These days, it is impossible to get away with a large-scale, all-encompassing marketing strategy without including social media and social networking into the mix. The way the Internet has gotten into nearly everyone’s life is nothing short of impressive, so it seems foolhardy to dismiss it as a marketing medium. The idea gets even more difficult to dismiss when one speaks of social networking, which seems like a good way to establish a more “personal” connection with potential customers. Human beings like to buy from other human beings; social media lets even the most monolithic of corporations or governments present a more human face. However, how does one integrate that into the campaign in general?

Sure, it isn’t too hard to turn a social media account into a marketing engine all by its lonesome. A lending institution might even include their own home or car loan calculator app, making the account both interactive and useful to the customer. However, it would be much better if it was integrated into the campaign in general. If nothing else, it at least means everything is going in the same direction.

The easiest way, of course, is to mention that the company has a social networking account in the “old school” media ads. This is very simple and often amounts to little more than saying “Like us at Facebook” or “Follow us at Twitter” at the end of the usual 30-second TV ad spot. It helps if there are images of the Facebook and Twitter logos too, just so people have a visual reference if they don’t hear the names of the sites. This can even be done in older ad styles, like newspaper ads and fliers. In fact, these days, it can be very strange to find nothing but contact info and no social networking on marketing materials. People just expect everyone to have an account, even if it isn’t regularly maintained.

Naturally, all the information about promotions or new products that gets mentioned on the social media account must line up with printed materials at first. The print and digital media must agree on the message to avoid giving customers mixed signals. However, due to the nature of the Internet, it is much easier to update or correct info on the social media account than on a few thousand fliers that have already been handed out. Differences in data are acceptable, just as long as it’s a correction or an update. As much as possible, both digital and old school media must send the same message.

Finally, try to use the same imagery when possible. Humans but a lot of stock in visual input and information to the extent that evolutionary biologists suspect human eyes are going to get bigger as time goes on, to the “ridiculous” sizes seen in cartoons. This reliance on visual input means that any marketer worth his salt had better keep the visuals consistent across all materials, to avoid confusing the folks who don’t read first and look at the pretty pictures later.