I like the HubSpot blog. I really do. There’s a wealth of great information on their site.

But I hate posts like this: Create a Facebook Business Page and Tap 53 Million Users (For Free!).

The implication is that all you need to do is create the page and people will be lined up at your door like turkey-hungover masses breaking down the glass doors at Wal-Mart to buy a two-dollar toaster.

It’s not the case, and it never will be. You might as well say: “Open a hot dog stand in Manhattan and tap into 8 million hungry New York City residents!”

Uhhhhhh … what about the competition? The maintenance? The marketing plan? You get the idea.

A Facebook business page is a tool. It’s a pretty good tool, in many cases, but it’s no silver bullet solution to anything, and it’s not an end by any means. It’s simply one of many, many tools at the online marketer’s disposal. Whether or not it’s an appropriate tool depends on your company’s overall marketing communications strategy.

Please, people, let’s lighten up on the hype, okay?

Takeaway for marketers: If it sounds too good to be true, it probably is. Duh.

This entry was posted on Tuesday, November 20th, 2012 at 9:37 pm and is filed under Marketing Stuff, Marketing Takeaways, Social Media.