Why Social Media Should Not Be Thought Of As Marketing

Today, I have come to this conclusion: Social media marketing should not be called marketing.

Wait, what? Why would I say this?

According to the AMA, marketing is: the activity, set of institutions, and processes for creating, communicating, delivering, and exchanging offerings that have value for customers, clients, partners, and society at large.

In other words, it’s everything you do to let people know what you’re selling, inclusive of the point of actually completing the sale.

But that’s not what most people think of when they think of marketing. Most people think of marketing and advertising as interchangeable terms.

That’s because the bulk of what marketing companies do is advertising. Putting together a communication plan, devising a communication message strategy, developing creative pieces to deliver the message, disseminating the message, measuring the results, making revisions as needed.Things you CAN hire someone else to do for you.

But REAL marketing also includes:
- Customer service – ensuring that your representatives provide a pleasant experience, both in store, on phone, online… wherever the interact with you.
- Store environment – giving people a place to shop that entices them to buy is marketing, too.
- Human resources training – this is part of customer service, but making sure your team is trained to provide good customer experiences is part of your marketing efforts.
- Internal communications – keeping your team on the same page so they all feel as if they’re a vital part of the organization (which in turn leads to better customer service) is a part of marketing.

These things CANNOT be outsourced. They’re part and parcel of who your company is. They’re marketing, even if most people don’t think of them that way. And this is why using the phrase “marketing” after “social media” can cause problems.

In reality, social media is just another area where customers (current and potential) get a chance to interact with you. With YOU, not your messaging. People who use social media networks don’t want to get just another corporate voice that has no connection to a real person. They want a real person who really works at the company they’re representing.

This means you can’t just hire someone to “do it for you.” It is not just an internet service. It is intended to be your real face – another venue for people to reach out and speak with YOU. You can hire someone to set things up for you and train you on how to get things going – much like you can hire someone to train your sales force on how to be more effective. But you can’t hire them to have the conversation for you.

Consider this: would you really want your marketing company to be in charge of answering your telephones every single day? Answering every question a current or potential customer has about what you sell?

The whole point of social media is that people want to do business with people, not companies. If used well, social media is not an interruption of your ability to sell – it’s another way to reach and sell to people you might have otherwise missed.

Customers have no reason to be loyal to someone they don’t know. And how will they  know you if YOU aren’t the one interacting with them? If you try to outsource the conversation, you’ve made it impossible for people to really interact with YOU.

My recommendation is: if you aren’t willing to converse with your customer, then just don’t do social media at all. Of course, that will leave your competition free to monopolize the conversation entirely. But ultimately, it’s your choice whether or not it’s worth your time.