Can Social Media work for everyone?

Don’t jump on the bandwagon, remember the bigger picture before embarking on a social media rampage. It’s no longer about because we can, but about finding the right solutions to what was once an ‘impossible dream,’ says Vivid’s Rachel Emson.

Vanity versus Sanity – the social media phenomenon – quick spread the word. So what if social sites have over taken porn as the number one use of the internet? Why do we care? When porn was number one did we all want to create a porn site to flog our products and services?
Everyone asks how can we get into social media, no one is asking why should we use social media. As my mum used to say, would you jump off a bridge because someone else did?

Arguments dominate the domains with who should ‘control social media’ – PR’s, strategists, in house, dedicated social media companies, digital agencies…What’s happened to marketing, integration, return on investment, measurability, accountability and creativity?

In a rush to jump on the social media bandwagon, in a frenzy of tweets, fans and virals, ideas are being shoehorned into fit 60” and 140 words, ads are being thrown up on YouTube and VSS’s (Very Short Sentences) tweeted every five mins.

Social media is not social marketing and it is not a replacement for advertising or design and should not be used as such. The very purpose of social media is to be social, so whilst hard sales pitches are a no-no, what you do get is an opportunity to share more, build knowledge and nurture relationships in a relaxed environment.
But equally social media is not about ‘having a twitter profile’ and telling the world what your CEO had for breakfast or having a page that is never updated or holds content that bores. It’s about adding value.

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