Because there is so much content and engagement created on a New media platform, modern markets now move “at the speed of thought.” New products are constantly being created or repositioned. An effective marketer must constantly reposition their product. They must understand when to do this repositioning in these now new fast markets that didn’t exist just a short time ago. This is analogous to the days of the early car business. Modern marketing was developed during the branding of the early days of the car in the 1900s. In early 1923, Ford’s Model T controlled 57% of the domestic automobile market. General Motors only had 12.7%. It was thought that GM would never pass Ford. General Motors C.E.O Albert Sloan understood the structural changes happening in the domestic car market. This knowledge of a fast-moving market allowed GM to overtake Ford and be the market leader that is today.
New media has created great scales of information. This large amount of information and the speed at which it can be transmitted constantly changes the paradigm in which businesses and markets operate. To create a strong brand, a marketer must understand when a significant change has taken place.
Two things that have changed market paradigms are globalization and social media platforms. These two things have created a lot of content that has to be developed and easily transported. The wonderful thing about social media is the engagement that it creates between customers and brands. Companies now have a knowledge base to create products that customers really do need in a form that they really need it. Customers really do define their products for a producer. It is almost as if companies are just bit players in the marketing of their own products.
Instantaneous repositioning creates whole new companies and business models that make even mainline companies evolve drastically overnight. Social media platforms have made Ford Motor Company move from being a car company to a social media brand. With a new technology called In Sync, a Ford automobile is nothing more than just one big iPhone on four wheels.
This technology was created because Ford engaged with their customers. Since 1997 Ford has been trying to find an answer to GM’s in-car technology. After speaking with customers, Ford created a social media technology that now makes the car THE PLATFORM. General Motors’ technology which seemed insurmountable a few years ago, is now a nonfactor in the automobile business. Social media technologies have created a role reversal from the 1930s. Social media, through the leadership of Alan Mulley, has transformed Ford into a significant market player.
These sudden, massive paradigm shifts are the reason why the percentage of companies falling out of the top three rankings in their industry has increased from 2% in 1960 to 14% in 2008. These intense quick paradigm shifts, created by social media, have created the seismic changes that are taking place in many markets. Many present-day CEOs can’t define something as basic as what industry are in and who their competitors are in their industry.
