Tales from the Nordics

Agreed.  Facebook is fast becoming the wagon of choice for middle aged executives who believe those under 25 will swallow anything they're fed from the corporate ***.   Some of the "information" fed through these networks that include twitter, bebo, and facebook is so thinly veiled as social interaction it's nauseating.  

I'd say a link to a handbag on a website will not be clicked, a logo of a brand, free shipping, free services... will not be clicked... Haven't these people realized that telemarketing & email SPAM is in the past? And Facebook, Twitter, Bebo & so on are NOT the new channels?

Turning facebook into a promotional del.iucio.us account lacks respect for the intelligence of the recipient and imagination on the part of the employees who status SPAM the world with this tripe.   Social interaction is meant to invite people to take part in colourful online discussions through many medias on subject matters that interest them - not unidirectional marketing that bears nothing in common with the personal atmosphere of the platform it floods.   I have nothing against brands involving themselves in these platforms, it makes a lot of sense and a strong dialogue between consumers and producers will only be of benefit to both parties.  

What is slightly gauling in the current arrangement is the fact that certain companies parading themselves as new media seem to believe a lot of us can't distinguish between sincere and balanced interest in our behaviour and business, and the sole interest in our money that posts with endless links to their company's website embody.

Yes - simply put, many companies just don't have a clear picture of their marketing strategy that fits their business model - in some cases they don't have a clear business model.

I've seen Twitter used equally as poorly. There is a fine line between personal promotion or promoting your company and SPAM. We all want to promote ourselves or our brand, but where is the line? As a company or individual ask yourself one question! Have you been tired of your email inbox over-flowing with garbage (AKA - SPAM); Have you been tired of sales people stopping you on the streets or calling your home? Well if you have answered yes to any of those, don't you think the same applies for emails you send & social mediums you utilize.

Good speed to you all & just remember - consider your consumer and consider first impressions will always last!

A recent Google search: 'how to use social marketing to advertise' just delivered over 50 million hits. Clearly, this is a topic that everyone is talking about. The challenge is, many marketers and advertisers have been slow to catch on to this new medium. And in a lot of ways, who can blame them? I am still shaking my head at the mere existence of Twitter, nevermind its rapid growth. But once reality hits, and it becomes a given that this media is here to stay, they all jump on the bandwagon. This has led to a haphazard approach versus a well-thought out plan, with SPAM as an inevitable result. Social marketing may seem simple, but it requires an understanding and respect of your end user -- from both a copywriting and a strategic perspective.

Agreed Marcie - At an earlier stage many thought it was a Fad... but obviously most have grown out of that and have realized that in most cases it is essential to understand these mediums and how they will benefit your brand - its going to be a very long path for many and shorter for others! But they key stems back to any original marketing strategy for any medium:

Understand your target market, understand your objectives, understand the mediums you're considering to use & think short and long-term... Its incredible to see that still after many years, so many brands keep screwing this up - its basic planning 101 :)

Strategic, creative and copy are all key ingredients and the consumer - we can't block them, we can't force them, we can't spoon feed them anymore!

Difficult but very interesting... Hopefully this companies that are making a joke of it either a) collapse like 1000's did in the dotcom boom or they b) get their acts together, create amazing strategies and employ and keep the very best people in their teams.

I'd love to here some examples from others out there...

Dear Editor,

I have your read of your article on depth manner.

What you said is partially true.

One thing,we have to understand that,from small company to big companies had started advertising of their old or new products through these well known social websites.

I am a member of all these social websites.Written lot of writing,comments on all important subjects to these websites.

Now a days,from younger to older persons are surfing face book,twitter on more times than to other websites.

So many persons are tempted to see their e-mails and updates often and often.

This is life impulsive disorder.

Highly addicted to these social websites.

No logical reasonings are forth coming.

Business persons wants to advertise or promote their products by easier and by cheaper means.

Face book and Twitter had filled their spaces.

More and more viewers,more  users,more tempted to surf these networks again and again for their personal satisfaction and it creates some social images among their own age or area friends,relatives and with job seeking youths and adults.

Some doubts prevails from these social website for long term reaching their products images and for result oriented marketing strategies.

Let us wait and see.

General sayings are:-Cause and Effect.

Good posts - Social Media is not a fad, and here to stay for sure but it wont be the big white hope marketeers have been hoping for.

Brands will occasionally get it right, from time to time but it will be the luxury of the few, not the many, and in the main grasped by those who see it as a pull medium as appose to a broadcast platform.

Its this paradigm shift combined with the the scale of complexity that has resulted in brands being slow to catch on. The medium is inherently full of cul- de-sacs, brands don't have a conversational right of passage and just because there  massive user scale doesn't mean massive advertising opportunities.

As long as client expectations are set early, and they will be as Social Media planning improves, things will change gradually but its just not going to be as fundamental as we first thought it would be.

Agreed!

It's not a fad & companies need to understand how "social media" channels will fit within their business model. When we are focused on the digital medium, simple campaigns have made these same mistakes in the past and also seem to continue doing so.

--> E.g. - Brand wants a summer campaign, they pull in a media agency, their ad agency and possibly either a separate digital hot shop or the ad agency does this / outsources this to their partners. In 90% of the cases too smaller budgets, not enough creative and strategic understanding is taken on of both the short term and long term effects of the site... Will it flow into our next campaign? What happens to the site after for example 8 weeks? Is it on brand? Does it connect 360 degrees with other mediums - TV, Outdoor, print etc... What media or drivers will we use to build hype? If we use social platforms do we need a campaign site or if we use both, what will the objectives of each be and how will we align them? There are so many things to take into account - its a case of having the right people on board & those that understand the medium & have a talent for strategic long term and short term thinking! Personally I have seen few success stories & hope to see more in the future... On top of the above it unfortunately comes down to brilliant interaction between agencies and client - if we don't have that then how the hell do we expect to interact with our consumer!

Once again, good speed to all companies out there trying to tackle this medium but please don't think you can just go into FB & Twitter and all will be fine! You didn't create your own Television commercials did you?

Not to want to slate the "f" word that all people working in the Finnish ecommerce sector will no doubt be familiar  - but they are a prime example of flooding the social channels with content that reflects little understanding of the market and no long strategy.  Recently I've seen many references to their own site masquerading as requests for shopping tips.  As you say social marketing is probably one of those areas that everyone believes they are capable of doing, simply because they are capable of socialising.   Given that they are paraded as the new kid on the block of social shopping - it comes as some what of a surprise they simply don't grasp the finer details of social networking.

Yes Adam - Very true... I guess many brands have been doing the same thing! Using employees to SPAM Facebook, Bebo, Twitter & other online mediums to market their service/product! If it is aligned with a solid strategy it might have some hope of working but if everybody has "free reign" to do what they wish then one has to doubt the abilities of the company implementing it.

The main issue that seems to pop out at me is the lack of long-term thinking... Short-term thinking is easy in marketing in many cases! Get as much traffic to your site or to your idea as possible. But what then?

The question I ask is: What does this traffic then do? How are you going to guide them from arrival to your goal. In the case of "F" the goal is to purchase a product. In another case it might be to get the consumer to enter a competition, sign up for advice, test-drive, register for email.... Simply putting a link somewhere really isn't the brightest of strategies & this has been happening for years with many "clueless agencies" - stick a banner somewhere & click to the homepage = and what then? Did you get ROI?

Once again - its a very difficult task to target your consumers, pull them in, get them to interact in the way you want them too. Very few brands achieve it and some simply have no idea.

Lets hope for the best & hope that companies really understand both their consumer business model and how they intend to reach their consumer in the most cost efficient direct way leading to ROI! if they don't then us marketing folk, strategists, thinkers, concept people & essentially the people who join the dots will be out of a job!

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