Why Internet Marketers Have Been Slow to Embrace Social Media Marketing

I'll be the first to admit it: I don't particularly like social media. Even after setting up dozens of Twitter feeds, Facebook pages, Google+ Local and Business pages, Pinterest accounts, and various other social profiles, I don't do much tweeting or sharing myself. With how popular social media is, with nearly everyone having at least a Facebook account, why do so few marketers love it? I think the biggest reason that marketing departments and managers fail to realize the potential value of social media marketing is that it seems like more of a distraction than anything else.

• With PPC marketing, bidding on a cheap keyword with a high conversion rate results in immediate cashflow for a business.
• With search engine optimization, working on short and long tail keywords over weeks, months, or years has a measurable impact on brand awareness, traffic, and visibility.
• With email marketing, people receive marketing messages that they have opted into, and companies are given explicit permission to send them offers and news.

But with social media, what can really be accomplished with just 140 characters or a Facebook post that drops down someone's news feed in about 5 minutes? For too many marketers, the answer to these questions is a simple “not much.” After all, why bother putting extensive resources into social media marketing when it decays so quickly? Even paid Facebook or LinkedIn ads need to be refreshed weekly to avoid ad fatigue. Thus, marketers may find that social media just complicates things. They may set up a company page where all of their latest blogs and news show up, but they don't spend too much time promoting that feed or engaging with followers or other users. “Set it and forget it” is the attitude of many marketers towards their social media promotion. What these marketing professionals need to realize is that social networks were not set up for them to promote their companies and products to people. Instead, they were designed to allow people to share information, follow people and brands they identify with, join groups with shared hobbies and interests, and converse with friends, family, and professional connections. Direct marketing serves almost no purpose for the average user of social media, who is more interested in entertainment, education, and connection. Therefore, entertaining, educating, and connecting with people needs to be the focus with social marketing. Email, PPC, and landing pages for SEO can better be used for pushing hard sales, while blogs and social networking should be about engaging in conversation and soft sales. For many companies, it may even be better to limit their social media exposure to just one or two outlets. Rather than focusing on all of the different types of social sites, just set up a Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, or a different handful of sites and create marketing plans that will utilize those channels. Set and forget for dozens of profiles becomes plan and execute on a limited number of accounts. Over the long term, this should result in better targeting of advertising, as well as an easier way to measure success.