There are a number of social media/marketing trends fads bubbles that have already come and gone.  OK, they’re still around, but they have not turned out to be “the next big things” that these tools or platforms were touted to be by the grand marshals thought leaders of the social media parade.

Their value, relative to the level of effort required (strategy, planning, execution, measurement and optimization), has proven to be too low for most marketers.

In the best cases these trends/tools have become decent marketing vehicles for a handful of organizations.  In the worst, not only is there no ROI/adoption case for most marketers, there is no business model behind these tools–so even if they were valuable there are major questions about their viability.

Here’s the list of six social media/marketing fads that have fallen far short of the hype:

1)     Blogs

• Glowing things said at the time: Everyone and every business needs a blog. If you don’t blog you don’t exist. Personal branding is critical and blogs can help. Blogging is good for SEO. Blogging is easy; you can just post links to articles you think will be relevant to your prospects. Setting up a blog is free so it must be worthwhile.
• As it turns out: You can have a blog or a life but not both. Meaning that running a blog basically requires you to be an editor and publisher…in addition to your day job…which, let’s say is being a busy consultant or multi-tasking corporate marketing director. The blogosphere is littered with those who underestimated the level of effort required to have a great blog that accomplishes actual marketing/communications goals: keeping customers engaged, showing off your expertise, getting feedback (see #2 below), not to mention the business goals of increasing revenue and reducing costs.
• Who made any $$ on this: As far as content providers, TechCrunch (even though they are basically a vertical, online newspaper, not a blog) and a few others. Platforms: Blogger, which was bought by Google in 2003.

2)     Sponsored/Private Online Communities

• Glowing things said at the time: Every business should invest in building an online community of its “raving fans.” There are great platforms (i.e. Ning, Xing, KickApps) that provide all of the social networking functionality-some of them for free. Imagine the customers of your plumbing supply company (those would be plumbers) being able to interact with you and each other in their very own community-in real-time. Setting up a blog is cheap so it must be worthwhile.
• As it turns out: 95% of businesses don’t have engaged, “raving fans”-they have customers that value boring attributes like customer service, fair prices, quality products and overall a good experience. If your business has a raving fan or two, take them to lunch, interview them and write some really compelling case studies for your web site.
• Who made any $$ on this: No one.

3)     Podcasting

• Glowing things said at the time: See all those people at the gym with iPods and MP3 players? Imagine them all listening to your podcast series on FISMA-Compliant Data Centers. You just use your laptop to record, say, your VP of Engineering reading a white paper, post it on iTunes and you’re done. You can attract millions of listeners. Setting up and distributing a podcast is essentially free so it must be worthwhile.
• As it turns out: People would actually rather listen to music at the gym than your in-depth manifesto on nuclear treaty ratification during the Reagan era. You need to have pretty compelling content for someone to go to the trouble of downloading your podcast, much less subscribing to it on iTunes. That’s why successful podcasters tend to be successful content companies, for example National Public Radio, ESPN and Nickelodeon.
• Who made any $$ on this: No one.

4)     Widgets

• Glowing things said at the time: People can grab your content, in the form of some simple software code, and put it on their site. You can inexpensively create a widget that showcases your product (i.e. a mortgage calculator) and distribute it to millions of web publishers who will plug it into their home pages. The Saturday Night Live widget of Tina Fey doing Sara Palin got over 5 million views in the last 36 hours.
• As it turns out: Widgets are not cheap to create and require numerous formats to meet the requirements of various web sites. There is no “worldwide widget distribution network” where publishers are trolling for widgets like yours, so expect to spend a lot of time pitching your widget to site-when you should be pitching your product to prospects.
• Who made any $$ on this: Web/software developers.

5)     Facebook Apps

• Glowing things said at the time: Facebook offers a built-in audience of 350 million (now upwards of 600 million) users who can put your interactive app on their page-with just a couple clicks. This is a great way to “enhance your brand” and/or generate click-through’s to your site.
• As it turns out: The ranks of Facebook apps quickly swelled to the millions, meaning that the chances of a user finding your app-or that your app will break through and “go viral” (See #6) went down to nil.
• Who made any $$ on this: Web/software developers.

6)     Viral Video

• Glowing things said at the time: Organizations should create funny, outrageous and offbeat videos promoting their product or service, and viewers will forward it to their contacts, who will forward to their contacts and so on until you achieve “viral” status (in the millions of views). The great part is that the more home made and authentic looking the video is, the better chance it has of going viral, so you don’t have to spend “commercial quality” dollars on production.
• As it turns out: When everyone is trying to be funny, outrageous and offbeat, it becomes harder for your clever video to break through. Millions of dollars have been spent on production-ironically much of which was to achieve a faux-home made effect-only to be perceived as
• Who made any $$ on this: Commercial video directors and producers. Some ad agencies.

What we’ve learned is that, more than ever, is that great products and services, properly positioned and promoted, are an organization’s best marketing tools.  And that even the most interesting, widespread social media trend in the world can’t help a mediocre product or service.

What we have also learned is that, as in life, there is no free social media/marketing lunch: It is very rare for a marketing initiative to succeed without the requisite level of effort and expertise in these areas: strategy, planning, execution, measurement and optimization.

What will be the next “next big things” that will turn out to be not so hot?

Also see this video interview, courtesy of Vocus, where I discuss the “Blog Bubble.”

Bob London is President of London, Ink, a marketing and communications consulting firm based in the Washington, DC metro area. He serves as a Virtual VP of Marketing for technology and professional services firms that need engagement-based marketing experience and leadership. For more information, please visit www.londonink.com.

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