Apparently!

But is it?

One thing is for sure, it would seem that there is a lot of debate on the web and it would also appear that the term "Marketing" and "Social Media" are being used in the same sentence.

Question: Should they?

I would argue that if they are, then it is crap. I can say this because most of the "marketeers" that I know would wish that it did or still see it as an opportunity to do so.

I'm not a marketeer, never have been, but from what I can see Marketing stands for this: See a "channel" (an opportunity to be exposed to great numbers of people), go with a budget and create a "campaign", then calculate the "ROI", take the profit and do it again.

There is nothing wrong with this.

But what is wrong is trying to use this method in a social environment. Surely.

Yesterday it was announced that social networks have overtaken search engines in the UK!  Marketing using an indexing site such as Google will deliver a quantifiable ROI, we know this to be true. 

 

 

Pics courtesy of TechCrunch Europe 
 

But this form of marketing is no different than having a shop on the High street – fuelled by intent, and this word "intent" is important. We go shopping with the intent to buy something, but we don't go to a social activity with the same intent. Social activities, by default, can influence the intent, but the subtleties of this are a far reach of what traditional marketing will bring to "intent".

Robin Goad from Hitwise says this: “although social networks and search engines perform different functions, they both act as gateways to the wider Internet. This data perfectly illustrates the key role that social media now plays in so much online behavior.”

So it would appear that "Marketing" is a method of captivating intent. Good. But it only works when there is intent.

The intent in a social activity is exactly that – social.

So it would appear that SM is a force that, without a doubt and bias, needs to be reckoned with – but the subtleties of method and use need to be dealt with as well.

And these subtleties mean that "Marketing" (in the traditional sense) to the social streams is crap, because you will find it very hard to calculate an ROI. It's costly and, moreover, in the long term could spell disaster as what ever you put up there today stays there in perpetuity and being perceived as a spammer will only damage your brand and mind-share.

Marketing to a social stream will "pigeon hole" the perpetrator as being "stuck on broadcast mode" and what is social about that?

Social media is not crap – marketing to it is.

N

I’ve worked it out.

Cognitive bias and chronological snobbery have a lot to answer for on the web.

Surely.

Or is it just plain old fear? Fear that there is change, fear that there isn’t change, or fear that you just don’t know.

Fear is a powerful thing. It’s also a marketer’s dream. Fear will have you booking on courses.  Fear will have you investing your "hard earned $$$$" in "get rich quick" schemes.  Fear will also allow yourself to believe in "experts" and "secrets".

Fear loves the crowd as the crowd feeds fear.  Your eyes see people "jumping on the bandwagon" and this creates fear, fear that you are missing out. You are told "book quickly, places going fast" and you reach for your credit card.  Fear is very blinding.

But now we have a solution.

This solution is so powerful that fear fears it, marketeers fear it, experts fear it, get rich quick schemes fear it – they fear it a great deal. This solution is so powerful that it has certain people in most communities quaking in their boots.  And with good reason.

This solution has politicians shaking and corporates too. It is making a mockery of "spin". It laughs in the face of "control". It mocks the "shiny suited salesmen" that are pictured sitting on Ferraris and Bentleys.

This solution is the solution to fear.

This solution allows you to go on courses. It also allows you to make investment decisions with peace.  It allows you to make decisions that are based on products and services that deliver tangible results in practice, not just in theory. It allows you to grow in thought process, it allows you to help and reach out, it allows you to be better.

And the solution is ….

The web can not only find "the solution",  it can also help you do your due diligence. Has the person you are putting your trust with been through the pain of learning, or do they just have a cognitive bias? Or are they just a chronological snob that dares to stare down at you because they might think of themselves as "advanced".?  The web will tell you.

The social web is an asset.  It’s not revolution:  merely evolution and for you it could be priceless.

But it must be used to "dig" not just "find".

Footnotes:

A cognitive bias is the human tendency to draw incorrect conclusions in certain circumstances based on cognitive factors rather than evidence.

Chronological snobbery, a term coined by friends C. S. Lewis and Owen Barfield, is a logical argument (and usually when thus termed, considered an outright fallacy) describing the erroneous argument that the thinking, art, or science of an earlier time is inherently inferior when compared to that of the present.

Regards

N