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Don’t be a tool
According to Wikipedia, using tools has been interpreted as a sign of intelligence, and it has been theorized that tool use may have stimulated certain aspects of human evolution.
You stand in your kitchen, the ingredients to bake a cake lay before you on the kitchen counter—a wooden spoon, whisk, and stand mixer sit, tauntingly, in front of you. Did I mention the cake contains molasses? Why then, when presented with the option to achieve (and sell) a better product—and quickly—would you disregard the obvious tool to help you do so? You reach for the mixer—the cake turns out magnificently—your consumers are thrilled.
As marketers in this digital media age, the concepts remain the same, but the tools have changed. It’s purely evolution. So why, then, are marketers so afraid to use these new tools—why are some still reaching for the wooden spoon? Well, as blogger Christina Kerley notes, these new tools are “steeped in technological innovation.” It’s not necessarily the tool the marketers are afraid of, but the potential that tool has—and the immediate response it can gain.
The good news…
For as many new tools as there are, there are twice as many experts there to help ease your fears. From webinars around the old rules and how they apply to these new tools, to presentations on the basics of how to use them. Social media, and the new wave of marketing, are here to stay.
Categories Digital Media
Twitter
LinkedIn
To play a certain type of devil’s advocate, I think people are afraid for two reasons. The first is the radical nature of the shift, or “evolution” to use your metaphor. Evolution is a generally a slow, careful process during which already solid foundations are built upon. Social media (and the internet as a medium in general) have come about much more radically. One year there was no Youtube, the next year people were asking “can you imagine life without Youtube?” One year there was no Google, now the term is ubiquitous. Likewise with Facebook and the now rather firmly entrenched Twitter.
People had no time to adapt, as these websites were not created out of previously existent concepts. Its the primary reason Facebook (and social media in general) started with the young. That demographic is the fastest to adapt to any system that requires an entirely new, albeit user-friendly skill set.
The second reason is logistical. Until recently (and even still), measuring the tangible benefits of these new tools was an opaque process, particularly on a large scale. Earlier today we were just showing how non-profits with even stellar Facebook presences do not accumulate a comparable amount of donations from that particular network. Furthermore, the internet and big business have a history that is not altogether reassuring. The dot-com boom of the 90′s was a byproduct of over-enthusiasm similar to what we’ve seen with every major media outlet rushing to get a presence on Twitter. Companies likely want to avoid dumping time and resources into pursuing avenues that do not yield tangible benefits (see: second life servers).
That said, I wouldn’t discourage companies from learning about these tools and discerning where they may fit into their marketing/communications scheme. I think I simply understand a certain amount of apprehension.
Before people learn the tools, they have to decide they want to make the cake. That is still being decided. Not all brands, even if they are rushing to Facebook and Twitter have decided that what they really need to be committed to is creating relationships, marketing through conversation, releasing control of their brand, empowering employees. The tech/tools are only the means to the end. The end, interestingly, has to come first.