What is the difference between media and traditional media?

One of the things most companies struggle with when strategizing their business is determining what marketing tactics will work for them. Every business has different opinions on what is successful and what isn’t. With all of the options we have available to us today, narrowing down these tactics can be frustrating, confusing and difficult to navigate.

Some businesses can be quick to dismiss traditional media ideas, such as radio and TV ads, claiming they have a less effective, slower reach than new media. Other businesses may not see the benefit in new media, like search engine marketing (SEM), social media and blogging. They may feel their business model doesn’t fit new media, or their consumers may not be internet-savvy, making it harder to reach them at a personal level. Let’s first understand the differences between traditional media and new media.

Traditional Media can be explained as TV, radio, direct mail, billboards, etc. It is an “push” strategy, meaning the message is being output by the business. It is a one-way, direct message that can be costly, yet instantly impactful. Traditional media is gauged by short-term results.

New Media can be explained as social media (Facebook, Twitter, YouTube), search engine marketing (SEM), search engine optimization (SEO), blogs, etc. It is a “pull” strategy, meaning it is conversational between consumer and business. It is interactive and inexpensive to campaign, and it can yield measurable progress. New media is gauged by long-term results.

While both forms of media have their positives and negatives, what several companies don’t understand is that it takes a balance between both traditional media and new media in order to successfully strategize a brand. Blending new media with traditional media in a “push-pull” tactic is about engaging your consumers in innovative ways.

• Encourage social media participation by advertising it traditionally. Include a contest, sale, special offer to promote your business, while at the same time gaining more followers in the social community.
• Use social media as a customer service base. By responding to all inquiries in a public environment and voicing your solutions to negative feedback, you are showing your care and commitment to your consumers.
• Pioneer traditional media campaigns by using social feedback from your followers. Knowing what your customers want, directly from them, is a perfect way to build new traditional media campaigns.

By using a few of these tips, you can open yourself up to more innovative advertising solutions and more impactful ways to communicate with your consumers. By bringing both traditional and new media to your business, you can achieve more reach than with either of these categories alone. Utilizing a “push-pull” method with traditional media and new media will keep a leg in both categories. It will ensure you are taking your brand to the next level, making it a breakthrough year for your business in 2015.

The mediascape has been witnessing massive changes in the last 20 years or so. From being dependent on ‘Traditional or Old Media’, we’ve shifted to the use of ‘New Media’. Whereas the traditional forms like print, films, TV, and radio constitute Old Media, New Media primarily includes computer technology, the Internet and smart phones.

Here are the key differences between the two

From Consumer to “Prosumer”

The older forms of media forced the audiences to be passive consumers of the content provided to them, in the sense that there was only so much that they could do.

The new forms of media allow the audiences to not only consume content, but also produce content. Therefore we’re becoming Prosumers: producers+consumers. Earlier the audiences could only read or watch news. Today they can produce news through blogs, social media or Citizen Journalism portals.

The Use of Multimedia

Print media for example, only uses text and still images. Electronic media uses a number of codes, still and moving images etc., but New Media (online medium) trumps both of these with its use of multimedia. Text, images, hyperlinks, videos..a single page online can make use all of it.

Multiplicity of Delivery Platforms

Unlike old media, new media can be delivered on flexible formats – smartphones, tablets, laptops, PC etc.

Interactivity

New media allows for greater interactivity among both producers & consumers- audiences can give instant feedback to reporters, news channels through their Facebook page, twitter etc; and consumers & consumers- through comment feeds, social media interactions.

Scope and Reach

Newspaper circulation is bound to a certain physical space, and TV content, unless uploaded on the internet, remains within the viewership of their country’s audience. Therefore, older forms of media are limited in their scope and reach.

New media on the other hand, is far wider in it’s reach and scope. Once, anything goes on the net, it becomes accessible for almost anyone with a computer and net connection. However, questions of “digital divide” make this argument skeptical. A vast majority of the population still doesn’t have access to smart phones or the internet.

This increasing interactivity and greater scope of reach has eventually lead to the formation of a “Global Village” – an interconnected community that is not bound by space or borders. This is just taking forward the concept of “Imagined Communities”- a term that was coined by sociologist Benedict Anderson, who felt that people reading the same news in different parts of the country, far away from each other, felt connected, and part of the same community.

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