Comments on: Social Media Marketing Ain't Always "Cheap"

By: Tom Foremski

Tom Foremski — Fri, 20 Feb 2009 20:46:28 +0000

Social media marketing takes more time and the results can seem to be less. Which means clients won’t be particularly impressed by say a couple of thousand views on a video, or that a blog with a small circulation wrote a post. Yes those numbers might reflect a highly influential audience and be far more relevant than a mention in BusinessWeek. It seems similar to what has been happening in mainstream media where journalists and editors have had to do more: more stories, more video, more podcasts, yet not get paid for doing more.

By: Social Media is About More than Being Cheap. | The Marketing Eggspert

Social Media is About More than Being Cheap. | The Marketing Eggspert — Fri, 05 Sep 2008 17:38:02 +0000

[...] Manuel at Media Gorilla recently wrote a blog post called “Social Media Marketing Ain’t Always “Cheap.”” He raises some great points because people assume that using social media to market is [...]

By: Robert French

Robert French — Thu, 03 Jul 2008 04:49:33 +0000

Love reading this. Affirmation, of sorts, for what I feel daily. From class student blogs to their clients – and mine … time, that’s the greatest expense. Time ain’t cheap.

Developing that understanding and appreciation in clients, and students, is a difficult task, sometimes. The greatest obstacle may well be creating a full appreciation for what “may be” at the end of the long process. It is the “may be” part that is hard for them to visualize and tends to block the buy in and willingness to participate by contributing content.

By: Justin Kistner

Justin Kistner — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 17:07:22 +0000

Spot on, Mike. I think much of this misconception is informed from the experience people have with advertising. They think because there is no media to buy, that is should be much cheaper. What they aren’t taking into consideration is that while there is no media to buy, as you put it there is “*absurdly high* time and attention investments that typically come with these projects”. I can see John and Jan are also underscoring this point.

Extending what Chris said above, ironically, most companies think they can make a MySpace page for free, but the truth is that the TOS from MySpace says commercial profiles must be purchased.

It would be great if our industry had an organization that would help educate the market about these issues. I know there are some trying to fill that role, but none that appear to be winning to me.

By: Richmond Virginia Blogs on Art, Politics, News, & Life in Richmond - RVABlogs

Tue, 24 Jun 2008 16:11:40 +0000

[...] The amount of time allocated for good community management should never be underestimated—the set it and forget it mentality doesn’t apply. And because time and attention aren’t cheap, when you’re putting together your ROI for a project, you need to include the costs associated with hiring an experienced community manager. You can read Mike’s full post here: Social Media Marketing Ain’t Always “Cheap” [...]

By: Chris Crum

Chris Crum — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 15:45:19 +0000

You’re right. I think a lot of people are under the impression that they can just create a MySpace page for their company and it’s going to help their cause. It’s only going to do so if enough time is put into it and effort is made to contribute to conversations and accumulate “friends” and network with others.

And then there’s the time it takes to set up a blog, give a page a professional-looking design, etc., etc., etc. Time is money, but that’s certainly not to say that it can’t pay off.

By: Jan Riley

Jan Riley — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 13:37:38 +0000

I totally agree
the time and energy it takes to work with social media is staggering
It makes a “high maintenance relationship” pale in comparison.

There is alot of value in social media because of it’s ability to create relationships, however – people forget that it IS a relationship – and they take work.
My solution for those who question my monthly bills – how many face to face – sit down conversations have you had with every person in your family this week? Now multiply that by a hundred! That is what we are doing for your business.

great post and obviously close to home!

By: John Hardesty

John Hardesty — Tue, 24 Jun 2008 07:07:32 +0000

Good stuff. That is painfully accurate and guys close to home! This is a huge perception about social media tools and unless you really just like to teach for fun you need to help clients understand the value and big picture.
Great post!