Social Baloney

Despite the nature of this post, I am a believer in social media and have personally experienced some modest success for clients in the B2B world. I began tweeting on behalf of a major scientific conference and exposition over a year ago as a test - at this year's meeting, the conference organizers are displaying all tweets with the conference hashtag on a huge monitor inside the exposition hall - both exhibitors and conferees alike - pretty cool. On a smaller scale, just helped another client set-up a group on LinkedIn and they already have a lively discussion going and have uncovered several customer advocates they didn't know existed. I'm not saying I'm an expert (there now seems to be more Social Media experts than SEO experts, if that's possible), but just saying . . .

So, what's my problem? Let me explain. I use the TweetDeck app to monitor conversations and trends on Twitter and currently have it displayed on a 22 inch widescreen monitor. I have seven columns open that I can view live, each with a different search item - 1) people I follow, 2)@thomricci (my mentions column is usually empty), 3) Pittcon (past client), 4) startups (business prospects) 5)physiology (for client), 6) SocialmediaROI (personal education), and 7) #marketing (personal education). Amazingly, the #marketing columns flashes with new tweets almost every second or two - and most of the tweets are just plain baloney. How about a "Free way to make money and build your list" (retweeted no less) or "Adding the 4 C's to the 4 P's" (huh?) or "How to cheat Google" (yikes) or "Today's greatest marketing secret (do tell, please)."

I'm amazed and embarrassed for all of us "marketeers". How can we make it go away?