5 things social media marketing is not - miriam schwab - affilicon israel june 2009

Affilicon June 1-2, 2009http://www.affilicon.com/index-il-spring.html

Airport City, IsraelPresented by: Miriam Schwab, CEO of

illuminea marketing & media

5 things social media marketing is NOT

Or why people need to take a social media chill-pill

Why so negative?

• Social media is all the rage. Twitter is on everybody's lips, and many large companies are already active on the social networks.

• But with all the excitement, SMM is overhyped. So I am here to play devil's advocate and tell you what SMM is not.

Don’t get me wrong…

• I’m a big fan of social media marketing. We’ve seen great results for ourselves and clients.

• However, I think it’s important that people be aware of its limitations. It’s becoming a bit too “holy grail” in the world of internet marketing.

• So…here’s what SMM is not…

1. Ticket to millions of leads

1. SMM is not your ticket to millions of leads

• Many social media pundits will tell you that being on social networks gives you automatic access to millions.

• It’s the “flat earth” principle• However, let’s look at the stats:

– Twitter: 32.1 million users (source)– Most popular twitter user: Ashton Kutcher (

@aplusk) (source)– No. of people following Ashton: 2 million

1. SMM is not your ticket to millions of leads (cont)

• Even Kutcher with all his popularity has a tiny fraction of twitter users following him

• Moral of the story: like all things internet, you need to work hard, stand out, and be in it for the long haul to enjoy any kind of benefit.

• Particularly with regards to social media, get-rich-quick schemes don’t work. People really want to build relationships.

2. For everyone

2. SMM is not for everyone

• Social media pundits will tell you that everyone should be using social media.

• However, there are people out there who would be wasting their time using social media, especially without a strategy.

• Example: marketing to the Middle East. Israel has high internet penetration levels; other countries in the region relatively low (source).

2. SMM is not for everyone (cont)

• Not only that, there are countries that don’t have any access to social networks. Bahrain blocks facebook entirely. Iran is about to do the same because of the upcoming elections (current leadership doesn’t like opposition’s popularity on facebook). So if trying to marketing to Middle East, need to be very focused or use other routes.

• Another example: if you are a web developer looking to market your skills, your time may be best used answering questions on professional forums, rather than tweeting.

2. SMM is not for everyone (cont)

• Moral of the story: plan your SMM and know thy audience. Research your goals and target audience thoroughly, and then identify whether SMM is the best use of your time; if so, identify the optimal places for your SMM activity on the web.

3. Free

3. SMM is not free

• SMM takes LOTS of time. Time creating content, responding to comments, promoting it elsewhere, maintaining your profiles, etc.

• You also need to spend time staying updated on the latest SMM trends. Is there a new network you should know about? Etc.

• Time = money, therefore SMM is not free.

3. SMM is not free (cont)

• Moral of the story: be aware of the resources needed to manage an effective SMM campaign, and plan accordingly. Also, seek to optimize your activity by investing your efforts in the right places (see point 2 above)

4. The end of the road

4. SMM is not the end of the road

• Twitter and facebook are the hot networks today, but there is no guarantee they will be worth anything tomorrow.

• Remember Geocities, the site that gave everyone the opportunity to create their own butt-ugly website? They’re history (source).

• MySpace was the hottest network in its heyday. Facebook recently surpassed MySpace in monthly unique visitors (source).

4. SMM is not the end of the road (cont)

• The moral of the story: identify the best way to invest your time in social media, but keep your eyes open for changing trends, and be ready to adopt your strategy accordingly.

• If you don’t, you may end up stuck with a butt-ugly Geocities page and that’s all, if you know what I mean.

5. Enough on its own

5. SMM is not enough on its own

• Some social media pundits are so happily drinking the social media “cool-aid” that they will tell you that profiles on twitter, facebook, flickr, etc. are enough, and there is no longer a need for your own website.

• I disagree: there are a few reasons you still need your own website and probably always will (next slide):

5. SMM is not enough on its own (cont)

1. If you only base your web activity on social media profiles, you are building up other companies’ properties, and not your own.

2. If you depend too much on current social media sites, you may find yourself with your pants down when the trends move on to other sites.

5. SMM is not enough on its own (cont)

1. People may find you and start to get to know you through your social media profiles, but they will want to know more, and for that they will turn to your site.

2. It is hard to get people to take action on the social networks. If you want them to subscribe to your newsletter, download your white paper, or contact you – its via your site.

5. SMM is not enough on its own (cont)

• Skittles decided to base their whole web presence on their social network profiles. If you go to Skittles.com, the first thing you see is their YouTube page. Let’s take a look…

Problems:

2. Building up YouTube property

3. Non-savvy social media users may be confused about what they’re seeing.

Skittles “Chatter” page

• If you click on Chatter on the Skittles menu, you get taken to their twitter search results page. This page aggregates all tweets where people say the word “skittles.”

• This means that they may end up displaying negative comments about skittles, like so…

5. SMM is not enough on its own (cont)

• The moral of the story: social media can yield great results if used properly, but should not be depended on completely. Your website is still important.

• SMM works even better when used in conjunction with other web activities: SEO, PPC, blogging, etc. Don’t forget about these important activities.

From http://www.chrisg.com/social-media-brand/

Thank you!

www.illuminea.commschwab@illuminea.comtwitter: @miriamschwab