Google provides a really great service for us (as does Bing and Yahoo)…they help us find web pages on the internet by typing in somewhat incoherent combinations of words…they call these search terms. And as bad as we are at this, it still seems to work pretty well. They can come up with content that is either exact or pretty close usually. They work well.
So if they work so well, why is it so many (the majority it seems like) marketing departments try to “replicate” this great offering. I mean…sending me out tons of content, frequently, that I can already find on the internet, when I want it, by going to Google ISN’T OF ANY VALUE to me! In fact…it irritates me and makes me think you DON’T PUT A VALUE ON MY TIME. Is that what you are really trying to tell me…you don’t value my time?
Essentially what you want me to do is the work you should be doing for me by sending me out content that isn’t relevant, applicable, insightful, or helpful. I can get this much easier going to Google, or Twitter, or simply creating some Alerts that can send me something relevant when it comes along. Not only is this being disrespectful of my time, it is downright annoying. Stop wasting my time and annoying me with something I could find easier, if I wanted, on Google or another search engine.
Does any of the above sound like the way you feel? If so, step back a bit and ask yourself a simple question, “Is this what we are doing in our marketing and social media department?” Most likely, if you answer honestly, it is…and it is having the same effect on your customers as it has on you…annoying and disrespectful. Might be worth revisiting your “content strategy” or maybe your entire “social media strategy” and seeing if what you are actually doing is annoying and disrespectful to the people that pay you money…your customers. The result just might be a bit sobering…
