Fine Print

Ran across this post by Jason Baer (hat tip: Larissa Fair). Apart from the always-useful “scowling Pulp Fiction-style monkey with a gun” photo, Baer dissects some misconceptions that people have about social media, how to do it and what can be achieved.

To save space, I’ll just list his top six picks (all FALSE in Baer’s opinion) and answer on my own.

1. Social Media is Inexpensive — FALSE
2. Social Media is Fast — TRUE
3. Social Media is “Viral Marketing” — FALSE
4. Social Media results can’t be measured — TRUE
5. Social Media is Optional — FALSE
6. Social media is Hard — FALSE

For (2) I would argue that, depending on how niche the community is that you’re trying to engage, good results can be achieved in days, if not hours. For (4) I would argue that (not from a technical, software-monitoring option) social media results can’t really be measured. Baer does concede that to a point: “Can those results be tied back directly to sales, and therefore ROI? Probably not yet …” [I still prefer the term ROE — Return On Engagement.]

I think that the dangerous part of social media is that it is becoming a catch-all phrase; something that people who don’t really understand it think that it can guarantee results, cheaply, without much effort and because … well … “everyone else is doing it, right?”

~ John Carson, Senior Digital Media Specialist, GCI Canada