Buzz Showed Many Email Contact Lists Don’t Crossover to Social Networking Contacts. Why is This Important Information?

Though it has only been around for a few short months, some are already calling Google Buzz a major bust.  Aside from the privacy and usability issues that marred the initial launch, the biggest criticism about Buzz is that it hasn’t proved to be the powerful social networking tool it was made out to be.  Providing instant access to millions of Gmail users, some marketers were under the impression that it would help them easily convert their email contacts to valuable social connections.  This isn’t necessarily the fault of Google Buzz, yet another classic case of how mixing your marketing efforts with social networking in general can go terribly wrong.   

Google Buzz is loaded with a plethora of features.  Among them is the ability to create a public profile that allows you to post updates that can be viewed by each of your contacts.  So if you post something to a friend about how many shots you tossed back at the bar last night, there is a chance that your email contacts, prospects included, will see the message as well.  Reputation management is more important than ever, and if you want to keep yours intact, you must proceed with extreme caution when mixing your marketing campaigns with your social activities. 

The biggest gripe about Google Buzz was privacy, or the lack thereof.  Much of this was actually overblown because when you think about it, most social networking services operate on a public platform.  For example, anyone, whether they are following you or not, can access your Twitter profile and read what you tweet about unless you have locked your conversation stream.  Likewise, the comment you post on a friend’s Facebook page can be viewed by their contacts as well.  Far too often, marketers make the mistake of communicating on these public platforms with others as if they are the only people with access to the conversation. 

When the social world is involved, relationships can be built and destroyed based on a simple matter of opinion.  This is especially true when it comes to sensitive issues such as religion and politics.  Believe it or not, someone in your network may form a negative perception of your brand for simply expressing your support of a certain political candidate.  While you are entitled to your own opinions and beliefs, you must understand that making them in public could turn away just as many connections as they attract. 

Ultimately, how you choose to mix social networking with your marketing efforts should be determined on the relationship you have with your audience.  Although some of your contacts may welcome the opportunity to get to know the personal side of your business, others may not.  In fact, some may prefer that you not connect with them on the social networks at all.  Because no two consumers are the same, it would be wise to give you contacts the power through options that allow them to choose how they would prefer to interact with your brand.