Your take on Social Networking/Media

[interlooper]

Let me put it this way... if Social Media can be a major contributing factor to spurring countries' revolutions, it can and will impact a companies' bottom line.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

I strongly disagree with you SuperTuna. You are saying that social media is best for the start up companies yet every major golf manufacturer uses social media and they are seeing great results from it. Remember the Wear In the World contest put on by adidas? That was to hire a person to work solely on social media. These companies have created jobs so people can handle their SM. In fact they now have SM departments.

Like JB and TC said being able to bring the consumer closer to the company is doing wonders for these companies.

Again, I agree. I have become pretty good friends with one of Ping's SM guys. The relationship came about through FB. He has told me countless times recently just how busy he is all the time and he is not alone in that section of the company.

 

[All4's]

Please don't take this the wrong way, but it's your way of thinking that puts companies out of business. You don't want to watch the commercial so you go to another site who doesn't show it. If everyone follows suit then that site loses it's advertisers and goes out of business. Then the site that everyone flocked to gets bigger, can't afford to sustain the site without ad revenue so they start to put up commercials and then the cycle continues. It also reminds me just how lazy we all are (and this is not directed at you because I am the same way) that we cannot wait for a 15-30 seconds for a commercial to past. This also goes to show that as consumers or viewers we want things and we want them immediately which is exactly what outlets like Facebook and Twitter bring to the table.

I was talking to a company this past week who told me they have cut their print advertising by over 1/3 and reallocated that money into digital advertising. This trend, at least in golf, is happening more and more because companies can reach a wider audience much faster.

You're right. I agree with everything you said. But changing those behaviors is tilting at windmills I say. I would agree that I am the type of consumer that is hard for companies to keep and probably put some out of business. But I'm the exception. I'm an early adopter, which is a demo that typically doesn't drive much revenue, we direct trends and influence other's spending. A good image I saw used is the head of the snake that leads the larger body, which is where the $'s are. As a demographic early adopters tend to be more knowledgable, unloyal and tend to see things as pass/fail as a consumer. I'd say that is me. If it works, I'm a raving fan and let everyone know; if it doesn't I let everyone know too.

The only exception I would make to your comments is the use of the descriptor "lazy". I would substitute "demanding". It isn't that I don't have the patience or energy to watch the advert, it is that I don't have to or don't expect to have to. I agree that makes me, us, we demanding consumers.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

I think THP qualifies, in some sort, as a golf-related social media website.

I agree and there is of course a FB connection and I often see THP announcements there.

 

[Super Tuna]

I too have numbers and can give them to you anytime. Not just in golf, but with many lines of companies. One segment (in this case tech), does not make or break social media. Because one segment is not succeeding with it, does not mean the other 50 cannot. You are using a single example and saying it will result in the failure of something. Unfortunately there are hundreds of other examples with large companies showing success. We are seeing social media change the way consumers view things and it has helped a country in a recession getting people to spend money. Consumers feel important speaking with a company directly and there are many examples on how well it has worked for Fortune 500 companies. Things such as hirings, spreading news, etc... are all easier and cheaper to do for a company than ever before due to direct access to consumers.

As for tech, there are quite a few tech companies embracing it as well and while some would argue software is not tech, I would argue that few are as influential as Microsoft in the ever changing world of technology. Microsoft and Bill Gates (despite his control not being the same) are starting to fully embrace it. Saying social media is destined for failure right now based on one segment of business is like saying that the internet was destined for failure because prodigy and compuserve were doomed for failure as well.

I won't ask you for the numbers because I'm not allowed to divulge mine without causing a stir. I wish I could because they make for some pretty interesting reading.

I also disagree with the premise of the post. I don't believe I said said anywhere here that SM is useless, dumb or is going to fail because big tech companies don't like it. Others may have said the medium was going to fail on a whole, I have not (I do believe it's going to peter out for some however in terms of how many specialists are retained to manage said medium). I believe all I've said so far is that big tech companies don't like it due to the money it costs them to maintain it for the little return it provides. That's realky my whole point and what sparked Ratfink in the first place. Marketing seminars from VMware or EMC are already talking about the SM phase has passed for those products and how it should not be a major marketing component. They instead recommend pouring money into digital marketing like TC does and GG is talking about with the online videos.

Perhaps I'm not being clear enough but I do not believe the above quote is an accurate representation of what I meant.

Finally in terms of Microsoft, I still can't believe they don't own Facebook yet. Given their mission statement is "A PC on every desk" in the world, they should own the SM segment.

 

[JB]

More more more. There isn't more time in a day. A breaking point will be reached and people will reclaim lost time.

Don't confuse Facebook for an evolution in human communication.

Ironically I have not said anything about Facebook and dont use it. It is merely one part of social media as a brand. Whether or not Facebook goes away, has little to do in my opinion with whether or not social media goes away. Its not about bigger and more, its about better and faster. You have seen a revolution before your eyes just as you did with the internet.

I've only been to two golf related social media websites: TM and Callaway...and that was only to plug The Morgan Cup.

Your on THP and other forums.

Let me put it this way... if Social Media can be a major contributing factor to spurring countries' revolutions, it can and will impact a companies' bottom line.

You hit the nail on the head.

 

[JB]

I'll get into this more later but while SM (social media for all my further posts in this thread) is excellent for start ups and those are go by word of mouth it is in turn useless to the companies with a signifigant market share that doesn't rely on the average joe or jane for thier business.

I won't ask you for the numbers because I'm not allowed to divulge mine without causing a stir. I wish I could because they make for some pretty interesting reading.

I also disagree with the premise of the post. I don't believe I said said anywhere here that SM is useless, dumb or is going to fail because big tech companies don't like it. Others may have said the medium was going to fail on a whole, I have not (I do believe it's going to peter out for some however in terms of how many specialists are retained to manage said medium). I believe all I've said so far is that big tech companies don't like it due to the money it costs them to maintain it for the little return it provides. That's realky my whole point and what sparked Ratfink in the first place. Marketing seminars from VMware or EMC are already talking about the SM phase has passed for those products and how it should not be a major marketing component. They instead recommend pouring money into digital marketing like TC does and GG is talking about with the online videos.

Perhaps I'm not being clear enough but I do not believe the above quote is an accurate representation of what I meant.

Finally in terms of Microsoft, I still can't believe they don't own Facebook yet. Given their mission statement is "A PC on every desk" in the world, they should own the SM segment.

I bolded the part from one of your posts. I believe my thoughts are directly related to that remark and I stand behind them. As I said, maybe that can be true in the tech sector you work in, but it is not true in many other sectors of business. I have done hiring and firing for a lot of large companies in my past and know all about what it costs to run a department compared to the bottom line of marketshare gains. Social Media can be a burden (just like any form of advertising) if not properly run, but it has little to do with the type of marketing and more to do with the people and brand involved. Just like any type of marketing or anything else in the business. It has to do with the company and whether or not it fits their goals and business direction. To have it just for the sake of having it makes little sense.

Like I said, there is hard data (just like you said you had on the tech side) to support exactly what I have said in both golf and other segments.

 

[TwoSolitudes]

I got thinking reading the "Contest Venting Thread" and decided to spark a discussion.

It's one of the biggest phenomenons to hit the marketing/social world in the last decade. Hundreds of millions of people participate in it, while others choose not to - for obvious security/privacy reasons.

What do you guys think? Is it a trend that will die off, or is it something that's here to stay?

I've been to two business conferences now that included large discussions on Social Media and how if businesses haven't already embraced it, they need to do it ASAP because it is the future.
By contrast (not to call him out, but because he sparked my interest) Super Tuna says he has read that it is veritably useless in the marketing world.

What's your take? I personally never click on banner ads no matter where I go - facebook/twitter is no different. Companies using their own 'pages' to advertise on within Facebook though, is a different matter.

Questions/Comments/Concerns?

It's the future. Maybe not in exactly the same format as we have now (facebook twitter) but that type of site will dominate the web in the future. For direct marketing, maybe not. For indirect marketing, public awareness and brand image, absolutely.

 

[Super Tuna]

It has to do with the company and whether or not it fits their goals and business direction. To have it just for the sake of having it makes little sense.

This is all I meant by my comments about SM. Again, I'm not wording things as clearly as I should have done but from the numbers, reports and my experience using SM does little for some of the Gorilla companies out there. I think it's silly how much they pay to say they have people on Twitter all the time but that's their choice even if their own internal reports say it's not worth it...

Ratfink wanted to know why I'm hearing that SM is dead from companies and this is what I meant. They tried it and it doesn't fit their business model for minimum ROI's, thus game over.

The comment about start ups finding it more useful comes from some recent conversations with some software designers and how they played up their program so much that Cisco found out about it and bought them for gobs of money. The owner of the company was making remarks about how all start up tech companies should do the same if their plan is to make a good product and then be bought out by a Gorilla of the industry. Given the succes small business owners have had with this approach recently the comments stuck with me.

Anyway, I believe Mr. Fink has his answer behind my off the cuff comment.

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

It all depends what the product is or who the person is. I'll follow a couple of pro golfers on FB or Twitter but I won't follow Bill Gates. Same with products. I follow Ping on FB and Twitter but I'm not following MicroSoft or IBM.

But from a standpoint of looking at what SM has done for us golfers, it is hard to argue. We have been brought together in places like THP where we can share our likes and dislikes, favorite products, favorite golfers and the list goes on and on.

My Ping connection tells me that they feel without a doubt that FB alone has brought them sales and it also brings them instant feedback from their customers, people that noramlly would not take the time to call them or send them a email, but because they are on FB and Ping is there, it is easier than ever before to tell the OEM's what you like or don't like.

This form of SM that we have here at THP has for sure resulted in sales for many OEM's. I switched balls because of this site and it resulted in me making a purchase which is directly tied to this site. Same with other products. I just bought socks and clothes based on reviews from here and I have shoes and a GPS on my shortlist of what I will be buying soon based on reviews from this site.

 

[All4's]

It all depends what the product is or who the person is. I'll follow a couple of pro golfers on FB or Twitter but I won't follow Bill Gates. Same with products. I follow Ping on FB and Twitter but I'm not following MicroSoft or IBM.

But from a standpoint of looking at what SM has done for us golfers, it is hard to argue. We have been brought together in places like THP where we can share our likes and dislikes, favorite products, favorite golfers and the list goes on and on.

My Ping connection tells me that they feel without a doubt that FB alone has brought them sales and it also brings them instant feedback from their customers, people that noramlly would not take the time to call them or send them a email, but because they are on FB and Ping is there, it is easier than ever before to tell the OEM's what you like or don't like.

This form of SM that we have here at THP has for sure resulted in sales for many OEM's. I switched balls because of this site and it resulted in me making a purchase which is directly tied to this site. Same with other products. I just bought socks and clothes based on reviews from here and I have shoes and a GPS on my shortlist of what I will be buying soon based on reviews from this site.

You just nailed it all on the head for me. This is a GOOD way to say what I've been fumbling around to say all day. Nice post.

 

[interlooper]

I do however feel the tech industry perspective I'm discussing keeps getting missed in the rush to defend the medium. Tech companies don't carry about you and don't really want to talk to you. They couldn't care less if you bought a laptop from company X instead of company Z (The markup on the hardware is minimal and all the real money is from royalties on the underlying technology or servers/networking) They talk to you because it's the thing to do now days but they don't generate squat for leads that are worth while. If you're coming to IBM to do a datafarm chances are you didn't learn about the company or that they can do datafarms from Twitter. Doing things like Watson in the meantime is merely to maintain good relationships to the public. Sure, a CTO that is brought a budget for some hugely expensive IBM parts might be more willing to approve it since he just say Watson on Jeopardy and thus IBM is on the brain, but that only happens in lala land. Anyone spending that much money is going to be swayed for entirely different reasons.

.

It is funny that you metion IBM, Super Tuna. Have you seen IBM's new software portal? I think they literally launched the UK version in the past month. IBM has been known to be an old-skool IT company. Now, however, they are bringing it with a blog, Youtube, a community forum, Twitter feed, LinkedIn groups, and other social interface/sharing functions.

I am not using this as an argument against your point of view; I just wanted to share what they have been up to and where some of their priorities are (regardless of whether it will have any impact).

 

[Golf 'N Gator]

You just nailed it all on the head for me. This is a GOOD way to say what I've been fumbling around to say all day. Nice post.

Thank you. Not sure why I kept writing "SM" when I meant "SN" but I happy you understood what I was saying, the point being that social networking when you look at just THP alone or what I've been told about Ping, is here to stay, because is works and shows results.

I'll be the first to admit, that once the warm weather gets here, I will be very busy at work and will be playing golf every evening, so my time here and on the net in general will be greatly reduced, but this technology (networking) sure makes the winter go much faster when you have a place like this to spend your time.

 

[Horton]

Ironically I have not said anything about Facebook and dont use it. It is merely one part of social media as a brand. Whether or not Facebook goes away, has little to do in my opinion with whether or not social media goes away. Its not about bigger and more, its about better and faster. You have seen a revolution before your eyes just as you did with the internet.

Now we're just struggling over how to define "social media". I use Facebook as an example because not referring to them would be like describing breathing without mentioning air, it's that big.

You may not see social media as "bigger and more" but the social media providers do. They aren't trying to develop a really fast and efficient tool for people/companies to use, they're trying to make you use their product for as much time as possible so that they can make more money. Has Facebook become "better and faster" since its creation? Absolutely not. They're just adding ways for you to spend more time on their site. Twitter is different, obviously, but the next "revolution" in social media that comes along will most likely not fit into our current definition of that term, and could essentially kill social media as we know it.

 

[JB]

Now we're just struggling over how to define "social media". I use Facebook as an example because not referring to them would be like describing breathing without mentioning air, it's that big.

You may not see social media as "bigger and more" but the social media providers do. They aren't trying to develop a really fast and efficient tool for people/companies to use, they're trying to make you use their product for as much time as possible so that they can make more money. Has Facebook become "better and faster" since its creation? Absolutely not. They're just adding ways for you to spend more time on their site. Twitter is different, obviously, but the next "revolution" in social media that comes along will most likely not fit into our current definition of that term, and could essentially kill social media as we know it.

I believe you missed my point. It is not about them getting faster to get people off of there, although we saw social media get faster. We saw it right before our eyes and that was twitter. Twitter excels because it is faster than Facebook. That is the reason it works so well and that it has become as big as it is.

Social media for companies is about reaching consumers faster. It is about giving off the perception that the consumer is closer. The world wide web evolved from the days of prodigy and compuserve and AOL to something completely different, however I would not say it was essentially killed as we know it.

Ironically we had dinner last night with a writer for SI, a writer for a NY newspaper and two members of the PGA Tour (business side, not players) and listening to them talk about how much social media has helped them reach people and interact with people directly was great.

 

[Buckjob]

Social Media and how golf companies are using it

Social Media and how golf companies are using it

So i was thinking this morning after tweeting a ton the past few days since i'm still new to it and thinking about how certain golf companies are really using social media to push products and get info out on their products.... I really never thought i'd be using social media such as facebook and twitter to find out about golf equipment (THP Excluded) but i really use it more and more everyday. I really see things on there that peak my interest on things ( especially putters) but i still am drawn in more and more with using social media to find out info or answer questions with guys like Harry and Chad from Callaway or even putter makers and what not. Its just something thats new to me and i was wondering if anyone else feels the same way. i know i would think anyone following Harry and Chad would almost have to agree but there are a few other companies that are trying to follow suit to a certain degree.

But Callaway i think is Leading the way by far right now, they just are flat out killing it..... Going back and forth with Harry last night on Twitter is still one of the coolest things i've experienced so far with the morgan cup especially being new to twitter but having Chad and Harry tweet you back like you've been best friends for years is really awesome. I really wasn't sure how much social media would take part in advertising and sales of equipment but with Callaway using the tweet to unleash for the Xtreme Driver and all of the great coverage on their pros and their products on instagram, facebook and especially twitter they really have changed my view on it, i have found so much useful stuff on there and i really enjoy following along and i think companies that really aren't using social media to its full potential are gonna be left behind a bit. #TeamCallaway is really bringing it this year, and they have single handedly changed my view on social media and how companies should and can use it. Can't wait to see what else they have up their sleeves.

 

[CharlieMoy]

Not just that buck, but twitter is the fastest source of news on the planet for everything including sports, golf. It's nice.

 

[Buckjob]

Not just that buck, but twitter is the fastest source of news on the planet for everything including sports, golf. It's nice.

Yeah it's still new to me. But it's amazing how much they embrace it. I mean the coverage and pics of stuff are awesome. It truly makes me want to go hit their stuff more and more when you see the new lines and teaser pics and the pros hitting the new stuff.

 

[Damaikis]

Not just that buck, but twitter is the fastest source of news on the planet for everything including sports, golf. It's nice.

Agreed. I use it for news all the time.