Social Media Misconceptions, Pt. 2

The word myth tends to conjure up images of Greek and Roman gods, mighty stories of struggle for power or love. And that’s a little of the expectation when you see a Business Week article titled “Beware Social Media Marketing Myths.” When really, they’re more like misconceptions that you can clear up with just a little research.

As I mentioned previously, we’re going to take a look at these “myths” and see that while social media marketing isn’t for everyone, it’s relatively easy to clear up the misconceptions about this new wave of marketing. I’ll go through each point and tell you my take on Marks’ conclusions. We’ll start with myth numbers 1 and 2.

1. Social media sites are free.

Marks complains that social media sites aren’t free because you have to put time into them. Why, yes you do. Just as you would put time into any marketing campaign. Word of mouth advertising is free, too, but you won’t get any of it unless you commit to bettering your relationship with your customers.

2. Great places to find new customers.

Marks thinks major social networking sites may not be the best place for business owners. That could be true, but it really depends on the type of business we’re talking about. Heavy equipment companies probably aren’t going to find a lot of customers in social media, unless they are looking at a site for construction workers and heavy equipment operators. Don’t be so quick to think you can’t find your people somewhere online.

I have to question how much of a chance Marks has given these sites when he states that the most avid Facebook and MySpace users are pimply adolescents and goth teens. Or that forty somethings on Facebook are nostalgic to see how fat and bald everyone from high school has become.

He totally misses the point. It is a good place to find new customers if that’s where your customers already hang out and you have a product that fits their needs or lifestyle. There are other venues, though, and he does offer a few alternatives for small business owners.

And yes, maybe some of the self-proclaimed social media gurus/ experts are trying to make people think that all social networking sites are all things to all people. But if you stop and look around, you’ll realize it’s just like any other medium: television, newspapers, magazines, public venues. Some work better than others for your product. Your company. It’s up to you to figure out which ones will suit your company.

We’ll continue on in Part 3 with the rest of the myths. In the mean time, feel free to tell us why you agree or disagree with his (or my) conclusions about social media marketing.

image: sxc.hu