Comments on: Analyst: Half of 'social media campaigns' will flop

New research from Gartner, to be presented later this month, encourages marketers and businesses to approach social media with caution because it's just so easy to screw up.

[lmclucas]

Social media will need to reinvent itself with a lot less "game" and a lot more productivity/efficiency if it wants a second life in the B2B and over-40 markets. (Think first person shooter instead of role play and leave the avatars as an option for those with the time and inclination to fiddle.) As a consumer, the ability to walk through a virtual store and see/compare/choose items from shelves or racks rather than having to filter through hundreds of narrative search results has appeal, but not if I have to do it with someone else's naked avatar pestering me the entire time. Ditto for business use. As a host, the ability to rent space on Second Life for a business meeting or presentation was very appealing and promised a user experience with far more interest and utility than the typical online meeting service, but getting there was way too complicated for the average invitee, some of whom are just now getting the hang of email. The potential is still there, it just needs to be appropriately exploited for a more mature market.

[jgiovannetti]

"The social network is 'more for the community than it is for the bottom line.'"

For some reason this is the hardest fact for some companies to wrap their heads around.

[davekerpen]

I agree. But with great community will come a great bottom line.
If you build it, they will come. :)

[AxelSchultze]

Pattern No.1: Fear, uncertainty and doubt
That is the marketing method of the 80's still seen here. "Half of social media campaigns will flop" or did you read the other "Analyst" recently: Why communities will fail?
Pattern No. 2: Win the reader by talking about effectiveness, ROI and profitability.
So social media is now about ROI and...
Pattern No.3: Visit my seminar, buy my research, take my service - but don't do anything right now.
Well, yes, if you are afraid of a conversation with your customer. Stop working, fire your employees, close your shop, discuss it with your lawyer and psychiatrist and then come back.

Well did it ever occurred to you that YOUR buying process is already fundamentally based on social media. YOU read blogs, forums and educate yourself in the "SOCIAL WEB". To be part of this is NO rocket science. You will make mistakes but your COMMUNITY will tell you - and they will tell you straight and clear what they expect from you. At the end all these warnings feel like "DO NOT TALK TO YOUR CUSTOMER - YOU MAY SAY SOMETHING WRONG".

Give me a break

Axel

[davekerpen]

I agree. But with great community will come a great bottom line.
If you build it, they will come. :)

[CaptainChunk]

It is a tough sell for sure. Companies are very concerned about ROI, but I think the benefits of having a community can be hard to see for some companies. Often times you have a built in beta testing group or dedicated customers that can help you make product choices. I do agree there is more to it than just ROI, but right now it is still hard to figure out what that other component is.

Brian
http://www.konnects.com

[DigitalNick]

A social media campaign will always be considered a failure if a Fortune 1000 company views it's success in traditional marketing/ROI terms. Social media is about conversation and engagement; rather than how much did I generate at the box office. I'm interested in seeing what those companies considered a failure and a success. That 50 percent stat is not surprising if most of them fail to realize that the campaign should focus on the relationships, not the revenues.

http://twitter.com/TheDigitalDeep

[JasonFalls]

I not only agree with Sarner's assertions, but have seen them first hand. But it's not only because companies will rush into things not knowing what it truly means or takes to be involved in social media, it's because they don't understand that community interaction, growth and measurable ROI take time. Social media (which is one part of the greater communications and marketing mix, not some savior thing that will turn your business around) is an investment in time and people - namely your customers - which means it will not turn your profits from Quarter 1 to Quarter 3 or 4. It's one part of a greater marketing strategy that, over time, makes your product or service more top of mind and meaningful to your audience.

Fortune 1000 companies will never fully embrace social media well (for the most part) because the average tenure of a chief marketing officer is 23 months ... just a touch longer than you need to wait to see some sustainable growth in a social media campaign.

I've written a social media strategy for a Fortune 100 company. They canned it after three months. THREE MONTHS. Why? Because the corresponding advertisements didn't test well with a sample group.

So long as traditional marketing measures and safeguards are used to gauge new media and marketing efforts, all you'll see is FAIL, FAIL, FAIL.

The problem with companies doing social media badly is they are not asking enough questions on the front end and not asking the right questions on the back end.

[ahoving]

it needs to be a brilliant, delightful collaboration among all parties

[deingalls]

Social Media as a marketing platform is still emerging. Few companies or agencies fully understand what its true purpose is. You get lots of people arguing about ROI as it directly relates to sales. Well that certainly can be a bi-product of utilizing Social Media, but it should not be the sole purpose. Its all about building Brand awareness through positive social communications. Its the same thing that goes on everyday with a dialog between sales people and clients . Its about creating a transparency between the brand and the viewing public. If a brand cannot produce content that demonstrates value and positive customer experience they are dealing with the wrong agency or listening to the wrong people.

First and foremost do not try to be something your not. Its about sharing information and creating honest dialog between brand and consumer, and can take form in many different mediums that reside on your Social Media site.

Second developing a Social Media objective is not a short term solution and will require on going investment of time and money on the part of the Brand. That is not to say that there cannot be short term components that are specific to time frame. I hate to even mention contests as everyone seems to be running some sort of sweepstakes or "Make our Content For Us" scheme. By creating content that can demonstrate value, evoke customer engagement, or provide brand lift and awareness are really the fundamentals. Its not a un-managed marketing solution.

In most cases brands already do this with numerous advertising and marketing efforts now. Its really about PR that has latent effects that can relate back to sales, site visits, and brand equity.

Don't over complicate a very simple concept. I would argue how do we define success and failure when it comes to Social Media Marketing, and is it different than a bad TV, Radio Spot or print ad that sees little return? Short of a complete miss fire that would equate to decline in sales directly to bad PR, or grossly overspending on some half baked creative... how do you fail at Social Media?

[Earl Benzar]

I have a different take regarding Second Life. The "failure" occurred because certain solution providers such as Electric Sheep were selling enterprises an untenable model, namely that Second Life was the next big thing for "marketing." The only ones who made money from this awful advice were the snake oil salespeople.

However, that doesn't mean SL is a dead duck for business. There is a growing awareness that SL is useful for training, education, collaboration, product design, etc. Just beware of those wolves in sheeps clothing.

[clearcast]

There is another key issue here that no one is addressing. If you think of social media as a "campaign," then your failure rate will be pushing up against 100%. Best to think of it as a strategy, just like how you brand whatever your product or service is. As others have pointed out, ROI is tough, if not impossible, to measure and SM requires a new way of thinking and implementation. It's not about buying ad pages, convention floor space or TV or radio. But what tends to happen with old line companies is that they approach SM through that prism.

Engagement through the social web must become your new way of doing business and as integral a part of your company as telephones, computers and <gasp> people.

[clearcast]

There is another key issue here that no one is addressing. If you think of social media as a "campaign," then your failure rate will be pushing up against 100%. Best to think of it as a strategy, just like how you brand whatever your product or service is. As others have pointed out, ROI is tough, if not impossible, to measure and SM requires a new way of thinking and implementation. It's not about buying ad pages, convention floor space or TV or radio. But what tends to happen with old line companies is that they approach SM through that prism.

Engagement through the social web must become your new way of doing business and as integral a part of your company as telephones, computers and <gasp> people.

[williams925]

What Mr. Sarner points out is something people in advertising have always known ... strategy should drive marketing, not the medium.

[socialTNT]

The reason why many campaigns fail is because people get shiny thing syndrome. Instead of listening to what their audiences are saying and how/where they are saying it, many companies just dive in, choosing a technology off a check list instead of one that is a viable platform for reaching their audiences.

A campaign should be based on strategy--listening, setting goals, choosing tools and planning strategy to help you meet those goals, engaging and then evaluating that strategy.

[MichaelChin]

The first thing that needs to be done is that marketers need to stop thinking of this in terms of 'campaigns.' Social media is about relationships, whether personal or professional. Do you run campaigns with your friends and family? Why would you think a campaign in this context would work with customers?

[tej_arora]

Marketing is about reaching a large engaged audience. I don't believe there is any mechanism traditional marketers have, that can reach engaged audiences faster, cheaper, bigger and better than web communities. Any analysis that brands social media marketing as a "failure" is, first of all, premature. Secondly, a "failure" relative to what?.

How "successful" has traditional/conventional marketing been?. Over $600 billion is spent worldwide
on advertising alone, and over 90% of that spend has little if any ROI indications. I've often heard
of this phrase related to this spend: "pay and pray". Is traditional/conventional marketing "successful"? or is it just that we really don't know any better?.

To analysts: Don't throw out the tea while it is brewing. Help find better ways to brew it.