The tooth
fairy is great. Give her a tooth and she leaves you money.
It is that simple.
Perhaps we
can place partial blame on her for proliferating the concept that
there is easy way to achieve a return on investment. This is especially true for marketers who
believe the magic of social media will lead to fantastic ROI. In a keynote presentation
at the 2014 European AdvertisingWeek Conference, Bob Hoffman said it’s time to
end this supernatural thinking.
Mr. Hoffman
has 40 years of experience in directing advertising campaigns for some of the
biggest companies in the world. His work, as well as his reputation for provocative
thinking, has made him a popular speaker at advertising and marketing
conferences. Remarks from his keynote address at the European event have made
quite a splash. Here’s why: Bob believes
self-proclaimed marketing experts have perfected the art of bulls**t and are
using it widely when it comes to discussions about the power of the Internet and new
technologies.
Intrigued by his thinking, I viewed Hoffman’s keynote
speech, “The Golden Age of Bullshit”. Here’s my summary of the “myths” (his word choice was much bolder) that many
in the marketing trade are trying to sell you:
·
Myth One:
Interactive is making other methods for reaching your targets obsolete.
Pepsi lost big time on this theory. In 2010 the
company cancelled all of its television advertising to bet on the power of
social media. This effort got the company 3.5 million Facebook likes. Sounds
impressive, but that was also the year the company actually lost 5% in market
share.
·
Myth Two:
If you harness the power of social media you won’t need to pay to advertise
your brand.
According to Hoffman, the theory that people want
to engage in online conversations with brands is an “infantile fantasy.” In
reality, the hundreds of millions of social media users are interested in
interacting with each other—not with your brand or mine. And about those
“hundreds of millions of users”….Hoffman cites this data: 62% of traffic on the
Internet is spammers, bots and other impersonators—not human beings. That means
that only 38% of traffic on your website or social media platforms comes from a
living, breathing human who may be interested in your product or service.
·
Myth
Three: The fact that more people are using
digital media is de facto proof that digital is great for advertising.
Hoffman asks us to think back to the old-fashioned
telephone. It was a revolutionary piece of technology; but just because people
flocked to it in droves to communicate with each other didn’t make it a good
advertising medium. Contrary to the hype you hear, the idea that your business
or organization’s social media friends are going to open up a whole new world
of customers or clients for your service or product via social media is merely
your ego talking. Research continues to show that much like the way we use(d)
the telephone, people use the Internet to share information about themselves
with others.
During a
lively question and answer session after his keynote, Mr. Hoffman said he is
not down on social media. Quite the
contrary. Social media has its place, it just doesn’t belong on a pedestal.
I
agree. In a recent blog post, Jeff Fromm, president of FutureCast and a
contributor to Forbes, says that “awareness and regard alone will
not correlate in any way to extra-ordinary and sustainable financial
performance.” Social media marketing
isn’t a strategy. It is a tool. And whether you are selling widgets or
providing services, integrated marketing strategies that may or may not include
social media will drive performance.
While they
may seem magical, new technologies and related social media are like shiny
objects. Random acts of chasing them won’t get you much. Not even a dollar bill
under your pillow.
