Posted by One of the big ideas that comes out when we discuss Social Media is that any company can now publish content to the world. Most companies aren’t set-up to be content producers. But, what we forget to really talk about is that it’s not all about the content. It’s about the fact that every company is now a media company (and media companies are driven – partially – by the content they publish).
Your company used to need permission to tell its story to the masses. You needed to secure a Public Relations company to pitch your press releases and weave those new products and features bits into pieces of human content bites that would be appetizing for the world (or your customer base at large). When Blogging came along, we suddenly began to realize that companies could use this platform to tell their own story in a very different and unique way. From there, we discovered tools like flickr for sharing photos, Delicious for sharing bookmarks, audio and video Podcasting and many more platforms.
Suddenly, companies were building communities, developing and sharing content (text, audio, images and video) and even getting people to follow them (on places Twitter and Facebook).
Whether you’re in the B2B or B2C sales side and whether or not your product is a cheap impulse buy or a multi-million dollar long term sales cycle, your business is now – without a doubt – a media company as well. It’s not like the traditional mass media companies. This is different. It’s about the ever-increasingly reality that you are what you are along with being a new media company as well. Customers (and potential customers) have an expectation that you are connected, listening and reacting. On top of that, they are expecting real content from you (in a real human voice) as well. And, if you’re not willing to accept your new status as a media company as well as everything you were before, rest assured that your competitors or someone with a keen interest in your industry will embrace the idea of creating a media company for themselves or even on your behalf (with or without your permission).
It is a different way to think about business.
For the most part businesses were always publishers (creators of content) to some degree (white papers, press releases, catalogues, etc…), but now as we venture into the world where all communications take on some form of community and conversation – one that is public and published in a global platform of distribution and chatter – it makes perfect sense that companies must now embrace the reality that they are all media companies as well?
Check out the latest issue of Fast Company (September 2009). The cover story is called, Nokia’s Plan To Rule The World. The subtitle reads: "Tero Ojanpera’s bold bid to trounce Apple, BlackBerry & the rest – and transform Nokia into a media company."
Maybe it’s about time that all businesses realize that they too are media companies?
Never another podcast episode or article 
Not all companies, only the smart ones
Nicely put Mitch.
While I think most marketers are in agreement, the good ones are out there shedding blood convincing management teams/board of directors to invest in a content creation strategy in this economy.
A great example from the industry I work in is Billabong. They have repositioned their mkt to be more of a media dept that creates (free) content for all platforms – TV, Print, Web etc..
And the results have been amazing, increased visibility, content being reused, and with online stores starting to open up down here now, they can now track their efforts thru to direct sales.
It’s def a position that more companies need to assess.
Hummmm not sure I want to engage in conversations with each and every brand in my kitchen cupboard. Noodles, soup, crackers, cereal brands could engage the our youngsters with vids, games, bake-offs…the challenge is, they don’t shop.
The beauty is that the cost of creating the media is dropping to zero. From blogging platforms, to high quality video and picture cameras under $1000, social networks and utilities that are hyper popular and free. Creating media is possible for nearly any business.
Nevertheless, there is a time cost, and many people face a learning curve. So I’ll leave you with a last thought. The smart companies, if they possibly can, should get their fans to create at least some of the media for them. More genuine, more viral, more compelling and likely much more effective.
New mantra for any of my small business consulting clients or friends:
You are a media company.
You are a media company.
You are a media company.
(You are also a FILL IN THE BLANK – coffee, shoes, wallets – company, but)
You are a media company.
Thank-you for the highly relevant and timely post.
Warmest,
Jonathan
An important element is that by relying on PR, media and ‘what-have-you’ agencies in the past, companies effectively outsourced their trust management. Look at the results: whom do consumers trust nowadays? Therefore social media are a great opportunity for companies: By cutting out the middle man, i.e. the agencies, they are back in a face-to-face relationship with their consumers, allowing them to restore trust. Some companies have understood that, many have not.
The rate at which this is happening is exhilarating! Watch as the information that is being fed into all the social sites gets grabbed up by the drone developers and people loose control of their “information rights.” Just a thought…