Just Because You Use Social Media Tools Does Not Mean that You are Engaged in Social Media Marketing

A company called Systemic Marketing asked “the top marketing book authors, marketing professors, marketing analysts, and CMOs on Twitter to share their favorite definitions of marketing”. They got responses that ranged from one sentence to a full paragraph (including one guy who compared it with getting a hot woman to sleep with him), but only one or two of these experts gave a definition that included what marketing in the social media is all about – getting into real conversations with customers and potential customers. And no one talked at all about building advocacy among your customers.

I am not one that believes that traditional marketing methods will fully disappear, but I do believe that the mindset that marketing folks have should – and for those who have success in their future will – change. I read a book from The Harvard Business School back in the mid-90’s that said that companies should look at their customers as part of their organization. It was a book focusing on customer service and the idea was not really picked up. However, that is how I envision the social media paradigm – not talking to prospects, not rolling out what we “think” the market wants, but building a relationship and collaborating with our customers. So we need to be careful that we don’t get pulled into just using the technology, but rethink – as marketing professionals – what our role is.

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