Today’s AdNews published one article about the hype of social media (http://www.adnews.com.au/adnews-news/telstra-social-media-demands-commit...). Telstra’s executive director of relationship marketing Karen said social media is a courtship not a one night stand. I have to nod constantly and say “yes” & “yes” to this statement.

We do emphasize the importance of leveraging social media, tons of articles and case studies are thrown at us every day. A lot of companies feel the urge to engage with customers/consumers, making up their minds to build more intimate relationship. However, a lot of them still stay at the infancy stage, reckoning only a Twitter account or Facebook fan page set-up is enough. Remember, the relationship we care about is a long term one, not only one-off. One-off is called a campaign, long-term one is the proper relationship, which should be “nurtured and ongoing”.

A lot of media, marketing, advertising practitioners as well as academics start investing dramatic time/efforts on how social media converts to other metrics, how to measure ROI, this and that. Apparently to Mark, the director of analytics of Nielson, the company will focus on ROI in social media over the next year and would work to incorporate data, such as to measure consumer perceptions of brand from Facebook campaign etc. He advised that in general, we need quite some time to stick all the metrics and data together, maybe a few years. So marketers or clients should be more realistic about the diversion from buzz to sales which, of course, what we do care.

Having said that, we need to understand that brand building is a long term practice, social media is a tool to help companies to build the brand among customers/consumers. Therefore, it is a long term exercise as well. Bearing this in mind, we can adjust our attitude and expectation, then we can do our job.