A Case Against “Social Media Marketing”
Posted: July 15th, 2009 | Author: George-Lane | Filed under: Uncategorized | 6 Comments »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)
.
.
.
.
~George
Interesting piece. Enjoyed reading it.
I’m not sure your observation that Google users “don’t even notice they’re clicking on a Sponsored Listing.”
That may be true for some, but surely not many. And not where more seasoned users are concerned.
You’re right about the very blunt approach to trying to make money out of smedia marketing. But I have seen examples of consumer-facing brands using it effectively (usually in conjunction with other marketing efforts) and seeing results.
Thanks for the comment Sean,
I think the jury is out on whether users realise they’re clicking on a PPC ad. My anecdotal evidence suggests less tech-savvy users consider the top 3 “yellow box” ads to be part of the natural SERPS. Either way, as the general public adjusts to using Google etc, their ability at screening ads will probably increase.
I’d be interested to see the examples of success with social media marketing – especially if can be directly tied to sales (I come from a strict Direct Response background so like to know the cause/effect figures).
I can see the benefits of Social Media as a tool to reinforce marketing messages from other media. However, I’m dubious of its use as a standalone marketing tool to generate sales (without spamming).
Anyway, thanks again for taking the time to leave a comment. I appreciate it.
~George
George
So pleasing to see someone put all this down in writing. Too often folks are happy to say “it will work” or “it won’t work”, without actually expressing why. You are completely correct in your argument that social media only becomes a force prior to anyone wanting to make money from it, and that the very notion runs directly opposed to the concept. Users are more resistant because they want places away from the commercialisation of the net, and whilst the creators cannot be faulted for wanting to earn money from their successful products, those looking to throw money in must firstly understand that their very presence runs the risk of destroying what they desire.
Excellent piece.
Nik,
Thanks for your comment and your kind words. There’s certainly a conflict of interest between Social Media channels “paying the bills” (and investors) while keeping their users happy. It doesn’t appear to be an easy probelm to solve either, and frankly, I don’t envy those who are trying
The next few years on the internet will be very interesting indeed.
Cheers,
~George
[...] this year I talked about how hard it is for media start ups like Facebook to make money. How things have [...]
[...] (I’ve written about this before, so forgive me if I’m repeating myself.) The problem with all social sites is the user is conditioned to expect the services to be free and ad-free from the beginning. Then any attempt to “monetize” (I hate that word) the site and modify the user’s behaviour results in fierce resistance. [...]