FACEBOOK AS MASS MEDIA?

Hannah Greenslade-yeats MOSH Social Media

For a long time, mass media and social media have been at opposite ends of the marketing spectrum. Traditionally, mass media uses content in small supply to reach a large amount of people, while social media has been about supplying a large amount of shareable content to small, segmented groups of people.

But times have changed. At least, that’s what Tom Hyde, Facebook’s creative agency partner across New Zealand and Australia, said in his speech at a Facebook event in Auckland recently. And he said, we, as marketers, should change our mindsets to see Facebook as a mass media channel. Think about it: Facebook’s audience in New Zealand is more than 2.9 million people, and its advertising capabilities allow us to reach each and every one of them with a single ad; whereas you’d be lucky to reach one million people with a television ad at any given time of the week.

According to Hyde, less content is more: “We need to start getting clients to start spending quality money with a quality agency that knows how to change behaviour… and you need to give it the same care and consideration whether it’s in your pocket or on the screen on the TV.”

In other words, agencies need to create powerful posts and ads specifically for Facebook, rather than repurposing content from other media and filling Facebook with ‘noise’.

The moral of the story: Facebook should be seen as a mass media platform for those who need it. For those who don’t, make the most of Facebook’s invaluable ability to speak to your niche.