Social Media is Not for Marketers

News Flash.

Not everything has to be about marketing all the time.

Believe it or not, most people would enjoy a space online free from blatant marketing.

I know, shocking. We all know this as marketers, yet every day new articles surface on how all these social channels should cater to the marketing folk.

New social channels are always hesitant at first, but then a few months later, here comes ‘insert social channel here’ for Business.

Why do we, as marketers, have this overwhelming desire to control everything? We are little bullies on the social media playground where the ‘teachers’ [read: owners]  must create special rules so we don’t completely alienate the class.

Virtual High Five to Craigslist. That’s right, I said it. Craigslist is likely the biggest ad source for my business, and controlling it would be a dream come true. But once that happens, it is no longer a viable source.

Once it is optimized for marketers, it is no longer useful to its main customer. Craigslist took control from marketers recently and decided to get back to basics.

According to Wikipedia, “Craigslist works because it gives people a voice, a sense of community trust and even intimacy.”

Marketers have fully embraced this trust and intimacy and fabricated a marketing ad jungle. I applaud Craigslist for enforcing rules minimizing marketing ploys and remaining an innocent space for people to share.

From the beginning, social media was designed with people in mind. Not business. The primary goal for most sites is to empower people to connect and share ideas.

“Facebook’s mission is to give people the power to share and make the world more open and connected.” Twitter “helps you create and share ideas and information instantly, without barriers.”

Pinterest “is a tool for collecting and organizing things you love.” Not one time does a social media site elude to the goal of making business more profitable by giving special access to marketers to push a product on their users constantly. Nor do they imply they will ensure the platform, not originally designed for you, meets all of your crazy expectations and special needs to exploit most fully the individuals for which the site was initially intended.

Or did I miss that somewhere?

Moving Forward.

While, first and foremost, marketers are people, it is crucial to understand that we are guests at the social media party, and oftentimes we are unwelcome. We must learn to use the space responsibly and follow the rules.

Broken down, marketing is about people, period. Even in our business class seats on the social media flight, it is important to the future of our business to become part of conversations only when we are invited naturally. Engage as people, not brands.

*I believe businesses should be notated differently if allowed on social platforms so users know they are interacting with a business. However, I don’t believe we should expect all platforms to cater to our (business) needs.   

Source: Leaving Customers Dissatisfied