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Margie ClaymanMargie Clayman

Marietta, OH

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The weapons are ahead of the tactics

May 2, 2012 by Margie Clayman 9 Comments

For as long as I can remember, I have been enchanted by the Civil War. I have found it morbidly fascinating that families could split up and kill each other, and yet armies across rivers would chat about how much they wanted to go home. I have always been enamored of Abraham Lincoln, and find it amazing that he was extremely unpopular in the North as well as the South throughout the duration of his presidency.

There is a lot to study in the Civil War. There were innumerable technological patents issued. Medicine, by necessity, took great strides – the idea of sterilizing the surgery environment was born out of that series of tragedies in our history. Military history, too, was altered by the American Civil War. All of these new, immensely powerful weapons were introduced and handed to soldiers right in the middle of battle. But the commanders of those armies – they only knew what they had learned at West Point. They knew the bayonet charge, the cavalry charge. They knew that to defeat an army you had to come right at them. This knowledge, these things that were seen as “givens,” explain in part why casualties ran so high as the war dragged on. People were charging at armies that had minnie balls. People were charging, literally, right into firing squads.

As historian Shelby Foote says in the series, the weapons were far beyond the tactics.

The same holds true when it comes to Social Media.

Social Media and business

These days, it seems, we are approaching advertising and marketing in the same way we always have – as sales pieces. Some companies are bringing these traditional methodologies to Twitter and Facebook and Blogs. This is like trying to use antiquated military strategies when all of the technology has changed, and literally, companies that approach Social Media incorrectly will get blown out of the water. No one expects the hard sell on Twitter unless it’s 100% clear that’s your reason for being there, and even then you might find yourself entirely ignored.

We have created these new technologies before understanding the strategy needed to make them work. I think of Jeff Goldblum’s line in the first Jurassic Park movie. Companies are moving into Social Media because they can without thinking whether they should. Well, he didn’t say that exactly, but you get the point.

Our weapons are ahead of our tactics, and our marketing strategies are suffering for it.

Social Media and society

All of this also holds true when thinking about Social Media and its effect on our modern society. There are about 27 posts I could write about this topic (and maybe I will), but for now, consider the following, and let me know your thoughts about them.

Social Media has created new job opportunities, but we don’t really have names for those new jobs

Social Media has created new ways to communicate, but we don’t really have a name for this new method of communication (is it networking? is it friendship?)

Social Media has created new ways to unite – look at what happened when reports of protest started coming out of Iran and Egypt.

Social Media has also created new and powerful ways for us to abuse each other, and we have no way to police that. We have no control. The weapons are ahead of our tactics.

The Learning Curve

By the time World War I approached, it had become apparent to most military strategists that the era of the bayonet charge had ended. World War I saw trench warfare and the use of poisonous gases. By World War II, of course, war had entirely changed again.

I don’t want to see our learning curve happen in parallel with countless missteps or tragedies. I don’t want to see companies fail because they are trying to blast out ads via 140-character tweets. I don’t want to see more people die because we have these powerful modes to communicate with no way to control them.

I am not asking for an authoritarian controlling mechanism in either case. But we need to stop and think, for the sake of our businesses and our society. What are we doing with this “Social Media” thing? It is a revolution. It is an evolution. That means we have to change with the technology. We need a road map. We need someone to write it. We need tactics that keep up with our technology. We need a strategy that can make the most of our actions. Right?

Note: This post was originally written on October 1, 2010. It has been refurbished for a new project I’m working on called History Lessons for the Social Media Practitioner.

 

Filed Under: Marketing Talk

Reader Interactions

Comments

  1. Scott Slucher says

    October 1, 2010 at 10:29 am

    Great post! As soon as I saw the headline, the synapses started popping, and I heard Mr. Foote’s voice from “The Civil War” and thought “Yes! Pefect!” You nailed the situation.

    Keep up the good work. Perhaps you’ll save someone from their own Gettysburg…or worse – a Gallipoli.

    Reply
    • Marjorie Clayman says

      October 1, 2010 at 1:13 pm

      ah, another Civil War nut 🙂 Excellent!

      Thank you – I’m always trying to prevent Gettysburgs 🙂 hehee 🙂

      Reply
  2. davevandewalle says

    May 2, 2012 at 6:09 pm

    I have to comment because this is so damned awesome.
     
    While you’re talking modern warfare and social media – consider Afghanistan. A war with no point, being fought on several fronts, dragging on forever, with no end in sight. Conversely, how bout the precise Israeli Army maneuvers.
     
    Wow…the parallels between warfare and social media – really interesting. Great, thought-provoking stuff.

    Reply
    • TheJackB says

      May 3, 2012 at 5:32 pm

       @davevandewalle People/countries respond differently when they have no choice or think they have unlimited resources.

      Reply
    • margieclayman says

      May 3, 2012 at 9:27 pm

       @davevandewalle Thanks Dave. Those are some great points! Sounds like you’re on to your own spin-off series 🙂

      Reply
  3. bdorman264 says

    May 2, 2012 at 8:51 pm

    That great military figure Colonel Sanders was in my family line; we still have the secret recipe……..whoooeee that’s some good fried chicken. 
     
    Yes, we need a strategy that can make the most of our actions. There is still the majority ‘in’ social just because…..

    Reply
    • margieclayman says

      May 3, 2012 at 9:28 pm

       @bdorman264 It is good fried chicken. Good mashed potatoes too, I seem to recall. 
       
      Wait, what? 🙂

      Reply

Trackbacks

  1. #weeklymarketinggems and #myweeklyrecap « Marketing Matters | Jason Sokol says:
    October 2, 2010 at 8:19 am

    […] The Weapons are Ahead of the Tactics – Thanks goodness for Marjorie Claymen’s great ideas. In this post, she draws a line in the sand and makes it clear that we must start thinking clearly about our marketing strategy and tactics long before we start deploying the “weapons.” This is an awesome post and by far my favorite one this week! […]

    Reply
  2. java games says:
    October 15, 2014 at 10:47 pm

    java games…

    The weapons are ahead of the tactics…

    Reply

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