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This Week’s Launching Point:
* Half of Americans think Facebook is a passing fad. — AP / CNBC Poll
* 34% of Americans spend less time on Facebook than they did a yearago. — Ipsos
* 80% have never bought a product or service based on an ad or comment on Facebook, and only 12% feel comfortable doing so. — Ipsos.
Social media is for conversations, not revenue. It’s for some customer service, not sales. Social media provides a forum for your unhappiest customers to share their displeasure with others. You should be on social media, but you shouldn’t be investing seriously in it. Social media is a great place to listen and learn. Social media is fine to use, but somewhere towards the middle-bottom of the list of available marketing platforms, in terms of new sales effectiveness. Be on social media. But don’t expect to generate new revenue as a result of your investment in social media.
Mashable ran my column about this on Friday. It’s read by more than 20 million social media types monthly (which is probably why the editors asked me to write it). It’s no surprise that they don’t love my positions. But the CEOs, GMs, CMOs and VPs who I advise sure do. I estimate I’ve helped redirect millions of dollars of marketing budget from social media to more powerful platforms that have produced tens of millions of new revenue. Those results are more than enough for me!