Ugh! Why are marketers always marketing?

Or “Are A Lot Of New Marketers Information Spamming?”

Short answer: yes.

I’m your typical Gen-Yer. I grew up around technology, follow the latest trends, buy the newest gadgets and read A LOT of blogs. My RSS reader is packed with blogs. I have them all categorized into my favorite areas of interest: Art, Music, Tech, Friends and Marketing. It’s the last one that has changed my life recently. Because of all the new social media information I’ve been reading, there has been an overflow of new ideas rushing into my brain. It’s all brand new to me and that’s very exciting. I read a lot of blogs and look at tons of tweets a day about marketing. Some bloggers have been keeping a constant flow of information to all their readers and then there are some who are overpopulating the pool. A lot of so called “experts” who are taking the ball and running with it. Much too fast and in no particular direction.

I get the idea of “always be closing.” I understand that a good salesperson takes what they know about sales and applies it to their entire life. It can be beneficial to living a good social life as well as keeping up a good business. I get that. Marketing is quite another beast. A good salesperson is always closing because that mentality yields results. Be it money, progress, connections or any sort of gain, there is a clear purpose behind the idea of “always be closing.” That in mind, I can also understand the idea of “always be marketing.” However, social media is such a new frontier that a lot of people don’t have the battle hardened, tried and true calluses of experience. I’m the last person on Earth who can say they are “experienced” in any way, however, I know the importance of purpose behind what you do.

In any given day, I read tons of marketing blog posts written by people who are old school marketers that have rode the new wave of social media and are sailing. Dispensing priceless nuggets of info to the masses. I also read 5 to 10 times more tweets a day about the same topics. It’s the tweets that are a major issue. The bloggers are the seasoned, anecdote wielding kings and queens of the industry. They watched new social media flower blossom and helped cultivate into a large, sprawling garden of information and ideas. While some writers may blog or tweet in a large capacity, their words carry so much more weight because of their backgrounds. I don’t mind sifting through hundreds of tweets a day from certain bloggers because these men and women know what they are talking about. They’ve been around the block more times than anyone.

It’s these new waves of “social media experts” that get under my skin.

Tweeting about things doesn’t make you an expert. Sharing knowledge is great and valuable. We can all agree there. But information isn’t valuable if it isn’t applied. “Expert knowledge” is hard to trust when the person telling you doesn’t seem to have any legs to stand on. Links, tips and quotes are fine and dandy, but I think some people are missing the point behind social media. You are sharing information and trying to sell your supposed know how to people the old fashion way. It’s an oxymoron. Many of the new marketing “experts” are sharing new marketing ideas by using old fashion, “top down,” one way communications. I really think the idea of Web 2.0 and social media is flying way over their heads.

They don’t blog either. They hardly communicate on other people’s blogs. If they actually have a website, it’s not as user friendly and interesting as their “expert knowledge” would lend you to believe. Filling your site with useful metadata tags and keywords to make it an “SEO goldmine” doesn’t really mean much if you’re not really saying anything. Many of these people dole out information like so many Post-It notes trying to follow in the footsteps of those who seem to get it. I think information should be shared when you truly understand what you’re doing. When there is a strong purpose and reason behind what you do. When there is a passion to share this knowledge to help others and change lives.

These people are sharing information with the strength and weight of a handful of disorganized Post-It notes. While others are pulling anecdotes from their work experience, sharing stories from true professionals with experience and writing concise books based of all of the above. I know I’m a little Gen-Y fish in big, ever expanding pool and I like it. I enjoy challenging myself by learning new things and trying out different walks of life. The mistake I always try to avoid making every time I switch gears is to not only bite off more than I can chew, but to never output more than I know. I understand modeling yourself after those that are doing it right. But assuming their behavior is only really valid until you too have a good idea about what you’re doing.

What I’m really saying is this: I’ve watched a lot of martial arts movies my entire life. You can say that I “know a lot about martial arts.” I technically know how to throw a good punch, a good kick and how to jump down a flight of stairs. But do I really know how to fight? Of course not. I would never consider myself a martial artist until I gained all the bruises and belts to prove it. The sad thing I’ve noticed lately is that there are a lot of so called “marketing martial artists” out there that think they can kick a lot of ass but most of them are still flailing around.

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