Let’s all stop, take a deep breath, and really think about this social networking stuff.

by Erin Haskell

Doesn’t it seem as though the agency crowd is frantically running in one direction toward social media, quite the same the way it did during the dot-com boom? Remember everyone believing the internet was going to change everything about the world as we knew it?

For instance, do you remember online grocery stores? People believed that these would replace traditional stores we visit once or twice a week. Peapod.com had an overly hyped debut (I remember learning about it in college), followed by an overly hyped downturn. Well, surprise – they’re still around. They’re just not the giant that had been originally anticipated.

To be fair, the online space has, in fact, changed the shopping model for a lot of products. It’s changed how we shop for cars, shoes, homes, and deals.  It’s made comparison shopping a breeze.  But it hasn’t necessarily killed brick and mortar the way dot-com experts predicted it would.

So, now are we looking at online media in the same frantic way? “social media,” “web 2.0,” “engagement,” and “conversation” are the new buzzwords being sprinkled into marketing discussions and agency lingo. Things are changing, and the consumer has found a new medium that pulls their attention from other areas in their lives. But is this going to kill every other form of media?  Are television and radio doomed?

Or are marketers blindly following the crowd and getting caught up in the hype? Didn’t your mom tell you that just because everyone’s doing it doesn’t make it right? Isn’t it time we took a step back, evaluated the internet and digital marketing space for what it is, and continued providing our clients with the right solution? 

Strategic marketing in the digital space may be the right solution for the right product in the right online space. But we do more than just digital around here. We look at the whole picture and determine, from there, the right strategy. If it’s not the right fit, we’re not going to force-feed you digital just because that’s what everyone else is doing. And our mothers are so very proud.

Comments

[Keith W.]

The idea of online grocery stores flopped, but that idea led to other things that have killed brick and mortar businesses - like the music store. Very few people buy CD's like they used to. That whole era changed the world, no doubt about it.

TV, Radio, and the local news paper are doomed and have been. You can still reach a big audience with them, but to rely on them like you used to be able to is a bad idea.

Social networking and the other buzz words you mentioned aren't just hype - they're part of the world now.

[Jeff]

I think there is a huge trap with social -- marketers are told they should do it all the time. That seems to be the wrong approach.

It seems to work the best around product releases or seasonal sales cycles.

A shared thought...