The anecdotal evidence seems to support his points. Writing on The Blog Herald, one Chris Garrett postulates: “There are many things social media tools are great for – fun, attracting an audience, customer service, market research. And there are some things I would not suggest social media be used for, such as making direct sales pitches.”
A professional acquaintance of mine goes even further. “I’m not convinced that social media isn’t an overhyped fad,” she says. “I’ve been on Twitter for over a month now, and posted 50 tweets. I have yet to buy into it as a necessary business function. Facebook? Can’t be bothered. It’s fodder for stalkers. If there’s something I want someone to know about me, I’ll give them a call or email and tell them. And YouTube? That’s something I check out when I want to waste time.”
Of course, none of this stops the global advertising industry, which drew revenues of $600-billion from all media sources in 2007, from dipping its toes in the Internet-interactive slipstream regularly, and sometimes perilously. Writing in Advertising Age a few weeks ago, Bob Garfield had this to say about a campaign launched by Campbell- Mithun, an agency based in Minneapolis, for the Famous Footwear company: “Yikes. What do you get when you combine a banal and utterly generic media campaign that says absolutely nothing about your brand, with a social media element destined to generate no interest within society? You get the Famous Footwear campaign, an effort with a germ of an idea, very strong production values and seemingly no understanding of why it is empty – and doomed – in both the traditional realm and the digital one.” Garfield continues his assault: “The germ of the idea is this: What if they could take the stupid brand name of the discount-shoe chain that isn’t Payless and somehow give it at least a hint of cache – a tall order for a chain called Famous Footwear. Yeah, the ‘famous’ refers to the famous-name brands sold therein, but it still comes off as one of those silly attempts to glamorize the, ahem, pedestrian.”
“Online, Famous Footwear asks us to consider ways in which we might make a given day ‘famous’. They prime the pump with a montage of people offering suggestions like ‘by running in my first marathon’, ‘I wanna be a ninja’, ‘I would get my laundry done’, ‘I’d grow five inches’, ‘I’d do a tap dance for you,’ and so on. Perhaps you notice what all of these flights of fancy have in common: They have nothing to do with fame.” “This may explain why, after three weeks of soliciting video uploads, Famous Footwear’s site was overflowing with exactly three… that is, before the videos vanished from the site altogether. It was, they say, a temporary technical glitch, but no big deal either way. Without the videos handy, we still get through the day famously.” Ouch! But, Campbell-Mithun’s misadventure notwithstanding, are there circumstances under which social media marketing actually works? Are there times when it can argue a compelling business case?
FOR PAULA DYKE, director of Public Affairs at Moncton-based Atlantic Lottery Corporation, the opportunity to demonstrate some online, interactive marketing savvy arrived only recently. Two months ago, the firm collaborated with its counterparts across Canada in the launch of Lotto Max, the first new game in 15 years. The product, targeted to an 18-35 demographic, appeals directly to the web-travelling consumer. “We recognize that we have a whole other segment of gamers out there,” she explains. “They live in the virtual world. This is the biggest change in our audience in years. If you look back, you can see how fundamentally technology has changed the world. I used to cart around a big, giant cell phone. Today, I can’t imagine being without Blackberry service. So, for us, it’s all about being able to communicate with consumers in the virtual world, the world in which they are most comfortable.” To accomplish this, ALC participates in the national Lotto Max Facebook page, and maintains a twitter service. Regionally, the corporation is promoting the product and its own organizational brand through goingtothemax.com (a web site it used in September to deftly advertise a series of live events in St. John’s, Fredericton, Halifax, and Charlottetown). According to the online blurb, “Going To The Max is all about getting your friends together and doing something you’ve never even thought of. It’s about stepping up, stepping in and stepping off. This time around you’re stepping into a giant bubble and flying down a hill. Next time you could be stepping off a ledge strapped to a bungee cord.Whatever the event is, you can be sure it’ll push your excitement sensor to the max.”
