Tunnel VisionIn this presentation below, Professor Mark Ritson (@markritson) takes on our growing obsession with social media. He explores how social media data gets pumped up so it outshines traditional media returns. He examines the fallacy of the independent digital or social media campaign that operates outside a broader marketing effort, and finally looks ahead to a post-digital world where 1980s-model marketing principles may very well prove to be the most forward-looking of all.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MCAEbirIByc&feature=youtu.be

It’s excellent and he provides some damning evidence about Social Media. This is a much more important message for Digital Marketers to hear than Traditional Marketers.

Nevertheless, there are two factors that should not be ignored by Traditional Marketers. First social media has forced a revolution focused on the quality of the product/ service experience: “the brand isn’t what you say it is, it’s what the customer says it is.”
Second, Social Media is not the entirety of digital media. I can show you thousands of companies with verified ROI on their digital media buys, especially search. I can also show you marketers who cannot justify their digital spend. The danger of his argument is that he made the correct case against Social Media Marketing and then applied it to the rest of digital media. That’s a flaw in logic. Anyone with a confirmation bias in favor of traditional media will simply agree and say “here’s the data” but they’d just be using the same logical falacy to support what they already believe. There is no question though that integration of all media is key and won’t happen until the proper value of each is seen.
Do you believe he is correct or biased?
Please share if you think others would benefit.