Social marketing at the right place and right time with new media

Purpose – The purpose of this paper is to seek to discuss how the new media revolution can improve social marketing by bringing the “place” (one of four P's from the marketing mix) closer to the consumer. Design/methodology/approach – This paper describes current new media trends related to social media and mobile communication technologies and discusses the implications of these technologies for social marketing by exploring examples of their use in commercial marketing, social change, and public health. Findings – The rapid growth of online social networks and near ubiquity of mobile phones in much of the world offers social marketers enormous potential for engaging consumers in radically new ways. The nature of these new communication platforms differs from traditional media in important ways that can make them more effective for marketing, most notably the potential for deeper consumer engagement, multi‐directional information exchange, and location‐based tracking and messaging. Practical implications – The trends described in this paper are rapidly and fundamentally changing how commercial marketers, brand managers, and consumer relationship managers engage with the current and prospective consumers. Social Marketing should learn from these changes and leverage these new media to engage large numbers of consumers more deeply and closer to the “right place and right time” than they ever could before. Originality/value – This paper explores a topic that has been introduced at the Global Non‐Profit and Social Marketing Conference in Dublin, Ireland in April 2011. The discussion should encourage social marketers to reconsider the role of “place” and explore how new media can bring place closer to consumers.