Marketers are used to paying for the time or space to put their message in front of people. It's the way they've worked with media for more than 100 years. When public relations came about some 85 - 90 years ago, a new wrinkle was added where marketers could get their message out there.
The soaring popularity of social media has opened new opportunities for marketers, but it also calls for some new rules.
Ads in mainstream media are recognized as ads, and consumers have the choice of turningthe page, changing the channel or zapping past it with the DVR. Marketers don't need to ask our permission to place an ad, since we have those choices.
But social media is a much more personal platform. It's not a place that easily welcomes blatant or unwanted marketing messages. Tim Kopp, writing last week in Adweek, suggests marketers ask before they hit Facebook and Twitter users with marketing posts and tweets. I heartily agree. It's hardly rocket science or new media technology -- it should be plain old common sense.
Why, then, are some p.r. firms and marketing departments planting intrusive marketing messages on social media platforms? Is this their way of responding to clients' or bosses' demands to get involved with social networking?
If so, it's the lazy way. It's also the wrong way. Rather than get their message out to targeted consumers, they run the risk of aggravating and alienating people. I know of one agency that has its people surf the web and, posing as regular readers rather than representatives of a their client, place comments on blogs touting the marketer's products. It's risky and wrong behavior -- risky, because the blogger can really blast the product and/or the agency if he or she discovers that the commenter is being paid to promote that product. I've seen it happen.
I was at a conference of travel bloggers last week (TBEX - The Travel Bloggers Exchange) and they spoke about dealing with unwanted marketing commenters. Some said they regularly share names of marketers who abuse social networks, so peers can "out" them or put them on their spam comment lists.
Adweek refers to a recent study that shows that 70 percent of people who may have "liked" a company don't feel they've given permission to that company to begin sending marketing messages to them via Facebook. In fact, 40 percent of those Facebook users feel marketers should be in social networks at all.
There are ways that marketers can effectively participate in social media, but they all revolve around having the common courtesy to ask permission. The Adweek story suggests three steps to get started.
* Create an online customer preference center, where people can specify how they'd like to hear from you.
* Get personal. Make communications as personal as possible, rather than obvious mass email blasts.
I'll add a third item to the list. Know your social media targets. Read their blogs or follow their Twitter stream, so you see what they're writing and talking about. And don't just jump in with blatant marketing messages. Try posting some comments that are relevant and informational.
It's a very time-consuming task, but it's the right and most effective way to reach out via social media. If you or your agency can't afford the time and patience to do it right, then perhaps you just shouldn't be trying to use the social networking space for marketing messages.
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