Taddy Hall’s excellent Ad Age article about social media offers us analytic types something unique:
Actual data-driven recommendations for brands using social media marketing.
I wouldn’t be the first marketer to suggest many of the social media “gurus” now flooding the Internet are working from an astonishingly small experiential base. It’s the result of a tidal wave of social media hype, much of it coming from people scrambling to establish their credibility in an emerging market – disguising the fact their bona fides are paper thin.
Here’s a thought: Social media really isn’t very different from other media channels.
The same strategies – altered slightly to fit new distribution methods – still apply (“what’s in this for me” asks the reader).
Keep writing (and marketing), Tom Chandler.
Much of the online universe woke up last week to discover Google was involuntarily disclosing the names of their email contacts to the world, and if there’s a lesson here, it could be this: Making wads of money on other people’s content doesn’t necessarily render you omnipotent.
For marketers, there’s also a larger lesson.
The buzz about Google Buzz isn't great.
Within hours of first seeing Google Buzz (I didn’t like what I saw and turned it off), I received two emails from online marketing “experts” (note the quotes); both were positively glowing about Google Buzz, and neither seemed aware of the firestorm brewing – or of the privacy risks to their clients.
Simply put, it’s never been easier to pass information to an audience.
Which is a poor excuse for passing bad information to that audience.
Especially if that audience is paying for your expertise.
Succumbing to social media’s “get it while it’s hot” time pressure entails some real risks – especially for marketing consultants.
After all, we’re supposed to know this stuff.
Which precludes recommending (or hyping) services solely because they’re a trending topic on Twitter.
It also forced me to ask myself if I ever recommended a product or service to client without wholly knowing the ramifications of that endorsement.
And sadly, the answer is yes.
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
UPDATE: The Good Morning Silicon Valley site offers up a compelling argument explaining how Google might seem surprised by the frankly predictable reaction to their Google Buzz fiasco…
Social Media is the subject of a great deal of hype, though less-explored are its downsides.
These include employee oversharing, the need to “Feed the Monster” – and an increased risk of malware and spam attacks (the new social disease?).
From the Good Morning Silicon Valley site:
More businesses may be incorporating social networking into their internal and external communications, but that doesn’t mean the cranky guys back in the systems room are happy about it. A new report and survey of 500 companies by security outfit Sophos found a 70 percent increase last year in the number of firms reporting spam or malware attacks via social networks. Almost three quarters of the companies surveyed believed their employees’ behavior on social networking sites endangered security, and 61 percent named Facebook as their biggest worry among the social sites.
Obviously, every media channel has its pluses and minuses, and they need to be weighed against the potential benefits.
Outside of concerns about malware, I speak candidly with my consulting clients about the dangers of employee oversharing. Social media fanatics are often quick to call for transparency and unfettered employee access, but frankly, some folks shouldn’t be allowed near a Twitter client or a blog.
More than a decade ago, I gave a vendor direct access to my client. It was a tough project (an ad/show campaign), and to my horror, that vendor immediately got into a nasty email flame war with my key client contact.
By the time I found out, the damage was already done, and though I made amends, I (understandably) lost the client.
Oddly, I’d worked with that vendor for years, and their actions never suggested a tendency towards corporate suicide (with their clients or mine).
The moral here is that you can’t simply hand each everyone access to direct media channels like social media. The above exchange took place via email – but imagine if the flame war had taken shape on a Facebook page or even a blog – for all to see?
Too many social media projects begin on a seemingly ad hoc basis – lacking a plan or even a clear idea of the goals, means, and yes – potential pitfalls.
Keep your eyes open about the pitfalls, and you’re a lot less likely to have a bad, bad day.
Keep writing, Tom Chandler.
