Fetch or Sit, What is your Social Media Strategy

On Monday I discussed why Twitter and Facebook are Operating Systems which make them tough Marketing Platforms. LINK

The problem we face is the activities you undertake via Social Media to get invited into people's Private Networks doesn't always lead to sales, and in some cases could lead to erosion of your profit margins. There are two primary distinct forms of Social Media Marketing. I call them Fetch and Sit.


Fetch is Marketing by a person initiating Engagement. To the left of this blog post are blogs I read. I have them bookmarked and go there directing. They have great content and worth the effort to actively visit them. So Fetch is 'Playing' a game so to speak. It is a two way relationship, and thus has greater risk and greater rewards.

Sit is Marketing via Live Feeds.  Pumping out your message hoping it get's seen. Mostly one way interaction. I call it Sit because your target is passive and is not required to do anything to interact with you after they initially become a Fan or Follower. This doesn't mean you don't want a response.

The Features of the Sit strategy:

1] It's Easiest - you just need to meet the basic requirement of your product or information you are posting is worth being in the persons live sream.

2] It's Immediate - so something good could go viral quickly.

3] Low level of Expectations - harder to mess up, Quality of Content expectations low. But the better the content the more you will excel.

4] Low level of Engagement - exchanges are usually brief more light banter than anything else. Sometimes there is zero engagement directly with the Brand.

5] Face of the Company Facade - Sticking to the Script, more Robotic in style.

The benefits of this is that there will be no expectation of responding to 'issues' people have with your Product, Service, Company because you won't be seen as a Human. This doesn't mean you can't allow people to post on a Facebook Page Wall or collect Tweets for intelligence, customer insights etc. You can view this form of marketing as Broadcast style. It's low maintenance, low cost. Great for posting links trying to get people to visit a website off network.

The disadvantages is you are seen as robotic not Human and Social Media was built for Human to Human. So you eliminate a channel/platform to have direct contact with a customer/fan etc. You also are handicapped by the volume of the Live Streams which means for each of your posts, only 5-10% of your Network will see the post. You also have a low bond/low loyalty. Much more likely to have someone boot you from their Private Network.

To succeed:

1] Don't spam/over load with posts
2] Choose content wisely
3] Be Realistic when deciding your Goals
4] Be consistent in post quality

Next post will discuss the Fetch Strategy.