional media campaigns often rely on targeting a broad market and may have to assume no prior knowledge or understanding of the message which means the message must be carefully structured and defined.

Traditional media campaigns require formal planning and are constructed to fit with the reputation and values of the organisation. With print deadlines, booking radio and TV slots and arranging resources for telesales services, traditional campaigns are often planned up to 12 months in advance. As such, they can sometimes be outdated or incorrect when they come to launch. Another attribute of traditional media is its accessibility; a TV advert has potential to reach tens of millions of people at once. Traditional media can be expensive so the benefits of reaching a wider audience should be weighed against the cost of the campaign.

Social media includes networking, file sharing and blogging sites such as:

Social media is multi-directional, allowing communication from many to many. A key attribute of these media is that they are much cheaper than traditional media, sometimes free. Social media encourages the audience to engage with the message or campaign and provides an opportunity for instant feedback. The language can be tailored to appeal to a finely tuned target audience as the profiles of the users can be used to determine the recipients of the message. Language used in social media can often be less formal, which allows for personality to show through, although this can also be a risk when the person behind the social media profile is representing an organisation! Social media can reach audiences in their millions and can be created spontaneously and in real-time, perhaps in reaction to a major sporting or political event, to the weather or just to react to the feedback from the audience. Of course, having open discussion between many recipients does mean that negative feedback must be handled extremely carefully. With social networking sites still growing, the reach and effects of negative feedback can be severely damaging to an organisation’s reputation.