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Get the NewsletterSocial Media Marketing: All Hype and No Substance?
Gartner analyst Adam Sarner has new research that states that 50% of all Social Media campaigns will fail. Didn't we hear something similar to this before when a study by Deloitte informed us that social networking was a waste of money? What is the real story here — are marketing departments trying to fit social media into a traditional marketing bucket or is social media marketing just a lot of hype?
According to Sarner's research, over 75% of Fortune 1000 companies have joined the social networking ranks for marketing or customer relations and that over half of these will be classified as failures.
In an interview with CNET he said, “(Businesses) will rush to the community and try to connect, but essentially they won't have a mutual purpose, and they'll fail.” Mutual purpose meaning both the company and the intended audience are getting something out of it.
This news is a little worrisome considering he goes on to say that by 2012 over half of all purchases — online and offline — will have some type of web-based component to them. That means people use the Internet to help make decisions and social networking sites will likely be a key web component to that decision making.
Sarner says that you must have a clear purpose for creating a social media campaign. What are you trying to accomplish? Once you are clear on that, then select the appropriate technical solution to meet your needs. He cites Second Life as a prime example of a failure of social media marketing.
All of this shouldn't really be news to marketers and their companies. It seems like we constantly try to fit social media into the traditional marketing mix and come out disappointed with the results. Social networking is all about developing a community. It's about supporting your customers and building a positive brand.
The results of this type of marketing are difficult to quantify, particularly when it comes to identifying ROI. It's also something that can take a long time. So it becomes a long-term strategy and not a marketing “campaign”.
Not all marketers are suited to developing a social media strategy. Some can't move outside their well known and understood marketing tools. That's why you see so many new jobs for social media strategists.
In a recent tweet of Lawrence Liu, the former Worldwide Community Lead and Senior Technical Product Manager for Social Computing and Accessibility for the Microsoft SharePoint product group (boy that was a mouthful) and now the Director of Platform Strategy for Telligent said, “My take: Social Media is Dead. Long Live Community! “
The good news is that Sarner doesn't believe companies are going to cut back on social media during this economic downturn, stating that “many businesses will turn to the Web to stay in touch with consumers during a difficult financial climate.”
If you are at the Gartner Symposium/ITxpo 2008 this week in Orlando, you can catch Sarner and learn more about his social media research.
If you want to learn more about creating a social media strategy, here are a couple of webinars that might interest you:
- How to Choose an Online Community Platform — Telligent and B2B Marketing
- Social Media Marketing: An effective way to engage your customers and stimulate your prospects! — Awareness and Jeremiah Owyang
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Enjoyed the article. Let's keep in mind that 50% also succeed. Then.. we should also really focus on "why" the other 50% failed. Improper approach is most likely. In my opinion.. we're still in the early days of "social media". For any company.. you're audience/market should always be treated as a community. If you do wrong within your community, you can't expect to succeed. Therefore, behavior and accountability are key... as in life.
There is no end in site for "social media". It fits human nature. We all need to learn how to behave appropriately and respect the community we serve. And, THAT is much different that drafting ad copy.
This is the typical traditional IT / Marketing consultancy approach trying to figure out how to deal with what is essentially a new phenomenon that doesn't nicely fit into the corporate structure and conform to a corporate mindset of one-way, controlled marketing communications.
It's about permission marketing and joining the conversation and not trying to control it with the old tool and mindset!
I suggest these marketers read Seth Godin's book Meatball Sundae about how to effectively approach social media and web 2.0 tools and how to adapt marketing to them and not the other way around.
Companies can't just try and add social media to their business as usual marketing approach and then when it fails blame the new tool.
I worked with people and used social networking myself for the last three years. The problem is not Social Marketing itself as it is the premise. Kind of like when the web first came along...build a site and get wealthy? We all know how that worked out. Marketing, advertising has so many people telling clients they should do this or that most are not doing anything?
Social Networking may be source for some but as with all marketing one size does not fit all. So far I have experienced it working for the people the so called experts, you know the no money down hype we saw in Real Estate for so long? Sad part about it all is traditional marketing such as direct mail, TV, brochures, trade shows and national ad campaign still work and have for years.I think 50% succeed is a very exaggerated figure. I think it is closer to 2% unless all your clients are under 28.