Whoosh… look, up in the sky! It’s a bird. It’s a plane. No, it’s the unrelenting thud of marketers wasting their time (and mine) on social media to drive traffic and transactions on the Interweb.

According to today’s eMarketer article based on a September ‘09 MarketingProfs survey conducted among both B2B & B2C marketers (http://tinyurl.com/yblparr), a common refrain is “marketers found that the marketing tactics most often used on social sites are not necessarily the best ones.”

Why is this? Well, it’s because of grotesquely out-sized expectations among the brand manager classes that Social Media represents the best (spelled c-h-e-a-p-e-s-t) method of reaching consumers with an authentic and engaging brand voice.

Because I attend all of the fantastic iMedia Summit events, and also happen to be the founder of an interactive marketing services agency, I get to live inside the bubble of the digital media realm and see the swirl of offerings, strategies, technologies and triple-screen availabilities all day long. In fact, because ‘emerging media’ such as Social, Video and Mobile are hot topics, iMedia created a Summit called ‘Breakthrough’ which is unique in that it is open to both senior Brand Marketers and Agency personnel—and focuses exclusively on these topics.

And without a doubt, the bulls-eye of the Breakthrough Summit is Social. I can literally hear the sound of all (or most) of the air being sucked-out of the room whenever Social is being discussed in a panel session, or during a Keynote speech, or sponsor presentation.

No doubt, the stunning growth of social media and corresponding usage demands that marketers pay attention to it, and that major brands such as P&G or Unilever or Virgin America blaze trails in the category in an attempt to make it work against a specific set of objectives.

However, all the noise surrounding the social craze has somehow validated the idea amongst the ad budget holders that THIS is where they should focus their digital strategy, along with precious marketing dollars. And I say, that’s crazy!

It’s the equivalent of a big brand saying we’re pulling all of our traditional media dollars and share-shifting entirely to the Web, Social and Mobile because that’s where the hoopla is. I see it happening. This disavowal of other digital media forms in favor of Social.

I hear it from prospective new clients who want ‘buzz.’ I saw it when a major fast food company who had done zero advertising in digital channels told me they were going to conduct a ‘test’ with social media as a method of getting their franchisees stoked about digital. Much to my verbalized chagrin, that was the last $500K that that specific QSR spent on the Web. The deafening thud heard ’round the Web when that lead zeppelin crashed put the kibosh on any future digital consideration. That’s such a shame because I know how to sell more hamburgers on the Web and drive restaurant visits using all other digital channels, with a dash of social thrown in, but there is simply no way that social can lift burger sales all by its lonesome.

So dear reader, let me ask you. How can I socialize the idea that Social can indeed play a role in one’s overall digital marketing plan, but a right-sized role, maybe 15% (max) of total budget?

I tend to like hard data, not soft data; engaged and measurable consumer activity, not passive activity; improved results at retail and e-commerce, not ‘oh well’ acceptance that ‘flat is the new up’—a currently popular belief amongst old-line media defenders.

To that point, I recently read an article in the Grey Lady that got my media—think dinosaur-collusionary—hackles raised. It seems that this good ol’ fashioned newspaper collaborated with good ol’ fashioned TV to announce…GREAT NEWS!!! The ‘passive activity’ of viewing TV commercials is alive and kicking.

Read the rest of my blog here.

I continue my rantings this week at MediaBizBlog over the continued bone-headed math practiced by companies with an online presence. . .is there a company out there who doesn’t have an online presence??? Check it out.

So, those of you who know me personally and professionally are well aware of the axe that I grind, everyday, in every way. In fact, I’m busy now editing the inscription that will by my epitaph:

‘Here lies Matthew Greene. He died wondering why the marketers ?and their agencies that never spent more than 30% of available ?ad dollars through digital channels didn’t know they were doomed.’

Sound a little drastic you say? Go ahead and read my whole post on Marketing Malfeasance (at MediaBizBlog.com) and be sure to leave your comments for or against. It’s all a dialogue.

A mind-blowing piece of news took place at today’s Conversational Marketing Summit this morning.  John Battelle, in conversation with Deborah Conrad, VP & GM , Intel Marketing Group - stated that of the approx. $130MM Intel devoted to their fantastic new Rock Star campaign, 40% of that budget went to digital paid media!

This is a seminal moment in the history of advertising in general, and digital advertising, specifically! The fact that a major advertiser deliberated, then decided that a HUGE slice of their total ad budget should go digital is a (sorry for the cliche) game-changer.

We’ve been saying for a long time that ALL advertisers should be dedicating a minimum of 30% of total ad dollars to digital channels, and here Intel goes, blowing the barn doors off of our challenge.

Many kudos to Intel, Deborah and the gang at Intel!

You made us proud!

About Smart Ads. We can’t wait to put the pedal to the metal and see how great this stuff works. We’ve been planning a large campaign with Yahoo!/Smart Ads for a couple of months now and have great expectations as to its ability to drive consumers from the Web, to our clients retail partner stores!

Having just attended the iMedia Agency Summit (see the picture of the pretty Lost Pines Resort in Austin) where Mitch Spolan formally introduced the technology alliances, it was really interesting for us to see how our Agency peers would respond to Smart Ads’ offering. Mitch did most of the talking with hand-offs to Peter Kim, who ‘owns’ the Smart Ads product for Yahoo! I’m pleased to say that our peers seemed really stoked about it, and some were matter-of-factly trying to figure-out how to port-over the data from Smart Ads to/thru their respective ad serving and tracking dashboards.

I must say, Mitch took a HUGE risk in setting expectations really high for those of us in the room based on a recent case study with a major mass market retailer, boasting the following declarative statement (and I paraphrase)…”the results from the dynamic creative delivery drove similar results for the advertiser to their SEM campaigns”!

I only hope the expectations now aren’t artificially unattainable!

First, let me say that we’re big fans (and members of Shop.org) and they absolutely have their finger on the pulse of the retail community, but after reading ‘Recession forces new focus in e-commerce marketing‘ (http://www.miamiherald.com/business/nation/story/1032549.html), I must take issue with a fundamental premise of the article which says that “online retailers are shifting their marketing…to less expensive tools like Facebook and Twitter.”

Regarding this growing social media whirl, we too are aware of, and participate in helping retail clients embrace social media. But it’s critical to note that there are a couple of declarative statements in Anne d’Innocenzio’s article that ring false—with me anyway.

1. Executive Director Scott Silverman’s contention that social media is more cost efficient than Search, and, more effective than standard online advertising, is far from proven. In fact, the article cites no evidence that the statement is true. Money where your mouth is and all that…

2. Further, this point of view is striclty seen through the prism of e-commerce retailers. And since only 7% (and less) of all revenues for store-based retailers occurs online, with 93% of most revenues occuring in-store, I really think that the opportunity for Social Media has more to with communities, and how to weave a retail community story and theme via this new medium.
Anyway, that’s my story and I’m stickin’ to it!

We’ve been saying for years that marketers MUST get a grip on how they allocate their advertising investments, and Yahoo! SVP of Sales agrees in this interesting article from AdWeek. Here’s a quote we just love!

As the world’s biggest online publisher, I’ve got some important advice for today’s marketers: You must devote more of your marketing dollars online, or else you run the risk of marketing to consumers that are not as engaged, or worse, are just not there. http://tinyurl.com/coyn7o

We’ve just engineered a tremendously exciting test between Yahoo! (exclusively) and one of our clients where the focus is to measure and calibrate how online advertising lifts retail sales, using our Click2MortarTM system. Everybody is looking forward to seeing the results…so stay tuned!

If you’re one of those media-watchers and Google doyennes that can’t wait to see the next pronouncement out of Mountain View, then wait no further: http://tinyurl.com/dgccx8 .

This article from AdAge talks about an impending White Paper suggesting that Display Advertising can be as productive as Search Engine Marketing. Fancy that. It only took Google 10 years to figure-out this great truth that we wrote about, and documented, way back in 2005!

Not having seen the White Paper yet, I can only presume that their research and media sample included only Google Search and their Site Targeting product. If my supposition is correct, there are several critical areas Site Targeting lags behind the rest of the industry in as it relates to targeting features. But let’s wait and see what the Paper reveals before I get much deeper into the color commentary zone.

I suppose the good news here is that since Google has a much larger voice than little ‘ol Blue Ribbon Digital, that their latest pronouncement can only have a positive impact on Display as a much-maligned media channel.

We shall see…

One of the mind-boggling issues that affects the fast food industry (among other retail categories) is that the industry simply refuses to understand is that Web advertising, along with the smaller-pipe mobile and social media channels is perhaps the single-most important marketing channel ever invented.

You see, when I managed the Hardee’s Food Systems business way back in 92-94, we spent dozens of millions of dollars between broadcast and radio every quarter to reach consumers where we hoped they would see our message. They did. It worked.

But c’mon already. It’s 2009, and consumers spend 3X’s MORE time on the Web than radio, 12X’s more time on the Web vs. reading newspapers, and we have evidence that Mom’s have already made up their minds as to WHERE they’re going to eaton any given day, by going to the Web and snacking/researching their next dining experience.

That’s why when I read articles like this one in Brandweek http://tinyurl.com/cae9tb regarding an email that Chick-Fil-a will do soon, it makes me angry. We met with the brand team more than 1.5 years ago and we shared all sorts of factual information, along with estimates as to how much business we could drive to their stores via Web advertising (not just site visits per the article), and 1.5 years later, they’ve screwed-up enough marketing prowess to deliver…tah dah!…an email.

And Chick-fil-A is NOT ALONE. Mickey-D’s, BK, Arby’s you name it still commit a fraction of their marketing dollars to Web marketing, and that’s not only a shame, it’s what I characterize as marketing malfeasance.

We have solutions in-hand with our Click2MortarTM Media offering that is a proven store and franchisee traffic-driver. I challenge them all to test our solutions and let’s show CMOs and CEOs that the fast food industry is finally on the fast track to improved business results!