7 Reasons Social Media Is Bad For Marketing is a post by Kipp Bodnar on HubSpot Blog. According to Kipp social media has contributed many good things to marketers. But stepping back to think about it, he sees seven negatives that are clearly consequences of the growth of social media as a marketing discipline.
I don’t agree with him. Here is why.
1. Focus on Scale at the Detriment of Relationships
(KB: Faster ways of engaging with more people goes at the expense of deeper personal relationships)
Faster does not necessarily mean more superficial and there is of course more than social platforms alone. Social media will always be a part of the conversation with customers. You are not going to disconnect your telephone or stop meeting customers because of social media.
All marketing activities are aimed at more contacts with more prospects and customers. These prospects and customers have to be taken care of in a good way to be able to secure a positive effect of your activities. This is not something that applies to social media only. If you start something, you have to finish it too.
2. Focus on the Wrong Metrics
(KB: Marketers chasing the wrong metrics in social media)
The focus of commercial companies has always been and will always be turnover and profit. Marketing may (also) focus on other metrics, like website visitors, followers or friends. Like a service department may (also) focus on accessibility or the speed with which they carry out repairs. But always keeping in mind the ultimate effect of these efforts; doing better as a company. Social media will not change this.
3. Time Isn’t Free
(KB: Social media tools take a substantial amount of time to learn and use)
I don’t know which tools Kipp Bodnar is referring to, but social media tools are not only very easy to implement (setting up a Twitter account is virtually a matter of minutes) but also very easy to use.
Of course you need to have enough people and time available to do a good job. But again, this also applies to all the other activities your are undertaking. Not only social media.
4. Another Organization Silo
(KB: Social media is now another group under the marketing umbrella and sits in a silo away from other disciplines)
This can happen to any activity and/or department within your organization. There are not a lot companies where the cooperation between all different departments is organized in the best possible way.
Social media offers you the opportunity to involve all your company’s departments in the conversation with the customer. Therefore social media may well be the tool that makes these different departments work better together than ever before.
5. More Noise Than Ever Before
(KB: Because social media has reduced the cost of sharing information the web is getting crowded with spam or irrelevant information)
The web is getting crowded, but at the same time people get the tools to only receive the information they really want. Modern marketing activities and tools do not generate more spam. They reduce spam. Social media make it possible for people to be picky about what they receive and what not.
That forces companies to provide good content. Decreasing irrelevant information. And if you do a really good job, people will start sharing your information with their peers, making it possible for you to reach the prospects that you otherwise would have missed.
6. Online Gluttony
(KB: Because online communication is so easy and scalable, marketers are placing most or all of their attention online)
Online communication has proven to be effective and low cost. At the same time offline is relatively expensive and over the last couple of years the effectiveness of offline B2B marketing activities has decreased. Less people visiting trade shows, technical journals with decreasing numbers of subscribers and people not able to find the time (or not prepared to make time) to join your seminar. Because all information they need is available online at the moment they need it.
The shift from offline to online already started before social media arrived. Social media is not to blame, but will accelerate the change. And where it goes or ends is something your customers will decide for you.
7. Lack of Change
(KB: Marketers are doing the same boring things – as they used to on TV and print – and expect to get different results)
For most B2B companies social media is relatively new. Many still need to find the right way to interact online. There is nothing wrong with that. What is important however is that you start using social media. The sooner you do it the sooner you will find out how to do it. It is no problem to make mistakes and not doing it right from the start. You will learn.
Therefore I think social media is not bad for B2B marketing at all.
Related links:
> 7 Reasons Social Media Is Bad For Marketing on Hubspot Blog
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