What Is Social Media Really All About? Who Knows
When The Financial Brand wrote an article titled “Why Social Media Is a Waste of Time for Most Banks & Credit Unions,” it sparked a fiery debate about the role of social media in the retail financial industry. One of the most striking facets of the discussion was the general confusion about what social media really is.
For starters, people can’t even agree on which tools are part of social media and which aren’t.
“I think there is a lot of confusion about what social media is in this debate with no clear definition,” commented Tim McAlpine, CEO/Currency Marketing. “Is it just monitoring? Marketing? Part of an integrated strategy? Sales? Blogging? UGC? Contests? Facebook? Twitter?”
Checking the Wikipedia entry for “social media” defines it as “media for social interaction, using highly accessible and scalable publishing techniques…which allows the creation and exchange of user-generated content.” But then when you scan the rest of the web, you quickly realize there is little consensus among social media experts and evangelists regarding what social media is about. For instance, a Google search for “social media is really about” produces these results:
- Social media is really about conversations
- Social media is really about listening
- Social media is really about telling stories
- Social media is really about building relationships
- Social media is really about customer service and treating people better than they expect
- Social media is really about persuasion
- Social media is really about raising awareness of your company
- Social media is really about connections
- Social media is really about community
- Social media is really about being social
- Social media is really about relinquishing control to the consumer
- Social media is really about creating content
- Social media is really about catalyzing moments of serendipity
- Social media is really about trust
- Social media is really about reducing risk by reaching out to like-minded peers
- Social media is really about sharing useful content with your audience
- Social media is really about creating credibility
- Social media is really about people
- Social media is really about engaging
- Social media is really about transparent and honest communication
- Social media is really about hanging out with your friends in an online setting
- Social media is really about passion
- Social media is really about getting backlinks
- Social media is really about networking
How about taking a look at the definition from the other direction, what social media isn’t. Searching the web for “social media is not about” produces results that include:
- Social media is not about conversations
- Social media is not about your company
- Social media is not about you
- Social media is not about your brand
- Social media is not about building relationships with a brand
- Social media is not about the technology
- Social media is not about marketing
- Social media is not about achieving sales
- Social media is not about return on investment
- Social media is not about money
- Social media is not about CRM
- Social media is not about broadcasting
- Social media is not about direct sell
- Social media is not about pushing your product service at anyone
- Social media is not about being in control
- Social media is not about Facebook or MySpace or Flickr or Twitter or blogs or YouTube
Conclusion
So to paraphrase: Social media isn’t about the media, it’s about being social. It’s about listening but it’s also about conversations and telling stories, just as long as those stories aren’t about you or your brand. It’s about raising awareness and creating credibility (even though it isn’t about marketing), but don’t expect it to lead to sales, new customers or ROI. It’s a networking tool about people, but don’t use it as a prospecting tool. It can be used to build relationships and enhance customer service, but it isn’t a Customer Relationship Management tool.
Huh???
Bottom Line: It’s no wonder bank and credit union marketers have mushy, murky social media strategies when even the so-called experts can’t agree on what social media is or isn’t about.
For Discussion: What’s your definition of social media? What is social media really all about?
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Thank you so much for the link to my post! And great article. I think it’s important to treat social media like a discussion because there will never be a concrete definition. Social media, like most communications strategies, changes and develops with the needs of the industry, the audience, and technology.
From a business standpoint, I think social media is all about communicating with people and giving them content of value. This is the only way you can expect to have success with it (from a business standpoint).
Best definition of “social media” I have seen: “If you do it online it’s social media. Do it offline and it’s a BBQ or cocktail party or movie night or just plain life in general.”
This is a really slanted article. What is a financial institution? Savings, Checking, Loans, Auto, Mortgages, Customer service, credit cards, etc. You can make lists like this for any field and conclude it is confusing.
Yes, I understand your point that most financial institutions fall short in expressing value in the social media arena. But, you can not ignore the reach this new medium provides. Even your own blog highlights the power of twitter and RSS feeds to draw visitors.
If you take one of your points of what social media is and focus a strategy around it you should find success.
Social media is a pretty instant process. And when the majority of financial institution do not offer full online account opening or a complete range of online services, it will be hard to have powerful cases studies on the effect of social media.
For the time being, we should gain insights from the early pioneers in this medium. Not knock them down for trying. The web is a continuous evolution, expansion, growth, google.
Mikal, if you’re asserting that the role of “social media” is as well-defined and understood as that of a “bank,” I’m afraid we’ll have to disagree.
Also, you said, “If you take one of your points of what social media is and focus a strategy around it you should find success.” Isn’t that the tail wagging the dog? Shouldn’t you develop a strategy based on business goals, then determine what tools should be used and how vs. saying “I want to use this tool, so let’s use it to [create engagement/listen/provide customer service].”
Social media is a self-subscribing marketing data collection tool. It is what we do when we should be actually working. Proof of this is the flood of people to SF Bay area to actually build these things, creating a housing shortage in an already stressed and development limited region. Supposedly to provide tools that, if we believe the breathy opinions, ‘enhance virtual presence and permit remote resources to effectively collaborate.’ Sure, that is why there is a physical flood of human beings to SF to actually work on more of these … self-subscribing marketing data collection platforms. Because there is money in narrow-casting boomer boner medicine ads etc.