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Jamie Wilkinson
Evan Roth
James PowderlySocial Media Marketing: Fad or Career?
The buzzworthy job of “Social Media Manager” has been in the news this past week, as journalists ask, “now, what did we learn?” The position is more or less what the name implies… depending who you ask.
Ben Parr of Mashable sums it up pretty well:
“[Social media] used to be Web 2.0 and social networking, but now we have moved on to a broader term that encompasses not only social networking, but blogs, podcasts, user-generated content, social bookmarking, microblogging, and lifestreams. The rise of all these forms of new media has also created demand for people who can help companies position and market themselves within this new realm.”
Parr claims the job is not a fad:
“Social media allows people to spread their message to hundreds, if not thousands, of friends, followers, and strangers. Some companies can only dream of that kind of reach, while others pay millions in advertising for the same effect.”
But his bold claims are countered by Valleywag’s Alaska Miller:
“Parr says social media roles … are capable of increasing reach, users, traffic, and revenue. Examples? None. Numbers? Zero … The conclusion that mass media advertising is dead and the kids only trust teh tweets now doesn’t come from market research. It comes from social media consultants looking for new clients.”
Now, what have we learned?
Social media marketing is a necessity for any startup, nonprofit, or production on little to no budget, because it gets the ball rolling early, often, and for close to nothing.
So, perhaps the attraction to social media on the big budget scale—and to other types of interactive marketing techniques like the “Montauk monster”—is the realization that people actually better enjoy and are more willing to endorse promotion that feels genuine and thoughtful. Social Media FTW.
Liz Filardi worked as a social media intern for Rhizome and Rocketboom this summer. She is a candidate for the MFA in Design & Technology at Parsons.
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