Comments on: In Defense of Social Media

By: Rob Trojarian

Rob Trojarian — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 14:11:51 +0000

What I find off-putting about the whole “social media” movement is that it seems to be trying to turn a tool into an industry. Self-labeled “experts” are trying to make the world believe that what they’re doing is new and unknown. They are passing themselves off as frontiersmen in a landscape that has already been well surveyed.

Social media (channels) are just a new tool for good old fashioned marketing an PR. Could good old fashioned marketing and PR use a make-over? Sure, but it doesn’t require the establishment of some fake new industry.

By: Kåre Garnes

Kåre Garnes — Thu, 03 Sep 2009 08:35:53 +0000

“never really sound impressive to your family (at least not mine).”

that is too funny! And true!

Every industry have pioneers, who work hard and boldly gowhere no man has gone. And with social media, this exploration sometimes turns into a popularity contest and we create “rock stars”. I think it’s in the nature of the industry.

Fortunately there is also a thing called “rock legends” and the legend status is reserved only to those who bring / continue to bring real value.

By: Shannon Paul

Shannon Paul — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:06:26 +0000

I appreciate your 2 cents. :-)

Authority and credibility are the things we’re all struggling for in this business. Sometimes I think I get too hung up on semantics and I know everyone says these things with the best intentions, but at the end of the day I just want to do good work.

By: Shannon Paul

Shannon Paul — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 20:01:16 +0000

Jim,
Thanks for the kind words – I would say very much the same about you, btw. I think you’re right insofar as we will always have rockstars in any industry – those that soar above the rest.

I just resist the implication that people are rockstars because of some sort of berth of talent, or worse: social connection without qualification, rather than hard work. Bringing something totally new to an organization and bridging community relationships with corporate relationships is a difficult balancing act. That’s all.

Sheesh – I thought I was done ranting :-)

By: Shannon Paul

Shannon Paul — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:55:08 +0000

frank,

Thanks for that. Sometimes ROI calculation is just that simple. Other times it’s not. I think it’s always better to tie the value to business goals rather than abstract concepts of “reach” and “talkability” factors when possible.

At our company it’s been very interesting to see the development between SEO and social media – I work with a really great SEO manager and we’ve been able to pinpoint how blog mentions result in our products ranking for new keywords in an organic sense (and the traffic that resulted from this).

I think other things like better opt-in opportunities and better “asks” of visitors to the site are up to other people on the team… to use a volleyball metaphor – social media sets the ball, but you need others there to spike it over the net. Social media won’t save a bad product, but it will fill the funnel with all kinds of great stuff. :-)

By: Shannon Paul

Shannon Paul — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:49:27 +0000

Good because I think Razorfish did a great job on that study and focused on a lot finding meaning in the data. I hope you find it useful, too. :-)

By: Shannon Paul

Shannon Paul — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:48:23 +0000

Hey thanks, Stacy. :-)

By: Shannon Paul

Shannon Paul — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 19:47:11 +0000

I disagree that social media isn’t really new or valuable. It’s still new to most businesses and it’s value is only beginning to surface – there’s a lot of ground left to cover.

By: Junyor + Friends » Social Media is Very Important

Junyor + Friends » Social Media is Very Important — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 18:17:44 +0000

[...] is Very Important August 31st, 2009 Leave a comment Go to comments Great post by Shannon Paul, In Defense of Social Media. Excerpt [...]

By: Chris stocker

Chris stocker — Mon, 31 Aug 2009 16:45:35 +0000

I agree with Jim that there will always be rockstars but from my short time being involved in social media the rockstars here love to share and give help which gives us all the opportunity to get to that level. In some way we are all rockstars to someone else.