I think social
media has reached a tipping point and has created some bad habits for marketers.
Too often it is viewed as a “quick fix” for a communication strategy.
Want to form a new
league? Send out an email. Oh yeah, put
it up on Facebook too. Want to get the
word out about your Saturday night music and bowling program? Email all the 18
to 34 yr olds out there. Don’t forget to twitter them if you can.
I don’t know about
you, but I think this quick reliance on social media has numbed us to really
understanding our customers.
I mean, if you spoke to 20 of your customers and asked them “personally”
about the programs you run or how to communicate it better, I think you would
get better information and a deeper understanding of your customers’
motivations.
Secondly, Facebook
and Twitter, the new kids on the block may not even exist in the near future. Wasn’t
too long ago that AOL and My Space were entrenched entities. I’ll bet they didn’t think they would fall out
of favor so quickly. Where are they now?
And what about more upstarts like Pinterest, Zynga, Yelp, Pandora, Open Table,
Groupon and on and on that are competing with Facebook? Point is if you want
your business to last longer than these entities, that come and go, then don’t JUST
rely on social media as the ONLY marketing strategy you have Too many proprietors are ONLY relying on
social media. ONLY!
Here’s another problem - according to an AP Poll - over half of
Americans think Facebook is a passing fad and one out of three Facebook users
NOW spend less time on the site than a year ago. Further 4 out of 5 Facebook users have NEVER
bought a product or service as a result of a Facebook advertisement.
Now I am not
saying to drop your social media programs.
But I am saying that social media on its own cannot do the job of other
effective platforms like public relations, your website, old media (which is
still effective) and one on one personal communications to your customers in
your center.
Bottom line: Think
synergy. Think leverage. Think multiple streams of communication.
Think about it.
