Jay Baer is one of the few bloggers I’ve found who consistently provides business-based, practical marketing advice.  I usually agree with him.  But he made a reference to social media marketing on a post this week that struck me as odd:

“… unlike every other marketing tool for the past 200 years, it’s a meritocracy, and that benefits us all.”

I’m only picking on Jay because this is the most recent iteration of a theme I’ve observed countless times — the opinion that somehow the social web is in a special new category where you actually have to EARN the trust of your customers.  Another variation is that the social web has “changed everything” about business and marketing.

No, it hasn’t.

The free market economy has ALWAYS been a meritocracy and always will be. If you don’t provide a quality product or service and you don’t represent it in an honest and compelling way, you won’t earn your way into the hearts and wallets of the world’s consumers.

Pre-social media, pre-Internet, even pre-mass communications, the fundamental tenet of marketing was this: Establish a brand promise based on consumer trust and never, ever break that trust. The concept is simple, the execution is extremely difficult.

Marketing is a continuous war to promote and protect your brand, whether it is a company, hospital, university, sports team or individual.  Social media offers an exciting new way to connect, but the marketing fundamentals are truly still the same.

The social web is just a new battlefield, not a new war.

How is the social web affecting your battle plan?

8 Comments

• 

  By Jay Baer, February 5, 2010 @ 11:33 am

  Hi Mark. Good stuff here. Thanks for the link. To clarify, my post about meritocracy was about audience. In social media, the content comes first, the audience comes second. You can’t buy eyeballs on the social Web. You can buy eyeballs in every other kind of marketing (except WOM). No question, trust has always been earned, and continues to be. But, now visibility has to be earned as well, and that’s a big change.
• 

  By Mark, February 5, 2010 @ 3:44 pm

  @Jay I think you and I, somewhere, sometime, are destined to have a beer together and think big thoughts!

  I appreciate the nuance of your argument but would ask you this: If you can’t buy eyeballs on the social web, why is Pepsi plowing their Super Bowl budget into social media marketing?

  Answer: They are buying eyeballs on the social web.

  Sadly, Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and all the rest will be dominated by the mega-brands. The primary reason is that they have the money, the smarts, and the resources to develop the entertaining games, gadgets and content everybody wants.

  There will still be room for the little guys on the social web, just as there was always room for the local pizza joint amid the national chains. You’re right. Content comes first, audience second. But the big guys will buy their way in with content that can out-gun all comers and we’ll be left to find a way to build our brands in niches, based on solid marketing principles, as we always have.

  First round’s on me.
• 

  By Jon Buscall, February 5, 2010 @ 6:01 pm

  Beers? You stateside guys get to have all the fun!

  Seriously, Mark, this is a good point. It’s so easy to lose sight of the fact that the tools have changed, but the key communicative concepts are still the same. Whereas before it was a firm shake of the hand and eye contact, in my grandfather’s day, now it’s trying to squeeze trust into online communications – as well.

  Human beings first and foremost want to connect. We’re starting to do that more and more through social media now. Great! The tools we’ve got now are helping us do that, globally and instantly. This means we can do business on a globally. But we still have to deliver quality in our b2b interactions.
• 

  By Mark, February 5, 2010 @ 6:04 pm

  @Jon — Thanks for your insights.
• 

  By Shelly Kramer, February 5, 2010 @ 7:11 pm

  Praise Jesus. Wish I could think of something better to say, but I really can’t. But it’s been a long day and I’m tired. So so so so true. Not everything has changed – we just have a new tool. And learning to use, understand, manipulate (yes, that happens and will continue) and, most importantly integrate into traditional marketing efforts, well, that’s what will count.

  I love your brain. Do you ever get tired of me telling you that?

  Shelly Kramer
  Stalk me on Twitter @shellykramer
  Stalk my blog http://v3im.com/blog
  Stalk me IRL – Oh wait, no, not a good idea. Unless you have beer.
• 

  By Mark, February 5, 2010 @ 10:31 pm

  @Shelly — But wait … we DO have beer.

Other Links to this Post

1. On Shifting Online Business Models: Death to Ads! | wordpost — February 23, 2010 @ 9:29 am

2. Hello world! « wordpost — February 28, 2010 @ 2:38 pm

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