February 2008 Archives
Hey,
I'm as optimistic as the next person, especially recently, but I love what I
call a Competent Naysayer. That's the guy who raises his hand calmly and
says, "hey, settle down," like the kid in The Emperor's New Clothes.
Secondly,
I love social media. I use Facebook, del-icio.us, ning, LinkedIn,
StumbleUpon, Flickr, YouTube, all that nice stuff. I've helped corporate
clients create blogs. I buy into the whole thing; don't get me wrong.
But,
will social media be the most important thing to happen in marketing? No.
It's an outlet. An intelligent, scary outlet for a lot of larger
companies; one in which they have to tread carefully, outside their typical
box. But, branding is still branding. Let's not lose sight of that.
Brian
Solis writes in the Social Media
Today blog:
"Customers have always had a voice, drove peer-to-peer influence, and leveraged paths to talk directly to companies. They simply used the tools of time. And, the more savvy customers used traditional PR and the very mediums many companies employed to reach them in order garner attention, public support, and solutions. Certain companies listened, others did not…and still don’t."
I
agree. A brand is still a promise fulfilled.
