You remember those heady days? The ‘Oreo Tweet’ at the 2013 Super Bowl was heralded as massively impactful despite reaching barely a fraction of 1% of the target market. Social media agencies sprung up all over the globe predicated on a new viral approach to marketing and an organic way of interacting with consumers that patently did not work but equally patently attracted a lot of investment. Companies set up social media teams to connect with customers and then blanched at the single-digit interactions that resulted.

VIDEO: Mark Ritson – Why social media is mostly a waste of time for marketers

We were all going to have one big, happy conversation with consumers. The drab, old grey world of cluttered manipulation that constantly besieged the customer with ads was over and a rainbow of natural and open dialogue between brands and their consumers was appearing above us.

Except that all turned out to be utter cock. Social media remained a cultural revolution but brands and their commercial agendas were entirely and completely rejected from the dialogue that Zuckerberg had promised them they would access. One of the main factors in that failure to engage was Facebook itself, which actively and openly reduced the organic reach that brands could achieve on the platform.

Sourced through Scoop.it from: www.marketingweek.com