05/09/14
A young colleague of mine got me thinking today.
She asked if I was looking forward to teaching our new C & G Digital Marketing course.

I said “Wellllll ……….…yes and no, really” or some other such  reply, and she asked why the “No”.

After a few awkward seconds of silence, in which I realised I had never asked myself the question she asked, let alone explored the answer – I came to the truth, at least for me.

I cannot bloody stand the idea of Social Media for Marketing.  (Just in case some dark suit reads this, this is not a problem – my units revolve around SEO, keywords, Web-building, and the like, the technical stuff, and not social media.)

I don’t think it’s very ‘social’ for one thing.

I think it only works for those under 40ish, and therefore predominantly personal image brands.
Just read that back again – personal image brands.

I think it only works if you have a certain ‘mind state’ or ‘life view’ – or are utterly clueless about advertising twaddle.
If you don’t actually notice that a business is chatting with you as if you’re bestest buddies ever.

I mean, like . . . since ever.

I feel a bit peeved, cheated really,  that some web-based software purporting to be an enabler for friends chatting, sharing . . . blah . . . is also a sales machine.

The sites, the words – my god what am I saying?  The sheer ‘assume with me that you too belong in this state of mind about X, or Y’ is simply breathtaking.
Chock-full of some of the worst excesses of matey ad’ speak, of drowning a reader in a puerile soft-focus nothingness – where a product’s purported x-factor is hyped, eulogised even, to such an extent that – well, what do we say?   Ideas such as value, quality, relevance, even? – god dammit, are never less than a billion light-years away.

I mean – do I really have to be ‘Friends’ with a Cream Cracker in order to enjoy cheese and wine?