I was searching for Summer Solstice today in Google and saw a Tweet in their real time search results from “Bing Social”. Having never heard of Bing Social, I thought I would investigate further. Bing Social Sure enough, clicking through took me to the Bing Social Beta site. Bing Social Beta The Bing Social site is where Microsoft collects and posts the “Hottest Social Topics” from both Twitter and Facebook. While the topics featured in Bing Social may be hot, Microsoft is most likely using the social media streams to flesh out its fledgling search index. Whether the hot social topics Bing or any other search engine for that matter feature have any shelf life beyond the moment remains to be seen.
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Bing Social Beta
I recently wrote “News isn’t transactional for advertisers”. I am not going to go out on another limb and say – “Social Media isn’t transactional for advertisers.” I am sure there are exceptions to both, but as a rule I will stand by them. I don’t foresee either media becoming systematically or predictably transactional for advertisers any time soon.
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Social Media Isn’t Transactional For Advertisers… Either
From eMarketer: It’s no secret that online marketers care about measurability. Six in 10 respondents to Datran Media’s “4th Annual Marketing & Media Survey” said measuring and understanding their audience was a priority, and more than 87% said accurate online audience measurement was at least somewhat important for driving increased brand awareness, revenues or performance. Bringing hard metrics to the realm of social media remains a challenge, however, with marketers worldwide in disagreement over whether 2010 will be the year they see quantifiable results from their efforts. Just over one-half think they will, but nearly four in 10 are unsure. “For the few marketers who do attempt to apply quantitative measures to their social marketing efforts, the metrics they use are not terribly sophisticated,” noted eMarketer CEO and co-founder Geoff Ramsey in the eMarketer Insight Brief “Seven Guidelines for Achieving Social Media ROI.” “Most marketers today do not invest sufficient time, effort or money on social media measurement.” The leading metrics used to measure social success focus on increased site traffic, which can be an important barometer of consumer interest for a brand but on its own it cannot justify heavier investment in social media. Quantifiable Social Media Results This is why social media is nothing more than just another broadcast channel albeit a new and as yet unmeasured one. If I were in the social media business, I would be doing everything in my power to keep social media from being measured – that’s right keep it from being measured. Why? Because once its performance gets measured particularly against its online competitive advertising alternatives, social media’s value as a whole will plummet – at least to those who had invested money in it.
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Quantifiable Social Media Results?
After a great deal of thought and preparation for my book, I have come to see news, its production and market value in an entirely different light relative to every other type of content. This in turn has caused me to question what value if any can be harvested from regurgitating and repackaging news related content which already exists in some other form and in some another “producers” channel? Q: If traditional news isn’t transactional online (read: doesn’t make money) for legitimate news publishers, how in the world could it ever be transactional for the legions of bloggers trying to copy and paste their way to an audience let alone an income? A: It can’t. If I recall correctly, the whole blogging concept was sold to the world by Silicon Valley – the ultimate beneficiary of blogging’s mass adoption. Come to think of it… the same sales pitch is being made right now with “social media”. Call me jaded. Am I to honor the code and keep selling and towing the same story line or should I instead call a spade a shovel? In either case and at this point, its not quite clear what’s in it for me. Q: What percentage of the tens of millions of blogs make any money? A: My guess – less than .01. What percentage produce a profit? A: My guess – less .01 of .01.
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Is Regurgitating News Through Blogs Worth The Effort?
Nope… and I like I have said before – I don’t expect to see anything other than hype suggesting Social Media can produce a return on investment for the foreseeable future. From another blogger this past week: Examples of a real-dollar Return on Investment (ROI) from social media marketing programs are rare. Unfortunately for most ecommerce teams, having hundreds of thousands of fans often doesn’t translate into revenue. For your CEO and CFO to take social media campaigns seriously, you need to be able to demonstrate a direct measurable impact that either reduces costs (say in reduced customer service heads) or increases sales. At the moment, most social campaigns are doing neither.
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Social Media ROI?