Why Marketers don’t get Social Media

Seems that we are nowhere as marketers nowadays unless we are ‘getting down and digital ‘and throwing around words like social map, edgerank and hashtag.

But keeping up a social media presence is hard work – right? Creating the company policy, finding the right people to implement it, generating the content, engaging in conversations, checking the stats....phew!  No time for real work!

So how come it’s such a breeze for the millions of individuals on social media to market themselves? No marketing budget, no training, no slick digital agency and yet they still build a good network of people that they influence and who influence them - every day.

Well IMHO, there is one very good reason why marketers don’t ‘get’ social media, we are approaching it with the wrong mindset!

In the old days of media advertising, we were all very clear that as marketers our job was to promote our brands and products to as many customers we could possibly get to by buying time and space and then hoping a small proportion would actually buy

But, in the social space our role is very different because the people in network are the ‘product’, promoting themselves to the many expecting a response from a few.

Let me explain my thinking here. In traditional media, entertainment and advertising is provided for the public - often at great expense - and exists whether the audience is engaged with it or not. Social media, on the other hand, wouldn’t actually exist without the engagement of the public. So when we attempt to reach people on social networks we need to remember that we are connecting with the product itself and not just an existing or prospective customer.

OK so what if we are? I hear you say!

Well this actually makes use of Social Media much more of a strategic alliance than a marketing campaign. For sure some networkers that ‘like’ or ‘follow’ our products and services will buy them,but many are also our partners because they are promoting them through their networks. 

So what does this mean for social media marketing? Well if we are to behave like true strategic partners we need to:

• Change our mindset from ‘promoting’ to ‘partnering’
• Adopt the ground rules of the network
• Focus on the relationship as much as the outcomes
• Align our values with those of our promoters
• Make sure we are ‘at one’ in the eyes of their networks
• Relinquish control and work organically with the members
• Share the risks and the rewards

This is a very different modus operandi for marketers but if we don’t adapt our thinking quickly our new partners will soon jilt us for a more attractive playmate!