On Social Media Marketing

I have been thinking about Social Media Marketing (S&M&M's) as a blog commentary for awhile.  As luck would have it, my good friend and colleague Megan (Twitter: @MegWink) just posted a great blog article at meganwinkler.com  that gives really good marketing advice on launching a SM program for your business large or small.  I recommend it highly.  For that matter, you should just add her blog to your follow and read regularly list.  So, my first thought (honestly) was, "Crap! there goes my topic."  Then I realized I didn't want to write a useful article about how to launch SM.  I wanted to rant about it.  So, all is good.  What follows is largely opinion based on experience with pretty much no empirical data to support it but...you know I'm right.

I have been a moderate to heavy user of social media for awhile: Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+, FourSquare, Klout.   At the most recent ACBSP annual conference I was elected (drafted) to represent the Southwest (Region 6) on a new committee - the Committee on New Media.  To be perfectly honest, I am not really sure what our task is but it has ramped up my thinking about Social Media in general, Social Media Marketing and how they might best be used.

One of the issues I have noted about social media is the emphasis on "monetizing" it.  As I have thought more about this I am slowly evolving to the notion that "Social Media Marketing" might be an oxymoron.  Now I am not suggesting that it doesn't ever work.  In fact, I am  certain that one or more persons someplace at some time have been wildly successful in using it to be successful.  I am just inclined to believe these are the exceptions rather than the rule.

Suppose you are at a cocktail party and one of your distant acquaintances - the aggressive insurance agent - is in attendance.  She spends the entire evening circling the room smiling, showing pictures of her kids and engaging every attendee she can corner in a discussion about their broad insurance needs and offering to help them adjust their coverage.  Do you rush over for a visit or avoid her like the plague?  Thought so. Most Social Media platforms are like that party.  We go there to be social not to be assaulted by a salesperson.  If she just discreetly slipped you a card and said "Call me if I can help" you would probably not have found her so annoying and might actually have called.

Social Medial is much the same. I have unfriended or stopped following a number of contacts once I determined their only raison d'être was to sell me something. To sum up, the key word in Social Media is "Social."  Marketing isn't in there.  Social Medial is a great medium for maintaining contact and top of mind recall.  If you are counting on it as the tool to generate sales I suspect you are in for disappointment.  At least you are from me.  

Don't be the agressive insurance agent.

#justsayin