I was flipping through Twitter today and one of my followers @BethHarte retweeted a blog entry from Susan Etlinger of Brass Tacks. The point of her blog was a recap of Why Social Media Marketing Fails (and How to Fix It) at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. Her recap of why companies need to integrate social media into company cultures, what can be marketed (Can anything be effectively marketed within social media?) And what should be measured and what should it be measured against. Each day I read about company trying to do all of these things or shall I say reacting to how its employees or customers are using social media.
This blog is full of examples of what companies are doing with social media but when it all comes down to it…
It was a great recap, and I thank Susan for sharing it. I think a lot of people get caught up in the mania of social media and think of it as a cure all, but social media networks, communities, users, and applications are just tools like the fax machine and email before them. Once we all (i. e. marketers and communicators) learn to integrate these tools into marketing plans, customer service plans, etc. we’ll all be onto the next latest and greatest tool. But in the meantime, how we use the tools we have to promote our companies and its products is the fun part.
Until next time, Tim
