Not many marketing professionals are willing to do that. Recently, I saw a quote from a famed author who said: "I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than a tweet." Personally, I’d rather stick pins in my eyes than be forced to read their book, but that’s a whole other story, or just buy cheapest Instagram like ever. This author’s sentiment could be replicated and replaced with channels like Facebook, LinkedIn, blogging, podcasting, TV advertising, or whatever. The problem is this: I’ve run into too many brands who feel this way, but are still doing it because they feel like they have to. Their boss told them to do it, it’s where the consumers are, their competitors are doing it, they feel internal peer pressure, they feel industry peer pressure and other issues. Personally, I’m guilty as charged when it comes to being a maniacal evangelist for digital marketing.

I have been fortunate to be a guest on multiple podcasts where the "host" has asked me to provide all of the questions that they should ask. In the same instance, I was instructed to not be so salty, but once the recording commenced, every question was tweaked for the host to shill how great their company is, and how they could help all of the listeners with every issue we were discussing. I have been asked to be interviewed for blogs and online publications and then sent an email to not only write the questions but the responses as well. You could chalk this all up to lazy journalism (or, a complete lack of journalism), but there is something deeper… something more profound is happening here.

Brands are taking part in social media and digital publishing with a much stronger prowess when it comes to having a strategy and plan in place, but the chasm between the vision and mission of these offerings is often quickly uncovered in those who are mandated to make it successful. If the people on your team (those charged with making the strategy come to life) don’t have the skills, passion, ability, and belief in it, all is lost.

I have to do social media.

So, if your sentiment is similar to that of the famed author mentioned above, you may want to take a step back and simply walk away from these channels. I wouldn’t recommend this as a strategy, but if you’re that dead set against it, the world would rather have no direct relationship with you (and your brand) in lieu of marketing blather that is being created with a gun being pointed at your head. Perhaps straight-up advertising would be the ideal solution for when you have something that you want to promote. Because, if you don’t care for it, why should your audience? But, here’s the bigger question that the nay-sayers and those who are down on social channels need to ask themselves: if you are looking to sell and promote something, isn’t being negative or not present on a channel where your most heavy users are probably interested in connecting with you akin to saying, I have a store and I simply don’t have the time or effort to turn the lights on, unlock the door and be cordial to those who want to come in?

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