Remember a couple of years back when a bunch of us took up this new social media thing and subsequently threw our noses up in the air at the PR world? Basically, we said why send out a press release or focus on media relations when there is this great new way to reach people? Remember how we spewed out statistics about how readership was dwindling and the press release was dead? Remember how we all thought those ignoring “social media” were behind the times or lazy? Remember?

Most likely you do. After all, it was just a couple of years ago. But isn’t it funny that despite the short amount of time that has passed, we’ve failed to realize that social media is breeding laziness. And worse, it’s turning us all into that species of fat, immobile blobs as seen in Wall-E. But hey, at least we’re fat, immobile experts right?

Here’s the problem. We started hounding PR hacks because they implemented tactics simply because “that’s how it’s always been done.” There was no strategy. We couldn’t believe someone would simply publish a press release without regard for whether or not there was a better way to reach people. The real reason (and I feel like I can say this because I was as guilty as anyone else) we continued to blindly do things like this was because we were lazy. Our clients paid us, we could follow a formula and be done without much thought. Now we find ourselves in exactly the same trap with social media.

The root of the problem is that we lost site of what social media is – a tactic. Plain and simple, that’s it. It’s not a strategy. Once we figured out we could make a little money we began to duplicate the same press release formula from a couple years back – jump on the bandwagon, figure out the minimum I have to do, call myself an expert and attach a rate to it. Once complete, we were ready to spout our knowledge on “Re-Tweets” and Facebook Groups.

But even the laziest of people can’t possibly ignore facts forever right? Like the FACT that 72.7% of people recommend a product face-to-face. Like the FACT that when asked how they communicate after a purchase, 63% said face-to-face with a family member, friend or peer versus three in ten who communicated via website and less than one in ten who communicated via online social network. Like the FACT that nearly 90% of word of mouth buzz is generated offline.

Social media is a great way to extend a message to an audience that lives online. It’s a tactic that works amazingly well when used strategically as part of a larger Word of Mouth Marketing strategy. So the next time a social media expert comes to you with a grandiose strategy, say, “Thanks a lot. This looks great. But what pray tell do you have planned for the other 90%.” And if they stare at you blankly, respond with, “That’s ok. After all, you’re just a social media expert.”

Tags: " "Word of Mouth" "Word of Mouth Marketing" Park&Co, Ryan La Rosa, social media