Social Media Arguments Get Old

I happened across a blog post this morning by a good friend of mine, Daniel Herndon, who owns an Indianapolis marketing company. Daniel’s post entitled, Indianapolis Marketing vs Indianapolis Social Media, talks about the importance of understanding social media as part of a tool kit instead of a stand alone system.

“Buyer beware – If marketing is not one of the core services than social media is just a buzz word. No single tactic is useful without coming from the approach of marketing a product based on a targeted demographic and good messaging.”

I encourage you to read the post because it gets straight to the point and is short and sweet. This is what I am struggling with…

When are we going to quit arguing what social media actually is…. and start implementing the greatness of what social media has become… ? Social media can be used for internal communication, recruiting, public relations, loyalty programs, and even… yes… targeted demographic marketing. At the core… social media is about story telling and communication. I think that is what Daniel was trying to get across in his post.

Planning, development, building goals, and delivering on promises is fundamental to every aspect of business. This is nothing new. People have been struggling with the implementation of ideas since “marketing” was defined as a concept. If an individual (or company) has a hard time implementing an idea, Facebook Page, or direct mail campaign… either help them… or move on.

The core of your business is about delivering on what you promise. If you are developing a marketing plan… you best be sure social media is part of an overall campaign. If you are actually developing a multiple touch point marketing campaign that delivers (try HotBed Creative)… remember that it is about the numbers and not about the flair.

If a company cannot show return from case studies, with numbers, or by past clients… find some else.

Who cares how the tool (social media) is defined…