The Most Overhyped Things About Social Media Marketing
Jul 30, 2009 by Rebecca Kelley | Social Media MarketingEarlier today I tweeted the following question from our 10e20 Twitter account:
I received some interesting responses that I thought I’d share on the blog:
Via googleandblog: “Social Media ROI projections are the most overhyped, as well as outside companies saying they will do the tweets and posts for them.”
I agree that ROI projections can get pretty ridiculous — it can be hard to tell a client what they’ll get out of a social media marketing campaign vs. what they expect to get (like “No, I can’t guarantee you’ll get 10,458 links from this or that you’ll sell 15,000 more products”). However, I don’t see anything wrong with taking over your client’s Twitter account, at least at the beginning of a campaign or when introducing them to Twitter and teaching them how it works/how to use it. Sometimes clients need a good demonstration before they can take the reins and manage the account diligently. That’s not to say you should permanently manage your client’s account — I think that would be too time consuming and could be a missed opportunity since they know their brand and products better than you do — but some initial guidance can be a good thing.
Via brianchappell: “Viral videos: manufacturing viral is much more difficult than it can seem let alone tying it back into the product or any ROI. I feel like many times there are better places to start with most SMM campaigns.“
Absolutely. All it took was one Lazy Sunday for everyone to go “OMG, we need to do a viral video! It’ll bring us so much traffic!” without really understanding what it takes to actually create and market one. You need an idea, a script, people who are decent in front of a camera, equipment, editors…and that’s before you can even launch and market the damn thing! Sure, some basic videos of people falling off tables spread like wildfire, but for lots of brands they need an actual strategy behind a viral video, and it’s a lot harder than they think.
Via steph_woods: “Using Twitter to market your product e.g., real estate. It only works for certain user groups.”
Via melaniemitchell: “Facebook fan pages. Not every company/product/person needs one. Need to find your peeps & go where they are.”
Both Melanie and Steph bring up a fundamental problem with social media marketing. It’s not necessarily about creating 100 profiles at all the major social news, networking and media sites and then just letting them all gather Internet dust (which I’m pretty sure is just Cheetoh dust). As Melanie said, you need to find your audience and engage with them wherever they are. Don’t be the sad mom who tries to get away with shopping at Forever 21 — that’s not where you need to be.
Via TheOceanAgency: “That social networks are something new. The technology might be new but concept is ancient.”
Lots of people are like “ZOMG, networking socially?! What a concept! I must try this out, dagnabbit!” Social networking ain’t new, folks. The medium may be different, but the fundamental principles are the same. Don’t forget the kindergarten lessons of networking: be engaging, reach out to your audience, make them feel appreciated and important, all that good stuff. Whether you’re trying to make a lasting impression and build contacts in person, at a mixer, or online, many of the core tactics are identical.
Via oatmeal: “Lots of Twitter followers and tweeting all day = business success.”
Via Matt_Siltala: “People talking about all this traffic but never taking it further than ‘it brought me 100k visitors!’ What about the links?”
Ah, the ol’ Underpants Gnome logic of business. You have to have some sort of game plan. What’s your objective here? If it’s to increase sales, then how are you going to do it using social media marketing tactics? If it’s to build links, what are you going to do? Figure out what you want to accomplish and THEN use social media marketing to help attain those goals, not the other way around.
Via jasonarango: “Saying you’re an expert on something that’s changing all the time.”
Via ItsDUHnise: “People who claim to be in social media for a living. Never seen so many self-proclaimed experts w/ so little cred!”
Everyone with a Facebook profile is an expert nowadays, right? There’s a lot more to social media marketing than you think. New sites pop up all the time, old sites change how they operate, and different clients have unique needs. A true social media expert is able to keep up with trends, know how to accommodate a campaign to their clients’ specific needs, and is able to use all facets of social media marketing in order to garner success.
What have we missed here? What other things about social media marketing do you find to be way overhyped? Drop your comments below, and don’t forget to subscribe to our RSS feed for more awesome blog posts and marketing tips. 
20 Responses to “The Most Overhyped Things About Social Media Marketing”
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I actually think twitter is awesome to market real estate (not a realtor myself). A smart realtor can be a local news source for the areas they sell in and build a large following. Every once in a while throw in some RE related tidbits to stay top of mind and it's gold IMO.
It beats the hell out of mailing thousands of dollars worth of crap people will just toss into the trash.
The ROI on social media mktg is especially disturbing for me.
If social media is purely about branding, mindshare, buzz and other intangibles, it's not very much better than display ads in traditional print, broadcast and radio.
Not exactly a gripe (ok, it is), but as we see social media evolve (and perhaps with more tracking in place), the relationship between social media investment and ROI will be more apparent.
For the record, Rebecca, you are t3h awesomesauce. I got that word from a blog.
Hey Andrew –
Actually for many of our clients, it's not just about "branding, mindshare, buzz and other intangibles." It's about traffic (I.E. ad impressions), links, bookmarks, public relations (leading to press) plus those other things you mentioned. So the ROI does become much clearer. But I do get what you mean…
Awesomesauce is awesome.
@chriswinfield
Yep, I'm sure that the pros within the SEM/SMO space like 10e20 and a couple of others, there's an active drive to educate clients and show tangible metrics on social media spend.
I guess I'm refering more to the other 90% of one-eyed men leading the blind out there…
yes i agree. social media is all about branding and making your presence known!
[...] The Most Overhyped Things About Social Media Marketing [...]
I too am fed up with self proclaimed "social media guru's" it's just another element of the online marketing mix, which can be effective but only with substantial effort.
Social media done poorly is more damaging than no social media activity at all, too many people are using this medium becasue it is the "in" thing to do.
I have recently explained to a client the manpower required to run a successful blog & utilsie Social media + online PR, they have, quite rightly decided to focus this time on their SEO efforts as they see this as much more tanglible & effective.
This one is awesome:
"People talking about all this traffic but never taking it further than ‘it brought me 100k visitors!’ What about the links?"
I would add, What about the conversions? Traffic for traffic sake just doesn't site right with me. Qualified traffic, now that I like
EXACTLY!! but I was limited to 140 chars in my answer …. hahaha …. great point I 100% agree with!!!
And I would add for a lot of my clients … the branding and "getting their name out there" is what they are wanting and looking for … control the SERPs before they control you! (a little rep man. 101)
The worst thing is the proliferation of charlatan "Social Media Experts" like the snake oil salesman that jumped on SEO when it was the "buzz" word of marketing.
,Michael Martin
"Social media done poorly is more damaging than no social media activity at all."
I totally agree with you. Nice job educating the client on the amount of time and effort it takes to run a blog and properly do SMM. If they can't commit to that, they won't be able to succeed.
Steps to Win in Social Media:
1) Hire Scarlet
2) Get her sauced
3) Put her in a room with nothing more than a table
4) Film her taking a tumble
5) Win at life
I don't think you even need to get her drunk. ;P
First off the problem is lots of these so called Social Media experts they dont understand the fundamentals of online marketing. Also the clients out there hear the term "Socia Media" an they think its this magical new way to generate buzz and sell products. Social Media should be coupled with Offline PR, Organic Link Building and Affiliate Marketing. It should not be a stand alone solution to the ever long question " how do i produce more sales"? Trying to explain this to clients about more of an Integrated Marketing strategy can be quite cumbersome
Steve
grindvision.com
I absolutely agree.People have tnes and hundreds of thousands of followers and so what?
I analyze my site and do not feel any results from my Twitter followers.Simply big numbers create you much more credibility in the eyes of newcomers and that's it. Not many of these followers become your subscribers or buyers.
Yes social media is all about branding and making your presence known! Forming an alliance with people in your target audience is really a great way to go. To me twitter is extremely valuable for anyone who have something to promote because you can easily and quickly build brand awareness and a loyal following, especially among bloggers, online marketers etc
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