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  • Social Media is becoming like Traditional Advertising

    Posted on April 7th, 2009 by Spike and currently 15 commenting.

    Noise. Noise. Noise. You should be on Facebook. You should be on Twitter. Noise. Noise. Noise. Make a viral video. We should blog. Noise. Noise. Noise.

    Leave it to the advertisers – and those with the old ad model thinking – to take social media and push out messages. It’s becoming a “listen to me” model. A contest for attention. A numbers game.

    Marketers are trying like hell to figure out the best way to “use” it. And who really wants to be used, anyway? Let’s face it – SM is becoming very noisy, very quickly. It’s imperative that brands don’t only listen and learn at an accelerated rate, but make sure that they are engaging and not just pushing out messages like they did in the old days.

    Why? Because it took us decades to come up with DVRs that can skip right over the ads, but it took us months to come up with ways that we can tune out all the SM noise. Yes, it does take a while to filter through the noise to find what you really want – and it’s becoming harder and harder with all the noise that’s being added each day. But it can be done.

    So let’s learn from traditional advertising and not create more noise. Not play the numbers game. And not push, push, push. I know it’s hard. I know it’s in our DNA to want to be the center of attention and have everyone look at us, but it’s not necessarily the right thing. And if you try it with Social Media too, guess what? People will just change the channel.

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  • Taylor

    On Point!

    Ran across this the other day:

    This is How Social Media Really Works ( via Daring Fireball )

  • http://marketinghitch.com David Wiggs

    Can I get an Amen!?

  • http://www.mergeweb.com Adam Landrum

    I was going to say, “All I have to say is Amen” but David took care of that for me.

    It doesn’t take long for the “marketers” to find the next shiny channel and cram it full of noise. SM lasted about 2 months. Sure, there are some great applications for organizations that are going to do it right, but most companies out there are just yelling.

    Preach it Spike.

  • http://adpulp.com David Burn

    Amen.

  • http://www.worthwhile.com Chris Rackley

    I think one thing we’ve seen in stat tracking that backs up what you say, Spike, is the use of hyperlinks in twitter messages. In tracking bit.ly stats and internally monitoring wurl.ws stats, we see that not nearly as many people are clicking on hyperlinks within twitter messages as they were just six short months ago. The obvious theory behind this is that there is so many of them that are basically worthless.

    An interesting example is from just a few weeks ago, when a twitter app Worthwhile created, Twitterpool, was listed in Killer Startups’ blog. A good number of people tweeted and retweeted it. What’s amazing is that there are more people who tweeted and retweeted Twitterpool, complete with a link to it, than people who actually went to twitterpool that day. That meant that a good number of the people that said, “Hey check this out!” didn’t even go and check it out themselves. They were just blowing smoke as attention-getters.

    Just wanted to throw that in as ‘Exhibit B’ to your argument. Thanks for the post!

  • http://www.juscowlandphotography.com Jus

    Thank you!

    In the circles that I hang around “online”, it is all the rage to have a myspace page, a facebook page, a blog, a twitter, a facebook fan page, a facebook group page… I tried it all – it doesn’t make a dang bit of difference. I hate it too. I hate having to “ask” to be a friend to some unsuspecting person or in my case a high school senior. I’ve stopped. I barely twitter anymore – because no one cares. I want people to be interested in me because I’m interesting not because I forced them to follow me.

    Don’t get me wrong, I am happy to follow George from Zappos because he is a funny funny guy and he’s got a plan, there is definitely a reason he twitters. But I want to work my business, not spend my time trying to get people interested in me.

    Thanks Spike, I knew you would be a good friend-choice on facebook… :)

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  • http://www.etbwrites.com Elizabeth

    Spike,

    I would love to see some examples of brands that you think are doing this well – creating real value and genuine relationships. Or at least creating signal.

    I can think of a few, and most of them are about building and empowering communities. The Brooklyn Museum is a great example. And I think there’s a little scissor company that did something like that ;)

    Those were both big, committed efforts that many organizations don’t have the scale or budget to handle. Have you seen anyone really, really tiny who has done successfully what you’re describing?

  • http://soundloyalty.wordpress.com/ Colin Brogan

    For Elizabeth, et. al.

    Jetblue and other airlines are really beginning to leverage the community aspect of Twitter – engaging in one to one relationships with customers and understanding what Promoters, and Detractors, are saying about the brand http://snurl.com/fhos4

    They aren’t tiny companies, but the concepts translate.

  • http://artroxthinks.wordpress.com/ Nicky Tillyer

    I used to worry about the followers and un-followers I attracted or repelled…but at the end of the day I do what I do because I want to.

    I completely stay away from those who re-tweet tips on how to attract more followers, how to increase your raking, etc etc. and I won’t auto follow just because you follow me. I like choice! I don’t like stupid articles that call me a Twitter snob just because I don’t auto follow…you might like me but I may just not be that into you…no offence meant!

    Completely agree with Jus – I want followers who are interested in me, not auto followers or in trying to appear more interesting than I am … and I don’t think that is what social media and more importantly Twitter is or should be about anyway.

  • http://www.pr-media-blog.co.uk Jon Clements

    It’s an easy trap to fall into.
    Traditional marketing, advertising and PR hinges on a central concept, i.e., control; control of a campaign, a medium and a message.
    Clearly, and for large corporations especially, the idea of relinquishing any level of control is frankly terrifying.
    But it’s a step worth taking – in fact, it’s a neccessity to take it – if they are going to have a seat at the social media table. And, as you rightly point out, it requires a different approach that isn’t a one-way stream of consciousness.

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  • Christy

    *sigh*

    I love how you’re not anti-Twitter. I also love the reality check here. Twitter is merely another tool, just like radio, TV and print advertising, web ads and paid search campaigns. The only thing that distinguishes Twitter from “traditional advertising” is the talk-back component. That’s what blogging was supposed to do. And online forums. Give people a voice, give organizations a chance to hear. Those tools lost their effectiveness, too, but those who don’t give up will still find a way to cut through the clutter to learn something.

    It’s just like being at a party and tuning into the right conversations. Twitter isn’t evil. Twitter is what you make of it. Some days it’s just really hard to ignore all the noisenoisenoisenoise (a la Grinch).

    The days when I feel like it’s become the ego battle… I just tune out. Nothing happening on Twitter is so vital that it can’t wait until tomorrow.

  • http://www.exploremyblog.com ExploreMyBlog

    How can i get an Amen!?