How are we wasting time on social media?
SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in SmartBrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social-media practices and issues.
Last week’s poll question: Where do you see companies wasting time, money and other resources in their quest to turn social media into sales?
- Jumping onto the social-media bandwagon just because everyone else is doing it. 42.31%
- Lack of an overarching strategy; putting the “how” before the “why.” 32.05%
- Lacking an understanding of what it is, how it works or where to find the audience. 21.79%
- Determining whether social media should be a sales channel or not. 3.85%
I have two areas of concern regarding companies considering social-media engagement. First, there is a decided unhealthy focus, in my opinion, on the “how” at the expense of the “why.”
In order for a social-media game plan to be most effective, it has to tie back to strategic marketing goals and objectives. Social-media marketing is still marketing and is, therefore, subject to the same strictures as other forms of marketing.
Second, just to do something because everyone else is doing it, or because it’s the latest, greatest thing, is not a sufficiently good reason to embrace its use. As my mother would remind me when I was a child, “Just because other kids are jumping off a bridge doesn’t mean you need to!”
Strategic objectives supersede tactics every time. But that is “blue sky” thinking. Pragmatically speaking, the bottom line is that social media works as a marketing, public relations and business communications tool. Don’t waste time deciding whether you should use it … just get moving.
Paul Chaney is the Internet marketing director for Bizzuka, author of “The Digital Handshake,” and a member of the SmartBrief on Social Media Advisory Board.
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Tags: productivity, return on investment, social media, strategy
Categories: Polls
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Posted by david wells on March 31st, 2010 at 3:38 pm
Great Post Paul,
Everyone does seem to be jumping on the bandwagon. They can get enough of twitter and facebook! They want to be there but don't know why and they aren't really sure how either.
Getting into social media requires that you first take a step back a listen to where your prospective customers are interacting and then learning how to communicate within these channels without marketing speak.
Then companies can get a sense of where they need to be and start planning a strategy around how to do this. It's not all about facebook, twitter, and linkedIn. There are numerous niche social media communities and forums that are filled with people who are passionate about whatever vertical you work in.
Stay away from the shiny objects and start thinking about why you are ANYwhere in the first place.
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Posted by uberVU - social comments on March 31st, 2010 at 8:49 am
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Posted by Paul Johnston on March 31st, 2010 at 7:36 pm
Like many people reading this I'm an enthusiast for social media and networking. I've also had a couple of decades in business and latterly my career is in a higher education business school. It never ceases to suprise me how a significant number of marketing professionals fail to stop and ask what the organisational purpose of something is. The technologocal detereminists seem to assume that just because technology facilitates something it is therefore necessarily good for business. That said how the use of social media is 'conceived of' in the first place must determine its role and purpose, and the role and purpose must be specific to the operating context of the organisation. Social media is a 'para' phenomenon it paralells the tangible world it doesn't replace it or do anything necessarily 'different'. Basic questions like are we 'selling' via this medium? are we creating 'social influence' ? are we 'researching' ? are we enhancing 'relationships and service'? need to be asked at the top and not abdicated to the enthusiasms of marketing and technology functionaries alone. How its thought of is how it becomes.
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