parkerwhite

In my post last week I linked to an article that talked about measuring the ROI of Social Media. I also discussed the importance currently being placed on implementing a social media strategy into your campaign. With posts like mine, and hundreds of others like it across the web, people are starting to turn to social media as the solution for every conceivable problem. From HR to PR, “experts” are selling different social media campaigns as a one-size-fits-all solution.

The truth is, even though social media can help you solve a lot of your problems, it is by no means a stand alone savior. Develop a strategy, set aside a budget, implement a strong team and make it a part of your overall plan and then it becomes a wonderful tool. But without all these things in place, it just becomes another failed experiment.

With that in mind, I came across an excellent article by BL Ochman (@whatsnext) titled “10 Things Social Media Can’t Do” that does a good job of discussing the shortcomings of social media. Here is an excerpt:

Social media can’t:
1. Substitute for marketing strategy
A Twitter campaign, or a Facebook page that announces your weekly specials is not a marketing strategy.

2. Succeed without top management buy-in
Social media requires a way of thinking that includes willingness to listen to customers, make changes based on feedback, and trust employees to talk to customers.
The culture of fear (of job loss, of losing message control, of change) is ingrained in corporate cultures. Top management has to want to change.

You can read the full article here.

Do you agree/disagree with these viewpoints? Is there anything that was left out?