Facebook = The Beatles

-Ubiquitous
-Constantly experimenting with new perspectives
-Occasionally spreading viruses

It’s hard to imagine modern music without the Beatles. Their influence helped take Rock and Roll from its underground origins and turn it into an international phenomenon. Without them, we wouldn’t have all the great rock and pop acts that we enjoy today. In many ways, Facebook did the same thing with social media; they didn’t invent it, but they popularized it and helped turn it from a background communication tool to an electronic living experience.

Twitter = The Misfits

-Fast and difficult to grasp
-Recognizable but not well followed
-Intimidating to people who don’t understand it

The Misfits are aptly named. While almost everyone can identify their signature skull logo, you’ll never hear their songs on the radio, and not many people could even tell you what the band sounds like. When you take the time to look into it and finally do learn what the Misfits play, a garbled and vicious subgenre known as “Horror Punk”, chances are you won’t be thrilled to listen to it. The Misfits operate in a niche market; while they have incredibly dedicated fans, most music listeners are too perturbed by their image to follow them.

Since its founding in 2006, micro-post service Twitter has faced a similar problem. While most people know its basic function and can recognize its logo, a relatively low number of users (about 14 million) actually log in with any consistency. In fact, a vast majority of Twitter’s 500 million subscribers are short-term accounts that were started and fell out of use within a few months. As for the people that still haven’t signed up, many see Twitter as a shallow and over-trivialized wasteland of status updates and advertisements, i.e. someplace that’s not worth their time.

MySpace = Chuck Berry

-Invented the game
-Massively successful early on
-Still around, but pretty creepy

Yes, Chuck Berry is still alive and yes, he still plays and yes, without his unique perspective on music, Rock and Roll would never have developed the way it did. He has since, however, been tarnished by scandal and surpassed in his field by younger talent that took the foundation he created and built on it for their own gain.

I don’t think I have to explain this one. MySpace was first, it had its time, but it was too flawed to last in the long run.

LinkedIn = KISS

-Corporate

KISS is the ultimate example of music as a business. All bands are in it for the money, but none are as obvious about it as the Knights. Go ahead and run a search for KISS themed coffins. Guess what? They actually make those.

LinkedIn is about one thing: Business. They give their users the illusion of creativity, but really you’re just plugging in a formula so that businesses can find you and everyone can make money. While this is the underlying nature of all websites, it’s rarely flaunted as much as it is here.

YouTube = AC/DC

-Pervasive
-Living proof that if you repeat the same process over and over and tweak it in different ways, eventually you can end up on top

AC/DC did not start with an original idea. The Youngs (the band’s founding brothers) were legacy musicians who began their careers with the simple goal of doing rock and roll better than anybody. Having held the record for highest selling hard rock album ever (1980’s Back in Black) for over 30 years, it’s fairly safe to say they met that goal. Now, their music is in everything from jean commercials to action movies, transcending all cultural barriers as a unifying force of expression.

YouTube was not the first video sharing service on the web. It was, however, the first site to overcome major hurdles like bandwidth limits and compatibility, allowing it to develop faster and earlier than its competitors. Because of this early development, YouTube is now the largest video sharing tool in the world, spanning countless sites and streaming a seemingly unlimited variety of content so that people can get their viral fix.

Google+ = Nickleback

-Because if you like it, no one likes you

No, not like that; the Mobile Office I’m talking about is your smartphone/tablet. In a world where physical offices are becoming increasingly less relevant and speed is essential, mobile management has become a key component in modern business. With devices now reaching a point of near-synchronicity with desktop computers, we are presented with a possibility of, in some cases, eliminating fixed locations entirely. Still, challenges remain on both sides of the process, the most poignant of which being how to best implement mobile technology for the growth of your business.

The Past

Remember PDAs? Looking at an iPhone or tablet, it’s difficult to think that less than 15 years ago, a boxy, green screen was what passed for cutting edge. Still, the Personal Data Assistant was a major step toward widespread acceptance of mobile computing. In fact, in many ways, it never left; cell phones integrated the technology by the late 90s and have carried those features ever since (address books, calendar apps, etc.).

The next major step came in 2003 with the release of Research In Motion’s BlackBerry Smartphone; as the device grew in popularity, so did the use of mobile email. With professionals communicating on the go, less time was wasted making decisions. Four years later, in 2007, the arrival of the iPhone popularized the use of touchscreens, allowing users to operate devices without clunky mechanical typing.

The Present

The iPad is, without question, the biggest leap forward in mobile computing in the past four years. While it first relied on brand loyalty to achieve sales, thanks to apps and upgrades, it has since developed into a mobile phenomenon; people read them on the train, they take them to meetings, they use them in presentations, etc. Combined with the communication tools and potential on the latest model, this trend is developing into a key part of many businesses.

The Future?

Moore’s Law tells us that we’ll be able to continue making computers smaller and smaller until we hit the atomic level (we already have, kind of), so we can at least guarantee that mobile will become better, faster, and cheaper as time goes on. What that means for mobile business is anybody’s guess, but we can be sure that whenever change comes, it’ll be big.

When I Read new SoMe Tactics or News on Websites I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog’s Day

My blog post since January probably gave you the impression that I am over social media ‘experts’ making sweeping claims and reporting on seemingly obvious ‘findings’. Like any marketing tactic, social media require common sense. Any level of common sense went out the window when I read a ‘report’ on Mashable today:

Only About a Third of Tweets Are Worth Reading [STUDY]

I am sorry to single out Mashable on this, but so many people are guilty of posting really trivial articles and sensationalizing them. Really, people don’t care about most tweets? Go figure. Most people don’t care about what the majority of people say, and the stuff people do care about they listen to. Twitter is no different than real life interaction insofar as ‘caring’ is concerned. You won’t care about Tweets if you follow the wrong people.

Twitter is 100% situational. A friend of mine who uses Twitter to stay in touch with friends wouldn’t care about all the marketing Tweets I read daily. Something being ‘worth reading’ is an entirely subjective concept, trying to add hard data to something with so many variables is simply a waste of time.

‘But Justin, now we have HARD data that only 1/3 of tweets are worth reading’

Great, now we can stick a number to a concept that has been understood since Twitter launched. With over 200 million tweets being published a day, it is no wonder that people don’t care about the majority of them. Remember, marketing is common sense and social media marketing is a subset of marketing.

In Groundhog’s Day, Bill Murray didn’t only have to come to terms with the banality of the film’s portrayal of Punxsutawney, but he had to deal with seeing the same thing day in an day out. This brings me to my next major issue with the content creation & syndication by ‘Social Media Experts’:

All of the tips you are giving, people have read elsewhere and you are merely repeating them!

Instead of being a parrot, be a critical thinker. If you have been saying something like ‘Engaging your users is the only way to have an impact on Social Media’, why don’t you do the following:

1. Give examples of campaigns that have used engagement to build a social network
2. Identify the trends
3. Report on the trends with facts and data

Also, make sure to constantly question whether ‘engagement’ is actually a best practice. No matter how central a concept is to your efforts or who wide spread it has been adopted, it is always good to analyze it. Marketing has changed so much in the past few years and will continue to change rapidly. So always have a shred of doubt in your methodology, it will help you be more successful.

I guess to  close this rant, I would like to say the following:

Instead of publishing reports that simply don’t matter or repeating the same old tips, add value, critique and context to your content. The only way to be successful as a marketer is to grab the attention of the public, if you are spitting out the same old banalities people will go from reading your article and saying ‘Who Cares?’ to never reading your articles again.

Comment please!

/rant

Should Search be Social?

This picture makes sense if you read the post

I know I am a little behind the ball on getting a post on Google Search Plus Your World out, but it was inevitable that I write about this eventually. When I was out at Affiliate Summit West, I had some scathing words for Google+ when asked about the social network during my break out session on Social Media Marketing tactics.

My main issue with Google+ is that it is an incredibly niched network, that doesn’t add a whole lot of value to the individual user as a social network. When Google+ was initially released, I had predicted that Google was regarding their social network as the glue that will completely close the digital marketing loop, i.e., have accurate analytics in real time for both search and social. Since the release of Google+ it is obvious that this is what Google is trying to do, but they are falling short for one very simple reason:

YOU CAN’T GIVE A ROBOT FEELINGS

I’m sorry if that example sounds like I am talking to you like a ten year old, however this statement holds a lot of weight. By adding the social aspect (the feelings) to Google (the robot) there will be inevitable issues. The first thing that comes to mind is privacy. When Google unleashed the ‘not provided’ section in keywords, marketers were furious (and rightfully so). Not provided keywords show up in your analytics when the person who visited your website access your page through Google while logged into Google+. I am all for maintaining privacy, but since Google ultimately wants a successful adoption rate of Google+, marketers will undoubtedly get screwed.

Essentially at Affiliate Summit I concluded that if you are a business you absolutely need a Google+ page, but you should be incredibly upset about this. I gave this presentation on January 8th, just two days before Google announced the release of their attempt at further integrating Google+ with search.

After reading the official release notes on Google’s blog, I am astounded at the shallow attempt to integrate social and search. I think there are major problems posed by Search Plus Your World, one is a marketing issue and the other is a societal issue.

The marketing issue is simple, a monkey wrench has been thrown into traditional digital marketing tactics. A site’s search results will be altered when personal search is switched on. Companies put in a lot of hard work to rank first in a Google search, and this hard work is getting thrown out the window for the sake of social.

The societal  issue that follows from Google Search Plus Your World, is an advocacy for group think. If I am only being shown articles, images, videos and any other form of media that is within my cohort group I am missing out on an incredible amount of information including dissenting opinions. Search plus your world is turning your search results into your own virtual ‘yes man’ by adding the images of your social connections and serving you the ‘relevant’ information.

Maybe I am being too hard on Google+, but there are so many wrinkles to iron out before it starts to flourish. I mean look at how much response a user gets on Google+ as opposed to that same post being placed on Facebook. Google+ is still an emerging network, but I think that it exists for the wrong reason. Search and social are separate and should remain that way. What are your thoughts?

Related articles

• What Marketers Need to Know about Google Search Plus (greatfinds.icrossing.com)
• Google’s Biggest Social Search Update Yet Features Google+ Content (hubspot.com)
• In Your Face: Google Promotes Google+ in Universal Search Results (ewriting.pamil-visions.com)

5 Features Your page Editor Needs

I have discussed in depth the importance of a custom Facebook Landing Tab and to be quite frank, if you don’t have one you are under utilizing Facebook. Though it is against every Facebook best practice not to have a default landing tab, I can understand why some people do not have one. The main reason is that they can be difficult to make. Marketers and small business owners generally lack the technical and design skills necessary to create a compelling landing tab.

Many services have emerged to help business owners create a dynamic page that includes Like-gate options, lead generation tools, stylish templates, and editing capabilities that do not require any design or coding skills. When you are looking for a  custom tool make sure it has the following features.

Like-Gate Options

This is absolutely crucial. By creating a like-gate your users are more likely to click the Like button for access to exclusive content. Nearly 58% of Facebook users expect pages to give them exclusive content or deals, so make sure your new visitors know that they can get their hand son some cool stuff if they like your page.

Coding wise this can be complex to do, it requires code that checks whether a person is already a fan of your page or not. If this sounds like something you don’t want to try and learn make sure the tool you choose has this capability.

Insert Lead Generation Forms

All too often people ask ‘What is the ROI of Facebook’. This question is most definitely warranted, if companies are spending time and money on Facebook, it needs to have some measurable return. Currently, ecommerce through Facebook is not popular, but Facebook is an amazing Top of the Funnel tool. By adding a lead generation form you can get email addresses (or any other pertinent information) from your visitors. As previously said in yesterday’s blog post about email marketing, ‘The power is in the list’.

At the very least a tool should allow you to input the code from a 3rd party form builder, your email service provider, or client management software. Some tools allow for modest form creation. Just to let all of you readers know, our Social Page Builder tool will allow for form creation in our already to easy to use editor in the very near future.

Image Editing

This is overlooked by many of our competitors. Most allow for modest cropping, but nearly all of the other editors on the market require your images to fit within a predefined aspect ratio. If there are no image editing capabilities in an editor you are stuck with either having to design images yourself or hire a graphic designer.

On top of image editing it is nice to have some kind of template to work from. Templates take a lot of the design burden away, and allow users to publish designs without having to think about the design aesthetic. Many of the tools out there leave you with a blank canvas and have you place different ‘widgets’ or ‘modules’. Widgets and modules can be moved around the canvas, but overall look very dull and rectangular.

Instant Publication

It is hard to believe that there are still some tools that do not have instant publication, but there are. If the tool you are looking at cannot add the page to Facebook with the click of a button, run.

No Branding

Many tools on the market maintain some sort of branding on the templates either with a ‘Powered by _____’ or a footer informing users about the tool.  Some other tools will post status updates in your personal feed and on your Page’s wall whenever you publish a new tab. If you are a marketing consultant or small agency this branding can hurt your business. If you are paying for the Facebook Page creation tool, make sure you know if that tool’s branding will be on your page.

Always Keep branding in mind, no business wants to send a mixed message, your page should only have YOUR branding.

Let’s Complicate SEM Even Further

What percentage of your traffic is 'Not Provided'?

I know that I am a little behind the ball on this update, but after researching what/why there is a section for ‘Not Provided’ keywords in my Google Analytics, I am extremely frustrated. Google announced this change to their analytics feature back in October (Read the full article here), and it seems like something that has gone unnoticed by much of the blogosphere and Twittosphere.

Google is the leader in Search Engine Marketing, both in paid advertisements and SEO. Google has also been a huge advocate of privacy on the web. It is no secret that companies would have data about the traffic that comes to their website. This data is general and does not focus on an actual individual, sure you get demographic information, device used, operating system, keyword that caused the click to your website, and a whole bunch of other data that is relevant to your SEM efforts. You never got the search data of an individual user such as all the search queries by any given user that visits your website.

In an attempt to promote security, Google made it so any click by a logged in Google user does not send the individual keyword that lead to that click. Though you still get the information of the user’s visit, i.e. that user is counted as a visitor via Search Engines, you do not get the most important information – the search term that brought them to your website.

This adds a huge grey area in SEM, and undermines a lot of rationale for your company’s SEO efforts. With Google continually making it easier to be a logged in user via Gmail and Goolge+, companies are losing transparency in search. I completely understand privacy, but in my honest opinion there are other motives for this change. The other motive is for companies to adopt an Adwords campaign that is seemingly immune to this ‘Not Provided’ issue. If you haven’t been paying attention to this issue I would recommend looking further into this, here is a good read I found on practical ecommerce and some more discussion in this infographic.

Here are just a few ways this update will hinder your SEM efforts:

Less accurate view of how many visits were generated by target keywords

This is a pretty straightforward repercussion of this change. You get the data of how many people are visiting your site, but without any data of how they got there. This is simply unacceptable, and data like this is really not all that helpful. Personally, I think industries in the Social space, e.g., Social CRMs & Social Metrics Tools, will feel this change a lot.

Our Social Page Builder tool is searched by many people who are very involved in social media. Many of these peopel will have a Google+ account and are likely logged into Google when they are searching. Since the keyword data is not passed on in Google Analytics we see that people are visiting our site from search engines, but we will never know what 22% of our visitors clicked to reach our website .

Unclear picture of your SEM ROI & ROE

Simply put:  You no longer  get an accurate portrayal of whether the money or time spent is actually worthwhile.

Efforts to accurately target/test new key phrases are completely undermined

After adding this it seems as though it is a subset of the major problem outlined above. Whether you are analyzing a current campaign or are working on a new project, you cannot test accurately. Ambiguity is a huge problem for SEM, by adding this new layer of ambiguity, Google is making it increasingly more difficult for companies to be found online.

What do you think of the addition of ‘Not Provided’ keywords?

Brand Pages Look a lot like Personal Pages

Google+ Initial Release

On the initial launch of Google+ it was being referred to as the ‘Facebook Killer’. At first it looked like the buzz around it could have lead to it taking a lot of Facebook’s users. Google+ is the fastest growing social network in comparison to Facebook and Twitter, and things looked promising for Google+.

However, after people logged in for the first time they never seemed to log in again.  The culture was taken over by tech specialists and marketers who are trying to be on the cutting edge. Essentially, Google+ didn’t have the social clout that Facebook had, and anyone who thought it would beat out Facebook in even 5 years was foolish.

As more and more people started using Google+ it started to resemble Twitter. more status updates and syndicated content. Since more tech specialists were on Google+ it looked a lot more like old school forums that have a near ‘cult’ following. The ability to post and comment past 140 characters made Google+ a great social forum, along for self expression and focused discussion.

After Google+ Brand Page Release

Google announced the release of its brand pages and there was quite the backlash by the marketing community. The pages resemble a personal page exactly*. A few of the major disadvantages come from the lack of vanity metrics as well as no promotional capabilities or custom pages.  After seeing the lack of differences between the Brand and personal pages I really started seeing that Google+ resembles doesn’t resemble Facebook as much as it does another social media platform.

Why Twitter Should Worry

Twitter is used by many marketing professionals to discuss topics and syndicate their content (sound familiar to the earlier description of Google+?). Google+ provides a more robust way to share content and is perfect for particular verticals. As more and more people are looking for ‘authenticity’ in the people who post, Google+ looks like the best option. Twitter is often filled with automated posts and bots, which can really hinder discourse. Google+ on the other hand, has an active, albeit smaller, community.

Why Twitter Shouldn’t Worry

Twitter shouldn’t worry because it has more than just tech specialists and marketers in its user base. Twitter is used for personal use all the time, in fact in most cases is used primarily by individuals to express themselves. Google+ doesn’t have that sort of draw, and in my opinion will never have that type of draw (as long as Facebook and Twitter keep their doors open).

Google+ has become a pretty big joke in the social media community, and has a long way to go to escape these criticisms. A colleague of mine sent me this photo earlier, and this is just one of many photos that really take a shot at the future and functionality of Google+.

*Note that in the personal picture I provided I didn’t add the 5 images under my name, just because I don’t login to Google+ at all

Do you ever feel like you’re talking to a robot?

My original plan was to discuss the possible benefits of a Google+ Business Page. While I was doing some research I came across Guy Kawasaki saying the following about his Twitter account:

Twitter for me is almost totally automated right now…So people will stop following me because they know it’s not Guy, the truth must come out.

This got me thinking about automation on social media and whether it is acceptable or not. The basic premise behind social media is that it connects people to people, people to brands, and brands to brands. By taking the person out of social media, and meticulously scheduling Facebook posts, tweets and blog posts; the major premise for taking part in social media is undermined.

Social media does require a lot of monitoring and can take a lot of effort to maintain. Scheduling posts is a helpful way to get the work done and lets you focus on other tasks. Though it is a great time savor and I do think mild automation is not going to ruin anyone’s social experience, I think it was said well at SocializeWest when someone said ‘The humans who monitor my social media campaigns will beat your robots any day’

Tools are useful, and can really enhance your social media campaigns, but if you do not pay attention to the interactions between your social media campaign and your followers, people will stop caring about your brand. Here are a few tips for how you can use automation but still maintain the social experience.

Schedule non time sensitive & spread out your tweets

I couldn’t tell you how many times I have seen a person just tweet out all sorts of different content seconds apart. This litters my twitter feed and I don’t read any of the tweets that are being posted. It is pretty obvious that these are tweets that were scheduled to go out and the scheduler decided to go for a rapid fire. This alone is reason enough for me to stop following people, it shows the person isn’t available to talk (so any mentions will not be answered for some time), and that the content is just ‘yesterday’s news’.

When you schedule tweets make sure to spread them out over time, this will ensure your message is seen for more than a few seconds in the morning. Also, pick topics to tweet about that won’t change as the day goes on. The last thing you want to do is push out dated information on a topic that has shifted gears.

Have notifications set for when people mention you

If you are scheduling your tweets or updates, make sure to have either email notifications or text notifications for when someone mentions or retweets you.  I would then recommend replying to them hastily, when people engage with you they want a response (and some are looking for this response in near real time).

For Facebook, update through the site not through apps

There has been reports that updating your Facebook page with third party tools would greatly decrese you interaction and impression rate. Though it has surfaced that this was merely a bug, in my experience I have seen less interaction through posts updated with a third party tool.

Updating your page on Facebook is easy, and should just become habit. Since you should only be posting 1-2 times a day, you want to increase the visibility of your posts. Don’t lose out on precious impression and interaction rates, especially since Facebook added the ‘People talking about’ metric.

All in all I think there are some great tools for scheduling and automating social media, but  I generally steer clear from them. I want to give people the social experience they deserve.

Do you automate posts? What do you use?

Has Social Media undercut professionalism? Should we care?

Social media is definitely a marketing outlet that has been dominated by younger generations. People who have grown up on computers and have had access to Facebook and Twitter during integral times in their social development have a clear edge on social etiquette.  Social media is far more colloquial than most forms of communication. Brevity and simplicity are important on social media, as is content that builds connections between brands and their customers.

I am often approached by colleagues in the B2B space and they are concerned about the casual nature of social media.  always explain that a more casual demeanor does not equate to unprofessional. When a customer connects with a brand on social media they are looking for a far different experience with a brand than when they connect over the phone.

Social Media itself doesn’t undercut professionalism; it is all about how you define your persona. It is very easy to maintain a professional demeanor on Facebook, Twitter, and your blog.  However, people do not want a ‘copy/paste’ of your website on Facebook. I have seen many B2B companies turn their Facebook page into a way to understand the culture of their company. One great example I have seen is on Cleverbridge’s Facebook Page.

Cleverbridge is an eCommerce provider, which seems like a company that would have some difficulty building buzz over social media. The company utilizes Twitter to update their users, gives examples of the company culture on their Facebook page by posting pictures of events, announcing new clients and engaging their community.  They also run the Building Keystones blog, which has a very professional tone and gives some great tips in email marketing, SaaS and affiliate marketing.

Key Take Away

I think the most important point to take away from social media is this:

Be more interesting

Take the less rigid approach, people enjoy working with (guess who) people. Engage your customers with relevant content and with a personality and they will be able to relate with your brand. Building community and trust will increase awareness and you can start reaping the benefits of the coveted ‘Viral Loop’

All in all social media does not undermine professionalism; it just gives a new persona to your company.  You get to define this persona, but if you are on a social network be sure to at least go business casual .

Have marketers on social media undermined its authenticity?

Yesterday I found myself in a bit of a an argument on Twitter during one of my weekly hashtag chats.  The argument stemmed from this article dealing with authenticity on social media. My esteemed colleague was claiming that when marketing entered the social realm it undermined authenticity. Just hearing that claim made me shutter a bit, because I don’t think it is the case that because an industry has ROI in mind when developing content, it makes the content less authentic.

One of the major undermining factors in the Forbes article above says that personal branding has adversely affected social media. I still hold that people have different motives for using social media, and the logical conclusion of this line of thinking would be that anyone not using social for the sake of using social is not authentic.

Authenticity is a vague notion, especially on the internet. I think that the inclusion of social in marketing efforts requires authenticity by companies and marketers.  They have to develop content people want to read, they need to become a resource for their current customers and prospects. The incredible transparency that occurs because of social media will smoke out a fraud very quickly, so does marketing on social media undermine authenticity? No! It requires people to be more authentic.

If you are bad at sniffing out phonies here are 5 ways to gauge if someone is being authentic on social

1 Content Answers Whys and Hows

Hubspot is probably a leader in this area of content marketing. Social channels become a good way to syndicate information across your network. Though this isn’t the sole purpose of a social network, your followers will appreciate getting new information about industry related topics. Do you think Hubspot is not authentic because they have the goal to convert people who read their content into customers? Of course not.

2 Allows members of the community to discuss

A great example of inauthentic social media marketing are companies that don’t allow users to post on their Facebook wall. I am always suspect of these companies, mainly because they are trying to maintain a ‘broadcaster’ status rather than ‘collaborator’.

I know some companies who are worried about opening the ‘flood gates’ because they don’t want negative critiques. If people have something negative to say about your brand, then they will find a place to say it. It works in your favor to have them address any negative issues on your wall where you can quickly remedy the situation.

3 Addresses issues openly and promptly

See point 2. If a company doesn’t address any issues then they are not taking part in conversation. If a company is not taking part in conversations then they are not being social. Companies who take the time to respond to their customers aren’t being anything but authentic to their brand.

4 Utilizes Industry Standard Statistics

If you are taking part in social media, you probably should be reading a fair amount on the blogosphere as well. It is very easy to tell if a company is distorting a statistic or omitting something important. Always read different sources, it doesn’t matter who you read there are always more sides to a story.

5 Has more to say than ‘Sell Sell Sell’

This description will be short and sweet: Companies who only promote their products are not taking part in social and are obviously not an authentic social channel.

To conclude, just because a company wants a return on their investment in social media, does not make them less authentic. It is foolish to think that you will be interacting with a company and not be exposed to some marketing efforts. Companies need to sell things to survive; social media gives them a way to get their message out in a way that is far less intrusive. You opt-in to communicate with these companies and get their resources.

I think what the Forbes article is collapsing the meaning of marketing and promoting. The two are different; promotions will take away authenticity, and is frowned upon on social media. However, promotions are necessary so keep a nice balance and make sure to give your fans what they want.