I came across this blog post by Jason Baer of Convince and Convert and thought it was a great piece that deserved some additional attention (apparently so did 50+ other people as evidenced in the comments section).
Jason lists six fallacies of social media and explains as to why they are false. There are good and bad points to his arguments, and I’d like to delve further into his analysis.
1. Social Media is Inexpensive
Social media tools are inexpensive. They are generally open source and shareable. Monitoring is free (unless you use a professional tool). I agree that engaging in effective social media campaigns is extremely time consuming (and therein lies the cost). Factor in hours of research, diving into communities, participating, commenting, reading, reading, and more reading.
To ease the pain, consultants and agencies embracing social media as a tactic to add to their overall PR and marketing counsel should develop strategies and clear tactics. Develop clear metrics to determine viable and influential sources. Work hard, work smart, work strategically. Over time, you will identify methods of searching and pulling out the best information for your client or company’s goals, while saving valuable time and endless hours searching through infinite web content.
2. Social Media is Fast
Social media IS fast. It takes mere seconds for a blog post to go up about your company or client, for comments and responses and conversations to take place about your brand. Without effectively monitoring and participating in relevant communities, it’s very easy for things to quickly get out of hand (especially in a situation with an unhappy customer or other crisis).
Getting yourself out there is fast. It’s the follow-up and overall social network engagement that is slow. However, if you have the right research in place from the start and know exactly what people you need to contact for your client or company’s business goals; it can go a lot faster. Spending time reading and contributing to 100 social networks and blogs where only 20-50 of them may be extremely relevant is time consuming. Focusing on just those 20-50 and hitting them hard makes a lot more sense.
3. Social Media is “Viral Marketing”
Social media, at the core, is viral. It allows for interactive conversation. Blog posts, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Utterli…all these sites provide easy ways for your content to be shared and discussed.
Whether it’s a blog post or a video, the first thing to remember is that viral material starts with great content. If the content is clever AND meaningful, it will spread like wildfire. However, just because something is socialized and has gone “viral” does not mean it will necessarily have the desired outcome. Take Sarah Silverman’s “The Great Schelp” video. Viral, yes. Results, eh.
4. Social Media results can’t be measured
Social media can be measured. Like any metric the ROI is determined by the relation to the company or client’s goals. Is it sales? Is it media coverage? Is it brand reputation or recognition?
Let’s take reputation management for example. A company that is seeing multiple online conversation from unhappy customers through a high percentage of negative blog posts, Twitter updates, and message board comments has a problem. After a few months of addressing those issues directly, participating in conversations, offering customer service support, and providing value to those communities…the negative discussions decrease. That’s a social media campaign result every company would like to see. Just ask Comcast or Dell.
(Picture Credit: Ignite Social Media)
5. Social Media is optional
Chances are your company or client is being discussed online. But, before deciding to engage in a social media campaign simply because of that fact, consider your audience. Your audience may be online, but that does not mean they are on Facebook, on Twitter, or commenting on message boards and blogs.
It’s more important to make establishing an online brand and persona part of your business plan, a necessary part. As Andrea mentioned yesterday, a web presence is a must for any business. It’s time to stop thinking about whether or not to go online. Instead, start considering what is already being said online about your company or client. Take that knowledge and manage your online brand, whether you choose to use social media tools or not.
(Picture Credit: Minnesota Parents Know)
6. Social media is hard
Without the correct research, clear goals and strategy in mind, social media is hard and overwhelmingly complex. However, it’s not hard when you erase all the technical jargon and consider that the main benefit of engaging in social media comes down to the “humanization” factor of your company or client.
Social media is an extension of community involvement. It involves seeking out community members that share your interests and passions. It’s about talking to them, learning from them, getting to know them. It’s about connecting with them and joining together for a common cause. It’s about sharing your view with others, and listening to theirs.
The only difference between those ideas for community involvement and social media, is that these conversations and connections are taking place online. Participation and authenticity in personal relationships is easy to translate online if you change the way you think about it. There goes the neighborhood.
Larissa -
Thanks very much for the kind words and excellent analysis.
I believe the tactical components of social media are of course fast, and in fact much faster than any other marketing element. But achieving meaningful social media objectives is never fast, and to me that’s the biggest problem with this industry.
Too many people get caught up in a blog, or a comment, or Facebook, or Twitter or whatever and lose sight of the point of the exercise. Social media is going to collapse under the weight of its gadgetry and punditry unless practitioners and brands inject some strategic thinking into their behavior.
I used to say this about Web development, and now I say it about social media: “just because you can do something, doesn’t mean you should.”
Hopefully, people will pay more attention to really thinking through why they’re engaged online, and once they do that they’ll recognize that hitting those objectives are not fast at all, but rather incremental like ripples in a pond.
Thanks again. I really enjoyed your thinking.
All the best,
Jason Baer
Convince & Convert
I agree with a lot of the points and it’s a very interesting post. Like the above user mentioned, just because it’s out there doesn’t mean you have to do it. There are so many social networks and some are more relevant than others based off of one’s companies needs and situations. I think the trend is really going to involved with the behind the scenes research and strategy that goes into organizing the right user base to target, than just hit up all of the mass outlets.
Craig
http://www.budgetpulse.com
These are spot on and fun to read. I’d add another: “Social Media is for the ‘web folks’ to worry about.”
Maybe it’s because of the ubiquitous http://www., but those who don’t understand social media often want to toss it over to the people responsible for managing the website. It’s a web thing, right? I mean, it happens on the web.
Fact is, nearly EVERYTHING happens on the web these days in one way or another, and to a certain extent, that makes everyone a ‘web folk.’ That’s why social media needs to be a part of a much broader strategy for managing web presence. It needs to integrate with (hey, there’s that word again – it just keeps popping up!) functions like PR, brand management, web management, and yes, even marketing and sales.
I’d posit that in many cases, that’s at the root of why people perceive social media as “hard.” They haven’t yet figured out what imaginary box to dump the hot potato into so they can close the cover and go back to what they’re familiar with.
Slowly, many are coming to grips with the imperative to break down those imaginary silos and focus their attention on the environment where their brands are increasingly prominent (and exposed).
Thank you for providing great insight on 4. Social Media results can’t be measured. I was happy to see you point out ROI in relation to a company’s goals. To many companies, in my opinion, get caught up in the $$$ ROI, and tend to turn a blind eye to the brand/reputation management social media can provide.