COMMENTS
I agree, but what really stood out to me was part about recycling content from more traditional forms of media. I think saying that you need to have a different style of content depending the medium is spot on. We are really yet to see a significant push in that direction.
You've raised some very good points (as always) regarding social media. I definitely agree that many marketers are focused on the wrong metrics. Too many are focused on getting "fans" or "followers" at any cost. There are several sites that you can sign up for that will add fans and followers to you facebook or twitter accounts. To what end I am not sure. From a marketing perspective, the point of social media is to connect with potential clients, customers, suppliers, etc. If you are signing up big numbers of followers artificially what benefit is it to you? It will not allow you to know how effective your marketing is, and may detract from the conversations you could be having with real customers. Additionally, I would caution businesses about using such services because there are some "fans" that you acquire through these services that you may not want representing your business.
Love this article! While there are many advantages to social media marketing, one must plan carefully just like they would with any marketing medium. Would you send direct mail to a ton of prospects that are not even close to being your target audience? No. Why? Because it costs a lot of money to send direct mail. As you mention, just because social media platforms are mostly free, time is not. Don't spend your valuable and costly time connecting with followers or fans that have no interest in your product or service. Thanks for an eye-opening article!
If you're using social media "just because" then it's obviously a waste of time. The key is to go where your clients and customers are. If they're using social media, then it's worth the exercise focus at least some marketing there.
You as well as the previous commentators have made some very valid points.
Many think just by making a Twitter, just by making a Facebook that they are playing their part, but much more goes into these instances.
Markets are conversations. So is marketing. Social media are good on as far as they develop, improve advance abd optimize authentic conversation within the context of a genuine relationship.
Conversation is the soul of social media. The dance of authentic conversation is the spiritual undercarriage of social media prosperity. Social media do not exist without frequent, genuine conversations. Face-to-face is best. Social media mavens incessantly seek and carry on conversations with impassioned fervor. Remember, conversation is not discussion. Discussion originates from percussion, to strike or hit. Discussion outcomes are known; conversational outcomes are not. To develop and prosper with social media, practice and master the fine art of authentic conversation.
Screed: http://bit.ly/aQyQ9A
Hi - Forgot to say, great post, a moment of clairty!
BTW, it should be:
"Seven Reasons Social Media Are Bad for Marketing"
Don't worry. Typos and grammar aren't important as long as the message gets through...
"Social media content is always imperfect; intentions are (should be) always perfect."
-j
http://twitter.com/@jheuristic
I couldn't agree more. The market is being flooded with content that is clearly NOT remarkable. It makes it harder to stand out in the crowd. I wrote a blog post that looked at the issue in a slightly different way: Is Social Media a Ponzi Scheme?. http://bit.ly/9WDsXY
Amen with many of your points, especially about the "boring, legally reviewed sound bites." I argue in my blog http://scheier.typepad.com/what_works_what_doesnt/2010/07/time-to-kill-the-press-release.html
to kill press releases (or relegate them to the level of SEC notices) and replace them in social media with customer-oriented content.
Bottom line: Yes, social media can be bad for marketing if done WRONG.
It can all become another distraction from the core function of marketing: being sure that what you're selling is actually what real customers want to buy. The changing scene in marketing tools and techniques remind me a lot of food trends. Remember when "Southwest" was cool? "Thai"? Fish that was "blackened"? "Chilean Sea Bass"? Risotto? Fennel? Beets?
Remember when all food had to be stacked on square plates? Just one problem with all this crap: a lot of it simply tasted like crap. So before you get all wanged out about what to tell your CEO about your SEO, step back and make sure you're selling something worth buying. Oh-- one more thing. The only metric the CEO really cares about is SALES. So make sure you're generating them.
Excellent article, agreed with most points. What's important is to relay this message to your clients, partners, investors... It's one side to understand this by one department and other to explain and MAKE SURE they understand.
So many uptight CEOs and old school marketing managers use social media channels to broadcast their corporate BS which is not engaging nor interesting and does nothing for the reader. These people are living in the Mad Men days.
Seems that this article would be better named "7 Reasons Marketing is bad for Social Media.
Funny story. We organised a workshop with a sales guru called Neil Rackham. He's quite old school in his thoughts about social media and highlighted one example called the "chewing gum dog sh1t shoe" where they came up with this "fantastic" design for a shoe made millions of them then put the design on social media and someone said it looked like you had stepped in chewing gum and dog sh1t... needless to say they sold nearly none of the shoes and made a whopping loss. I haven't edited that video clip onto our blog yet, but here are some other clips... he's quite interesting to watch: http://blog.huthwaite.com.au/?Tag=Video
It's not social media that is to blame for most of the negatives you mention but the practitioners, mostly marketers, who don't seem to get it into their heads that this is not just another channel to get the old message out at an ever higher decibel level than before.
This is the first time that a conversation based relationship between brand and customer can be established on an equal footing. If social web engagement is part of a clear business objectives based, integrated approach it will be highly beneficial to marketing.
I get the article, and it was worth a read. That said, what social media enables is for consumer groups who could not find similar-minded colleagues to easily find each other. So you can actually reach loyalists (and also people who truly hate your product). So finally product development is being forced to deal with the consumer voice. And marketing, as the voice of the consumer is being forced to adapt (even if they don't like it), since a blog post can make it all the way to a CEO.
Also, what I really like about social media is the ability to measure online buzz, which starts to get closer to managing your brand and ROI on marketing spend. Companies may not be always using it properly, but things are changing (and we have social media to thank for that). When online marketing started to pick up steam a few years ago, the old guard was screwing that one up as well. So nice title, but how about a balance of some of the opposite arguments that should not be overlooked?
Angus - there are so many blog posts out there about how great SM is, so Kip was actually doing a great job by reminding people of the potential drawbacks.
Personally, I loved #3. People should remember that resource (financial and time) is critical when implementing SM as part of their marketing strategy.
Great article. I am have to totally agree with regards to the metrics. So many books and software that concentrate on getting followers but due to the amount of spam, does any true messages actually get through? I have checked analytics and for my own site I have received a total of 4 visitors via twitter. The spam point goes hand in hand perfectly with the fact that it has made bad marketing easier.
The key to social media is building relationships, the way that most social marketing is carried out does make this more difficult.
Many thanks
Simon
Great article! I agree with nearly all of it. Most businesses see it as another channel to move content quickly and reach as many as possible, but the difference between social media and other "traditional" forms of internet marketing is the relationship and trust building to maintain and thrive in a relationship with your customer.
This article put a huge smile on my face this morning. So many marketers make the mistake of using social to convey the same messages but just across a free channel. Social channels target different types of consumers than traditional marketing ones, requiring the messages you send out ot be different as well.
Thanks for your post, Kipp, rich content is an absolute deal-breaker in my opinion for SM to work for conversions or even loyalty and awareness.
That said, how does one engage their SM contributors beyond marketing in order to produce the "social media contextual personality" as Mike notes above.
I am having some challenges framing the consversation style approach, while also honing in on rich topics and content.
The default seems to always be the same salesy regurg of sound bites.
The amount of spam and inane content is truly remarkable in the last 3 to 5 years.
Largely thanks to internet marketing "gurus" who promote (and insanely profit from)it.
The latest hot IM Guru craze is producing 100's of short videos to flood video sites.
Unremarkable content now begins to cloy video social media.
As Don Henley put it, it's "the end of the innocence."
Can't agree more with most points especially #4. SM marketing should not be just another segment of your company's marketing department. SM is an incredible source of innovative ideas and customer engagement and interaction should become part of daily activities of every department of your organization.
Interesting points but I think the appropriate title is not '7 Reasons Social Media Is Bad for Marketing',
but is should be '7 Reasons Social Media Is Bad for Bad Marketer'.
Love this article, and you couldn't be more right. To further your point about online gluttony, I believe that not every social channel is right for every company. I think many companies don't spend enough time investigating and researching SM tools before diving in. Do they really know where their audience is? Are they even listening? Instead of jumping on the bandwagon, think of where your customers are and how they can put your information to good use.
Interesting article. I won't say I agree with you, but you have raised some very valid points; points if actioned correctly will yield profit and turn the table around for any marketing strategy...
The way I see it, Social Media, like any form of marketing is an investment. You can't reap the fruit of it as soon as you start parting of it... You just have to give it time and in between the time, nurture it...
As usual, another insightful article from a true internet master, Mr. Bodnar. Grammar aside (FYI, it's correct as written - the singular verb applies because the assumed phrase THAT PROVE is intentionally left out, hence SOCIAL MEDIA IS BAD) the encouraging message here is simply put, don't shoot from the hip. Social media with all its pluses continues to show the underside of e-communications. Digital diarrhea has now become the standard, replacing dispassionate thought and in depth analysis. Because just about everybody has access doesn't mean a tsunami of crap should flow from their fingertips. The lack of follow through and consideration to consequences screams volumes about the lack of thinking missing from today's environment, ironic as it may be since we live in the golden age of communication. No doubt Mr. Bodnar will continue to lead the way with his astute comments - both by example and enticing challenge. Again, thanks for another great and enjoyable read.
"(FYI, it's correct as written - the singular verb applies because the assumed phrase THAT PROVE is intentionally left out, hence SOCIAL MEDIA IS BAD)"
Hunh? Ridiculous.
Better if Verb/subject match. Do you like these titles? -
Two Reasons Websites is Bad for Marketing
or
Five Reasons Brochures is Bad for Marketing
or
Three Reasons Trade Shows is Bad for Marketing
Give us a break!
Are we supposed to imagine or guess what’s missing? It is a declarative title and the grammar is wrong.
Look, poetic license is fine, but 'social media is...' anything just sounds terrible. Yeech!
It's like, "The data is conclusive." <gag!>
C'mon, it's elementary!
Also, numbers 1-10 are expected be written out. “7 Reasons…’ is just tacky. “Seven Reasons…” is a lot nicer… and correct.
-j
Mr. Maloney,
One challenge in this newest of mediums is the art of grabbing attention and provoking reader response. At times this does stretch the envelope. Your response seems to prove at least one of those points.
What is correct according to whom? Declarative entitlement? Yuk, or is it yuck? Words games at this point obfuscate the purpose and intent of this solid piece of writing. Try concentrating on the point at hand. If you opine differently, so be it. Pleeeez, I don't need the drama or insult. This is just one reason why entire exercises of this type become tedious and a total waste of time. Have you nothing better to do? And while I'm at it, I prefer singular with singular, but your comparisons "like" don't match, dude. Maybe you should have learned to parse a sentence correctly before you began terming things ridiculous. Like <double gag>.
T M D
Mr. Maloney,
Points all well taken and agreed. The essence of our dispute is the definition of media. Trust me, I am well aware media is the plural of medium and could conjugate it I had to. Social Media I believe is an entity and thus singular in my perception; to your way of thinking you insist on a more formal and literal plural meaning. I cannot argue any further. This stalemates our discourse but I appreciate your considerable explanation of position. I simply don't agree. I retract the previous innuendos of fallacious syllogistic behavior on your part and ask accord with apology if I offended. I must beg off for a prior engagement.
T M D
Again, despite the fine observations and comments, there is still a disconnect concerning social media and marketing. In short, and above all, social media transform media consumers to producers. The famous portmanteau, coined in the early 70s, is ‘prosumer.’ Social media are not only plural they are pluralistic. Whether you like it or not, marketing is now a federated and distributed activity among diverse galaxies of individuals and networks. Prosumers now lead marketing. Recall, social media are complex adaptive systems, they cannot be controlled, only served. Social media are not a new exhaust system for the marketing department. The new added horsepower may give the marketing manager a thrill, but all us prosumers get is more noise and hot exhaust in our face. All the hand-wringing whether social media are good/bad for marketing is emblematic of a provincial view of marketing. Rather, effective marketing nurtures and develops the conversation that originates outside the organization via diverse, dissimilar and distinct prosumer media modalities. Social media are not good/bad for marketing; social media ARE marketing. The genius of HubSpot, for example, is an innate comprehension of this shift. HubSpot strives to create just the right starting conditions to furnish the prosumer their voice and to activate the conversation. This, in turn, allows inbound activities to flourish, since the supplier’s offering product are participants in the socially-mediated, peer-level conversations. Marketing is simply the voice of the prospect & customer. Social media are prosumer’s megaphone. Social media are not monolithic, platitudinous or technique; they are the system-level conversational flow paths of prosumers. These paths inhabit complex marketspace ecologies. Marketing talent must evolve from parochial, zero-sum, departmental processes like ‘controlling the message,’ to fundamentally nurturing and shaping prosumers, communities and networks. Allow them to do your bidding vis-à-vis their own social media. Allow the consumer to be the producer, allow your customer to be your marketer. -j
All well and good, but seems to me we can't just turn marketing over to the "prosumer" entirely. Companies have stories they want to tell and, in some cases, that ONLY they can tell, as when creating new markets or delivering technology that does new things. While consumers/customers must now be part of the marketing mix, they're not the whole story.
Mr. Maloney, ( and Mr. Scheier )
Delightful and discernibly learned. While the difference between marketing and social media remains honestly debatable and while I concur with Mr. Scheier's argument for sure, sadly I cannot participate today in detail or design with your inspiring definitions. Schedule constraints and prior commitments have me tied to anything but this quick, appreciative retort. Believe when I say I would love nothing better to continue on and totally agree with many of your viewpoints (reminded in fact of Alex Wipperfurth's book BRAND HIJACK - Marketing without marketing - 2005) but must beg off.
Certainly I will watch and weigh back in when time permits.
T M D
Yes, that paying work does get in the way. Understood and same here, rock on, we'll get this figured out yet.
As a neophyte I enjoyed this article. It gives me substance to use in my first social marketing employment. These 7 points, if kept in mind, probably will keep me on the right track. Thank you.
Great article. These are excellent points that every marketer should take into consideration. Another point is that social media isn't right for every business. A lot of marketers jump in without a plan thinking they can just ride the social media wave. It's forgetting one the basic lessons from Marketing 101. Not every avenue is right for every business, product, etc.
While confusion strikes just as I read the article, I simply understand the point. Seeing the negative aspect makes a better interpretation of the true worth of social media on marketing. Dealing with the wrong transformation simply creates a negative impact. Maximizing the value of any strategy, lies on the proper attachments that are basically valuable.
Social Media Marketing
Feels like we're reading Prince proclaiming the Internet is dead...