Commentary

Think Social's Over-Hyped? Don't Worry, It Isn't Just You -- And The Data Can Prove It

If we're honest, we have all probably wondered whether social media is a case of the Emperor's new clothes. So it's well worth checking out a speech from Marketing Week's Marketing Professor Mark Ritson, applying the most modern data to show that there is life yet in the "dinosaur" media …
5 comments about "Think Social's Over-Hyped? Don't Worry, It Isn't Just You -- And The Data Can Prove It".
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  1. Carl Zide from Auto Trader, January 19, 2015 at 5:46 p.m.

    Great read. Partly true. I believe social media has an important brand building part to play within the broad sphere of public relations: earned media, own media and customer relations. My experience is that social media often fails when we try to scale earned social media initiatives with paid social media campaigns. Most social media initiatives should not be scaled, most great stories lose authenticity when you start paying for them. I don't think we should not try to use social media to replace online performance based marketing (SEM, display, spam, partnerships etc) and broadcast marketing (TV, radio, outdoor etc). We should focus our efforts within social on what Sean says: "the personal chat with consumers social was sold on".

  2. John Grono from GAP Research, January 19, 2015 at 6:34 p.m.

    I agree Carl. But try and track down Prof. Byron Sharp's "How Brands Grow" and you'll see how 'scale' is behind every great brand.

  3. Ginger Cookie from Consultant, January 20, 2015 at 12:57 p.m.

    Excellent read...so spot on with the diluted effect of branded "likes"... to the more substantive awareness happening with TV commercials..especially a major live event with marquee brands... and I don't even watch much TV...

  4. Paula Lynn from Who Else Unlimited, January 21, 2015 at 12:18 a.m.

    So many people with not enough to do.

  5. Mark Osborne from CitizenNet, January 30, 2015 at 7:40 p.m.

    Yes, but...users share so much information about themselves, their behaviors, and their preferences on social media...the real promise of social is not as a dialog, but a data-driven, micro-segmented ad platform with high impact native ads.

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About the Author

Sean Hargrave is MediaPost's London Editor. You can reach him at seanhargrave@btinternet.com.

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