Comments on: The Walls of the Social Media Bubble Are Getting Thicker

By: rebeccahappy

rebeccahappy — Sun, 09 May 2010 17:36:06 +0000

Excellent discussion you have going on here. I have been immersed in this SM bubbble for going on 2 years. It certainly is a bubble. Nobody in my day day to life ave anything to do with most of it. Some are just opening FB accounts now.
Firstly I must say I am shocked to hear that people pay 50K for some of this. SM is big and multilayered and complex and simple all at the same time. From what I understand about marketing however, it is just a tool in the tool box for communicating. If the people we want to communicate with are not using it, then other tools are needed in the mix. If you left your head up a little you will see that other things still are going on all around us.
I also understand that people who become more knowledgeable in a field will share with each other to garner greater understanding. In these circles it may not be of any interest whatsoever as someone who just wants to use the tool whatever it may be. Humans all have egos and belonging is a strong drive so no matter what the field there will be groups of GURUS or early adopters that bond along those lines. The important point here you raise Sue is that it is essential to go beyond specific bubbles if we truly want to build a better community.

By: Robin Browne

Robin Browne — Sun, 02 May 2010 00:23:20 +0000

Great post Sue.
I suspect one reason companies pay 5K for someone to teach them to Tweet, or whatever, is because they don’t have anyone in the company who can. Companies need to hire people who have learned social media through using it in their own lives. These people can then save the companies thousands by telling them what, if any, social media advice they should pay for.

By: Fiona

Fiona — Thu, 29 Apr 2010 16:06:29 +0000

BRAVO! There is a strange perception when I speak to prospective clients that SM is an appendage to be tacked on to existing marketing. Some of this is because they’ve been offered piecemeal and overpriced solutions by “consultants” claiming to be SM “experts”. It always surprises me that so many overlook or miss the concept that SM is a tool, or a platform for engagement, that should be integrated into existing marketing strategy… this approach bursts “the bubble” though because it involves teaching and empowering our clients and their employees. I love seeing the look of amazement when a client realizes the wealth of information they can glean from SM and when their engagement as a brand starts to pay off. I’m a bubble buster ;)

By: Suze

Suze — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:11:48 +0000

It’s unfortunate that these stories exist. Though there are many consultants (who do not tout themselves as strictly “social media” consultants) out there whose rates are well in line with the value they bring to their clients, but all too often people are being swindled by unqualified hacks. As Shawn pointed out, this is not a phenomenon unique to social media – hucksters exist everywhere.

Perhaps more emphasis needs to be placed on educating people, and less on shilling.

By: Maggie McGary

Maggie McGary — Wed, 28 Apr 2010 00:02:51 +0000

The thing that gets me about social media consultants (or now PR firms or web developers and/or whoever else is adding social media to their menu of services) is that they clearly see it as a cash cow and push it as such. $10k for a blogger outreach that involves having a well-connected blogger ask her network of blogging friends to cut and paste information into a post? $9k to set up a Twitter account and a totally un-customized Facebook page? Meanwhile, the same firm is charging us $3k to do traditional media outreach? It’s like the world has issued permission to upcharge anything involving social media because it’s “new.” It’s gotten to the point that consultants we’re talking to about totally unrelated projects will just throw a totally unsolicited proposal to do “social media strategy” at us….for $100k. I guess they’re finding that if they throw it out there it’s sticking at least some of the time?

What’s most annoying to me is that it’s such a feeding frenzy that nobody is even stopping to question prices–the sky seems to be the limit, and as long as companies are dumb enough to pay $10,000 a month to have someone tweet for them and not even ask questions when, a few months later, they’ve still got no followers (true story, again). Are people really that scared of/awed by/disgusted by Facebook/Twitter that they just want someone else to handle that whole distasteful business…at any cost?

But I digress…this is a great post and a good reminder to me to step outside the bubble when it frustrates me this much!