Marketers have a tick-box mentality. Many are too quick to jump on to social tools and tactics before fully grasping why they are doing it and thinking abut the people they are trying to reach, says Geno Church, who heads up US word of mouth agency Brains on Fire.
Too many brands still think that just participating on platforms like Twitter and Facebook, is enough.
Speaking at the first of The Influence Group's Influence events, Church said marketers often put the “what” before the “why” when it comes to social media, which leads to ineffective strategies being put in place.
Church, who is a word of mouth marketing evangelist, says the marketing business is a people business, and therefore a “love business”, adding that brands won't get far if people just 'like' them on social media – people have to truly love brands.
Mimicking is also a big problem in the marketing industry that comes from the box ticking mentality, Church said. There is a tendency for brands to observe best practice and other company's case studies and then try to mimic them, without making them relevant to their own business values.
“It's amazing how many brands and companies forget their founding story. There's no people, no passion and no soul – that's the problem with technology. [We forget] that when someone types on a keyboard or is on their smartphone – that's a person.”
“It's hard to be authentic on social media when we're putting tools and tactics before understanding how it fits into people's lives.”
Church also urged marketers to embrace non-advertising opportunities, claiming that only 22% of conversations about brands are inspired by advertising.
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