Sometimes being productive requires taking a step back, or in our case at Park&Co, turning out the lights. With social media running wild over the last year and everyone jumping on the bandwagon it’s easy to get swept up in the euphoria.

But at Park&Co we pride ourselves on Word of Mouth based on strategy. So when I took a hard look and realized our agency Facebook page wasn’t generating any Word of Mouth I recommended we go dark.

At least until we can give people a reason to talk about us. Until then, we replaced the usual self-aggrandizing agency dribble with something far more valuable – fishing bloopers! Take a look.

I’m a Word of Mouth Marketing junky. I’m constantly inspired by the practice and what my fellow colleagues in it are doing everyday. One of the larger resources I’ve always turned to for the latest campaigns, trends and news is of course, WOMMA and more specifically their daily newsletter - The WOMMA Word.

For years now I’ve looked forward to it arriving in my inbox everyday. However, over the course of the past year or so I’ve been increasingly less excited for its arrival each day. Why? I feel like WOMMA, the organization I credit with giving my career direction, has swayed from its roots and become caught in the trap of social media hype.

I certainly don’t view social media the tool as hype. In fact, I view it as an incredibly useful Word of Mouth Marketing tool when the situation dictates and I use it regularly in my own work each day. But it’s hardly the whole Word of Mouth story. In fact, according to WOMMA itself, social media is 1.3% of the story. In a recent article written by WOMMA’s John Moore, he points out that 90% of Word of Mouth conversations each day happen offline and only 1.3% of the remaining 10% that does happen online happens via social media.

If that’s the case than why does it feel like WOMMA is dedicating itself almost entirely to social media (especially when we all know there are no shortage of self titled experts out there)? I do a lot of talking about how I think these experts and the rise of social media hype is hurting the Word of Mouth Marketing discipline so for fear of falling into my own trap I decided to do a little research. I took a look at nearly every issue of The WOMMA Word that’s ran from September to earlier this week (December 8 was the last issue documented) to see how many articles were focused on social media.

My criteria was simple - I would count each featured article (not events, announcements or the “What’s Now WOMMA section) and then figure out how many out of those articles focused on social media. The results were pretty surprising. Out of roughly 143 articles written I counted 101 that focused on social media. That’s equal to 70%. That means 70% of the articles written by the foremost Word of Mouth Marketing authority are focused on 1.3% of the industry. Somehow, to me, that math doesn’t quite add up.

I’m not going to write about why I think this is (read any of my other posts and I think you’ll figure it out). And, I’m not going to sit here and pretend like I don’t still find the newsletter or organization helpful. I still learn a great deal from them regularly. But this is a disturbing trend for me and others like me that believe in the power of Word of Mouth beyond simply the latest tools.

I’d like to ask and maybe even challenge WOMMA to find a better balance. Become the organization again that inspires and leads. Not the organization that  feeds the beast. We’ll all be better for it.

You create a business based on maintaining other people’s social media accounts. Because you know what that proves? It proves you don’t get it. AT ALL. If your idea of successful, strategic “social media” is being social for other people than you could care less about both the social aspect of the practice and the very foundation of it too.

See, social media is a tool for Word of Mouth Marketing and Word of Mouth Marketing is a practice based on transparancy, honesty, and building relationships. By building a business on maintaining other people’s social media accounts either you’re preying upon other people’s laziness and ignorance or you’re simply ignorant yourself (probably a combination of both).

It’s cliche at this point to yell about the rash of social media “experts” that have infiltrated Word of Mouth Marketing without regard for true “Word of Mouth.” But I take solace knowing that these experts are not long for this world. Sure, you might make a few bucks for a little while but you know what’s going to happen eventually? You’ll lose. Because let’s be honest. You have absolutely no idea what you’re doing. And I’m not necessarily saying that I do. But where you have the latest tool and some meaningless numbers on your side, I have honesty, transparency, and a dedication to establishing meaningful lasting relationships on mine. I’ll take those odds every time.

I recently returned from a whirlwind trip following U2 on the West Coast swing of their latest tour. The trip took me to three different cities in the span of a week where I saw the show from a variety of different perspectives and vantage points. The last stop was in Pasadena at the famed Rose Bowl.

As many of you probably know that Rose Bowl show was noteworthy for a few reasons. First, 100,000 people occupied the stadium making it one of the largest concert events in the history of California. Also, U2 used the performance to record their latest concert DVD and they streamed the concert live via YouTube. The statistics that followed the live broadcast were staggering. Ten million streams from 188 countries across the world made this the largest streaming event in YouTube’s history.

A friend who knew I would be attending the Rose Bowl concert sent me the following email before the show, “Aren’t you a sucker? Now, I can have the same experience free while still laying on my sofa.” In a sense he has a point. Thanks to social media he saw the same show, but he hardly had the same experience. Not even close. And this is as big a commentary on the effectiveness of social media vs. in-person Word of Mouth as there ever was.

What I experienced in the span of a week led to countless stories and memories that I’ll cherish and share for a lifetime. It was by definition the ultimate Word of Mouth experience. He didn’t experience the camaraderie that comes with spending an entire day in the General Admission line and the subsequent loss of humanity in the stampede that follows when the gates finally open. He didn’t experience haggling and begging our way back to the Vegas strip among 20,000 other stranded cab seekers. And of course, he didn’t experience the magic that is a live U2 event.

He may have been comfortable and it certainly was free to watch the Rose Bowl show on his laptop. But as I was there smashed between fans from London on my left, Hawaii on my right and Canada to my back, I was part of something bigger. I was part of something 100,000 strong in fact. A community of passionate people that if only for three hours of our lives were connected to each other. Social media is great. It has the ability to extend real life situations, but make no mistake, it will never replace those situations and experiences.

My friend may have sung along to “I Still Haven’t Found What I’m Looking For” from the comfort of his own couch, but I sang the same song at the top of my lungs with 100,000 others. And as I glanced around and the band fell silent it was clear that we shared something too. An overwhelming moment that only those within those walls can truly remember. I will never forget the looks on the faces of the people surrounding me. Those looks can never be defined by any social media application. Once again, U2 taught me a lesson, and once again, I’m better for it.

A lot of us make the mistake of recommending tactics before strategy. Sometimes it’s because it’s easier and more fun to think about a cool execution before we think about its effectiveness. Other times it’s because we’re desperate for results. Either way it ends up screwing us in the end.

A good example of this is blogging. Everyone else blogs so we think we should too. This is exaggerated even further on the corporate stage. I can’t tell you how many strategies for websites or marketing efforts I’ve heard that include blogging before even considering the objective. Typically, the result ends up being a dormant blog or at best contrived information that provides little value just because we think something should be up there.

This isn’t a post about blogging. You can find any number of posts out there about who or why you should start blogging. Instead it’s a post about our need to show we’re doing something. Just as our society is based on over consumption and acquiring as much stuff as possible, it’s also predicated on us proving our value through volume.

We’re busy. Really busy. But the problem is that we’re usually busy for the sake of it. We’re busy justifying our professional existence by pumping out volumes of stuff that provides little value to the conversation. If you’re struggling for blog content it’s likely because the strategy that went into it was either non-existent or focused on volume rather than value.

So the next time you panicking because you haven’t contributed to your blog in awhile, maybe it’s time to stop searching for something to post and instead go back to the beginning and look at what you’re trying to accomplish.