The Social Media Tug of War
Which side are you on?
You know what I mean. There’s two distinct camps. There’s the marketing purists who grab claim to social media like it was an Oscars goodie bag. And then there’s the specialists, struggling to wrest away the social media prize, hoping to get out from under stuffy marketing’s death grip once and for all.
You see it all over the internet. A constant tug of war. Who owns social media? Who should be managing social media? Is social media a part of public relations? Or is it account planning? Or maybe it’s a broadcast medium? Or maybe it’s just some trick cooked up by bored Gen Y’ers as a way to look busy at their desk when they can’t be texting on their phones.
Lately I’ve come across some comments and articles that question whether marketing and branding are dead, and ask where social media belongs in the grand scheme of things.
What is Social Media?
In Social Media: So Easy a Caveman Can Do It I originally referred to social media as a marketing discipline, I think it’s probably more accurate to call it a function within the discipline of marketing. This establishes a hierarchy. Social media is not a discipline unto itself. It will always be inextricably linked to marketing because:
The global objective of social media is the exact same as marketing: Selling.
To directly sell, to assist a sale, or to influence sales. Before, during, and after. The ultimate purpose, when in the context of any sort of brand communication, is to sell. Not in a blatant, leisure suit kind of way. But in a genuine, connecting sort of way.
Whether it’s a national CPG brand attempting to build a connection to current and potential customers, or a job hunter using social media to sell their value to future employers. Or Tila Tequila selling her persona on MySpace for social currency. Social media is a tool for selling. It’s an innovative method to sell an idea, a connection, a product, a person, a belief. Or even just to sell trust and affinity.
Yeah, I hate the word “sell.” It feels so anti-social media. But that’s the authentic reality.
Some social media practitioners still argue that social media is separate from marketing. Mostly because marketing in a lot of companies has sucked for awhile and SM practitioners feel that marketing supervision cramps their style. But given the same global objective, would it make sense for a company to have two separate departments trying to achieve the same goal, with two different and equal leaders? That would be the equivalent of hiring two CEOs. If one is doing their job right, the other is redundant at best, a divisive force at worst. Marketing gets a bad rap as it is. The last thing the industry needs is a tug of war between two internal factions that basically agree on the same ultimate goal, but just want to battle for control and the satisfaction of being “right.”
Sounds a little like a holy war. Or the WWF. Neither of which ever really ends all that well.
Is Marketing Dead?
Traditional marketing has been a one-way communication, and social media has opened the gates to real two-way communication. If a marketer believes they can continue to send messages out into the ether in hopes that consumers will follow like lemmings, they’re missing the value of social media. And they’re missing the evolution of marketing. Marketing is not dead. It’s just in the process of changing. Social media doesn’t make marketing irrelevant. It forces marketing to dynamically change, to become more relevant, effective, and responsive. Social media gives marketing the opportunity to become more sophisticated, powerful, dynamic, and subtle. It helps marketing become what it was meant to be. To say marketing is dead in an attempt to elevate social media is like sawing off an arm of a still breathing body before hammering the nails in the coffin. Is marketing dead? No. But the traditional marketer that doesn’t evolve quickly is an endangered species for sure.
Is Branding Dead?
To assume branding no longer has a function because the consumer has control of the brand message through social media assumes that branding is linear. When done correctly, branding is multi-dimensional, powerful, and connective on multiple levels. To believe that branding is dead is to believe that a company can no longer steer its own ship. Or communicate proactively with the customer. Because that’s what branding is about. Communication. Branding isn’t dead. It’s more alive than ever. It’s so alive that it just had its peanut butter collide with social media’s chocolate. Something new, interesting, and enduring has been born. A more responsive form of branding.
Is Social Media a Broadcast Medium?
Social media is both marketing and medium. The confusion has to do with its multiple purposes and one generalized name. It would be a lot clearer to everyone if “social media” referred to the points of consumer contact (the medium), and “social marketing” was used to refer to the practice of social media marketing development (marketing). But as a community, we haven’t yet semantically clarified the two.
Whose Responsibility is Social Media?
The execution of social marketing belongs to everyone. To the Marketing Director. To the Public Relations Specialist. To the CEO, the janitor, and the interns. To your customers. To your best friends. And yes, even to your nemesis. Ultimately everyone connected to your brand in any way is going to be participating in social media on behalf of your brand. Whether you authorize it or not.
That’s why it’s particularly important to have social media managed by someone who understands marketing, branding, and corporate strategy, as well as emerging media. It’s not just about knowing how to engage a community online, it’s also about having the ability to spread the brand gospel throughout the entire organization and develop an inclusive culture that encourages employees to be advocates for the brand. So that everyone understands what’s going on and can more effectively communicate it everywhere they go, and with whomever they engage. Whether it’s on Facebook or in the produce section of Whole Foods.
This is the way it should have been done before social media and it’s still the way to do it.
The greatest companies have actually been practicing it for a long time and have healthy brands because of it. Whenever I’m asked about my favorite brands, I always bring up Herb Kelleher and Southwest Airlines. There’s a brand that got social media before social media got the internet. Southwest Airlines is an incredible example of why marketing and branding are still alive and well, and will flourish with social media. At the core of brand communication, whether it’s on Twitter or in the aisle of an airplane, is connection at an honest level that inspires the customer to become an evangelist.
Southwest Airlines proved you don’t need Facebook plug-ins or iPhone apps to build a brand. You just need human connection. Consistent and authentic.
So now that we have tons of new tools that marketers didn’t have 10 or 20 years ago, doesn’t mean it’s time to divide the marketing community into the technologically advanced and the traditional. Everyone who has the opportunity within a company to be a unifying force should aim to strengthen the marketing function, instead of looking for ways to prove that traditional marketing is no longer relevant.
Instead of the social media tug of war, it’s time for marketing and social media to join the same team. Be a supportive force in the evolution of marketing as a whole, and focus not on the fight, but on propelling brands forward.
Everyone is here for the same goal. The rope will move a lot easier if we’re all pulling it from the same side.
