This infographic, produced by Buddy Media to promote the launch of a new service, has been circling around the web for a while now. It’s come bundled with headlines like this: “This INSANE Graphic Shows How Ludicrously Complicated Social Media Marketing Is Now” (see how I even used the ALL CAPS in the title so maintain the integrity of the mid-sentence shouting from the article).

I figured it was time to put my two cents in on this viral image. Gratefully, most resort marketers aren’t in this boat, but for the ones that find themselves wander through the world of social media, here’s some food for thought.

So, the idea behind this images is that there are so many sites, so many services, so many add-ons and widgets and gizmos and agencies and new sites and tools that there is no hope to ever comprehend and efficiently manage social media. Hence their claim that the graphic shows how “ludicrously complicated” this whole movement is.

By that logic, grocery shopping should be the most mentally taxing, debilitating thing a human can do. This graphic includes, what, maybe 200-250 logos? So, shouldn’t a grocery store that has 50,000 products on the shelves, each with different logos, completely overwhelm shoppers into a state of hopelessness?

Of course not. And neither should this image. It’s a product list, not a check list.

The Real Issue
The real problem that this graphic illustrates is not how insanely complicated social media is but how directionless some social media marketers are. It’s only overwhelming because each logo, to the marketer, has an equal likelihood of being some sort of solution. After all, if you don’t know where you’re going, it really doesn’t matter much how you get there.

Let’s go back to grocery shopping for some guidance. The reason 50,000 products don’t overwhelm us is because we know what we need. We know what we need because we have a recipe that calls for it back in our kitchen cupboards.

If a marketer knows exactly where they want to go, they’ll know exactly which tools tools could be helpful in getting there. Now, they may have to choose between 3-4 different brands just like we do at the grocery store when we choose peanut butter, but a plan gives us direction and tells us what we need or don’t need.

Broken Record, Broken Record, Bro…
I’ll say it again, social media should not be the first step in a resort’s marketing efforts, it should be the last step. It’s one of many tools to choose from once you have a plan, a solid direction of your goals and objectives. Going to the grocery store without a list usually leads to two things: overbuying and missing a lot of things you need. Deciding to build a dresser by picking up a saw and looking around for what to do next won’t get you anywhere. You start with a plan, a blueprint, and then choose the tools you need to build it.

If the graphic at the top of this post overwhelms you, you may not know where your going with social media. And that could be even more dangerous than me holding a saw and looking around for something to cut.

About Gregg & SlopeFillers
I've had more first-time visitors lately, so adding a quick "about" section. I started SlopeFillers in 2010 with the simple goal of sharing great resort marketing strategies. Today I run marketing for resort ecommerce and CRM provider Inntopia, my home mountain is the lovely Nordic Valley, and my favorite marketing campaign remains the Ski Utah TV show that sold me on skiing as a kid in the 90s.