WRONG. While many forms of informational and entertainment-based content are and will continue to remain available on the web free of charge, most social media marketing efforts still cost money. Contrary to popular belief, there are few if any free paths to effective marketing on the social web. Want more Facebook fans? You can easily convert your existing customer base from website visitors or newsletter subscribers to Facebook fans, but are these really 'new' users? Social networks can be an excellent way to improve communication with an existing customer or fanbase, but if you genuinely wish to expand your brand's social media footprint to a new sect of potential customers, you'd better be ready to pay for Facebook Social Ads, Friendblaster Pro on myspace, or somebody to do your targeted follows on Twitter. Think that the unpaid intern who comes into your office once per week and will disappear at the end of the summer is equipped to handle your company's social media marketing strategy because they are young and 'know Facebook'? Think again! You wouldn't ask an intern or entry-level associate to produce your next TV commercial, supervise a million dollar ad buy or coordinate a sponsorship campaign, so why trust your internet strategy to anyone at less than a manager level? Want to produce high-quality and compelling digital content for your brand such as videos, iPhone and Facebook apps, or podcasts? Better get your wallet out-- video production and web development are just as costly as ever.
2) Every business needs active Facebook and Twitter profiles.
WRONG. The cold, hard truth? With a handful of exceptions, Facebook and Twitter have not proven especially effective in marketing certain types of products and services, particularly those that are B2B oriented. Think about it; the operative word here is social network. Social-- not work, business, research, sales-- social. Those that wish to market B2B products on the social web will find it extremely difficult on most social media channels to target their message to the appropriate retail buyer, executive, brand manager, etc. that needs to hear it. Take a look at your own Facebook profile; how many of your 'Likes and Interests', the primary criteria used to target consumers by advertisers, are business oriented? Do you send a friend request to every business contact that you interact with on a daily basis, or do you prefer to keep your account personal, private and fun? The truth about Twitter is that 99% of those who log onto a Twitter account for work purposes are exclusively interested in broadcasting their own messages and not hearing what you have to say. And then there's LinkedIn; as a social network geared toward business professionals you'd think that this would be the ideal environment for finding the right individuals and companies to introduce your B2B product or service to, but the truth is that most people's privacy settings prohibit you from 'cold calling' them unless you are bold enough to claim the stranger as a real-life friend. In my own business development experience I've found that a surprisingly few number of LinkedIn members are open to receiving communication from strangers, either because they do not list their work email address, they do not show up as 'in network' or they simply do not wish to receive communication from non-connections.
3) The web has solved the age-old question of marketing's effectiveness through analytics and ROI tracking.
WRONG. Well, not completely. New tools have come along that allows us to directly track how many clickthrus generated in SEO and SEM campaigns have led directly to sales, but how many digital marketing efforts are actually geared toward driving direct sales as opposed to brand awareness? Your hilarious viral video that cost you $20 to make got 1,000,000 Youtube views; how many of the viewers went out and purchased your product, and how many just got a good laugh? Let's say you have 150 Facebook Interactions, 75 new Twitter followers and your online video received 55 views today. What does this mean exactly? Should you refrain from creating and promoting all digital content that does not directly lead to a trackable sale? Of course not! It is as important as it ever was for executives and marketers to put their message out there to the masses whether or not they can track the exact ROI on these efforts. Some things never change.
4) Social media channels have replaced the need for an effective product website.
WRONG. Official websites are just as important as ever for a multitude of reasons. For starters, websites offer you the freedom to tailor your design, content and marketing message in a way that social networks simply do not. For SEO purposes, your website showing up as the #1 Google hit in a search for your company is the first step in your establishment as a legit enterprise, whereas a myspace profile showing up at the top may raise an eyebrow or two and encourage the searcher to move onto a competitor. A social network profile is not a replacement for an attractive, navigable, informative, content-rich official website, and your website should serve as 'home base' for your marketing efforts.
5) Social media channels are great for generating leads but should ultimately drive traffic back to the 'real' content on my official website.
WRONG. Too many marketers are overly concerned with manipulating the flow of traffic to the location on the web that they deem as the most important. Here's a tip: allow the flow of traffic to develop organically and offer your visitors the content they need in the spots they want to consume it in. If your product or service lends itself naturally to video content posted to Youtube, provide complete information through your videos rather than 'teaser content' that links back to your website. People are smart when it comes to web navigation; if they want to find your website and you've made it easy for them to find, you don't need to manipulate them into doing so. Accommodate your web traffic in the space that they find most comfortable with complete content and information.
