We Are Our Own Worst Enemy

Published
by
Matt
on Sep 18, 2009
in Marketers and social media
. Tags: , .

After seeing a few really good posts in the past couple of days, one from Verdino, one from Marc Meyer, and one from Armano, I’ve come to a truth about Social Media Marketers:

We are, absolutely, our own worst enemy.

Yes, us. Not the measurement issue. Not the lack of client knowledge. Not the ever-shifting landscape or the fight to be taken seriously. Us.

It happens every time we agree to ghost write a blog and pretend that we’re someone who really cares about a business. Every time we blindly recommend the full development of a blog when we’re pretty sure the client won’t be able to follow through with it anyway. We promote Twitter and Facebook fan pages when we know (and yes we do really know) that follower and fan count don’t mean that much. But hey, they’re a number we can bring back to the client!

Maybe all of this is just a reaction to the fact that “social media” as a marketing practice is coming of age in an economic downturn, and people are going to do whatever they can just to get the business. I’m not trying to take the moral high ground here either, I completely understand that situation, but where does it end? We can we stand up to the client and tell them we won’t spam tweets, or when will we stop pitching borderline strategy just so clients can say they’re “doing the social media stuff”?

Needless to say, there are always going to be smart people out there, people who push the thinking, have the client’s best interests at heart, and generally just fight the good fight. In my opinion, it seems like we could use a few more of those kind of people.

  • Matt, that can and should start with you. You set the bar as high as you want it to be. Good post!
  • Right. I'm not completely innocent of anything I mentioned, I don't think any of us really are. I think the best thing is to make a conscious effort to do things the way you honestly believe is the best/most effective.
  • Amen Matt! As I wrote on Greg's blog post...

    I am acutely aware that we social media/marketing folks who REALLY use social media for relationship building/engaging/etc. are FEW and FAR between. Moving forward, RARE will be the companies that actually use social media for relationship building and engaging with customers, clients, prospects, employees, etc.

    Is it just me? This REALLY spins me up... I see so much benefit and potential in social media and I LIKE being able to talk with customers. Heck, they give us their money...why shouldn't we have a relationship with them??

    Yet, I feel like I am in a tiny boat with the forces of the sea against me.

    Keep up the good fight Matt!

    Beth Harte
    Community Manager, MarketingProfs
    @bethharte
  • Great points Matt. You're absolutely right - there's a definite danger of falling into this trap, either by social media specialists (because that's what they do so they feel they have to recommend it) or by clients who feel they have to be "in" social media.

    As people advising companies, we need to be tool-agnostic. If a tool isn't right for a client, we shouldn't recommend it. Heck, if a company isn't ready or willing to engage in social media properly, we should should recommend other media (although listening is always a good idea in my experience). That's why I consider myself a communicator, not a social media guy.

    Thanks for making me think.
  • Love this. A shame that there are those that will say anything, recommend anything to get the biz. If they only knew that the best course of action is to just be up front with a client. That honesty will pay for itself 10x over in current and referred business.

    @TomMartin
  • keithtrivitt
    Matt, some excellent points are brought up in this post. I would certainly agree with you that at times, PR and social media marketing pros certainly do more harm than good for ourselves by constantly being "yes men" to social ideas that may or may not be the best for our business or that of our client's. The unfortunate reality, as you point out, is that in a recession, many companies are willing to try almost anything to get by and gain some business, and if that means they have a flashy Facebook fan page with 5,000 followers, but absolutely no way of translating that following into true business leads (or any knowledge of where to even start), then really, what is the point?

    I think the thing we all need to keep in mind is that while social media has tremendous opportunities, and frankly, it's something we should have been doing all along, for most businesses in a capitalistic society, it still comes down to being a viable, profitable company. And to do that, we, as social media marketers, need to be sure that any - and all - of our social recommendations are well planned, researched and in the end, will help deliver ACTUAL business efforts and goals. My concern is that after this recession ends, are businesses going to see through some of the hype of social media and realize that a) Like everything else in business, social efforts actually require a strategy and goals; and b) Some social ideas may not be the best idea for all businesses?

    That's why, I think now, more than ever, we really need to scale back a little on our seemingly constant push for every business to adapt social media efforts, and realize that change in the business world does take time, and that's not neceessarily a bad thing. In some ways, that time helps to really shape and formulate much stronger plans and goals, and we need to be cognizant of this as social media marketers and help brands find strategies that are more fitting to their overall business efforts, rather than getting them in front of the "shiny object" crowd for an exciting - but very brief - moment of social glory.

    Keith Trivitt
    @KeithTrivitt
  • I think part of the struggle are clients who blindly and blatantly focus on the tools of social media rather than strategy. It's easy to get caught up in giving people (clients) what they want (or think they want). Avoiding this trap requires strong will, persuasive powers, and client trust. It's such an easy trap to fall into.
  • I couldn't agree with this more. We, as social media advocates for our clients, need to remember a primary function of what we do is educate. We need to teach our clients the best practices of using the tools and technologies. A best practice we seem to always talk about (but may not often follow through on) is authenticity. The client needs to be involved in the conversation(s). We may need to hold their hand in the beginning, but eventually we need to "set them free" - after the road map has been created, they are educated, and comfortable. We can continue to be there to support and guide them, but they really need to be the ones who are hands-on in their social media/marketing efforts.

    That's my .02 cents! :)
  • Shifting our business practice to growing and maintaining long-term relationships/business with clients offers many unseen benefits. It might mean we won't see that 'big' check up front, but provides us more opportunity to "fight the good fight".

    Over time, clients begin to understand that 'not now' doesn't mean 'no' or 'I can't' - just not now. It's not about "standing up to the client" but about teaching them patience and the art of conversation.

    It's funny that Social Media is grouped into the category of non-traditional media. It's my opinion that social media leans toward the oldest form of marketing (more so than radio or print). It's about building relationships and two-way conversation (something unlike radio, tv, print - just push, push, push). You know, remember the days when "you" were all you had - no tv, radio, magazine, marketing team or tribe.

    When you share this with them, it can make clients uncomfortable, but it's our job to know our 'stuff' enough to offer them solutions and alternatives that fit their needs, understanding, patience, man-power and budgets.
blog comments powered by Disqus