Comments on: Priorities: Curing Social Media Overload

By: Brooke

Brooke — Thu, 01 Mar 2012 00:57:49 +0000

To my generation (current PR students), social media is such a no-brainer that it seems to form the meat and potatoes of just about any strategic communication plan but I like the way you talk about prioritizing here, John, because we really should be more judicious about which social media platforms we are using. This isn’t to say one or two given sites are uniformly better than others (although I’m sure there are some that would say exactly this), but we need to think clearly and be strategic in our social media participation. Having your client represented on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Tumblr, and every other social media site out there doesn’t guarantee success in the slightest—and followers don’t necessarily translate to objectives being met. Just like a smith, we cannot effectively keep track of our brand when we have too many irons in the fire. Whether it’s just being ineffective because we are not engaged often enough (as in the Twitter-sphere), or reputation-damaging because we miss an inflammatory comment on the far reaches of MySpace (is anyone even there anymore?), the reality is that social media marketing has the potential to hurt more than it helps.

That being said, it’s clear that online presence is essential, and it’s not enough to just have a website anymore. Companies and organizations DO need to be engaged in social media in order to connect with their various publics, and steer them towards their website, product, or desired outcome. So, it becomes our job as PR professionals to cautiously discriminate, to make calculated recommendations on social media involvement to our clients, to help teach them how to use the selected platforms, and how to do so efficaciously. After all, just because anyone these days can use Facebook doesn’t mean that they do it well.

By: John Boitnott

John Boitnott — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 23:21:07 +0000

Happy to help Nicole!

By: Nicole

Nicole — Tue, 21 Feb 2012 22:37:45 +0000

This article was great. I am constantly feeling overwhelmed by social media and everything that goes along with it. I had to follow a social media/PR blog for a class I’m taking, and came across this which I found not only interesting, but very helpful and calming. I am new to Pintrest and enjoy finding out more about it. The way you describe setting your priorities and evaluating results helped me “set up for success,” (so to speak) and calmed my nerves about taking on such an overwhelming subject!

By: John Boitnott

John Boitnott — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:28:21 +0000

Thanks Joey. To answer your question, I would say that there is indeed saturation, but when that starts to occur for a person, segmentation occurs. Meaning, when somebody gets sick of all the noise… they filter.

To this point, if a marketing staffer with a clothing company, who has traditionally relied on Facebook, Tumblr and StumbleUpon, starts to see significant referrals from Pinterest, she makes the time for the new avenue of revenue. If saturation occurs, that’s when she makes the case for scaling the operation and she makes sure she can explain why and how to whomever holds the purse strings.

By: Joey Lee

Joey Lee — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 22:07:10 +0000

Great article by the way, John!