We saw the CEO of Groupon at WOMMA conference last week in Chicago – and I am here to tell you that Groupon is another exception that proves the rule. They are suprisingly human and un-corporate in all of their interactions with people.

Andrew Mason (CEO) walked on stage in front of 300 people wearing cargo shorts.

I’m not saying SM isn’t a great way to engage with people – I’m saying it is a lousy way to advertise.

Tom O’Brien

We saw the CEO of Groupon at WOMMA conference last week in Chicago – and I am here to tell you that Groupon is another exception that proves the rule. They are suprisingly human and un-corporate in all of their interactions with people.

Andrew Mason (CEO) walked on stage in front of 300 people wearing cargo shorts.

I’m not saying SM isn’t a great way to engage with people – I’m saying it is a lousy way to advertise.

Tom O’Brien

Thanks for the kind words. Just to be clear, Dose of Digital will remain pharma and healthcare focused. The new blog I’m developing will be more general. Stay tuned.

Jonathan

Thanks for the kind words. Just to be clear, Dose of Digital will remain pharma and healthcare focused. The new blog I’m developing will be more general. Stay tuned.

Jonathan

Congrats on the promotion! I must admit I’m a little bummed that the blog will no longer focus solely on healthcare, particularly because there are lots of blogs discussing social media in general. However, I do think that healthcare/pharma/biotech could do well to learn best practices from other industries that are already engaging heavily in social media.

And to add to Tom’s comment — I respectfully disagree. I have found great products and services (Groupon being my personal favorite), and loads of helpful information via social media. Of course, I have ignored many, many, many ads and promotional tweets. I really appreciate social media for the proliferation of niche audiences and think that more than ever before marketing, advertising and PR professionals have a better chance at finding those folks who may embrace the service or endorse the product they are promoting (assuming that said product/service is sound).

Well, stranger things have happened than leaving and then getting pulled (persuaded) back in. Congrats on your expanded role.

I’m going to answer (from my perspective) just one of your questions about SM. That is do people even want us (marketers) there?

This is the crux of the challenge in SM. In fact I personally despise the name SM because it has the word “media” in it. This word immediately makes marketers think of it as yet one more channel in which to advertise at people.

The great frustration (of marketers) with SM is that it turns out to be a terrible channel for marketing. That is because we (as consumers) are not engaging in SM to be marketed to. This (as you said) is an engagement channel, not a marketing channel.

To engage requires the marketer to get off their pedestal and put people first. Stop trying to sell stuff to people and help them solve their problems. If you do that you might just get a little love back on the form of sales, advocacy, loyalty.

This is an unnatural act for marketers, so only in the exception is this rule proven (see @Zappos).

So, the answer is this. SM is a great engagement channel, but it is a lousy marketing channel. Engagement requires one to be helpful, human and humble and to subordinate their interests to the community interests.

These are VERY hard things for marketers (corporations)to do.

My $0.02.

Tom O’Brien
MotiveQuest LLC
@tomob

Well, stranger things have happened than leaving and then getting pulled (persuaded) back in. Congrats on your expanded role.

I’m going to answer (from my perspective) just one of your questions about SM. That is do people even want us (marketers) there?

This is the crux of the challenge in SM. In fact I personally despise the name SM because it has the word “media” in it. This word immediately makes marketers think of it as yet one more channel in which to advertise at people.

The great frustration (of marketers) with SM is that it turns out to be a terrible channel for marketing. That is because we (as consumers) are not engaging in SM to be marketed to. This (as you said) is an engagement channel, not a marketing channel.

To engage requires the marketer to get off their pedestal and put people first. Stop trying to sell stuff to people and help them solve their problems. If you do that you might just get a little love back on the form of sales, advocacy, loyalty.

This is an unnatural act for marketers, so only in the exception is this rule proven (see @Zappos).

So, the answer is this. SM is a great engagement channel, but it is a lousy marketing channel. Engagement requires one to be helpful, human and humble and to subordinate their interests to the community interests.

These are VERY hard things for marketers (corporations)to do.

My $0.02.

Tom O’Brien
MotiveQuest LLC
@tomob