Is social media the end of paid media?

My answer to the question on Quora: Is Social Media the end of paid media 

No, it's about being smarter and being more focused as many have pointed out in their answers. Recently I read an interesting blog about  Facebook Organic Reach Plummeting. What's more interesting is the comment thread and as many would have pointed out in the thread, Facebook as such is a big challenge, but traditionally Google has found a really interesting way to integrate all these attributes and making paid media better overall. The key is of course to find these aspects and fine tune it and ensure that throughout all media you are using these tactics. Rinse - Repeat

1. Focus on Acquisition and methods to directly reach out once you've paid for Social Media.
2. Targeting should be integrated via all other mechanisms too.
3. Drive optimization through focused rather than spend money on bombarding across all channels and media.
4. Learn what your user behavior is and customize your spends.
5. The goal should be to get them back to your properties and engage with you on your own turf. Advertise to get them off of FB and onto your site to download your whitepapers, watch your videos, sign up for your newsletter, buy a product from you, attend your conference, etc.(As mentioned in comments)
6. Convert your fans and followers to an owned list or something you control.
7. "I think most business owners have no problem with paying Facebook for advertising, I believe the primary problem is having to pay to get new fans, and then pay again to reach the same fans you just paid for. Then repeating this cycle again and again. Most small businesses are willing to pay for Facebook advertising, but they simply cannot afford to promote every single post." Interesting comment on the blog by Zach. 

This basically is a problem with Facebook and the same is very well addressed via Google media buying and adwords. 

So if you look at it overall,  the thing Facebook avoided for a long while and now suddenly is trying to get at (Extort brands via strong ad tactics) will cost them for sure, while Google will smile their way into advertisers' pockets.

 
Srinivas has been a communications professional for over 15 years. He has worked with and built India's largest digital agencies from the ground up and been part of their acquistion journey. Social Wavelegnth (now Mirum, part of the WPP group) and Kinnect, now part of the Interpublic Group (IPG). He's also been a public speaker, keynote speaker at various large panels/events of the likes of BBC Knowledge Summit, Blockchain Summit Bangalore. And has been a guest lecturer at IIM, Symbiosis, Indian Institute of Digital Education.

He has been blogging since 2005. And also been author at various publications, that include Startup India by ZDNet, Social Samosa, Lighthouse Insights.  His passion for Writing, Advertising, Creativity, Digital, Blockchain and Future Tech is what drives him each day.

Product Design and Branding - Kinder Joy

I certainly have seen some really good product designs in the physical goods space, and of course with technology coming up big, mobiles and other devices are really popular when it comes to product design. But one product that has been a clear revelation for me is this chocolate product plus DIY toy for kids.

Kinder JOY - WITH SURPRISE

Was doing groceries when I spotted Kinder Joy! Costs Rs. 35 for one piece of egg in India but crazily popular among kids and I'm sure same is the case across the world. Now many advertisers and Marketers know how much of a rage this product is within its target group!  So I picked it up to do some product design and brand analysis. Here are some of my observations.Feel free to add your thoughts!  A lot of these might not even matter to the actual consumers (Kids), but would be intriguing for the decision makers. 

Branding: Branding right on top with an intrigue,  "With Surprise"  Standard,  intrigue and feeling of mystery inside my meal, which has worked wonders even when I was a kid. (lucky cards, sorat, scratch to win)

Enticement: Mystery and audience engagement continues inside with the ???  Marks all over and creating further curiosity.  On the other half of the egg, they only talk about the product, which only contains the egg white resembling cream with chocolate. Decluttered even from the audience thought process. If I want to find out what the surprise is, I'll forget about the other part, and choose to eat it later. Minimalistic and easy flow of consumer thought tapped into. 

Product Detailing: Simple,  visual representation of make your own Jerry the mouse. Now he mouse detailing is so much that you even have stickers for its ears, musical notes for his accordion and bright colors for his hat. 

Hook and Value for Money: Most kids obviously buy it for the toy. They don't care about what they eat, mostly I'm  guessing. At 35 bucks, parents won't mind it either as it's creative, small, engaging their kid, and most importantly its as if giving a simple affordable toy which educates/helps utilize their logical mind. Much like simplified Lego. 

Product Information: They've also mentioned warning for kids below 3 years at least in 2 places within product. Packaging design is so concise, small, accurate and yet contains value worth so much. Also the small leaflet contains instructions in many other languages, a QR code too, for parents if they want more info. 

Lastly, the overall satisfaction for kids is as good as a Happy meal toy, only more as, they  assembled it and they can keep collecting such toys. Great brand recall, customer reuse and repeat tactic. 

Great stuff from Design thinking perspective and also Marketing it well! What say? 

Srinivas has been a communications professional for over 10 years, and has been blogging since 2005. He has worked with the likes of Social Wavelength, now Mirum India, (A JWT Group Company) for four years and now Heads Learning and Development & Analytics at Social Kinnect: A Digital Marketing Agency in Mumbai. His passion for Advertising, Creativity, Social & Digital Marketing helps make a difference for the brands they work with.