The 10 Words Making Marketing Execs Sick In 2009

January 9th, 2009 by Nick Gonzalez

Over the past few years, online marketing has created and reused a litany of buzzwords that are likely to roll the eyes of any brand manager reading this. Bloging, microblogging, virality, k factor, conversational marketing, synergy, engagement, social networking, social media, and really social anything. But according to a study (Marketing Charts) from Anderson Analytics, for the marketing executive networking group, a group of 10 are really irking execs in 2009.

Here’s the list:

Rank Top 10 Buzzwords Tired Of Hearing 2009 Report 2008 Report
1 Web 2.0 19.4% 9.1%
2 Social Networking 12.2% 6.0%
3 Social Media 11.3% 0.8%
4 Blog 7.9% 0.0%
5 Viral Marketing 6.2% 6.3%
6 Synergy 5.8% 5.6%
7 Branding 5.1% 3.2%
8 ROI 4.9% 4.8%
9 Green 4.9% 0.0%
10 SEO 3.8% 1.8%

Web 2.0 tops the chart as the word execs are most sick of. It’s understandable considering web 2.0 became analogous to rounded corners, sheep throwing, and no revenue. But ironically, the term that bugs execs the most, they also understand the least. A November 2008 MENG social media study showed 67% of executive marketers consider themselves beginners when it comes to using social media for marketing purposes.

So what gives? Likely execs are frustrated with these terms because they’ve been all talk and no results. There’s no shortage of posts and pamphlets talking about how businesses need to use social media to spread warm fuzzies. Maybe they tried starting a blot and just got nowhere.

Implementation is hard, and takes dedication. Often social media campaigns consist of hiring a consultant or a creative agency. They create a campaign, with very few guarantees up front. Some succeed wildly, while others flounder.

As an industry we need to be better at expressing tangible goals and results. While a great deal of social media is about “ambient” brand awareness, the efforts we make within Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, and beyond provide us with real numbers about reach and consumer opinions.

I’m going to be baking all of this into a social media campaign guide due out this month, so keep your eyes peeled and follow me on Twitter.

(Via Tweet @marshallk)

This entry was posted on Friday, January 9th, 2009 at 11:09 am and is filed under Uncategorized. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

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