Who to trust?
As social media continues to grow, most businesses are investing is some sort of social media outreach. Take Pepsi - they strayed away from the traditional TV Superbowl ad and invested their money and time on the "Pepsi Refresh" social media campaign. The general thought is that the more messages you put into cyberspace, the more viral they become, right?
Well - don't be fooled that social media is the only place to invest your marketing dollars. According to the 2010 Edelman Trust Barometer, trust in peers (those strangers congregating online) is down almost half from 2008 - 45% to 25%. We owe the diminishing trust to the economy, but also to the growing number of social media outlets and "friends" that we acquire. Let's be honest. How many of your online "friends" are actually people you'd call up for advice or trusted information? People are becoming skeptical in what they hear because it's like a game of telephone - information being passed from one user to another via social media networks. Who knows where it started? The message can become misinterpreted, leading to false information and increasing distrust, no matter what the channel.
I'm not advocating against social media or peer networks, but just be smart about it. It's never a single-source solution. When developing campaigns, make sure you do some research on your target audience. Are they online? Will they trust what they hear through the online grapevine? How else can you reach them? Do what you can to keep messages from the source intact. Advocate your network to spread messages to their REAL friends, not just strangers or acquaintances online. Word of mouth still has a lot of clout.
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