Somebody needs to call this out.

OK. Actually, we might be off on my estimate.

If you refined the definition of SSM and took out things like customer support communications, blog articles, or coupon type services like Groupon, it’s probably more like 95% of social media marketing is a waste of time. Stay calm. Actually, it’s pretty much in line with other marketing tactics like direct mail, email marketing, banner ads and telemarketing.

So let’s look at the distinction between social media and social media marketing. It’s like email vs. email marketing. We use social media and we use email.

Social media can be fun and informative. Social media can offer some useful connections in what we would term a “human search cluster”. LinkedIn is a pretty good Rolodex service and offers some good discussions if you can wade through the spam posts. Some people think Facebook has become the ruination of many young careers, marriages and relationships from publicly shared information and workplace distractions. Many just find Facebook a moderately innocuous time-waster and enjoyable to connect with friends. The test on these over hyped services is - would you use them if they charged?

But if so many people use social media why is social media marketing so challenging? With all these fish in the water, why shouldn’t you just go where the fish are? Why not just “buy” thousands of Twitter followers and then sell them stuff?

Sorry, tough love here

Sorry, tough love here – it’s mostly a waste of time.

You’ve seen the stats about all the companies jumping on the social media bandwagon, spending the money. That's interesting, but it doesn't mean the marketing is actually working or will work for you. Show us some real results not double talk.

Here’s some SMM guru-speak, then the translation:

“Give your customers an opportunity to have a relationship with your brand – Bud Light, Cheerios, Frank’s Auto Body, blah, blah.” Really? A relationship with Bud Light? Seriously what does that even mean? That’s guru-speak for “pay me for a program and I’ll pretend to make meaningful conversation and friends for you because you have no time and it’s so hard to be social”.

The one scam is selling you a bot service to squirrel up a couple thousand Twitter “followers”. Followers? Have you ever checked out those followers? Please, why?

Why does the guy with an auto shop in Atlanta want me to follow his company on Twitter? Why would I? The answer is of course, I wouldn’t. But it’s so tempting to want a Twitter head count to generate simple analytics and establish some voodoo ROI. Do you ever get the feeling snake oil is now being used for eye drops?

Here is a list of things that don’t necessarily count as marketing qualifications for a social media guru:

Ask your SSM guru to show you the results they have achieved. Not just citing the famous case studies from the early adopters like Zappos and Starbucks. (We know how easy it is to admire Apple, but it’s really, really hard to copy successfully). Ask the guru if they have ever owned, operated or marketed an actual business.

What about the other 10% that works?

What about the other 10%?

So if 90% of social media marketing is ineffective, what about the other 10% that works?

The 10% of SMM that’s proving useful is working precisely because – well - it’s proving to be useful. Back off the marketing push techniques. By providing targeted, useful information or discounts it becomes time-worthy. Leverage the human search cluster to follow and hopefully be followed by interesting people and organizations. Targeted and useful – wow Marketing 101!

Here’s a simple formula:

Time-worthy content > share-worthy content + interested community = social media ready

Or just enjoy social networking and remember, check your privacy settings.



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