Ten Things Social Media Can't Do - Advertising Age - DigitalNext
Ten Things Social Media Can't Do
A Healthy Reminder for Setting Expectations
Posted by B.L. Ochman on 11.02.09 @ 10:23 AM
Amid the endless pronouncements about social media -- often shortened to "social" these days by consultants trying to sound like they know what they are talking about -- is the reality that social media is not a solution, or a sure bet.
B.L. Ochman Social media can't:
- Substitute for marketing strategy.
A Twitter campaign or a Facebook page that announces your weekly specials is not a marketing strategy.
Succeed without top management buy-in.
Social media requires a way of thinking that includes willingness to listen to customers, make changes based on feedback and trust employees to talk to customers.The culture of fear (of job loss, of losing message control, of change) is ingrained in corporate cultures. Top management has to want to change.
Be viewed as a short-term project.
Social media is not a one-shot deal. It's a long-term commitment to openness, experimentation and change that requires time to bear fruit.
Produce meaningful, measurable results quickly.
One of the complaints about social media is that it can't be measured. But there are many things that can be measured, including engagement, sentiment and whether increased traffic leads to sales.Those results can't be produced or measured in the short term. Like PR, social media marketing often produces its best results in the second and third year.
Be done in-house by the vast majority of companies.
A successful social-media campaign integrates social media into the many elements of marketing, including advertising, digital and PR. Opinion and theory are no match for experience and the best social media marketers now have more than 10 years of experience incorporating interactivity, blogs, forums, user-generated content and contests into online marketing.You need strategy, contacts, tools, and experience -- a combination not generally found in in-house teams, who often reinvent the wheel or use the wrong tools.
Provide a quick fix to the bottom line or a tarnished reputation.
Social media can sometimes provide quick results for a company that's already a star. When a well-loved company like Zappos or Google employs social media, its loyal fans and followers pay attention.However, there's a lot of desperation in a lot of corporate suites these days, and many companies seem been convinced that a social-media campaign can provide a quick fix to sagging sales or reputation issues. Sorry, nuh, uh.
Be done without a realistic budget.
Building a site that incorporates interactivity, allows user-generated content and perhaps also includes e-commerce doesn't come cheap from anyone who knows what they are doing.Even taking free software like WordPress and making it function as an effective interactive site, incorporating e-commerce and creating style sheets that integrate with the company's branding, takes more than time. That takes skill, experience, and money.
Guarantee sales or influence.
Unless your effort can pass the "who cares" test -- and most simply can't -- your social media efforts will fall flat.And unless you know how to drive traffic to your contest, video, blog, event, etc., you'll have little more than an expensive field of dreams.
Be done by "kids" who "understand social innately"
You can climb Mount Kilaminjaro without a sherpa guide, but why would you? Experience and perspective can make the trip easier, or even save your life.Companies trying to run social media without experienced consultants waste time, money and reputation on their efforts. And then, sadly, many decide that this new-fangled approach doesn't work.
Replace PR.
No matter how great your website, video contest, blog, Twitter strategy, etc., you still need publicity. Or you may end up with a tree falling in the forest and nobody hearing it.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
By jzuccaro | Washington, DC November 2, 2009 11:06:28 am:Social media is simply another set of tools that will fit into a marketer's toolbox. Soon it will be just "marketing" once everyone realizes that.Most tools need to be used in a coordinated way. You don't build a house with a hammer; you use a saw, a level, a screwdriver, etc. So social media will be most effective when used with other existing tools at a marketer's disposal.
Nevertheless, the newness and "fun" of these new tools have led to what are now innovations by marketers.
That's why we created the B2B Twitterer of the Year Awards - to recognize B2B organizations for outstanding contributions in practicing, promoting, and/or enhancing business via the micro-blogging sensation Twitter.
This year's Program is gaining momentum - With a growing list of impressive B2B professionals on the judging panel, the awards will warrant much attention and produce great accounts of Twitter successes.
Unlike social media "popularity contests," the B2B Twitterer of the Year awards are awarded to qualified, nominated entities, are run by B2B veterans and focus on B2B only.
Check it out at http://www.b2btoty.com
Thanks!
By thetylerhayes | Plymouth, MN November 2, 2009 11:33:47 am:Spot on B.L.By unc08clay | Carrboro, NC November 2, 2009 12:13:12 pm:Wow, great post! I think you nailed it. Companies need to realize this AND social media agencies need to start relaying this info to their clients upfront. Set expectations correctly.Point #1 gets exactly at a recent post I did called Social Media is Not a Strategy: http://newmediacampaigns.com/page/social-media-is-not-a-strategy
Thanks for putting this out there, a good one to share w/ clients.
By sparklesthesky | Mesa, AZ November 2, 2009 12:31:44 pm:Great write-up. I agree with jzuccaro and would go a step further to say social media is ONLY a set of tools and new channels to add to the marketer's color palette in order to paint the entire picture of the brand.Alycia de Mesa
http://www.demesabrands.comBy BL | NEW YORK, NY November 2, 2009 12:41:49 pm:jzuccaro: Please read Top 13 Guidelines for commenting on blog posts http://www.whatsnextblog.com/archives/2009/10/how_to_comment_on_a_blog.asp
thanksBy Mark | New York, NY November 2, 2009 02:16:13 pm:You nailed it, B.L.One additional point:
SOCIAL MEDIA CAN'T:
• GUARANTEE ONLY A POSITIVE DIALOGUE. There is often a burst of negativity at the start of the conversation. Negative people tend to be the loudest. (Think talk radio.) Usually this fades as more positive comments start coming in. The point is, the brand must be prepared in advance for the negative as well as the positive. Some experience with crisis management could come in handy. A little patience wouldn't hurt, either.
Mark Drossman
http://extrovertic.comBy tonyp1222 | JAMAICA, NY November 2, 2009 02:59:38 pm:While I agree with the majority of the article, I very much disagree with point number 1. Sure, blasting promotions on your Twitter and Facebook doesn't replace "marketing strategy," but only because that isn't a strategic leveraging of those social platforms.You have to tap into the core elements which make Facebook and Twitter tick. Facebook is great for leveraging friendships and conversations are better organized. Twitter is a little more wild, built around associations people have around common interests (almost like make-shift groups), and easier to follow in terms of brand mentions since most tweets are public.
You have to deeply understand the brand and how to add the brand's voice into those cultures before you can leverage them properly. Once you do, you can then build a more comprehensive strategy that boosts your brand's presence on those networks.
And just like with more traditional ad campaigns, those strategies are unique to any individual brand and you can't shoehorn in surefire "tactics."
- Anthony Perez
http://www.brandthony.com
Conversation LLC (http://www.heyconvo.com)By BL | NEW YORK, NY November 2, 2009 03:01:24 pm:Mark - what a great point. It is true that the community tends to cull out the people who are negative for the sake of negativity.Yet, I've seen brands do MORE than they need to do to compensate when negatives come up.
the key is to acknowledge negative feedback and respond appropriately. That varies from situation to situation.
By tonyp1222 | JAMAICA, NY November 2, 2009 03:16:26 pm:@BLThat's another important thing about using social media. It, whether you want it to be or not, will be an extension of your customer service department. You will have people complain about things such as the online shopping on your site not working, and you'll have to respond.
Otherwise, you might be seen as a brand who doesn't care when people have a legitimate problem and ask for a solution on your page. The person who gets ignored by Facebook will become annoyed at the brand and those who see that person ignored will figure the brand doesn't care on a platform that is all about response and relationships.
- Anthony Perez
http://www.brandthony.com
Conversation LLC (http://www.heyconvo.com)By E.B. | NEW YORK, NY November 2, 2009 03:25:35 pm:BL sums it up wonderfully, once again.By pattersonbrands | Vancouver, B. November 2, 2009 03:53:38 pm:Great post. And yes it would be odd to climb Kiliminjaro with/without Sherpa guides since Kili is in Africa and most Sherpa guides work in the Himalayas.By 1day1brand | Toronto, ON November 2, 2009 04:07:17 pm:Sorry B.L.,While each of your points is perfectly cogent, together they are disempowering. Perfectionism is boring. I'm not a "social" expert but I'll bet that some of the most successful "social" campaigns have broken at least a few of your rules.
Axle Davids
http://www.distility.comBy BL | NEW YORK, NY November 2, 2009 05:02:19 pm:Axle - sorry to bore you. My post has had more than 4000 Re-Tweets, so i guess some people aren't finding it boring.Patterson - thanks to you and several other peeps for telling me about the sherpas. as you can tell, i don't do a lot of mountain climbing. :>)
Anthony - i absolutely agree. I wrote a post not long ago with the headline Dear Corporations: Nothing Else Matters If Your Customer Service sucks.
Unfortunately, customer service is looked upon as a low-level job in most companies. i think customer service ought to be handled at the C-level.
By kholloway | Columbus, OH November 2, 2009 05:11:52 pm:Great article. Thanks for the thoughts and insight. I went on a client meeting today and got a lot of questions that can be answered by those things that social media "is not".In many ways, social media is just a vehicle that marketing execs should be using to create another touchpoint with key audiences.
By BL | NEW YORK, NY November 2, 2009 05:39:16 pm:kholloway - social media is nothing but a set of tools. they only gain meaning and traction when they are integrated into an overall communications strategy.By ahawkinson | Reston, VA November 2, 2009 11:53:16 pm:Solid post. When some analysis surfaced a couple of weeks ago showing that Facebook now accounts for an incredible 1 in 4 pageviews in the U.S., I was compelled to give equal measure to what it does NOT mean for businesses - http://bit.ly/28iVda. The points outlined here resonate with me for the same reasons - social media is a very important tool for businesses, but it must fit into a broader strategy and also have long-term support in order to produce positive and sustainable results.
Pretty much spot on
