NEWSLETTER #64 I APRIL 16, 2017
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JOIN THE DEVASTATION
Of all the fantasies that have infected the advertising and marketing industries, perhaps none is sillier and more delusional than the social media fantasy.
According to the wizards of marketing, social media is a place consumers go to enthuse over their favorite brands and "join the conversation" with and about these brands.
As one Silicon-addled fat cat put it, “If you can harness social media marketing, you don’t have to pay for advertising any more.” Or as USA Today said, “Social media is the lone currency that virtually guarantees a return.”
Yeah, right.
In fact, social media has turned out to be a much larger danger to brands than opportunity. Anyone who has witnessed the past few weeks of non-stop YouTube, Pepsi, and United Airlines social media massacres and still believes that consumers are using social media to wax lyrical over brands desperately needs a reality transplant.
In fact, if there is a lesson to be learned from the past few weeks, it's this -- it is far more important for companies to learn how to play social media defense than offense.
The risk/reward balance of social media leans heavily in the risk direction. Unless you're a movie star, pop celebrity, or famous athlete, social media offers little in the way of rewards and mountains of risk.
Before you allow some social media genius to develop a fantasy-laden social media plan for your business, first make them figure out how you will handle a social media disaster. You are far more likely to be a social media victim than hero.
Consumers have shown no inclination whatever to "join the conversation." But they are lining up to "join the devastation."
Shooting My Mouth Off
Last week I spoke with the great Erica Farber, President and CEO of the Radio Advertising Bureau.
Here's our conversation as it appears on their podcast.
This Newsletter Seems To Be Worth Something
Also last week, Business Insider named the "The 17 Best Tech Email Newsletters You Need To Subscribe To." We were number 7.
I was surprised to learn that this is a tech newsletter -- but if they want to give it an honor, they can call it whatever the hell they want.
I was also surprised to learn that I look remarkably like Maurice Levy, ceo of Publicis....
Can't Make This Shit Up
An ad industry group called MRC (Media Research Center) which sets standards for advertising measurement has determined that an online ad can be counted as "in view" if 50% of its pixels are viewable for 1 second.
In one of the all-time great market research breakthroughs, Mindshare (a "global media agency network") and their client Jaguar have conducted a study that proves that if 100% of pixels are viewable the ad is more likely to create viewer awareness.
Nobel prizes all around.
