Falls and Deckers' book No Bullshit Social Media seems to be targeted toward the social media skeptic. The CEO or manager whose business has not jumped onboard social media for any number of unsubstantiated reasons. Falls and Deckers approach this reader with substantial case studies and statistics arguing for social media marketing (SMM). They also meet this stubborn executive with ample snark and boldness to shatter misconceptions and rhetorically impart a friendly kick in the pants regarding the adoption of SMM.
Chapter 1, titled "Ignore the Hype. Believe the Facts," starts the book off with the misconceptions and criticizes what they see as ignorance or skepticism resulting from fear. They tackle specific excuses not to use SMM (outlined by Jeff Bullas in his blog) and argue that they arise from a fundamentally flawed approach to the assessment of SMM as a business practice.
Chapter 2, titled "It's Not Them; It's You!" lays down some hard numbers about social media use as well as some case studies proving its influence in the business sector. The through line here is that "people are already talking about your business," meaning that not getting involved is only asking for trouble.
So far, I love this book. It is addressing head-on some of the things I've heard from higher-ups in the workplace. Particularly the line, "our customers don't use social media." (Grrr...) Here are some highlights that I want to take home:
- "Social media didn't change marketing from a monologue to a dialogue--it changed it to a multilogue" (4). This is key. Multiple parties are, as the authors point out later, already talking about your company and products. Being a part of that multilogue is essential.
- Quoting Katie Paine, "You're not always investing in a financial transaction, so you're not always going to get a financial result" (18). ROI is not always applicable to marketing practices that build relationships and develop reputation. The authors add, "There are times when your results will be intangible but still important and useful" (ibid.).
- "When you don't address customers' needs or answer their questions--or if you don't give them a place to feel like they've been heard--they will oust you from their own buying habits. And in today's share-first environment online, they'll tell everyone they know, too" (34). Yup.
I also thought Chapter 2 raised an intriguing reversal of the discussion of the paradox of control that Hinton and Hjorth bring up in their book.
- What if a company has qualitative data showing that a lot of their customers actually DON'T use social media (or don't think highly of it)? Reference my A3 blog on this topic...
- How can a company reverse a trend like this? How can I get more customers involved on social media? Or is this a backward approach...?