The fact is that social media has become what it is because of the people who use it. And the word ‘use’ is meant in a very rigid sense. As long as people seek out mediums to express, share and shout about what’s happening in their lives, social media platforms will thrive. What won’t thrive however is the marketing biased notion that people who use these services/platforms are prime target for milking.

Well said and well written. I think that there is a complete clusterf*ck of marketing going on right now and most of it has to do from the trickle down direction provided by those in power, or leading the company.

I can speak from experience having seen this in many companies I have talked to over the last year. The dialog seems to go something like this:

“owner” – Did you see the article on Tweeter? We’re missing the boat here! It’s free and we can follow thousands of people and blast them with free marketing!

“marketer” – umm… that’s not really the way it works sir/madaam.

“ownere” – sure it is! I read about Dell computers and that they have made $Xmillion this year from social media. We should be doing it too.

“marketer” – sir, there’s alot more that needs to actually go into this kind of a strategy.

“owner” – oh we don’t need a strategy, we’ve hired a social media consultant.

There are 100′s of ways to utilize social media in your overall strategy, but these vary from company to company. Until companies realize that this isn’t the “quick-fix” and that it can do as much harm as good, I think that this is only the beginning.

The examples above is a common fault, trying to simplify Social Media as in “try it and see if it works”. I’d rather say – “Think about how to do it, and then make it work!”.

Have a great Christmas.

Best,
Magnus Lundin – Sweden
http://www.gamsun-media.se