Marketing: Be everywhere, or be relevant?

A recent article in Fast Company, Socialized Media looks at advertisers entering online social networks (like Facebook) in order to make their marketing messages part of the conversation.

Now who (beside the advertisers) wants that? Advertisers seem to be treating social networks not as communities of people by just another medium in which to make noise. As usual, they're missing the point:

... if we're not helping people live better lives, we are not helping ourselves. If all we are doing is interrupting people who don't have time for interruptions, we can't expect their attention.... If all we are doing is pelting people with endlessly irrelevant messages, we can't claim their loyalty.

As fundraisers, we might feel we can shrug off the criticism aimed at commercial advertisers. After all, we aren't the ones plastering our messages on every possible surface, from the walls of public restrooms to the bottoms of the plastic bins at airport security lines.

But to tell the truth, the main reason we aren't doing that is we can't afford to. We're just as capable as they are of indiscriminately spraying out half-baked and irrelevant messages -- because we often believe, as they do, that if we say it often enough and loudly enough, people will listen and do what we want them to do.

That's not how it works any more. The new way is to be relevant, share information, take part in natural conversations, and provide something great.

The commercial world needs to stop yelling about how great their products are and start listening to real people.

So does the nonprofit world.

Technorati Tags: fundraising, advertising, Facebook

Comments

[Sam Davis]

That title - "Socialized Media" - is definitely an example of not thinking before going with a name. "Socialized Media" implies government-owned-and-operated media as in socialism. Didn't the publisher think about that first? Obviously not.

This book will be mis-catalogued by every library in the world as one result. I can think of other misdirectional results as well.