Before too long, social media will be viewed as just another channel in the marketing promotions mix.
Actually, I’ve been saying that for a long time, but it keeps coming up in conversation.
I was having lunch with a longtime friend and colleague of mine (across three companies) discussing her new startup, and I was outlining her marketing program. She said, “What about social media?” To which my response was, “What about it?”
Don’t get me wrong – social media has value as a promotions channel. But I think many of us are coming around to the idea that it’s another channel, and unless you have relatively high levels of funding and resources, it’s not the channel with the highest ROI. In fact, it’s arguable that the ROI of social media is nearly impossible to measure or determine, and it certainly uses resources – time, effort, money, technology. So as a marketer, you’re faced with the classic management problem of allocating scarce resources across a large number of options.
And by the way, when I say “promotions channel,” I’m not talking about push marketing. What I’m talking about is the 3rd “P” of marketing – promotion. Even if you’re doing pull marketing via social media, you’re still doing promotion – it’s just a different methodology.
John’s the founder of Audacity Marketing. When he’s not racing motorcycles, he’s building marketing strategies for Audacity clients and anyone else who’ll listen.
John’s worn all the marketing hats, from consultant to agency owner to executive to university professor. He’s held leadership roles in industries from staffing to behavioral health to capital-C consulting. He’s branded or rebranded over 100 companies.
John buttresses 25+ years in marketing with an MBA from Georgia State University.
John lives with his girlfriend Suzanne, his dog Seamus, and his daughter Annie when she shows up from college.