I am a huge fan of the Gartner Hype Cycle.  If you are not familiar with it, the Hype Cycle attempts to place in context where certain technologies and strategies exist, with the assumption that all appear, grow in popularity, mature, and decline, based on a predictable pattern.  It is based on the supposition that technologies are buttressed by “hype” that impact their demand and usage.  The model follows the following path:  Technology Trigger – Peak of Inflated Expectations – Trough of Disillusionment – Slope of Enlightenment – Plateau of Productivity. 

I often think about new technologies, or technology-related strategies using this framework when it applies easily. 

A colleague shared with me the title of an upcoming book, soon to be released.  It is part of the famous “For Dummies…” lineage and is titled, “Facebook Marketing for Dummies”.  While I can tell you nothing about the book (it has yet to be released), I can tell you that its very publication implies to me a growing need in the industry for patterns and practices (read: “well-defined strategies”) for social marketing.  A few additional observations:

• Retailers are dedicating resources to social marketing
• Retailers have decided social marketing is important, but most have not decided how important
• Winners in the social marketing arena tend to understand the power of the crowd and how best to harness existing brand affinity
• Monetizing is still the challenge, but retail organizations (or their agencies) are starting to come to the understanding that social marketing is a lot like magazine or TV advertising at some level (challenges in direct monetization)
• However, mature social marketing campaigns are better able to link overall engagement of customer to behavior