I’ve been thinking this morning about how universally disappointing social media marketing has been. Even at its best, it’s been utterly deplorable. Maybe it’s because Facebook has given marketing people a lazy way to tell their boards that they are using social media without having to worry about things like “ideas” or “being social.” Hiring a community manager to schedule a parade of banal questions and silly pictures makes for the perfect illusion of a brand behaving socially. The true value of it all, which lies in doing meaningful things and helping other people to connect with each other around a brand, is largely being wasted. Facebook is continually making it worse by introducing more “efficient” ways to help people attach the word engagement to lazy ideas:
“The ‘enhanced post targeting’ announced by Facebook will allow marketers to target posts that appear in fans’ newsfeeds by gender, relationship status, education, workplace, language and geography. Previously, companies were not able to tailor posts beyond region and language.
‘This update gives marketers the ability to boost social engagement by crafting more detailed and sophisticated content calendars that are tailored to the nuances of their brand’s audience,’ states Matt Wurst, director of digital communities at interactive agency 360i,”
(Via MediaPost)