I was in my favourite magazine shop mag nation the other day checking out some business mag action when these two titles caught my eye.
One was the cover story of Forbes magazine ('Social Power and the Coming Corporate Revolution').
The other an article featured on the cover of Australia's Professional Marketing magazine titled 'Social Media: Oversold and Overrated'.
Forbes is one of the world's most prestigious business magazines, Professional Marketing is the official magazine of the Australian Marketing Institute.
The juxtaposition of these two publications acutely underscores the differences of where corporate Australia stands in terms of social media adoption/acceptance compared to the rest of the world (well, the US at least).
Read the Forbes article here.
It's a really solid piece that looks at how social media is upsetting the once cosy world of Corporate America.
EXAMPLE:
"This social might is now moving toward your company. We have entered the age of empowered individuals, who use potent new technologies and harness social media to organize themselves...most are ordinary people with new tools to force you to listen to what they care about and to demand respect. Both your customers and your employees have started marching in this burgeoning social media multitude, and you’d better get out of their way—or learn to embrace them."
Skeptical about the social web
On the other hand, the Professional Marketing article - while not outright condemning social media to the scrapheap and to be fair, it does acknowledge social media has worked on occasions for some brands - proffers up all sorts of reasons why marketers should be skeptical about the social web, including the fact Westpac's following on Twitter is miniscule compared to its customer base, ditto Woolworths and its Facebook page (maybe Woolies should look to a socially savvy brand such as Whole Foods Market for some inspiration?).
Now, I am nothing if not a pragmatic guy. I don't think companies and organisations should rush into social media just because it's there and everyone else is clambering to get onboard. Indeed, I spend a lot of time questioning companies why they need to be on Twitter et al anyway if they're not ready for it in terms of corporate culture and mindset.
I'm also from the school of thought that if whatever you're doing right now in a marketing sense is really, really working for you, then keep doing it.
Reinforcing notions
That said, marketers do need to be acutely aware the sands of consumer land are shifting like crazy beneath their feet and to have articles like the Professional Marketing cover story reinforcing notions that social media is nothing more than a fad is not helping the industry come to grips with what is a tantamount to a communications revolution.
Marketers are fearful enough of social media as it is. Ditto CEOs.
No wonder decent corporate case studies in Australia are hard to come by - brands too often approach social media as they would an advertising campaign and then wonder why they don't get results.
Why haven't we got any major brands such as Ford which, according to Forbes, "...takes cues from young people immersed in social media in how it designs cars and how it communicates".
Ford has over recent years undergone a major cultural transformation internally in an effort to better connect with today's social consumer (SEE VIDEO).
This is the sort of thing Professional Marketing should be sharing with its readers: the broader changes pragmatically smart brands are making in order to get ready for, and more effectively adapt to, the real-time marketplace of today (and importantly, tomorrow).
By all means, challenge the notion social media is overhyped and that corporate brands should not rush in simply at the expense of traditional marketing methods but please consider also taking a thought leadership position befitting a "flagship trade title for the marketing industry".
Corporate Australia is already several years behind a consumer marketplace that is digitally savvy, hyper connected, information overloaded and as cynical as all get-up.
Rather than adopting what could best be described as a cynical stance against the social web and all it represents, the marketing profession would be better served if it embraced the cultural shift that is occurring and openly discussed and debated the challenges they faced as a profession, ignited public conversations around social media opportunities, developed case studies and shared key learnings with their peers.
In the words of Jason Falls and Erik Deckers in their excellent book No Bullshit Social Media:
"Ignore the hype. Believe the facts".
