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Mel Lester has posted some interesting insights about the hype surrounding social media on his site. I have to say I agree with his take. Let's look at some of Mel's observations. I suggest that social media is much like trade shows a decade or two ago. We set up our exhibit booth and waited expectantly as hundreds strolled past. Several, in fact, stopped to talk with us. We left enthused because we had engaged in more conservations with potential clients in two days than two months of sales calls could have produced. But the shortcomings with trade shows were much the same as they are with social media. You see, most firms failed to do the hard work to turn those conversations into sales. And most firms will fail to do the hard work to make social media actually generate new business. But enthusiasm will run high, at least for a while, because of all the connections (the modern substitute for conversations) being made. Mel also talks about the lack of engagement in systems like LinkedIn. I would expect members of the Society for Marketing Professional Services group, in particular, to be talking to each other. But there are only 17 discussions currently listed, some posted months ago, and a relatively small number of people who have provided most of the posts and comments. This is a group with 1,893 members. And he addresses the lack of engagement experienced by those A/E firms who decided it was a good idea to set up a Facebook page. I checked several A/E firm Facebook pages and found a similar trend. While some have attracted an admirable number of "fans," the back-and-back forth postings generally don't come close to that seen on the average personal profile. In all, the article is worth a read and serious consideration. Actually, I think Mel is a little too soft on social media. From my standpoint, It's foolish to believe that anyone on Linkedin, Facebook, or Twitter cares to see what amounts to very lame and very short press releases about your firm. I'm going to the SMPS national conference this week and my initial observation is way too much emphasis has been put on social media. There are at least seven sessions on this topic. And they will be heavily attended. But my gut tells me that will be a big waste of time for many marketers attending those sessions. Mel also says alludes to the idea that "doing social media right" means a big commitment of time and resources. I don't believe that to be true. I'm writing this post while sitting on my 22-minute train ride home. While I might not be doing social media "right," I think I'm doing it "righter" than most people/firms in our industry. And I have to tell you; I spend a very small percentage of my time on social media. And the costs…much lower than every other marketing endeavor employed by my firm or me. Gotta go, here's my stop!
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Web/Social Media 
The conversation about your brand, firm, etc is online now, whether you are a participant or not. I have urged several firms to search Wikipedia and Facebook to see if they had Pages, much to their surprise they were represented on these sites and didn't even know it.
Entry into the world of social media is, for better or worse, becoming more of a necessity for brand management at the minimum. It is not, and should not be a replacement for traditional marketing, business development and communications, but a complement to these practices.
The true purpose/goal behind any social media initiative should be that of providing VALUE to the COMMUNITY. It is unfortunate that these tools have been branded as a panacea by the multitude of individuals that market themselves as social media experts. All of these tools came to be with the sole purpose of furthering community, not for making money. This is very important as we look toward the future, the very nature of communication is shifting toward a more collaborative and open dialogue. Today's graduates and the future leaders in the industry have been brought up on this model. Experimentation with these tools now will ensure that we do not fall behind in the future (remember email - imagine if your firm did not embrace that!).
Despite the obvious impact of these innovations, you'd be hard-pressed (in our industry, at least) to think of any that quite lived up to the initial hype. That's not because of the technologies' limitations, but because people are generally slower to adapt than to invent. Social media has tremendous potential, but the question remains as to how quickly people will embrace that potential.
My intent was not to discount that potential, nor whatever success some firms might be having with social media. But most A/E firms are still testing the water and for most of them I don't think that social media will be the panacea that many are anticipating. The core principles of marketing still apply.
And I'm sticking to my comment about the commitment involved. Getting good content from a busy engineer or architect takes more than 22 minutes! Without content you're left with the drab news bits and updates that you made reference to. True, a little time on social networking sites can outpace the norm in our business. But is that the measure of success?
Thanks again for extending the conversation. That's what gives social media it's real power.
And hey I'd certainly rather be spending some time on Twitter than standing in a trade show booth.
One thing I do appreciate about LinkedIn is the ability to target an audience about a particular subject matter. My firm put together a free webinar about Impervious Surface Mapping and I used LinkedIn to spread the word. It was way more cost-effective than using a direct mail campaign for sure and just as / if not more than successful! I am also a huge twitter fan!! I recently started some market research for our firm as we gear up for our 2011 marketing plan, and I found great articles on twitter that I doubt I would have found otherwise.
Thanks again for all of your posts and your tweets! They're great!!
-Kristin
Clearly, we all have a lot to learn and refine as we continue exploring this new world. But my first-hand experience convinces me that it's possible to translate social-media hype into undeniable marketing benefits.