According to Mashable 2012 was "the year we exhaust social media." Or should it have been 2013!
Well it doesn't seem to have happened in 2014 so maybe in 2015???
I don't think that social media is dead ("deceased, no more" as in Monty Python) but as Mashable say, we are exhausted. Social/digital Exhaustion could become next year's catch phrase.
People finally realise that connecting or following, being followed (as a numbers game) or liking is meaningless unless there some purpose and some result. (See Twitter is For Losers)
I think the light bulb moment happens when you employ people and they appear to be playing on social media (while you are paying them to do so).
Now I don't deny the benefits of being open, pursuing random connections and so on. I love it. BUT we must not confuse activity (=wheel spin?) with business.
I am not the social media guru (see my ironically titled e-book I am not a Social Media Guru) but we have noticed that many of our clients have become fixated with activity and almost irrelevant vanity metrics when they need to get back to basics...
So reflecting about the state of play...
On the one hand, we have the social media zealots grabbing at the next new best thing universal antidote.
On the other hand, we have the incredibly lazy marketing habits of the old school agencies (see Why Marketing is a load of B******s!) simply spending more in a naive attempt to interrupt and buy people's attention.
What we do know...
What I do know is that there is:
- just too much noise and it is turning off a lot of people
- just too much "me-too" follower behaviour (buyers and sellers)
- not enough common sense engagement and connection
- a brilliant system (fast, quick, vast, cheap) to reach out and find and explore and share with others.
- tons of opportunity if you can just navigate your way through it all
- not enough time to do it all so a need for clear guidelines, prioritisation and time management!!!
But all of the above is obvious!!!
Or is Social Media just a red herring?
To be honest, I am starting to feel that the problem is actually not so much about Social Media and is more about about THE MESSAGE. Your message. (The channel/platform debate may actually be a red herring.):
- What exactly are you saying that is interesting?
- Is it compelling?
- Is it worthy of attention?
- Is it clear and helping other to understand what you do?
- And how can you help?
All the talk is about how you communicate and what works . (Maybe that's simpler than dealing with the basic "Why should people bother to buy from you?" question!)
But if the message is broken (and let's be honest, most are) then you are simply wasting your time.
See 2012 - The Year That Social Media Became Exhausted
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