VP - Head of Thought Leadership & Marketing
With 15 years experience in the human resources and workforce consulting space, Todd has overall responsibility for thought leadership and global marketing initiatives. He has degrees in Commerce (Economics / Marketing) from UWA and Communication from Curtin University.
Why Social Media isn´t that easy
22 February 2012 10:31 AM
Cuts to marketing budgets seemed inevitable in the wake of the new media explosion. Part of the initial appeal of social media was— supposedly—that it was faster, cheaper and easier than traditional forms of marketing.
With this, marketing teams raced off in different directions to figure out how to do the same things they’d always done, just through new channels. They set up Facebook pages and Twitter accounts and got to some furious blogging. Everyone was happy. For a while.
A few years on, and as marketers and businesses started doing the math, something wasn’t adding up. First, it’s not actually costing less for large companies to market through social media. Second, it’s not always faster or easier.
Sure, there are a few tales of exceptional results with little effort in this new media frontier. And it’s true that the web is a more accessible advertising channel. Anyone can set up a website or Facebook page, but the holy grail of cheap, easy and effective marketing to global audiences isn’t quite stacking up to the promises.
And here’s why:
The sites that do social media well are learning to charge for their offerings, so they’re not always free.
The transience of audiences is increasing. Yes, Facebook and Twitter have huge member bases, but yesterday’s Myspace is tomorrow’s Pinterest and it’s hard to keep a finger on the social media pulse 24x7 across multiple markets. Results aren’t always what they first appear to be—what’s a re-tweet or a ‘like’ really worth? And how do you explain these measures to a boardroom full of Baby Boomers who want to see tangible outcomes and who still get most of their media through the TV? Social media is not the quick-fix solution it first looked like. And many companies are struggling to maintain their presence in all the places they want to be active. Outsourcing at least part of a social media presence is already mainstream, but there are inherent risks in taking this route.
Find out about the why in my new paper, Managing Friends and Manipulating People: Outsourcing and the Future of Social Media.