Social Media

Social MediaInsights

Why Social Media Doesn’t Work (and What You Can Do About It)

by Mike Heronime

April 11, 2012

giving advertising a nu name

This Numantra Whitepaper was initially published by

S O C I A L M E D I A I N S I G H T S


Executive Summary

For many companies, social media has not lived up to the hype.

It’s true that social media is being adopted by virtually everyone

on the planet. And research shows that the most trusted source

of marketing information comes from word of mouth. Utilizing

social media to grow a business makes perfect sense so why is it

not working for so many marketers who have tried? And what

about those marketers who are making it work for their busi-

ness. What’s their secret?

In this article you will learn:

Three things you must have to make social media work for your

brand

AND…

Five engagement strategy idea starters

© Copyright 2012 Numantra. All rights reserved. PAGE 1

K E Y P O I N T

Social media

is just one aspect

of an effective

communication

strategy.

S O C I A L M E D I A I N S I G H T S


It’s time to face reality. Advertising is a lot harder today then it

ever was before. According to Planet Feedback’s “Consumer Trust

in Advertising” report, fewer than half the people surveyed trust

print ads or television commercials. Hardly a third of them trust

what they hear on the radio. It’s even worse for direct mail and

outdoor advertising. What’s the number one trusted source of

advertising? Word of mouth!

That’s a huge game changer. Before, advertisers had to convince

consumers to buy their product. Now, advertisers have to convince

consumers to convince other consumers to buy their product. That

is a much harder proposition. Imagine you had to sell your car but

you couldn’t sell it directly to the buyer. Instead, you had to

convince everyone to sell your car to their friends for you.

It’s no small wonder that advertisers have fixated on social media

as the solution. Social media is the thing that all of these consum-

ers are using to share everything with their friends: hobbies,

events, humor, and yes, sometimes even information about

branded products and services.


N O T E D

“Facebook is the

equivalent for us to

what TV was for

marketers back in the

1960s. It's an integral

part of what we do

now.”

Social media’s popularity is undeniable. In 2009, Nielsen reported

that, “time spent on social network and blogging sites is growing

more than three times the rate of overall Internet growth.” In

2010, they reported that, “consumers are spending 43% more of

their time on social media than a year ago, making social

networking and blogs the top online activity, followed by online

games and email.”

This did not escape the attention of the advertising community.

Nike’s chief marketing officer, Davide Grasso noted, “Facebook is

the equivalent for us to what TV was for marketers back in the

1960s. It's an integral part of what we do now.”

Meanwhile, Engagement DB studied the world's 100 most valu-

able brands. They were evaluated by how well they engage with

their consumers using social media and how that engagement

correlates with revenue. The report stated that companies with

the highest level of social media activity increased revenue by

18% in the last 12 months, while companies that were the least

active saw a 6% drop in sales.

Everybody got the hint and made social media a priority for their

marketing teams. For a lot of marketers that meant setting up a

Facebook page and a Twitter feed. But for most advertisers,

things haven’t worked out the way they had planned. Their

Twitter feeds aren’t moving the sales needle and the value of a

Facebook Like seems to be where all the attention has been

fixated. It brings to mind the immortal words of Bruce Lee, “It is

like a finger pointing toward the moon. Don't concentrate on

the finger or you will miss all that heavenly glory.”


N O T E D

“It is like a finger

pointing toward the

moon. Don't

concentrate on the

finger or you will miss

all that heavenly glory.”


The reason why social media isn’t living up to the hype is a familiar

one. The same thing happened back in the day when advertisers

were first told that the Internet was the place to be. Their biggest

failing? A build-it-and-they-will-come mentality. Same as now. Too

many marketers build a Facebook page and a Twitter page and

then become disappointed when no one follows their page.

It’s not enough to simply follow people on Twitter so they will

follow you back. And you can’t just tweet about your brand. Your

Facebook page can’t be just a collection of descriptions of your

products. It’s as if these marketers have all forgotten what makes

advertising really work in the first place. The problem is the lack of

engagement.

Engagement is what made the difference during the creative

revolution of 1960’s advertising. The voice and personality of Bill

Bernbach’s Volkswagen advertising was engaging. The style and

design of Saul Bass’ art was engaging. David Ogilvy’s Hathaway

man with the eye patch was engaging.

A T T E N T I O N

Engagement is what

made the difference

during the creative

revolution of 1960’s

advertising.


What’s different today? Advertisers still have to be engaging.

The difference is that the options available for reaching

consumers have multiplied exponentially. This challenge is

further compounded by the misperception that social media is

replacing other media. The marketing experts that created that

misperception made the same mistake when they suggested

that the Internet was going to replace television. On the

contrary, people aren’t watching television less. They’re just

watching television at the same time they are surfing

the Internet.

The truth is that social media has simply been added to the rest

of the constantly expanding media-sphere. And by itself, it’s not

any more important than the rest of the media. The reality is

that it’s not about the media at all. It’s about engagement.

The way to make social media work is to forget about social

media. At least for the moment. Advertisers must return their

focus to developing an effective communication strategy. A

good communication strategy will dictate not just whether

social media is an option but it will also define exactly how

social media is going to work for the brand.

The key point: Social media is just one aspect of an effective

communication strategy. So how does that work exactly?

Three things you must have to make social media work

for your brand.

An effective communication strategy has three primary aspects.

They are: a content development/message strategy, a media

channel strategy, and an engagement strategy.

K E Y P O I N T

Social media is just

one aspect of an

effective communica-

tion strategy.

N O T E D

“The biggest challenge

facing marketers today

is the demand on them

to be interesting.”


Content Development / Message Strategy. The biggest

challenge facing marketers today is the demand on them to be

interesting. Their content — their message — has to be interest-

ing in order to be effective. People have so much control over the

content they consume, that if it doesn’t appeal to them, they will

probably never see it due to pre-emptive filtering that blocks it

from ever getting through.

That’s why a strategy is so important. You need to know who it is

you’re trying to reach and what it is that they are interested in

and what that has to do with your brand. Put it all together and

you have something you can work with. Primary research has

never been more important than it is today.

Media Channel Strategy. Working out the nuances of

content/message are vital but potentially worthless if the media

channel used to deliver it is either inappropriate for the content

or the customer. And chances are that social media will be a part

of the overall media strategy. But that is not a forgone conclusion.

That’s why strategy is so important. (Déjà vu all over again.) You

need to know who it is you’re trying to reach and what kind of

media they consume and when they consume that media and

where they consume that media. Through this process, you will

determine (among other things) which social media channels are

best suited for your message and your customer. It sounds easy

but most successful brands consult with specialists to pull this off.


Engagement Strategy. Your engagement strategy takes every-

thing you know about your customer, their interests, and their

media consumption habits and brings focus to those insights. An

engagement strategy is an idea-driven solution inspired by the

critical information you have assembled. Ideas are as numerous and

diverse as the problems they solve. But here are five idea starters:

Five Engagement Strategy Idea Starters

The One Thing Strategy. One approach to an engagement strat-

egy is determining the one thing that will resonate with your

customers and will be relevant to your brand. For example, you

may determine that your brand of data security is fast and furious

so you focus your brand engagement on all things adrenaline.

Volkswagen adopted this strategy with their Fanwagen. Their focus

on being fun, hip and cool went into creating a fun, hip, and cool

vehicle that integrated everything fun, hip, and cool about social

media into retro models of their Beetle and VW Bus. The Fanwagen

featured a Facebook newsfeed printer built into the dashboard,

relationship status posted on the license plate, and even a camera

with a wall for posting photos. The Fanwagen was one-of-a-kind.

Any one could be entered for a chance to win it just by Liking

Volkswagen on Facebook.

A T T E N T I O N

An engagement

strategy is an idea-

driven solution inspired

by the critical

information you have

assembled.


The Zealot Strategy. Another approach is to make your brand

accessible to the crowd and solicit their input, ideas, trial, and

feedback. For example, you may make fishing lures so you

engage your customers on the topics of tricks of the trade,

innovations, etc.

In January 2009, Tourism Queensland adopted this approach

when they embarked on a global search to find an Island Care-

taker to explore the Islands of the Great Barrier Reef in Queens-

land Australia and report back to the world about their experi-

ences. They touted the opportunity as “The Best Job in the

World” and turned their blogger recruitment campaign into a

massive awareness campaign fueled by the interests of travellers

and spread through each of their social media networks as they

attempted to blog their way into their dream job.

The Guru Strategy. Another approach is to position the brand

as the industry leader or innovator. Whitepapers, blogging,

opinion pieces, etc. are developed to express thought leadership

to your customers that are interested in following your lead. For

example, you are a financial services company so you engage

your audience with webinars on investing and whitepapers on

diversification strategy, etc.

A T T E N T I O N

Make your brand

accessible to the crowd

and solicit their input.


Merrill Lynch did exactly that when they created the Merrill

Lynch Advisors. The $20 million campaign, dubbed "The Power

of the Right Advisor" is built on several key issues that Merrill

executives noted over the prior year of research. Retirement is

still No. 1 on consumers' minds, but so are liquidity, balancing

demand and understanding risk. Merrill Lynch’s integrated

engagement campaign included its first YouTube channel, with

its own webcasts and panel discussions with experts on subjects

such as retirement.

The Gaming Strategy. Play with your customers. Develop

contests, promotions, games, loyalty programs, etc.

Fast-food chain Burger King has created "Whopper Sacrifice," a

Facebook app that gives you a coupon for a free hamburger if

you delete 10 people from your friends list. The "sacrifices"

show up in your activity feed. It would say, for example, "Karie

sacrificed John Smithson for a free Whopper." Unfortunately,

you can't delete your whole friends list and eat free for a week.

The promotion is limited to one coupon per Facebook account.

Facebook ended Burger King’s promotion early because it was

too successful — too many people were becoming unfriended as

a result of this promotion.

A T T E N T I O N

Play with

your customers.


The Exclusive Content Strategy aka The See It Here First

Strategy. In this case, you have a valuable asset in the form of

original content that you’ve created for your brand. That content

may be an entertaining video featuring a popular celebrity, or it is

original music performed by a hot, new band, or it’s never before

released photography documenting a subject of interest.

Tom Tom uses Monty Python comedian John Cleese to lure people

into Liking the Tom Tom Facebook page. A two-minute video

featuring Cleese appeared on streaming video sites. In the video,

Cleese is dancing around a traffic jam. The spot ends with the

invitation to see more John Cleese video at Tom Tom’s Facebook

page. The trick is that if you want to watch the videos, you first

have to Like their page.

A T T E N T I O N

Content is

still king.


The key to making social media work for your brand is not

dependent on how much money you spend on the execution of

the strategy. The Whopper Sacrifice is evidence of that. What all

of these examples have in common is a big idea. A big idea that

is at the heart of an engagement strategy. It’s the big idea that

draws people in — that engages people. It’s the big idea that

inspires people and creates buzz and compels people to share

that idea with their friends.

The reason why social media doesn’t work is simply because

marketers are thinking too small. When they consider the cost

of creating a Facebook page (basically free), then they take a

“sure — why not attitude” and their foray into social media

starts and ends with the expectation that they will be getting

something for nothing. But it’s not that easy. Advertising is a lot

harder today then it ever was before. Or at least it’s still as hard

as ever. You still have to produce big ideas that engage people if

you want advertising to work.

*If you aren’t currently using social media as a way to build your

brand, please contact us for a free consultation. We can show

you specific examples of how your business vertical is effectively

using social media to build brands and we will work with you to

identify specific opportunities for your own brand.

Please contact Dave Evans at 214-635-2220 or at

[email protected] to schedule your free consultation.

A T T E N T I O N

You still have to

produce big ideas that

engage people if you

want advertising to

work.

2900 Gateway Dr. Suite 620 • Irving, Texas 75063

214.635.2300 • numantra.com

facebook.com/numantra

twitter.com/numantra

linkedin.com/company/numantra

Numantra Notes.

We are a Top 25 North Texas Ad Agency according to the Dallas Business Journal. Our

billings were over $26 million last year.

Our agency was established in 2005, the resulting merger of three diverse yet

complementary agencies. It was serendipitous.

We are a full service agency. To us that means we have account planning, account service,

media planning, creative concepting, design, writing, production management, and

technology services all under one roof.

We’re often asked about our technology services. We provide a full host of services

including programming, application development, and hosting through our

in-house resources.

We serve clients locally, nationally, and globally. Numantra is headquartered in Irving,

Texas. Our media buying partners are based here in Dallas. We serve clients outside of

Texas in places like Indianapolis, Washington D.C., and Cincinatti. The ongoing work we do

for some clients is international in scope and serves offices in London, Australia and Tokyo

as well as those in the United States.

giving advertising a nu name

Social Media

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