Neither Social Media Nor Marketing Are Equal to Creative Integrity
Monday, 29 June 2009
Estimated reading time: 1 minute, 54 seconds
Danica Patrick gets sexified for Go Daddy.
There are two movements happening which are somehow becoming intertwined as the same thing among certain circles on the Web. I’m speaking of social media and creative integrity, and the trend among some marketers and social media “experts” who seem to be confusing the two.
Social media can be defined as sooo many things. I offer up the Wiktionary definition: online content created by people using highly accessible and scalable publishing technologies. At its most basic sense, social media is a shift in how people discover, read and share news, information and content.
Creative integrity is not as easily defined. Integrity is often considered to be adherence to standards, morals, and/or principles, or the state of perfection, as in “the integrity of a ship’s hull.” So what is creative integrity then? Creative integrity could be adherence to accepted artistic and creative values among those communities – i.e. “designers have more creative integrity when they are not stealing other designers’ work,” or “real designers don’t use gradient borders around text.” I would propose that creative integrity is a process, not a status.
So what is getting confused? Without naming names, there are those who seem to think that social media = creative integrity. Specifically, I’m talking about marketing types.
Let’s just set this straight then: under no circumstances, by any means, does social media give you authenticity. It does make you genuine, nor does it make people think you are genuine. And it most certainly does not automatically stamp anything you put on social media sites with “Creative Integrity” approval.
The only way a creative piece gains creative integrity is by its creator having creative integrity, and passing it on to the piece. As I said, creative integrity is a process, not a status. You as an artist do not have creative integrity; however, you may have earned the status of being someone who recognizes creative integrity and practices it well.
So, please, if you’re a social marketer, stop inundating us with the same traditional marketing via social venues. Not only are you inauthentic, you’re ruining your brand by showing off how little you understand about social media, and are proving you don’t understand creative integrity.
Want more?
Newer: Proofread Your Marketing Materials, Or Else
Older: Those Who Don’t Get Social Media vs. Those Who Don’t Want to
For one-on-one conversation, e-mail thoughts to tyler@thetylerhayes.com.
For group conversation, post thoughts below.
Excellent points Tyler. I liken this sort of regurgitation and recycling as “social media lemming” theory.
You aren't instantly granted credibility if you throw Twitter in a post 5 times (despite what hucksters have told you).
However, you aren't a marketer just because you try and tie your SM concepts loosely to the marketing landscape.
Excellent points Tyler. I liken this sort of regurgitation and recycling as “social media lemming” theory.
You aren't instantly granted credibility if you throw Twitter in a post 5 times (despite what hucksters have told you).
However, you aren't a marketer just because you try and tie your SM concepts loosely to the marketing landscape.
Excellent points Tyler. I liken this sort of regurgitation and recycling as “social media lemming” theory.
You aren't instantly granted credibility if you throw Twitter in a post 5 times (despite what hucksters have told you).
However, you aren't a marketer just because you try and tie your SM concepts loosely to the marketing landscape.
[...] something: I agree that social media is a young buzzword. I wrote a post a few weeks ago trying to break down the barriers of how we define “social media.” But that does not make it a new buzzword, at least not to the people who have been practicing it [...]