Word Of Mouse Marketing
This post was made Feb 20, 2009 by Carlos del Rio
credit: PixCat
Earlier this week I had an extended conversation with Jon Lisbon of Point It! about what Social Media is.
I think there are a lot of people that don’t believe in social media as a marketing tool. At the core I think it is because they don’t really believe in Brand as a marketing tool. Social Media is the Internet version of word of mouth. That means it has many of the same positives and negatives.
Social Media is great, and, frankly, it is easy. You cultivate personal relationships and as a reasult simple exchanges propagate because people like to share. Suddenly lots of people know what is going on. If you tell an interesting story it gets passed around. But, what does that really do. It increases your visibility, your name recognition, and maybe it gets your story in front of someone who needs it.
Social Media is lame because it is inefficient and it takes a long time to really kick in. Most of the time the people hearing your message either aren’t ready or not interested in what you are presenting, but they may know the right person. This means that every action makes you more likely to be in front of the right person next time, but doesn’t necessarily give you immediate value.
So, there you have the comon arguements: Social Media, like word of mouth, is passive and a lagging value. Whether that is good or bad is up to you. Some people feel that your first introduction (search, link, or advertisement) is responsible for your conversions. Some people feel that only the final touch point is responsible for your conversions. This makes a huge difference in whether your Social Media campaigns produce positive performance. If you think that every time your brand is given mindshare is valuable than Social Media is good, if you think that anything that doesn’t result in a direct sale is a waste then don’t bother with Social Media.
I haven’t been able to nail down my goals in using social media – and in a sense I don’t want to. I certainly don’t view it as a broadcast medium – at least half the time I use it to see what smart and interesting people are sharing – but it can be just that if you’re smart about how you share.
For me, social media “kicked in” almost immediately. Not in the way of spreading my story but in participating in the story already in motion.
The goal of participating is the experience of participating – circular, I know, but incredibly valuable in my opinion.
Essentially, you don’t use Social Media as marketing. That, I think, is good. I like the interpersonal communications aspects far more than the broadcast elements.
Participation is its own value. Social Media should be about the conversation. But, I hear a growing conversation about what Social Media is meant to be.