Social Media Marketing Ain’t Always “Cheap”
Alright, so one of the weird little misconceptions I’ve been dealing with for a while now is the belief that social media marketing is, well, how do I say this? “Cheap.”
It’s an opinion often held by marketers, communicators, executives, and the like, many of whom have clicked on the pony-tailed chief’s ‘DIY’ blog and the clever, professionally underproduced video on YouTube and the messy, yet oddly functional fan page on Facebook, and because of this, have formed an opinion of what social media marketing is, how it’s done, and ultimately what it must cost.
And really, can you blame them?
These folks are simply making a calculation of value based on the tangible merit of what’s being presented to them — with very little insight, understanding or weight placed on the effort required to really bring these projects to life, let alone what it takes to keep them going and make them truly successful.
Of course, to complicate things, there’s a near endless parade of free online tools and services that are surfacing every month, each in their own way perpetuating the “man-this-stuff-is-cheap” mentality as their own hype cycles crest (cough, FriendFeed) and later crash.
Lastly, and most importantly, I think there’s a tendency in ROI conversations to over indulge in hard numbers sans consideration for all the underlying soft costs of social media projects. And by “soft costs” what I’m really getting at are the *absurdly high* time and attention investments that typically come with these projects and what are the unique shared scars among many a social media practitioner. If you’ve ever administered a blog or a community of sorts, you’ll know what I mean, nuff said.
Sadly, time and attention factors are often overlooked and greatly underestimated in most marketers’ understanding and appreciation of these projects.
Now, does this mean social media work can’t be done on the cheap? Nah, of course not. You go right ahead and create your corporate Blogger account and your executive’s MySpace page and that barely-discernible-but-kinda-indie looking mobile video of your company event;)
Kidding aside, just remember that free is never really free. That time’s an investment too. And that social media marketing requires a lot of it and because of this, “cheap” investments could end up costing you a bundle if you’re not clear about what you’re buying.
6 Comments, Comment or Ping
John Hardesty
Good stuff. That is painfully accurate and guys close to home! This is a huge perception about social media tools and unless you really just like to teach for fun you need to help clients understand the value and big picture.
Great post!
Jun 24th, 2008
Jan Riley
I totally agree
the time and energy it takes to work with social media is staggering
It makes a “high maintenance relationship” pale in comparison.
There is alot of value in social media because of it’s ability to create relationships, however - people forget that it IS a relationship - and they take work.
My solution for those who question my monthly bills - how many face to face - sit down conversations have you had with every person in your family this week? Now multiply that by a hundred! That is what we are doing for your business.
great post and obviously close to home!
Jun 24th, 2008
Chris Crum
You’re right. I think a lot of people are under the impression that they can just create a MySpace page for their company and it’s going to help their cause. It’s only going to do so if enough time is put into it and effort is made to contribute to conversations and accumulate “friends” and network with others.
And then there’s the time it takes to set up a blog, give a page a professional-looking design, etc., etc., etc. Time is money, but that’s certainly not to say that it can’t pay off.
Jun 24th, 2008
Justin Kistner
Spot on, Mike. I think much of this misconception is informed from the experience people have with advertising. They think because there is no media to buy, that is should be much cheaper. What they aren’t taking into consideration is that while there is no media to buy, as you put it there is “*absurdly high* time and attention investments that typically come with these projects”. I can see John and Jan are also underscoring this point.
Extending what Chris said above, ironically, most companies think they can make a MySpace page for free, but the truth is that the TOS from MySpace says commercial profiles must be purchased.
It would be great if our industry had an organization that would help educate the market about these issues. I know there are some trying to fill that role, but none that appear to be winning to me.
Jun 24th, 2008
Robert French
Love reading this. Affirmation, of sorts, for what I feel daily. From class student blogs to their clients - and mine … time, that’s the greatest expense. Time ain’t cheap.
Developing that understanding and appreciation in clients, and students, is a difficult task, sometimes. The greatest obstacle may well be creating a full appreciation for what “may be” at the end of the long process. It is the “may be” part that is hard for them to visualize and tends to block the buy in and willingness to participate by contributing content.
Jul 2nd, 2008
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