A new toy…

Well, this is a weird experience!

I’m dictating this blog post (the first dictated post ever on this blog) using a piece of software called Dragon NaturallySpeaking.

It’s not exactly perfect yet, but I think in time it will get more and more used to my voice… and it should make my life a hell of a lot easier.

In fact I’ve only set the system up and “written” about three emails, and it’s already getting really fast at typing – and I’m talking at a nearly natural pace.

Being utterly hopeless at typing, I truly hope that this piece of software will work out for me and I’ll be able to blog and get much more done.

(well, at least that’s the theory anyway)

Speak soon,

George

A Case Against “Social Media Marketing”

Ok, so I’m not dead against social media marketing or monetisation. Just keeping a weather eye on the whole phenomena and trying to figure out what on earth’s going on.

I’ve been working with some funky (and top secret) Facebook advertising ideas recently, and it got me thinking.

Here are the results…

Social media platforms like twitter and facebook are built by ideological programmers and geeks.(No offence guys)

Their (noble) aim is to help people communicate and make better connections. If they’re good what they do and understand communication theory and the like, their creations start to spread, most of the time.

Then VC’s start sniffing around because of all the attention (traffic & users) the site is getting and guess “there must be money in here somewhere”.

They throw a few million at it along with a few MBA’s and try to “monetize” the damn thing.

By now though, everything is stacked against “monetizing” the site.

Users are heavily conditioned to the existing interface and are highly resistant to Ads or Premium fees. Also, the users’ attention is conditioned to pay attention to the content inside their environment, not ads or other monetization mechanisms that lead them out of it.

Compare this with Google’s way of paying the bills: Adwords (and unfortunately, many people do compare social media sites with Google – but in the wrong context: “if Google can make money from this, so can we!” Wrong, wrong, wrong.)

Google’s Adwords system is nothing short of genius.

It doesn’t interfere with the users’ experience and blends in nicely with the interface. And more importantly, it seamlessly blends with the users expectations to the point where they don’t even notice they’re clicking on a Sponsored Listing.

And here’s the biggest point of difference between Google and the trendy social media sites:

Google users expect (and want) to get off Google and on to a relevant site that scratches their itch as soon as possible.

Social Media users (especially facebook) don’t. They expect to stay within the interface to catch up with friends and the like.

There’s no itch to scratch and any “foreign” web pages are most unwelcome on social media sites.

THAT is why social media marketing is currently an oxymoron – and a tough nut to crack.

I’m not saying it’s impossible, but we’ve gotta think differently to make it pay.

(Any ideas will be gratefully received)

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~George