The world's worst digital marketing advice - iMediaConnection.com
Shiny objects
This final category of bad advice represents some of the things that are among the most frustrating to me about our industry. It's what I call "seagull mentality." If you've watched a seagull before at the beach, you know they get distracted pretty easily, especially if they spot something shiny. Evolutionarily speaking, I'm sure this was to help them catch fish, but today it only confuses the little guys when they spot a stray bottle cap. There are some people out there who act a bit like seagulls, as they are attracted to the shiny new thing and also manage to bring others with them. Rather than a bottle cap, they chase the latest "buzzworthy" digital sites and platforms looking for a quick win. Rarely do they find it.
"Let's go out and get more fans (likes, followers, etc.)."
If I had a dollar for every time I've heard this in the past 12 months, I could spend more time on the beach observing seagulls instead of talking people out of ideas like this one. "Getting more fans" by itself is a terrible plan. I'm assuming, of course, that these fans aren't going to magically appear, but that you'll have to do some work and spend some money to get them. If you feel that this is the best use of your time and money, over everything else, then get to it. However, first, here are some things to think about before you expand your kingdom that you might not have considered: What are you going to do with these fans after you get them? How is your investment going to pay off?
There's been plenty of noise out there about how much a Facebook fan is worth. However, you should know that the answer is really zero. They aren't worth anything to your company's bottom line until you convert that fan relationship into an additional sale (yes, above what they would have bought anyway without becoming your fan). If you have no idea how to convert additional sales from your fans, then don't bother trying to get more fans. I'll even be generous with the meaning of "convert additional sales" and let you extend the definition to any sort of meaningful, measurable action related to your brand -- but clicking a thumbs-up button isn't be enough.
"All you need to do is measure impressions."
For this one, feel free to substitute impressions with visitors, page views, and a bunch of other meaningless metrics. If this is all you're planning on measuring for your digital marketing, you've got a problem. These sorts of metrics tell you nothing about the effectiveness and value of your program.
It's really easy to get impressions; you buy them. Just because someone saw (or maybe actually didn't see) your ad doesn't mean that it had any effect. In fact, I'll guarantee that it didn't in 99 out of 100 cases. Dig in deeper. For example, don't just track impressions on Facebook. First, look at things like clicks, shares, comments, and video views. After that, move toward conversions, whether it be a sale on your ecommerce site or even printing a digital coupon. Get as close to the point of purchase with your tracking as you can. Anyone who tells you that impressions are all that they can measure and all that matter should be handed a copy of this article (why not?) and thrown out of your office. Feel free to make an "impression" on them as well.
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