Is the social media honeymoon over?

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Permalink Reply by Dave Morse on August 19, 2009 at 1:53pm

I agree that the honeymoon period might be over, but I think we still have on rose-colored glasses! (You know in relationships, when farts are still funny :-)

I think mass adoption of social media will really take hold once companies begin to have the proper perspective on it ... as in, it's not something that can stand alone (without being integrated into your other traditional tactics) or, stated another way, that it's part of a larger "inbound marketing" strategy that involves permission-based tactics that leverage online technologies to draw/attract people to you with information (vs. "outbound" strategies that involve interrupting you to gain awareness). I love viewing social media in the higher-level context of inbound vs. outbound.

If a client had 100k budget to "do social media", I would spend 50k on producing great content (that my target personas are seeking to improve their work/personal lives, not self-centered promotions) + 50k on salary for an online social bunny/advocate to spread the content. Ok, probably some other things too, but you get the point. (Red Bull anyone?)

In social media channels, if you don't have good content then you're just networking. Alternatively, if you have great content without conversation/engagement, it's just dead content.

Read this article - I love it: "Social Media Experts Don't Understand Social Media"

Duncan's a good fire starter, eh? :)

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Permalink Reply by Fred Bingle on October 14, 2009 at 9:57pm

No way. This is just beginning. Look for even more ways to use social media, especially Twitter and Facebook pages.

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Permalink Reply by Marty Thompson on October 22, 2009 at 9:43am

It will continue to change, just as all new "latest and greatest" technologies do that supposedly change forever how we communicate. With a $1 billion market "value", Twitter will probably be bought by Google (who else can afford them now?), and then we'll see ads start moving into the technology.
And I am hearing from old Bay area colleagues that folks who Twitter in public are sometimes getting rude stares and boos.
Makes you wonder what is next?

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Permalink Reply by Collin Obremski on October 26, 2009 at 5:17pm

Nah. I think the commercialization of it will continue to change it. For example, Twitter will eventually monetize by requiring business users to pay. However, as social media becomes more mainstream, it will lose its grassroots edge. More and more people will sell "services" to companies to get them on the social networking sites. Thus, the market will be completely flooded with corporate self-promotion. With this, the "personal" feel will be gone and will lead to more social media segmentation.

The honeymoon will be over as soon as people stop turning to Twitter and Facebook for interpersonal and relational connections. Then something else will crop up and will be powerful until saturated by the corporate market.

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