Everything or Nothing – The Extremes of Social Media in Marketing

I’m seeing a trend that makes me shake my head and wonder: Companies that are completely confused and terrified about social media and do nothing AND the opposite group that does exactly the opposite — dump all other marketing efforts and go 100% social.

Social media, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and location based services like Foursquare and Gowalla are very interesting and offer a lot of potential. Almost every business should be experimenting with all of them and looking to see what comes next. But, they certainly should not be abandoning the forms of marketing that have been working for years and continue to work. There seems to be an idea floating around that social media is free. Sure, it’s free, if you don’t count your staff’s time. And, if you don’t integrate it with a campaign that includes your website, imagery, and effective calls to action. Oh, and it’s also free from results if it’s not tied to a coordinated marketing effort.

Social media is a remarkable networking tool, but to make it pay it has to be tied to other marketing tools: websites, email, and yes, even print, like catalogs, direct mail, brochures, and product sheets. It’s one more tool that everyone needs to be trying out, adapting to, and finding out what works for his or her business. But certainly not to the exclusion of everything else right from day one.

It’s just as bad to batten down the hatches and try to ignore the whole thing. If you’re not on social media, that doesn’t mean that your customers and your competitors aren’t. And they’re definitely out there, talking about you and your products. If you’re not there to take part in the conversation, they’ll become frustrated and think that you don’t care. And, guess what? They’re right. If you don’t care about what your customers think, when they have problems, or when they want to sing your praises, then you’ll get to learn some very interesting social media lessons. Lessons about dealing with bad PR figuring out why customers are abandoning ship on you.

I understand that some businesses are very worried about opening up and letting their employees talk about their business. And yes, there are management and legal concerns to deal with. So deal with them. The opportunities for your business are too big to ignore. But those concerns can be addressed. There are workable methods to incorporate social media into your business and with your marketing.

I’d love to talk about what you’re planning for your marketing and how you’ll integrate social media in the coming year. Give me a call or drop me a line and I’ll share how we’re helping businesses make social media a fully integrated part of their daily marketing efforts.