eMarketing Association Blog

I am so mad about social non-marketing

Well, I not really mad, amused maybe, but would like to clarify. Ok, we have all heard it before "social media is for making connections, not for marketing products." Please. President Obama sells his economic and political agenda on Facebook and Twitter, Lady Gaga and Britney Spears sell their concerts, on social channels, Coca-Cola sells well, Coke. Facebook and Linkedin have advertising programs, (good ones), that you can use for display ads. And on and on. Yes the embryonic social media space is fully commercialized. It's as commercial as magazines, television, newspapers, billboards, radio and cocktail napkins, (well the ones with ads on them). So forgeta about a non commercial social media channel. But as Buffalo Springfield would say "something's happening here, what it is ain't exactly clear." So, let's wipe off the windshield and try to make some sense of it.

1. GOOGLE+ JOINS THE FRAY - Expect to see more and more social channels emerge, most will fail (although not Google+), so focus on what has critical mass today. That would be Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and Linkedin. Rule number 1 - Focus.

2. READ YOUR TOC'S - Build a great page, fan base or whatever and then get kicked off the network, by the network. Do you want to run a contest for Facebook Fans, woopsy daisy, read the Facebook TOC's on contests or you may just be out of a contest and a Facebook page. See the article below, if you are promoting via a contest on Facebook: (Rule number 2 - Read and understand the TOC's)

https://www.facebook.com/promotions_guidelines.php

3. SOCIAL MEDIA EXPERTS ARE WRONG - Some of the time. Hey, everybody is (ok, even me). In a media channel moving as fast as Social (25 million+ users on Goggle+ in a month), things are constantly evolving. Rule number 3 - What is right today may be wrong tomorrow.

4. ADVERTISING IS STILL ADVERTISING - No matter what the channel or media, some things never change. You have to grab attention, persuade, and measure in virtually all advertising programs. There are different approaches for Television vs YouTube, but the objective is the same, to sell your brand, service or product. Rule number 4 - the basics of advertising are timeless.

5. YOU HAVE TO HAVE A SOCIAL MARKETING PROGRAM - No you don’t. Especially if you are not willing to devote the time, money and energy necessary to do it well. Rule number 5 - All marketing programs require energy, poor marketing can can be worse than no marketing and actually hurt your product, service or brand.


IF YOU HATE TO READ COMMERCIAL MESSAGES STOP READING NOW.

Enroll in our social marketing course below (one of the most distributed on the Internet), and get an edge on your competition as well as boosting your career. Sign up for our conference in Providence, we will focus on social media and have a great program (ok, you can also get a martini at our welcome reception). Use the promotional code for a 10% discount. (pssst discount code is linkedin). Code expires on August 10TH
REGISTER FOR THE POWER OF EMARKETING CONFERENCE, PROVIDENCE OCTOBER 12TH AND 13TH:

http://www.emarketingassociation.com/2011/PROV/register.html


SIGN UP for SOCIAL MARKETING THE ADVANCED ECOURSE

http://www.emarketingassociation.com/ecourse_social.html

Speakers and panelists' interested in participating in our east coast event should email: reed at eMarketingassociation.com with a bio, photo, speaking experience, area of expertise, and contact information (principals only).


Cheers,

Robert
Robert Fleming

President/CEO
eMarketing Association
www.eMarketingAssociation.com

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