I don’t really like the term web 2.0 or marketing 2.0. It versions something that is simply evolving. Does a child become human 2.0 when they reach being a teenager. I don’t think so, and that’s coming from a human 3.8.
Anyway, I came across a great Blog post by Scot of Birddog about a B2B ‘entrepreneur’ dismissing social marketing online and I had to laugh. Not only at Scot’s engaging writing style (I like it a lot – even the tone and the fruity language), but at the idiocy of an entrepreneur for dismissing certain routes of marketing that have evolved, thanks to the web.
Okay, so social media marketing is new, it’s different. And, a lot of people (especially marketers and business owners) are struggling with the concept that you can’t shout any more. It’s not a new concept though. Seth Godin’s been talking about Permission Marketing for ten years now and I am sure there were people before that. Interruption marketing and advertising just doesn’t deliver what it used to.
I can only guess that the same people who have problems with the evolution now are similar to the people who had problems when TV came along?
Technology – The Game Changer
Technology has changed so much about interaction and business in general. Ask my mum, and she’ll tell you how bad that is: That ‘we don’t interact with each other like we used to’. I tell her how I had a conversation with someone in Canada today via video conferencing and how I have actually done business on the ‘waste of time’ that Twitter and Facebook is.
Every business needs to adapt to technology especially as people have more control than ever to do things themselves. Ask my Accountant.
Marketing What?
In defence of the Entrepreneur in the post, I can only guess that he must have been in the meeting because he is successful with, or without, marketing. Some people get along just fine without actively creating marketing campaigns and brands, so who am I to question?
Twist that on it’s head and this is where social marketing becomes a bit of a ball-ache for me in terms of activity – There must a business model behind the marketing.
Many CEOs and Entrepreneurs (and I used the term lightly) on Twitter are typing in their bedrooms creating small revenues if they are lucky – it’s kind of obvious. The more someone shouts about their entrepreneurial prowess, the more I tend to doubt them. They are marketing when they have nothing of value to sell. What’s more, it’s in a very crowded and noisy space – ‘Social’ media marketing is becoming like interruption marketing – an advertising medium. With one exception – the punter can switch you off in a click.
We all need to start somewhere, I know that myself, But, to leverage social marketing to actually grow revenue (and I’m not talking about some get rich quick scheme that has worked for one person and doesn’t for everyone else that ‘buys’ into it) – that is the trick. To market and to sell your business proposition without pissing people off – it’s a fine balance.
[As I am writing this, my email has pinged to tell me Adstand is now following me on Twitter - thanks for backing up my argument and no I won't be following you back.]
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If you have a chance read Iggy Pop’s response to the question ‘Do you twitter’ in June’s ‘The Word’ magazine… genius. What is the point of people with nothing to say broadcasting it in small spurts… come to think of it, IT IS technological masturbation at it’s most pointless, and the people reading it, are effectively mopping it up like human kleenex. What’s wrong with us humans2.0?