As buzzwords go, “social media marketing” bugs me. Think about it. Do you want to be marketed to on social media? We connect to people on social media. We want to engage with people. Even when we follow a brand on social media, we understand that it’s staffed by one or more (real) people. So, here are three reasons that social media marketing the way it’s been done in the past is not so relevant anymore.
High Noise to Signal Ratio
We’ve reached the tipping point in “social media marketing.” The volume of chatter, posting, status updates, shares, likes, plus ones, re-tweets and amplification on social is off the charts. So, how can the average brand market effectively on social media? It’s not by merely showing up as a logo with a lot of content. Don’t get me wrong, I’m a strong advocate of having a documented content strategy, and leveraging social media channels. But, merely producing and posting a lot of content on social channels can be perceived as noise, if you don’t have a bigger strategy that centers around a great customer experience. Without a focus on addressing the customer’s real wants, needs and emotions, you run risk of being just another contributor to the noise channel.
Employees Rule
This leads to the logical point that people want to engage with people. Your employees are on social media (that’s not a news flash I hope). Presumably, your employees believe in your company, its purpose, its values, products, services, etc. So, it’s only logical that your employees should be part of your marketing. While asking your employees to “market” on behalf of your brand may not be received well by them, empowering them to be brand advocates, or brand ambassadors, may in fact be very well received, provided you offer it as a benefit to your employees. Those brands that identify the employees who are behind the “logo” on social media, perform better.
