The Limitations of Social Media

Those who have been reading my blog for a while know my mantra when it comes to effective bootstrap marketing — Think like your customer!

For example, since not every type of customer looks to the web for information, not every business necessarily needs a web page.  The same limitation holds true for social media.  It only works if it is where your customers go for information.

Even if websites or any of the new media sources out there are the right way to reach your customers, you still need to be clear about your intention with any form of promotion.  What do you want your customers to do at your website?  What do you want them to do with your use of social media as promotion?  Bootstrappers can’t just throw a bunch of marketing stuff to the wall with their promotion and hope something sticks.  You have to be intentional in what you do with any form of promotion.

And finally, keep in mind that their are probably a billion websites out there and almost as many people trying to use social media to get business.  You can’t just build it and they will come.  You need a strategy to get people to notice your message and push them to act.

Gene Marks offers his thoughts on using social media in a new article at Business Week:

We’ve been misled as to the benefits of social networking sites. Many of us are
finding that these tools do not live up to the hype, especially for small
business. Once we start digging deeper, we’re finding a lot of challenges.

Marks discusses five myths about the use and effectiveness of social media for promotion.  This is a good read for anyone currently trying to use social media or thinking about using it.

Social media can be an effective tool.  But, you need to understand if it works for your customers.  If it does make sense as a tool for your target market, the next step is to determine how best to make social media a productive part of your promotional mix.

Marks is not out to prove that the new media does not work as promotional tools.  There are many examples of successful promotion through social media, such as the effective use of Twitter for marketing and businesses that were built through sites like Facebook. 

In fact, I can guarantee that he understands that the new media can be effective if used properly.  After all, his public relations person nagged me long enough to get me to blog about his article!