There continues to be dialog about social media versus traditional media and how social replaces traditional…at least that’s from people who make their living with social media. Traditional media advocates are silent in fear of being labeled “old school.”

We think it’s the wrong argument. We think that social media has much more in common with traditional media than the new gurus would have you believe.

The key difference is the fact that two way communication can be much more powerful for good or bad. A bad magazine ad wastes money. A bad discourse between a brand and it’s social following can destroy the brand.

We’ve all seen companies who rush to Facebook or Twitter effort does nothing more than pimp product or company information. It’s amazing to us how the appreciation for the audience’s interests is ignored for self interest. More, they intrude on a space reserved for “friends.” Not for long though, the ignore button is easier than a DVRing past commercials. These efforts usually have few fans and most of the fans they have will be already connected with the organization sponsoring the effort.

The discussion between social media and traditional media should really be about how to integrate the two and magnify the effectiveness of each. At what stage of affinity does social media really kick into the equation? Does it happen at the awareness phase? Or, closer to the “I’ve bought and I love/hate it phase?” Which media is better at which point of affinity?

If you have a product that has caught fire and your customers can’t wait to tell others about it, social media can create awareness and demand. If you have a product that is a hard to love necessity of life, not so much.

If you’re struggling with the argument of social media versus traditional, take a moment and create a scale that goes from totally unaware to loyal customer. Ask yourself which media strategy makes sense at what point of the continuum? How do you move a prospect from totally unaware to in love of your product? Then make it all work together by connecting the dots between all the options you have on the table.

If you do that rather than rushing into ineffectiveness, you’ll have a cohesive plan that makes the most of your marketing dollar.

ZLRIGNITION has promoted Nick Grant and Sara Horstmann to Account Manager.

Grant joined ZLRIGNITION in 2007 as an account- and street marketing coordinator and has played a vital role in managing special events and activities for Just Eliminate Lies, (JEL), Iowa’s teen-led tobacco counter marketing group.

A native of Washington, D.C., Grant holds a bachelor’s degree in advertising from Drake University, where he also was co-captain of Drake’s 2006-2007 men’s basketball team.

“Nick will continue to play a critical role in helping our clients’ engage teens and young adults, and in utilizing social media to help clients achieve their communications and marketing objectives,” says Louie Laurent, president and CEO.

Horstmann joined ZLRIGNITION in 2008 as a media planner and buyer. Before joining the agency, Horstmann worked at Heartland Financial USA, Inc. where she coordinated major marketing projects including special events and media buying.

“Sara brings a sharp focus on producing results that meet or exceed client expectations. She is a valuable addition to our account service team,” adds Laurent.

Horstmann, who resides in Urbandale, holds a bachelor’s degree in art & design from Iowa State University.

As an agency, we do a lot of work influencing personal behavior. It’s become a specialty. We reduce teen smoking, encourage people to seek treatment for problem gambling and substance abuse. We encourage middle schoolers to eat healthy and exercise.

Tomorrow I’m speaking at the 2009 Prevention Symposium put on by Training Resources a Division of Iowa Behavioral Health Association. The presentation is about communications strategies to reduce underage and binge drinking.

In nearly all social marketing situations the target audience already knows what the right thing to do is. Smoking is bad for you. Gambling too much is bad for you. Drugging is bad for you. Yet people do it. And if you tell them not to, they usually do it more. It’s not rational.

In all cases, the secret is within the target audience. We work really hard to peel back the layers of resistance to find messaging strategies that influence the audience’s thinking. Sometimes in an evolutionary way and sometimes revolutionary, but always in an honest way. Don’t tell a teen they’re going to die as a result of having a drink because they see people drinking who don’t die. Find a way to help them make intelligent decisions and remember always in the end it is their decision. If you respect that, you’ll have more effect changing their thinking.

Remember “Bait and Switch?”  An advertiser lures you in with a fantastic price only to tell you they are out of that particular item but they have something much more expensive that would fit your bill.  That hacked everybody off to the point that it’s a pretty rare occurrence today.  If a marketer does that today, they get skewered by ratings and social networks.  Pretty painful penance.

The bar for business integrity gets higher still when marketing to the Net Generation.  Not only do they expect more, they know how to complain by attacking the business where it hurts…in the cash register.

On the same hand, have integrity firmly on display in your day-to-day dealings, and you could create a customer for life…even an evangelist.

As you think about touting your brand, make sure you live your promise.  As you think about running your business, make sure you do it as green as possible.  Do what you say you will do and put the customer first and you’ll have loyal Net Geners as customers.    Pretty simple.

Last night, my 26 year-old son, home from a Miami Ad School gig with Crispen Porter Bulgoski told me that he was reviewing the Xbox 360 games I had been playing in my man cave in the basement.  I have to admit, I go in an out of mild addiction to video games.  He proceeded to tell me that I was missing some of the most highly rated games.

Then he asked me if I knew what E3 was.  To which I said of course I do (I didn’t).  Then he proceeded to tell me that Blizzard Activision was coming out with some outstanding games and that EA Sports had totally ruined the NCAA 2K basketball series by coming out with a boring 2K nine version.  He told me that he totally opposed the practice of EA buying up franchises so that other game makers couldn’t improve on the games.

Whoa…too much information about video games.  I thought he was supposed to be learning how to be a great copywriter.  But it did give me inspiration for this post.

My son’s pretty normal.  Or at least as normal as anybody who wants to be an advertising copywriter.  When he’s interested in something he spends time researching about the product and what people are saying about it.  While he looks to opinion leader, when he publishes ratings he becomes an opinion leader.  And when he discovers a great product, he’s more apt to broadcast his opinion.  Likewise, when he gets burned by a bad product, he gets even.

I really don’t know much about EA Sports strategies.  But I do know that they have an image issue with gamers…at least one anyway…that will affect their sales to some extent.

The time Net Geners spend scrutinizing their next purchase should cause all marketers to develop strategies to deal with both positive and negative reviews.  If you don’t join the conversation, your ears will ring with this audience talking behind your back.  That said, if your policies offend them, if your product doesn’t meet their expectations, or if it’s just a product that doesn’t perform, no amount of conversation will change their opinion.