In your eager Friday think piece, we turn to a story from Wednesday. In it, a guy says social media marketing can replace advertising — and cites the likes of Funny or Die (site) and AdMob (site) as examples. Here’s that story. After the jump, some comments from advertising people that counter it.
Anonymous Thinker:
“Replace is a little strong.
AdvertisementAnd often marketers’ social media strategy is getting blog mentions as much as it is getting content on Digg. From a blog publisher’s point of view I have an issue with marketers who suddenly think that they can stop spending on advertising and still get blogs to speak about their brand for free. And even if they do think they can do that, they might want to notice the huge industry that has been doing that for years called PR.
I do think blogs and other publishers will find a way to make money without advertising in the medium to long term — but personally I’m bored of getting calls from agency planners and content managers who have zero budget to spend but want to create ‘relationships’ with us. That’s like a skint eunuch thinking they’re going to get lucky on a date.”
Anonymous Doer:
“It’s like saying that guys no longer need a rap to get laid and using rock stars and NFL quarterbacks as your proof.
Yeah, Funny or Die doesn’t need any ad spending because it generates tremendous buzz because people love comedy and FOD can attract big name comedy stars and because FOD’s user base are heavy social media users.
But Palmolive dishwashing liquid isn’t going to attract anywhere the same degree of buzz or love online. That’s pretty much going to be limited to “Prom King Brands” — and entertainment and sports properties are the ultimate Prom King Brands.”
And there are always going to be Prom King Brands — we can’t give every single brand out there our full attention.”