I was reviewing the virtues of LinkedIn with a client when I ran across Kyle Lacy’s blog Why is Social Media Stuck in the 80?

Some very profound thoughts here and accurate as to how many of the PR and Marketing Firms of today are approaching marketing on the internet.

Kyle does a great job pointing out the issues.  Here are his thoughts…

I was reading a post on Mashable about the 6 New & Innovative Social Media Campaigns to Learn From by Erica Swallow and realized that the world of marketing and communication is still lost. We have not moved past the world of likes, comments, and fans being used as success metrics.

I’m concerned. We (the industry) are continuing to praise the success of social media as a growth in people… whether fans or likes. We are continuing to judge success with metrics from the 70s and 80s. Does it make much sense to judge a new technology on metrics used for billboards and radio ads?

Are they empty praises and promises… or actually something of value?

I’m not pointing fingers. I’ve said the same thing… over and over again. I’m right there… in the mix.

How do we move past this ridiculous notion that spending thousands of dollars on a video campaign that received 20,000 views or growing the fan base of a Facebook account actually is of true value to a campaign?

The question isn’t how do we build new ways to explain an increase in brand awareness but what do you do with that increase. How do you measure true success (whether sales or donations) after the initial onslaught of fans and likes?

How do you truly add value to social media campaigns?

It seems more and more small business owners are asking the same question to me as addressed in Mr Lacy’s blog.  Why are businesses going about promoting their business using tactics that didn’t work in the 80’s?  Why are there so many people in the social spaces defending old methods of marketing?  Lots of questions here and fortunately there are some very simple answers.  I am sure you have a few as well.

Let me know how I can help…