Quantitative vs. Qualitative Marketing Relationships

What kind of friend are you? Are the kind of person who has a thousand acquaintances, but no deeply trusting relationships? Or do you have fewer, deeper friendships? Are you quantitative or qualitative (leave it to a marketer to define friendship on such terms)?

This is essentially the same question you must ask yourself when considering your marketing strategy. In the past, the only option was to be a quantitative friend, to hang out with anybody and everybody in hopes that someone might actually talk back.

Using social media, however, you can engage your target audience in a qualitative relationship, engaging in a mutually beneficial two-way conversation. And the power of social media is its ability to qualitatively engage thousands of people.

The Catch

Sounds great, right? Who doesn't want to be popular. The challenge, however, is in your willingness to accept your new qualitative data as valid. Social media is difficult to track, a scary proposition for many business leaders. But if you're willing to allow for a bit gray area in your reporting, your company stands to benefit from authentic conversation about your brand around the world.