The Social Media Marketing Maze can be confusing:
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Stability
Vernita Sherman has said that one problem with Social Media Marketing is that it isn't stable. Companies who built a large presence on MySpace found that it was eclipsed by Facebook within a few years. Facebook itself has made changes that affected businesses and new Social Media sites like Pinterest appear regularly.Not a Sales Channel
Social Media is primarily a communications channel, not a marketing channel. When the channel is used for direct marketing, often these efforts fall flat.
Noting problems with Social Media, Sampad Swain has written:
"...before getting into social media, we should be aware of our goals...
- Is it to increase awareness and credibility?
- Is it to increase online conversations?
- Is it to create a community of unified spirits who may turn out to be evangelists?
... the easiest way to fail at ‘social media marketing’ is to use social media as a way to broadcast your marketing messages with a goal to sell more stuff!"
Great Expectations
According to David Mercer: "Business has now invested several solid years in social marketing. It's been a wild ride. Stories abound of incredible marketing successes, dismal social media failures, and everything in between."According to Mercer Social Media marketing doesn't work for business for various reasons, including:
- Being great in social media doesn't trump good products and service
- Publishing great content requires the skills and expertise of a publisher.
Businesses need to start looking at social media marketing as a link in the chain, instead of the whole chain itself.
What Works?
Clearly there are some winners in the Social Media Marketing arena:Facebook: useful for judging customer trends and customer interaction. More difficult to use for direct marketing since users can only see your sales message if they click through on a Facebook ad.
One thing is certain, the Social Media landscape will continue to change, and may change into something we can't even imagine yet.
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Phillip Gwinn
phillipgwinn.blogspot.com/
