A blog entry posted yesterday by Econsultancy has sparked some interesting discussion here at Browser Media Studios.
The post, ‘Ignore social media, acquire more clients?’ is an interesting take on the often short-sightedness of social media as a marketing platform.
It’s an issue that we see far too often, agencies pitching social media tools before considering the bigger picture or truly exploring their clients’ pain points and overall marketing objectives.
We pride ourselves on our honesty and transparency, which is why when clients come to us and ask for a Facebook or Twitter page (usually because someone has told them they need one), we consider it as we would with any other online marketing channel. Sometimes opportunities present themselves, sometimes they don’t, in which case we go with it or explore other avenues.
The point is, social media just isn’t right for every business.
We’re often asked by clients why we (Browser Media) don’t have a Facebook page – and it’s for that very reason – it’s just not for us. We’ve discussed and considered it but ultimately we see no benefit at this time. If you’re part of a digital agency with a booming Facebook page, please feel free to convince us otherwise.
The underlying problem with social media is that people are too quick to assume that it’s the answer to all of their problems. It isn’t – it’s just a bunch of tools.
Facebook is a tool, Twitter is a tool, YouTube is a tool and a spanner is a tool.
It’s how you use these tools that determines their effectiveness and without an objective they’re all but useless.
The post highlighted a very important point – “social media is big, but the non-social media world is even bigger”. With so much pressure to ‘get social’ it’s very easy to forget this, but it does seem that finally people are starting to take a step back and re-discover the bigger picture.
