Recently, a reader shared his view that social media, "dilutes
your message to the masses". That is an interesting view that may not
be unusual when thinking about the effect of perhaps a rumor or some
especially titillating factoid (or falsehood). But, it brings-up a great set
of issues for discussion as it illustrates how important it is for
marketers to really understand how all of this crazy stuff works
together.
I think the dilution concern is exactly why it is critical for marketers to do their best to stay on top of what's being said about them. We know that people will always talk. Today's social media channels enable unbridled conversation where potential prospects WILL lurk and WILL be talking. Isn't the whole idea to get as many people as possible talking about your product of service? To me, that is really goodness.
Most marketers would love the opportunity to need to deal with too many people talking about them. If that "dilutes "a message, meaning it weakens a message (dilution), that just emphasizes even more how critical it is to, 1) have a great product of service, 2) be sure you are talking to the right audience, and 3) have the right message.
The idea is that marketers need to understand how to build and RUN a fully integrated social media program and leverage the very thing this gentleman considered a potentially damaging thing..the masses' ability to spread the word. Isn't that the whole idea? Making sure we work to shape the conversation and avoid being misunderstood is, again, exactly why marketers can not ignore the importance of understanding how it all works.
This reader thought that social media will eventually give-way to the traditional sales call. This just really illustrated how so many smart business people out there are pretty darn unclear around exactly how social media may be used.
Social media interactions are certainly not a substitute for a sales call and in my opinion would be a bad place to try and take someone through a sales process. Sales is the downstream activity that occurs AFTER the prospect has found their way to the marketer's door (or been drawn there by good marketing)...social media tools/platforms are just another way to help the prospects see the marketer in the insanely crowded marketplace so packed with noise and invasive in-your-face advertising tactics that will never go away.
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