Things social media cannot do

Introduction
Social media channels pervade our lives, we use them all the time for networking, socialising, marketing and so on. It’s easy to get drawn into the positive spin that surrounds them. With so much media attention, and with so many advocates (every marketer seems to have the inside info on how to use them to promote your business), it’s easy to see how many business have come to regard social media as the magic bullet for increasing their sales and brand. They have become seduced by the increasingly pervasive influence of social media.

The harsh reality of course is that social media cannot solve every business problem, no matter what the pundits may have you believe. Nor is it a quick fire solution for achieving rapid marketing or business objectives.

Social media should instead be regarded as an enabler to change, rather than the change itself. It is the catalyst for change. It cannot create what does not already exist.

To manage expectations, it is as important to know what social media cannot do, as to know what it can do.

So what sorts of things can social media NOT do:

• Social media cannot replace a marketing strategy
• Social media cannot change the intrinsic appeal or success of your brand
• Social media cannot be a success factor without a realistic level of investment

Social media cannot replace a marketing strategy
Many businesses think that having a Facebook page, a Twitter account or a Youtube channel is social media marketing. Understanding the opportunities within social media, and how your marketing strategy can be executed is what makes for real marketing – not the vehicles themselves.

Without a clear marketing strategy, you are prone to quantifying simple metrics such as number of fans, followers or friends as benchmarks of success. These numbers are often taken without any context, and without any relevance to how they impact on the business.

Social media cannot change the intrinsic appeal or success of your brand
Nothing can save a bad product or service, no matter how much it is dressed up by social media. You still need to have a product or service that adds value to the customer. Unless your brand gives the customer some tangible business benefit, no amount of marketing will save it.

Social media cannot be a success factor without a realistic level of investment
Setting up a Facebook page, a Twitter account or a Youtube channel are inexpensive, and so are often referred to as “earned media”, meaning that they are free or cheap. It’s true, setting up these things is cheap. However, a well developed, integrated, ongoing social media strategy will incorporate a host of tools, technologies, applications, design and so on. You will also probably require monitoring and analysis tools, not to mention the time and effort to maintain all these elements on an ongoing basis.

Summary
Social media is not a silver bullet. It is not the solution by itself. It requires planning, investment and creativity to make it work. You still need to have a valuable service or product. You still require a strategy for marketing that service / product. You still require investment to ensure you can maintain an adequate level of marketing across your chosen social media channels.