Does social media have to be either marketing or PR?
asked the question last week, Is social media the same as marketing?
In considering that and the conversation I had with Beth on User Friendly Thinking radio last Friday, I want to ask another:
Does social media, as it relates to business, have to be marketing or PR at all?
(I'm thinking aloud, but hear me out.)
Does social media have to fit into old paradigms or can it be something new altogether?
It's sort of the same question that's been asked about blogging over the years -- are bloggers journalists? (No, they're bloggers. Next question.) Perhaps, rather, the use of social media is a new skillset which can be applied in either direction.
John Jantsch said the other day that companies need to consider hiring a "Chief Conversation Officer." Maybe that's it. Maybe the way to think of social media for business is neither as marketing or PR, but, simply, conversations that lead to conversions. Thus, maybe a key component of the skillset required is as a conversationalist.
In a biblical passage Jesus states, you "can't put old wine in new wineskins." The Web 2.0 qualifies as new "wine," but we seem hellbent on making it synch with old forms, and it's not doing so well.
For example, conversion rates on advertising in social networks are abysmal at best. CPM rates are dropping like rocks and all of us kool-aid drinkers know why. No one goes to Facebook or any other social network to click on ads. (That's just one example. Give me time and I can come up with a few more I'm sure. )
The old saying, "I know what I like," would be more truthfully restated, "I like what I know." We're uncomfortable with those things with which we have no familiarity and, thus, attempt to fit them into our current frame of reference. Social media is one of those things, so it stands to reason we try and turn it into something it may or may not be.
(Did I mention I'm thinking out loud here.)
I have a personal confession to make, which may explain why I'm addressing this issue in the first place. I don't fancy myself as either a marketer or a PR person. I'm a blogger and a social media practitioner.
Truth be told, mainly I'm a teacher. I love sharing knowledge, information and opinion. Oh, I like helping people too, which is a useful trait to have for being effective in social media for business.
Sooo... have I finally gone off the deep end and completely lost touch with reality? Or, could it be that social media is a new wineskin that simply just doesn't fit neatly into our traditional molds? Maybe Beth's question is not the one we should be asking afterall.
PS: Toby Bloomberg has a lot to say about this topic in an interview she did with Shel Israel at Global Neighorhoods.
