The *real* danger of marketing on Facebook, or Twitter, or anywhere for that matter.

 A recent post at Inside Higher Ed got me to thinking about... well... social media and the world of Higher Education. The authors run down a series of risks associated with marketing on Facebook and combine that with a nice "horror story" about an inept attempt by some college-oriented youth marketing group to trick kids... Check it out for yourself if you want the background.

Anyhow, I think that it might be time to take the 'debate' about the value of social media, web sites, and maybe marketing in general and clarify what the genuine, no-foolin', real risks of any new marketing activity might be with special attention to things like Twitter, Facebook, and whatever other web place has caught your fancy. Here they are...

1. You're boring and/or irrelevant. This is the primary risk associated with any and every marketing endeavor. It is the main reason that many, many firms rely simply on sales and never deploy much marketing at all. Marketing is about a story or a narrative that will place you in the consciousness of the buyer. Period. That's all it is. If you don't have enough interesting stuff to say, then there's no story there worth hearing. (Forget the concern about whether or not your story is true -- we can talk about that later.) So, if you want to succeed in marketing (especially on the web), then don't be boring, irrelevant, or both.

2. You're lazy. This is a real problem that we all struggle with. Sure, we go to meetings and talk about working -- a lot -- but a lot of the time, we simply tell ourselves that we are 'overstretched' and have no more bandwidth. That's cool. I understand and embrace my inner sloth. But in the world of marketing -- especially in the current era of relationship heavy marketing with lots of feedback -- you can't afford to be lazy about your projects. Nor can you afford to think that someone has a 'magic bullet' out there. Basically, marketing is hard work. Not because it requires brilliance, but because it requires discipline. If you're going to be on Facebook or Twitter or whatever, then you need to be active on a daily basis. So, take on only those marketing projects that you can commit to (or have sufficient minions to do your bidding).

3. You're insecure. Let's face it -- all this talk about how marketing is so different these days and how much power the consumer has is basically nonsense. The consumer always had the power. What's new is that it's easier for you to hear what consumers think about you/harder to hide than in the past. And frankly, lots and lots of places (certainly colleges and universities) are inherently conservative institutions in that they really don't like to change what they do and they don't like hearing about how people think they should change. The status quo is a super powerful force (so powerful that we still refer to the original concept in Latin -- think about it). And next to sheer laziness, nothing preserves the status quo like fear of being found out. When you market, you're inviting people to find you out -- and insecure companies don't want the feedback.

Don't get me wrong. Using social media can take a lot of effort and requires some new ways of thinking. But the real dangers are the same ones that have always been there. They're just a little easier to see.