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How Long Before Social Media Gets Too Noisy?

Social_media_overload This was originally published in 2009, but the main question still persists ... "is social media getting too noisy?"

The other day I went to lunch with my good friend Todd.  After lunch (and the ensuing food coma), we stumbled back to Todd’s office for a few minutes.  While at Todd’s office, I had him log into Facebook account to show some interesting photos from the weekend. 

During our brief Facebook session the topic of “How many Facebook friends could one person possibly have?” was discussed.  I told Todd that I’ve seen some high Facebook friend numbers before - people with over a thousands friends. Yet Todd knows someone with the highest number of Facebook friends I’ve ever seen – 2,157 (note: April 2009)!

After leaving Todd’s office, I had to ask myself “How many friends are too many friends?” The more friends you have on Facebook the more requests, status updates, and messages you’ll get on your account.  Don't forget all paid advertising getting thrown into the mix.

Isn’t a person eventually going to get to a point where they don't see your message because it's lost in the haze of information?

Task Saturation Can Be Fatal to Your Event
In the aviation world they call information overload, task saturation.  There are so many things going on at once that the pilot’s likelihood of missing critical information goes up significantly. Task saturation can be fatal in the aviation world.  I also think that task saturation can be fatal in the event promotion and marketing world. Social media has exploded in growth.  There’s Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Blogs, etc. and the list keeps growing.  I find it hard to believe that people can process that much information from so many services at one time. Take a moment to consider all the traditional advertising (television, print, radio) you’re bombarded with on a daily basis. Is your event marketing information getting lost in all the social media noise?

Stay Focused on the Most Effective Channels for Promotion
Instead of looking at how many social media channels you can use to promote or market your event, focus on the right social media channels to promote your event.  Line your marketing up accordingly with your target market’s demographic and psychographic profiles.  One social media service probably outperforms another for promoting your event. Do you know which one works best for your event?  You need good data to make smart businesses decisions. Do some simple testing and tracking to find what works best. At a minimum, install Google Analytics.

Drive Them to Your Web Site with Everything You Do
Yes, you can successfully use social media to build awareness of your event.  I’m not trying to knock the possibilities of social media. But I still believe that the single best place for promoting your event is a dedicated event web site.  Any other form of media (social included) should be focused on getting people back to your web site. The people who are on your web site are prequalified to be interested in your event. Plus, when you get people on your site, you control the message!

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Want to get more great info? Check out the articles below:

Here are some additional social media resources you can use to market your event:

Posted at 08:02 in Social Media Event Marketing | | Comments (0)

Tags: Advertising, Blogs, Event Marketing, Facebook, Social Media, Twitter

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