According to a recent survey performed by Marketing Week, social media remains the most overrated skill amongst businesses and marketers.

It’s a bold statement to make – especially by a publication whose entire shtick is focused around digital marketing.

22.5 per cent of the marketers who were surveyed by Marketing Week say that social media is the most overrated skill when businesses look to hire a marketer.

But are they right?

Do we put too much emphasis on digital marketing at the detriment of more effective and cost-efficient strategies?

Why social media is underrated

Most marketing and business leaders would probably argue that social media is a valuable asset in their arsenal.

It’s great at building brand awareness, especially when it’s used right and the marketing team inject some personality into their work.

There are also few channels that promote customer engagement as much as social media – certainly you don’t get the same levels from traditional marketing strategies.

The ability for customers to comment, like, message and generally show their approval to brand messaging in real time is definitely an advantage to marketing teams.

(Social media also goes a long way to driving website traffic through links, etc).

The extensive targeting options and sophisticated analytics that social media provide are far more refined than any other type of marketing.

From a B2B perspective, it’s also great for building partnerships with other brands and creating a reputation for industry insights/ sector leadership.

Why social media is overrated

Along with some leading voices in the marketing space, the Marketing Week survey suggested that there’s a growing movement away from social media being the predominant marketing strategy.

Though the survey failed to cite reasons for this, it’s likely due to push back from social media’s overshadowing of traditional marketing strategies to the point that the industry has become obsessed with it.

As a result, traditional marketing methods have been neglected and businesses are starting to feel the effects.

Alternatively, one might argue that social media is not universally applicable across all businesses or industries so it’s possible that the survey is merely a reflection of that attitude.

Some theorists have suggested that social media marketing neglects nuanced consumer behaviour dynamics in favour of a one-size-fits-all model – though that argument loses some weight when you consider the complexity of the algorithms and cookie policies currently being used by social media platforms.

The Absurd Insights view

Yes, as marketers, we may have placed too much emphasis on social media marketing in the last few years and yes, the Marketing Week survey might be right in its analysis.

But we are missing the main point here.

Marketing, by nature, must be a multifaceted and diverse approach to be effective.

Elevating any single strategy, whether it be social media, SEO, or traditional methods, risks limiting our reach and effectiveness in engaging with our audience.

Embracing a holistic approach allows us to adapt our strategies and cater to diverse audience demographics and behaviour patterns.

Marketing, as an industry, needs to move away from a focus on one strategy or another – so social media isn’t overrated or underrated, it should just be seen as another string to our bow.

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