What these companies are missing (or perhaps simply ignoring) is that the magic of genuine word-of-mouth is that it\u2019s unsolicited. It\u2019s <\/em>not advertising, <\/em>it\u2019s earned media <\/em>in the truest sense.\u00a0<\/em>Paying customers to talk about you online isn\u2019t really any different than paying a newspaper or TV station to talk about you \u2013 in fact it could be considered more annoying, given the inherent lack of transparency involved. It\u2019s not genuine.\u00a0 It\u2019s not real.<\/p>\n

The truth is that rewarding tweets really only transfers paid media dollars from one channel to another.\u00a0 It\u2019s not an alternative to advertising; it’s just a new way of paying for it.<\/p>\n

Is this social cyanide?<\/strong><\/h3>\n

Furthermore, the success of programs like these depends completely on capitalizing on the size of customers\u2019 social networks.\u00a0 Without the network multiplier, there\u2019s no program.\u00a0 So, one has to wonder what happens if participation in the program actually shrinks<\/em> the customer\u2019s network? \u00a0In other words, what happens when people begin to un-follow blatant rewards-tweeters? I, for one, wouldn\u2019t hesitate to un-follow any connection on Twitter who was tweeting purely for points or rewards, and I doubt I\u2019d be alone in that sentiment.\u00a0 So, if the very activity that\u2019s intended to fuel the program ends up shrinking its reach and effectiveness what\u2019s the point?<\/p>\n

It\u2019s a C+ World<\/strong><\/h3>\n

I can’t help but view programs like this as little more than a means by which average brands (that really don\u2019t deserve our attention) can squeak by.\u00a0 They\u2019re no different than the kid in school who pays someone to write their essay for them \u2013 they may pass, but they\u2019re no smarter or better for it.\u00a0 They\u2019re still below average in the end.<\/p>\n

Instead of creating something truly worthy of attention, brands that incentivize social mentions are choosing to fake it, to transfer the effort to their customers and to avoid the hard work of differentiating in a meaningful way.\u00a0 They\u2019d rather create average products and pay people to talk about them than deliver something truly remarkable.<\/p>\n

The truth however, is that the days of effectively buying consumer attention are rapidly coming to an end.\u00a0 It\u2019s simply no longer tenable in a world where we ingest 34 gigabytes (100,000 words) of data per day. The only messages that are capable of breaking through the clutter are those fueled by genuine public excitement, delight and word of mouth.\u00a0 That\u2019s a really hard thing to deal with for most marketers because it’s a transition that demands enormous creativity, craft and quality. \u00a0 Unfortunately for these brands, trying to pass off incentivized tweets as earned media won’t make this transition any easier or their brands any better.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Doug Stephens It was only a matter of time before marketers developed a work-around to avoid the \u00a0heavy lifting of great social media.\u00a0Companies like Amex [\u2026]<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[217,218,46,24,27],"class_list":["post-1679","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-american-express","tag-express-next","tag-marketing","tag-retail","tag-social-media-2"],"yoast_head":"\n