Bob says “social media marketing is worthless”
November 24 2014, 9:20 am | | 5 Comments
By Simon Veksner
Creative Partner, DDB Sydney
Bob Hoffman does an entertaining talk called ‘The Golden Age Of Bullshit.’
It’s about how, in his opinion, social media doesn’t work and we should mostly just make TV ads.
This blog post isn’t about whether he’s right or wrong. (Though for what it’s worth, I think he’s wrong). READ ON…
5 Comments
Social media like everything thing else is a waste of money in the wrong hands.
There are plenty of social media, content and digital specialists/agencies who will take uneducated marketers money in a vain bid it will make them look “current.
A truly brilliant idea can come from anywhere and can be deployed through any media- including social.
It’s very hard to watch this and disagree with him at all.
Saying ‘just make TV ads’ is an over-simplification. Comparing the web with the yellow pages as an amazing delivery system is bang on.
He used social media to create a best-selling book so he isn’t talking it down, just calling bullshit on the clueless hacks that pull facts from thin air that populate our business now-a-days.
Finally someone has the courage to speak up. The industry is well and truly deluded and every ad person should watch this.
Social media matters only to clients who have no financial KPIs to meet and lack a meaningful way to justify their value to the CEO.
Talk to any marketer with hard sales numbers to meet and they will laugh you out of the room when you talk clicks, retweets, likes, online engagement etc.
Money talks, BS walks…to the podium of the next Social Media Conference.
While this debate has a lot of merit, it’s reasonable to expect Simon Veksner to say that he disagrees with Bob Hoffman given his role in the advertising industry. I mean, what else is he going to say when his clients have access to the same lecture on Youtube? However, kudos for giving the lecture “air time” in an industry blog.