Will the Bad Economy Kill Social Media?
A healthy economy affects more than just your pocketbook, it affects businesses’ abilities to focus on projects that might not have a positive ROI during the short-run.
Is social media going to be one of the casualties of the current slow economy? That’s a possibility, given that during slow-growth periods, most corporations look for places to trim budgets. The first to get hit are the training budgets. The second to get hit are the travel budgets. And the third to get hit are the marketing budgets.
If a corporation decides to trim its marketing budget by, say, 10%, the first thing a marketing director does is to look at the hard-to-measure initiatives. (Please note, just because something is hard-to-measure doesn’t mean it’s not important. It just means it’s hard-to-measure.)
So put yourself in a marketing director’s shoes. (If you’re reading this, you probably are in a marketing director’s shoes.) If your CEO asked you to trim your budget, do you cut the highly-measurable direct mail program? No. Do you cut the highly-measurable paid search program? Nope. Do you cut the not-so-highly-measurable social media program? Hmmmm. Now yer talkin’.
This is not a slam at social media. Nor is it a suggestion to cut spending in social media. It’s just a way to encourage the social media gurus out there to continue their efforts at building systems and programs that do an even better job of measuring the impact of social media programs.
Yes, yes, we know. You can measure social media’s impact. But it’s not yet as measurable as, say, a banner ad campaign or a direct response TV campaign.
So, have at it social media experts. If you believe social media is already as measurable as, for example, direct response, then send us a comment. Or, better still, write an article or video script for The 60 Second Marketer.
Alternatively, you could continue your work on developing programs that measure social media campaigns in a more specific, tangible way.
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Great question…but I think more and more people are turning to their social networks for help during these tough times. We are using social media to complain, get advice, seek understanding and to stand up for what we believe in.
Social media is just one aspect of marketing and it can be a bit less expensive than other traditional forms of marketing if done strategically and consistently. Social Media’s niche targeting nature is way better than the old spray and pray mentality.
I think we would be remiss to simply dismiss this medium due to budget constraints. Now more than ever – marketing tactics will be what differentiates us when we get through this economic trouble. It will be the difference between walking and running out of the gate.
My company and I will be the ones running.
Thanks for your comment, Beverly. Funny story — I just used Twitter in exactly the way you mentioned. I was trying to figure out why some people start Tweets with “RT” and also what “WOOT” stands for. What did I do? I Tweeted about it.
Still waiting for a response. Just Tweeted a few minutes ago. But your point is well-taken and I’m proof-in-the-pudding that people use social media sometimes to get advice and information.
Like Beverly says, social media is very inexpensive. Through the use of blogs, twitter and web-sites, organizations can market so many things. Everyone is finding more and more information online through the use of conversations (i.e. Twitter).
However, because we cannot measure social media, some people see it useless. Thankfully, my job doesn’t.
p.s. i found this blog through twitter :-)
No, it’ll make it better. Useless conversations that have some nebulous benefit to something called ‘the brand’ are going to get needed scrutiny during this economic downturn, just like any other company expense line that’s defended with the retort “we just have to do it.” Well, no you don’t, and it’s a good challenge to marketers: make it matter.
That doesn’t mean turn everything into a sales promotion, but it does mean that we need better models for WHY we initiate social media programs, WHAT they’re supposed to accomplish, and HOW we’re going to measure them. The last thing businesses need today are terribly successful campaigns that matter only to those people smart or creative enough to appreciate them.
I know it’s practically anathema to even suggest it, but the bad economy is a good reminder that the only metric that really matters, in the end, is…gasp…sales. This doesn’t have to be bad news for social media experimenters; in fact, it might be a great call to action for those who want to make a difference.
Jonathan’s comment that a slow economy doesn’t have to be bad news for social media is exactly right — a slow economy will simply force social media practitioners to be sure that metrics are attached to their techniques.
For our readers who don’t know, Jonathan is the author of a witty, irreverent and insightful book called “Branding Only Works on Cattle.” It’s definitely worth checking out, if you haven’t done so already.