Social Media Marketing Is Dead, Too.
One of my Facebook friends has been posting several updates a day to her Facebook business page for more than 2 years. Almost every single day, as far as I scrolled back in time.
Her consistency is adorable, you’d guess she’s having great results from her Facebook marketing.
Yet, during 4 1⁄2 years since the page was founded only 130 people have liked the page.
And she’s been sharing good stuff. Daily. More than 2 years.
What gives her motivation to publish day by day when it’s seen by almost no one?
It eludes me.
Another Facebook friend, also a daily Facebook marketer, occasionally posts about how she’s overwhelmed with the tasks of social media marketing.
She’s also posted, that her business doesn’t make enough money to pay for a $ 8.99 Hoostsuite account that would make social media marketing so much easier.
What’s the point of social media marketing, if the return doesn’t cover a monthly bill of $ 8.99?
It eludes me.
Why is social media marketing broken?
The problem starts with social media gurus preaching what HubSpot’s social media scientist Dan Zarrella calls „unicorns and rainbows.“
It’s touchy-feely marketing advice that doesn’t work, unless probably in Hobbit Town or Fantastica.
Engage with your customers.
Be yourself!
Post great content.
Why do business owners fall for unicorns and rainbows advice?
Business owners love unicorns and rainbows because SELLING has a bad name.
A sales person potentially is a bad person.
- A networker, a social marketer, per definition, is a nice person.
- Someone who puts people first (or claims to do so), is a nice person.
- Someone who doesn’t care about business profits, but only about providing value, is a nice person.
That’s also why social media gurus position themselves that way.
- Promoting the human touch makes them likeable.
- It also makes them unaccountable for their advice.
For business owners scared of being seen as a sales person unicorns and rainbows seems the easy road to marketing. It’s the solution to their fears and negative self-image.
Sure, it sounds nice.
But, after a few years of social media hype, people are waking up. They start asking questions. Evaluating the time and money they’ve invested.
For many small businesses, social media hasn’t added a penny to their bottom line.
Even worse – the time and money spent is lost. While chasing unicorns we failed to grow our business.
The Unicorns need to die.
What we need is a return to accountable marketing.