Social Media Trumps Traditional Advertising? Not So Fast.
After the last few years of social media propaganda being touted by an army of people with little to no marketing experience, the actual reality is now becoming clear and it’s massively different than what they’d have you believe. Neilsen’s Three Screen Report for the first quarter of 2010 shows that 99% of video is viewed on television. Mobile viewing accounts for two-tenths of 1% of all video viewing. In a Forbes article, titled, “It takes money to make money": How the new “social” media is like the old “media” media,” the writer cites some research conducted by Anita Elberse, a marketing professor at Harvard. The findings?
Elberse says:
The Old Spice campaign is another example that pundits like to show as evidence of the success and dominance of social media. But there wouldn’t have been any social media as part of the campaign, without a massive TV buy, especially during the Olympics. In fact, without TV, it’s doubtful anybody would have known about “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” at all. The article concludes:
Sometimes you have to dig a little deeper into socmed propaganda to see what’s really going on. Adweek recently ran an article that states, “More than one third of folks that like Facebook brand pages say they would buy the products more often.” Within the article we find out why:
Of course they’ll buy the products more often when they’re on deal. This is far from new, or news worthy.And just who are these brands on Facebook?They are all brands with gigantic traditional advertising budgets. That’s why they’re the top brands on Facebook, or anywhere else for that matter. Obviously, I’m not against social media, or what I'd rather call, online marketing. We’re doing quite well with it for our clients and ourselves. However, it’s an arrow in the quiver, not the whole quiver. Let alone the bazooka.
The correlation between online trailers that were popular and the movies or games with the biggest budgets was very strong, Elberse found. In effect, the videos that got watched the most on the Internet are those that bought their popularity through traditional offline advertising, especially on TV.
Elberse says:
Most of the time, you have to spend money to make money online…This is not to say that viral hits can’t happen (out) of the blue. They do, but they are the exception.
The Old Spice campaign is another example that pundits like to show as evidence of the success and dominance of social media. But there wouldn’t have been any social media as part of the campaign, without a massive TV buy, especially during the Olympics. In fact, without TV, it’s doubtful anybody would have known about “The Man Your Man Could Smell Like” at all. The article concludes:
There is another school of analysts, of which Elberse is a prominent member…The Web, they say, is amplifying the winner-take-all dynamic that was already present in our mass media economy. Rather than making everyone a “winner,” the new world of social media is doing the opposite, reducing the number of winners and increasing the yawning gap between them and everyone else.
Sometimes you have to dig a little deeper into socmed propaganda to see what’s really going on. Adweek recently ran an article that states, “More than one third of folks that like Facebook brand pages say they would buy the products more often.” Within the article we find out why:
When ranking the most important reasons why they follow brands on Facebook, respondents cited promotional benefits first…
Of course they’ll buy the products more often when they’re on deal. This is far from new, or news worthy.And just who are these brands on Facebook?They are all brands with gigantic traditional advertising budgets. That’s why they’re the top brands on Facebook, or anywhere else for that matter. Obviously, I’m not against social media, or what I'd rather call, online marketing. We’re doing quite well with it for our clients and ourselves. However, it’s an arrow in the quiver, not the whole quiver. Let alone the bazooka.
