Last week, two specific conversations about Social Media and that state of things struck me. One being with
a fellow mate who genuinely had a point when he mentioned that there are approximately over 75 million blogs in which only a handful few have many readers. Also, there are more people who writes, evangelizes about social media than actively listening and practicing it.
The second one, being quite interesting which I had with one of my company’s top honcho who mentioned the power of listening being one of the most important trait of being a good marketer. Now putting it in a framework, I felt there is a wide yet subtle difference between *Social Media* & *Social Media Marketing*. Social media is a tool or to take it further, we can think it as a platform while Marketing is more of a channel.
So this post is the outcome of those two conversations which led me to ponder deely about it and pen it down. What came out was 5 problems with social media marketing.
First of all, lets start with what is Social Media (Source- Wikipedia)
Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences. Businesses also refer to social media as user-generated content (UGC) or consumer-generated media (CGM).
I agree to wiki definition. If we read the bold words, it never tells us that social media is like marketing. Infact, if we put marketing, then the very authenticity and transparency is lost. But I do understand that to use a tool/platform to spread message is very important for any business. Infact, viral is one of the most important outcome that a social media marketer wants. But then we really can’t agree with Social media being Social media marketing.
So five problems which I believe is inherent in social media marketing are:
1. Viewing social media as being a new marketing channel, when actually they are communication channels.
2. Since social media is viewed as a marketing channel, attempts are made to push marketing messages through these channels.
3. Attempts are also made to directly monetize the social media efforts which most often than not fall flat on the ground.
4. It’s about building a real relationship with your audience and not marketing or pushing messages across the board.
5. Viewing social media as a channel only to create buzz. Now that is fine but without active listening, it won’t see its broad daylight. Also social media is just to amplify public opinion and in the process may be, just may be it will spread across to give enough traction.
To end it all, before getting into social media, we should be aware of our goals. Like for example,
- Is it to increase awareness and credibility?
- Is it to increase online conversations?
- Is it to create a community of unified spirits who may turn out to be evangelists?
Finally the easiest way to fail at ‘social media marketing’ is to use social media as a way to broadcast your marketing messages with a goal to sell more stuff!
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Sampad, I agree to you that social media is meant for building relationships and not pushing your product…but I defer to your point that social media cannot be viewed as a marketing channel…I am not talking about the exclusive use of Social Media as a marketing channel, yes it can be used for other communication purposes as well..
Marketing is not only about selling your products…it consists of myriad activities & engaging customers and creating evangelists for yourself is very well a part of marketing….
I like your viewpoint but I do not thing that we have the same definition of marketing. Communication channels have all been used as marketing channels so far, and marketing is based on communications (you send a message). I think marketing in general is all about building a relationship but it might have been forgotten by too many people, so hopefully social media will make it back to its true meaning.
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Timely. Good to see more discussion about the term social media marketing itself. Given my background in PR and the fact that as a PR agency, we’re doing social media PR for a few of our clients, here’s my take on distinguishing social media marketing and social media PR. This came about while discussing social media engagement for an MNC client of ours – this was the question posed by the head of the organization.
http://itwofs.com/beastoftraal/2009/01/09/social-media-pr-vs-social-media-marketing/
My point is about influencing target audiences using the tools made available by social media – not sell products to them. That to me is like entering a party, open up your suitcase and start talking loudly about how good your product is. On the other hand, social media PR is about entering the same party and trying to hit a rapport with select people and talk to them about what interests them. And perhaps talk to them about your product during your 4th meeting post that party, that too, if it is contextually relevant.
[...] media the same as marketing?, Beth Harte 2. Online PR Vs Internet marketing, Jennifer Mattern 3. 5 problems with social media *marketing*, Sampad Swain Share [...]
differ on the communication channel-marketing channel bit… this isn’t the first time a communication channel has been used for marketing (TV, Radio).. IMHO, the difference here is that its a multiple way communication channel – brand to consumer (thats traditional), consumer to brand (thats probably web 1.0, if i have to put a ‘channel’ to it), most importantly consumer to consumer (thats social media, forget mouthshut etc for now).. any of the typical intrusive push messaging by the brand is rendered irrelevant by the last category..
http://www.manuscrypts.com/brants/?p=1317
incidentally let me push my latest post on brands, web 2.0 and the transience factor
Interesting post which takes you back to the basics.
IMHO, points 1,3 & 5 are revolving around the same topic, so I really don’t find much difference between them.
How about some real-world examples for each from India?
[...] Read the rest here: 5 Problems with Social Media Marketing | Interactive Marketing Blog [...]
I am unable to understand this post. But well some points are useful for me.
[...] Social networks, if they really want to develop a viable marketing model, are going to have to figure out a way to clean this up, better filter messages for their audience for their use, and deliver real marketing value that preserves the integrity of the content. They might also have to decide whether they are primarily a communications tool media network. [...]
Years later, and this is still a viable and pertinent post.
But I think you end this post with the most important piece that goes back to Marketing101.
Defining Goals.
Whether increasing conversation… selling… lead gen or that famous dream of creating something so profound that viral RTs and FB Likes go crazy, it has to start with goals of engagement.
For me, I like to think of social marketing as 95% nurture and relationship building and 5% Soft Sell … in either B2B or B2C markets….
Thanks. And largely I do agree with you!