B2B All Day, Every Day: Are We Reaching Social Media Overload?
“I had this guy leave me a voicemail at work, so I called him at home, and then he emailed me to my BlackBerry, and so I texted to his cell, and now you just have to go around checking all these different portals just to get rejected by seven different technologies. It's exhausting.” - He’s Just Not That into You
Exhausting is an understatement. In today’s B2B marketing world, it’s imperative to stay on top of all forms of communication to keep your various professional relationships in check.
Social media saturation is a relevant topic not only with B2B marketers, but for anyone using these various communication platforms.
These days, there are almost too many ways to get a hold of someone. The notification tone continuously emanating from your smartphone could mean one of many things: your client just emailed you, your mom just emailed you on another account, someone retweeted you, someone “liked” your Facebook post, someone wants to “link in” with you, someone just checked in – it’s never-ending. With the emergence of smartphones, work hours immediately went from 9-6 to 24/7. But how much is too much?
LinkedIn states that you are only allowed to be a member of, at most, 50 groups. Excuse me? There is no way I could belong to 50 groups and actually be engaged in all of them, yet there are some people who complain because they can’t join more. And then there are those who think you shouldn’t mix business with pleasure when it comes to social media. So you’re telling me that I now need even more usernames and passwords to keep up with? Get real.
Is there such thing as too many ways to connect with someone? I’d like to say social media – and communication as a whole – is at its absolute saturation point, but I also said that when email joined the mix. I can’t imagine adding even more social media tools to my belt but, to keep up with today’s fast-paced world, it’s crucial to not only experiment with emerging social media tools, but to become an efficient user.
With all that said, I of course still actively partake in just about every social medium available, and I have definitely benefited from the relationships and thought leadership I have gained from them.
So what do you think? Are we reaching the social media saturation point?
Elizabeth Baker is an account coordinator for MLT Creative, an Atlanta advertising agency which specializes in B2B marketing.
