Four noble truths of social media
:: By Michael E. Rubin, Social Marketing Manager
Two weeks ago, I asked a "simple" question -- is social media a fad? It provoked some interesting comments and some good conversation. I encourage you to check it out.
I was also very pleased to see Ari Herzog, a blogger and Twitter'er I admire a great deal, leave one of those comments. Today, he followed up with an excellent post I heartily recommend you add to your "to read" list. I won't spoil the whole post, but here is his bottom line quote that gets to the heart of the matter: Don’t confuse the tool with the hype about the tool. Don’t define social media with the names that everyone knows.This really resonated with me. I'm part of three client pitches over the next week. In each one, I am standing up and essentially preaching the gospel of social media to a range of people -- skeptics, believers, and everyone in between. But preaching is only half the story. We are now being asked to deliver concrete strategies and tactics, real ROI, and cross-media integration, Not to say we never have been down that path, but there is a lot more consensus these days than in the past. Quite frankly, I am excited about these opportunities because it really gives me an opportunity to show how we implement all of that in our social media planning and execution.No matter the plan or the client, our social media strategy boils down to four core points (or four noble truths, as I like to call them):
- Social media is about putting strategy before tactics.
- Social media is about connecting online conversation back to an offline activity.
- Social media is accountable with real, provable metrics (revenue, cost savings per customer, etc.).
- Social media is about integrating with other marketing disciplines and media strategies (TRAC, Print, Out Of Home, Mobile, Digital Media, etc.).
Here's my point: people are smart. They get it.
Seriously, it thrills me to no end to see how many of our clients (and clients-to-be) well past the stage of "Build me some of that Facebook!" or "Get me some of that Twitter!" or "Blogs blogs blogs!" They are listening to what we have to say, and they are asking good questions about real ROI, sustainable WOM, and long-term tactics. This is a very welcome change from a time not so long ago when you still had to stand up and explain why blogs weren't just 12-year olds talking about the sandwiches they ate for lunch today.
Bottom line: people are getting smart about social media. They are proving that social media is indeed no fad.
