Social Media Will Mature Or YOU Will Fail
The Focus of Marketing I'm a practitioner.
I live off my marketing skills.
Presently I work in a B2B environment marketing consulting & customized services to healthcare organizations.
I have completely embraced social media for professional networking.
But, I'm just beginning to do in my professional work.
The main reason is that my target audience is not there.
A secondary reason is that I prioritize other tactics, as I simply do not have an unlimited budget.
Finally, because while there are good case studies on social media, the ROI is still unclear in my field, while the competing priorities are paying off dividends.
So while I've dabbled in it, I've relegated most of my social media use to professional networking.
Don't get me wrong! I love the communication platform.
I do believe it is a disruptive technology.
But as a marketing strategist, I believe that it's over hyped and that even those classified as "best in class" - in my opinion - are more "entertaining" and experimental (and rapidly becoming me too) than strategically centered marketing.
Take for example the Evian babies ad.
The most watched YouTube video for 2009.
Many marketers, including word wide marketing journals, point to that as "best in class" in social media.
I'm sure it won many awards.
It generated tons of exposure and impressions.
They are cute.
It's entertaining.
But did it sell more water? It is that type of pseudo-marketing the Sergio Zyman denounces.
Marketing is not about ENTERTAINMENT.
To quote Zyman, marketing is about "selling more stuff to more people more often for more money more efficiently.
" The 2009 Financial Hangover In his new book, Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in the Age of Turbulence, Philip Kotler calls the fall out of the 2008-2009 world crisis the "New Normal," turbulent market conditions punctuated by unpredictable uncertainty.
This has caused us to be fiscally paranoid.
2010 will bring continued scrutiny on our marketing budgets.
Data, analytics and results will be critical for any marketer wanting to keep his/her budget or job.
A couple of key questions to consider: * Is your segment still accurate? * Are you moving your segment along the buying continuum? * Are your meeting your reach & frequency requirements? * Are you making data-based decisions and trade-offs? There are entire books on marketing analytics, but these questions are a good start.
Unless your marketing media plans deliver on your key metrics, you should eliminate them.
The period of experimentation is over.
Your social media needs to produce hard results or you should seek other tactics to meet your objectives.
There are hundreds of companies doing it right, I just see more abuse than not.
A Case study on "how not to" The over hype reminds me of the year 1999.
The internet was HOT.
Web pages were the "new, new thing.
" While working on a billion dollar brand, we rushed to partner with a company to build semi-custom web sites for our customers.
We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for 3-year services for a number of websites.
At first the program seemed like a success, with hundreds of highly valued customers signing on and our company seen as progressive and value-add.
After 9 months, maybe a dozen of our sites were maintained, updated or marginally utilized.
We bought the over hype! We jumped too fast, we did not build a solid strategy, and we failed in this initiative.
But we grew up and so will social media.
As I was writing this blog, I received a great e-mail from Marketing Profs.
It's right on with their observations and it also illustrates nicely how social media is growing up.
Based on a survey of over 5,000 marketers, here are their top line observations: 1.
Social media strategy is more important than tactics/gimmicks.
2.
It's not a one size fits all game.
3.
Map your social media plans to your strategy.
4.
All media is becoming social.
It takes discipline to do social media right.
BUT THAT'S NOT DIFFERENT THAN ANYTHING ELSE YOU SHOULD BE ALREADY DOING.
2010 should not be a year of experimentation.
Social media will grow up and you should position your company to leverage this incredible marketing tool, if it makes strategic sense.
Just don't buy the over hype or do so at your own risk.
Good marketing!
I live off my marketing skills.
Presently I work in a B2B environment marketing consulting & customized services to healthcare organizations.
I have completely embraced social media for professional networking.
But, I'm just beginning to do in my professional work.
The main reason is that my target audience is not there.
A secondary reason is that I prioritize other tactics, as I simply do not have an unlimited budget.
Finally, because while there are good case studies on social media, the ROI is still unclear in my field, while the competing priorities are paying off dividends.
So while I've dabbled in it, I've relegated most of my social media use to professional networking.
Don't get me wrong! I love the communication platform.
I do believe it is a disruptive technology.
But as a marketing strategist, I believe that it's over hyped and that even those classified as "best in class" - in my opinion - are more "entertaining" and experimental (and rapidly becoming me too) than strategically centered marketing.
Take for example the Evian babies ad.
The most watched YouTube video for 2009.
Many marketers, including word wide marketing journals, point to that as "best in class" in social media.
I'm sure it won many awards.
It generated tons of exposure and impressions.
They are cute.
It's entertaining.
But did it sell more water? It is that type of pseudo-marketing the Sergio Zyman denounces.
Marketing is not about ENTERTAINMENT.
To quote Zyman, marketing is about "selling more stuff to more people more often for more money more efficiently.
" The 2009 Financial Hangover In his new book, Chaotics: The Business of Managing and Marketing in the Age of Turbulence, Philip Kotler calls the fall out of the 2008-2009 world crisis the "New Normal," turbulent market conditions punctuated by unpredictable uncertainty.
This has caused us to be fiscally paranoid.
2010 will bring continued scrutiny on our marketing budgets.
Data, analytics and results will be critical for any marketer wanting to keep his/her budget or job.
A couple of key questions to consider: * Is your segment still accurate? * Are you moving your segment along the buying continuum? * Are your meeting your reach & frequency requirements? * Are you making data-based decisions and trade-offs? There are entire books on marketing analytics, but these questions are a good start.
Unless your marketing media plans deliver on your key metrics, you should eliminate them.
The period of experimentation is over.
Your social media needs to produce hard results or you should seek other tactics to meet your objectives.
There are hundreds of companies doing it right, I just see more abuse than not.
A Case study on "how not to" The over hype reminds me of the year 1999.
The internet was HOT.
Web pages were the "new, new thing.
" While working on a billion dollar brand, we rushed to partner with a company to build semi-custom web sites for our customers.
We spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to pay for 3-year services for a number of websites.
At first the program seemed like a success, with hundreds of highly valued customers signing on and our company seen as progressive and value-add.
After 9 months, maybe a dozen of our sites were maintained, updated or marginally utilized.
We bought the over hype! We jumped too fast, we did not build a solid strategy, and we failed in this initiative.
But we grew up and so will social media.
As I was writing this blog, I received a great e-mail from Marketing Profs.
It's right on with their observations and it also illustrates nicely how social media is growing up.
Based on a survey of over 5,000 marketers, here are their top line observations: 1.
Social media strategy is more important than tactics/gimmicks.
2.
It's not a one size fits all game.
3.
Map your social media plans to your strategy.
4.
All media is becoming social.
It takes discipline to do social media right.
BUT THAT'S NOT DIFFERENT THAN ANYTHING ELSE YOU SHOULD BE ALREADY DOING.
2010 should not be a year of experimentation.
Social media will grow up and you should position your company to leverage this incredible marketing tool, if it makes strategic sense.
Just don't buy the over hype or do so at your own risk.
Good marketing!
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