In a semi-recent blog post on the Harvard Business Review, Umair Hacque of the Havas Media Lab lashed out at the social media “bubble.”  He calls social media “relationship inflation” and then proceeds to outline how it cheapens the word relationship and concludes that it promotes three cancers that are eating away at the web.  Now, I am not going to make any claims that Facebook and Twitter are going to save the world, but Hacque’s points are incomplete at best, and flat out wrong at worse.  He ignores potential benefits and heaps blame on social media for aspects of society that exist well outside of it.

First, I would like to tackle his straw man argument.  When he claims that social media is relationship inflation and devalues the word, Hacque is arguing against something that I have rarely heard.  If relationship was a word that was thrown around more in that realm, then he might have a case.  However, relationship is the word that he used in his piece.  Personally, I have never called any of my social media connections a “relationship” and I have never heard anyone that I know refer to their social media relationships either.

Next, let’s take a look at the three cancers that Hacque says social media is creating for the web:

1)  “People invest in low-quality content. Farmville ain’t exactly Casablanca.”

2)  “Attention isn’t allocated efficiently; people discover less what they value than what everyone else likes”

3)  “Most damaging, is the ongoing weakening of the Internet as a force for good.”

The main problem here is that he has some disconnected Utopian view of the internet and remembers the good ole days (pre social media) as being much better than they actually were.  Of course Farmville ain’t Casablanca…NOTHING since Casablanca is Casablanca.  As for the next item, people basing their opinions off others, that would be what we call peer pressure – and I am fairly certain that it predates Twitter.  Finally, the weakening of the internet as a force of good statement is just a load of bull excrement.  From an intellectual standpoint, normal people now have semi-direct access to some of the brightest minds in the country and their thoughts through social media.  Pick a modern day author, philosopher, scientist, etc – odds are that they have some form of a social media presence.  From a social good perspective, one need only look at the Haiti donations that were widely spread through social media links.  Arguing that it is destroying the net as a force for good is using selective evidence.

None of this is to say that Hacque’s points are flat out wrong.  I freely admit that social media has produced a lot of crap, maybe even mostly crap.  But his points are staunchly incomplete.  Not only does he ignore the redeeming qualities and potential of social media, but he also neglects to see it as a reflection of society.  It is imperfect because we are imperfect.  If he thinks it is leading to a dumbing down of the net, does he have any idea how long porn has dominated cyberspace?  He calls social media “a distortion, a caricature of the real thing.”  For better or worse, it is as close to the real thing as you will find.  Many people are willing to open up their true selves more on social media than they will in person.  I challenge Hacque to look a little harder at his complaints and see if they aren’t really his prevailing complaints against people in general.

Hello again.

Submitted for your approval, the following case study:

The companies Rockler and Woodcraft offer an interesting comparison involving Twitter.  Both companies are stalwarts in the woodworking industry, roughly the same size, have similar web sites, and both started tweeting almost a year ago (Rockler began in December 2008,  Woodcraft got started in January of 2009).  However, it is in their Twitter strategies that we see a huge difference.

Woodcraft has used Twitter almost extensively as an advertising component.  Nearly every tweet they put forth is pushing a sale, discount, or product line for emphasis.  They rarely receive any tweets from their followers.

Meanwhile, Rockler has used Twitter as an opportunity to engage its customers and followers.  Roughly 80% of its tweets are NON-COMMERCIAL.  They ask questions of their followers (i.e. what is the best music to put to wordworking?)  and respond to questions or comments that are posed to the company (which occurs many times every day).

The results:  Rockler has more than three times as many followers as Woodcraft (2500-800).

So, what can we take from this?   By being more engaged with the customer and finding ways to keep their tweets interesting, Rockler has developed a much bigger and more involved following.  When they do tweet about their products and/or sales, they are reaching a significantly larger audience and more interested audience than Woodcraft does.  If every message is pushing a product, it is too easy for the followers to dismiss the company’s tweets as spam.

It should be noted that without access to the accounting books, it is impossible to say definitively which company is seeing a bigger return from Twitter.  Yet, it is probably safe to say that any salesperson in the world would take the much larger and more captivated audience over the opposite.

Social media is looking more and more like a viable business model every day, but it is important to never forget the social aspect of it…or your customers might forget you.

-EW

Beacon Technologies’ close relationship with Google often grants us access to many of their education initiatives like the live Google AgencyLand webinars which are open to qualified Adwords companies and their clients. We recently attended one of these team trainings entitled “Five Rules of Consumer Engagement,” taught by Google’s Jim Lecinski and inspired by research conducted amongst Google customers in the Fortune 100. Lecinski asked the group an essential question to set the stage and because his answer will help many of Beacon’s customers, I feel it’s worth sharing. Q: How do you know when your company is ready to tackle the next phase of online engagement?

If you’re like most marketing directors, you’re feeling immense pressure to experiment with whatever hot social media tool everyone is talking about these days whether it’s Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, YouTube, or bebo. And although it’s true your brand shouldn’t fall victim to a trend; before you encourage customers to form an online community geared towards self-expression and entertainment, be sure you’ve mastered the first two phases – Digital Brochureware and Online Sales Channel.

In the mid-90s, companies mostly used their website as a place where potential customers could get more information, almost like an online brochure that made it easier for visitors to know what you have and what you do without having to hunt down a sales representative.

The next iteration of the web happened when companies started enabling their sites with eCommerce functionality, which was the next logical step; they now see what you have, let them buy something from you. A handful of brands led the way like Amazon and eBay and revolutionized online shopping; while others cling to their brick-and-mortar only strategy and have yet to develop an online sales channel. Perhaps their hesitation is due to regulatory reasons, but often it’s the hefty price tag of the necessary software to do it right that many shy away from, which is why Beacon recommends using BeCommerce.NET, our branded version of the AspDotNetStorefront for an eCommerce solution. Completely search engine friendly, BeCommerce.NET provides all the latest features, bells and whistles and integrates nicely with third party software like accounting systems, inventory control systems and in-site search. Depending on the cost of your products and/or services just a few online sales can justify your investment into this type of long term technology.

Lecinski recommends that companies only enter the third phase with social media sites, an initiative he dubbed “Creating a Community for Self-expression and Entertainment,” after they’ve focused on their financial goals first by offering the ease of doing business on the Web. Because no matter how exciting it is to have diverse groups of people engage with your brand and insert it into their daily fodder, you want and/or need to sell something, right?

According to a recent Luxury Vehicle study conducted by Google, customer conversion on the Web was 23 percent more likely if the dealer targeted clientele with pay-per-click (PPC) advertising, i.e. paid placement on search but also utilized the power of boosting organic rankings. I have yet to hear of a Twitter campaign that resulted in that type of sales increase, although any online marketing tactic from email blasts to links into your site from Facebook can be tracked if your site is properly configured for Google Analytics. The lesson here is not to be blinded by the hype so that you replace your paid online advertising budget in your marketing plan with monies for social media efforts. Just have all your “fishing lures” working together and then use Google Analytics to gauge your plan’s total effectiveness based on online conversions, sales and in the case of some of our SEM clients, more foot traffic into stores.

And once you start thinking across sales channels, i.e. using the Web to drive traffic into stores and/or tracking traditional marketing success via vanity URLs, you enter into a league with best-in-class retailers who can access a single view of all customer data whether it comes from eCommerce, stores or call centers – everything is integrated in one database. Having this high level view paints a truer picture of brand engagement which will allow your company the opportunity to segment your multiple channel customers which are often your most valuable consumer group.

So don’t settle for tweets and chatter only, follow steps 1-2-3, focus on the right business decisions first and you’ll reap the financial rewards – contact Beacon to find out more about BeCommerce.NET, Google Analytics, email marketing campaigns and PPC.