As for case studies, what annoys me isn’t so much that good case studies are being shared by folks who didn’t have anything to do with them. What drives me nuts is that the majority of case studies being presented are absolutely horrible. They start out with lofty “objectives” but when you read them all the way through, they’re sh*t. I read one the other week that started by talking about how company X’s social media initiatives galvanized its community, increased awareness for the brand and generated a boon in engagement and conversations. Very well written stuff. But by the end, the only piece of “data” it presented as evidence was an anecdote about how their blogger (the guy who wrote the case study) was recognized by one of his readers at a conference and started a conversation with him. That was it.

Another company (this one a major consumer brand) had its PR firm construct a wonderfully worded case study based on what it believes is a social media program. Truth: That brand puts on parties and events at major conferences and uses social media to promote them. In between, it blows off most of its “fans” on the more common social media channels. As a footnote, that incredibly successful social media program has failed to garner even 20,000 followers on Twitter, even with a full time Social Media staff of 4. Not that Twitter numbers should be a goal, but they are indicative of value and engagement. When I have more followers (and more importantly more engagement) with people than a major global brand with a dedicated staff and all the power of its marketing might, something is wrong. Yet, I find their case study of “success” popping up all over the place. I am not impressed.

Truth: Unless your case study is campaign based (like Dell’s sales via Twitter), most companies haven’t been in the social space long enough to have anything of substance to present. They’re rushing BS “case studies” to get their seat at the table or help justify the funding of programs which have, for the most part, been shams. (The fact that I had to step in and explain to so many social media directors that ROI and non financial impact were two different things is shocking. And indicative of a much larger problem.)

Remember the Skittles thing? Everyone thought it was the most brilliant use of Social Media. It was a friggin’ stunt. Nothing more. Did it impact sales of Skittles? Did it really create a sustainable community around Skittles? This is what happens when traditional PR and Advertising people get brought in to create case-study material in a space they haven’t spent more than 6 weeks exploring. It’s just sad.

There are far too many people talking out of their asses right now, and even more people believing them, hook, line and sinker. It’s a very dangerous time for Social Media. It could easily fall into the same trap that WOM did a few years ago. I don’t intend to let it happen. That’s why the #Likeminds team and I decided to put on the Summit in February. To actually cut through the bullshit and find the real social media-related case studies organizations should look at and learn from.

Great comment, Gavin. Cheers.

I’ve already seen examples of companies choosing to partner with like-minded organizations, and outright rejecting organizations whose values weren’t aligned with their own. At the enterprise level,that would be the rare bird. Marriages in that space are 100% about convenience, not love. But in the SMB space, marriages of love AND convenience occur much more frequently. Why? More opportunities for them. Think about the endless ocean of SMBs out there vs. the small sea of enterprise-sized businesses.

That said, there’s probably a reason I stuck that one at #10.

Thanks for the comment, John. Much appreciated.