Skip to main content

Google+ Avoids the Bad Perception of Social Media


Many senior executives may want to believe that an investment in social media marketing is strategic to their business, but they're apparently still not convinced. They've read all the hype about the huge amount of people that registered on Facebook, but they question how many of their customers or prospects access the social network regularly.

They wonder if people really are looking for product or service information on Facebook, when most users activity tends to revolve around sharing photos of friends, family members or their pets. The most doubtful executives hear all the talk about the power of user engagement, yet their marketing staff prefers to write checks to Facebook for consistently poor-performing ad placements.

Can the launch of Google+ help to reverse some of the bad perceptions that these senior executives already have about today's social media marketing practices? Or, can Google simply avoid the debate altogether, and gain a significant market advantage as a result?

Why Social Media is Not a Strategic Priority

eMarketer estimates 80 percent of companies with at least 100 employees will use social networks for marketing this year -- that's up from nearly three in four last year. By 2012, usage will be even greater. But many social media campaigns currently seem to be stuck in the experimental stage of development.

Regardless, most companies recognize that a social media strategy should be a vital part of the marketing plan. In fact, a study from Jive Software and Penn, Schoen & Berland found 78 percent of executives thought a social business strategy was somewhat or very important to the future success of their business.

Despite this realization, most executives are still only in the tentative stages of making social strategy a priority. Why? Meaningful strategy development is a responsibility that's typically deferred to someone else. The senior executive expects the marketing VP to do it, but the role is often performed by someone who thinks and acts like a legacy media buyer.

By default, a low-level agency employee will decide how to spend the client's social media budget.

An Opportunity to Re-Imagine Social Commerce

The survey of executives who have final say or significant input on social business strategy found that only 27 percent listed social business as a top strategic priority. Nearly half (47 percent) admitted a social plan was necessary but not a strategic priority -- and a puzzling 19 percent said a social business strategy was simply not necessary.

Meanwhile, many of the surveyed executives were not optimistic about their current social strategy. Only 17 percent felt their social strategy was ahead of the curve. About four in 10 (42 percent) believed that their social strategy was just keeping up -- and a troubling 33 percent believed that they were already behind.

A study by Forbes Insights and Coremetrics showed similar results. Only 11 percent of U.S. and UK executives said social media strategy was a priority in 2011 -- it tied for last place with mobile marketing. Regarding their plans for 2012, only 19 percent of surveyed executives listing it as a leading marketing priority.

eMarketer concludes that companies are active in social media marketing, but those that choose not to create a strategy risk investing in further misguided or wasted efforts. That said, perhaps the solution to this dilemma is to cease all "social media marketing" activity, and start over -- with a substantive plan of meaningful action.

Given the current state of the market, Google would be wise to avoid labeling their new platform with something that could have already gained a bad or poor perception. Maybe they're on to something -- "The Google+ project aims to make sharing on the web more like sharing in real life." Now, will savvy marketers create a viable business strategy around that simple notion? We'll have to wait and see.

Popular posts from this blog

Digital Talent Demand Exceeds Supply in Asia-Pac

Even the savviest CEO's desire for a digital transformation advantage has to face the global market reality -- there simply isn't enough skilled and experienced talent available to meet demand. According to the latest market study by IDC, around 60-80 percent of Asia-Pacific (AP) organizations find it "difficult" or "extremely difficult" to fill many IT roles -- including cybersecurity, software development, and data insight professionals. Major consequences of the skills shortage are increased workload on remaining digital business and IT employees, increased security risks, and loss of "hard-to-replace" critical transformation knowledge. Digital Business Talent Market Development Although big tech companies' layoffs are making headlines, they are not representative of the overall global marketplace. Ongoing difficulty to fill key practitioner vacancies is still among the top issues faced by leaders across industries. "Skills are difficul

How Cloud Fuels Digital Business Transformation

Across the globe, many CEOs invested in initiatives to expand their digital offerings. User experience enhancements that are enabled by business technology were a priority in many industries. Worldwide end-user spending on public cloud services is forecast to grow 21.7 percent to a total of $597.3 billion in 2023 -- that's up from $491 billion in 2022, according to the latest market study by Gartner. Cloud computing is driving the next phase of digital transformation, as organizations pursue disruption through technologies like generative Artificial Intelligence (AI), Web3, and enterprise Metaverse. Public Cloud Computing Market Development "Hyperscale cloud providers are driving the cloud agenda," said Sid Nag, vice president at Gartner . Organizations view cloud computing as a highly strategic platform for digital transformation initiatives, which requires providers to offer new capabilities as the competition for digital business escalates. "For example, generativ

Mobile Device Market Still Awaiting Recovery

The mobile devices market has experienced three years of unpredictable demand. The global pandemic, geopolitical pressures, supply chain issues, and macroeconomic headwinds have hindered the sector's consistent growth potential. This extremely challenging environment has dramatically affected both demand and supply chains. It has led to subsequent inflationary pressures, leading to a worsening global cost of living crisis suppressing growth and confidence in the sector. In tandem, mobile device industry stakeholders have become more cautious triggering market uncertainties. Mobile Device Market Development Operating under such a backdrop, the development of mobile device ecosystems and vendor landscapes have been impacted severely. Many of these market pressures persisted throughout 2022 and now into 2023, borne chiefly by the smartphone market. According to the latest worldwide market study by ABI Research, worldwide smartphone shipments in 2022 declined 9.6 percent Year-over-Year