Tuesday, June 22, 2010

Social Media & Paintball

All social media (except blogging--d'oh!) get the big thumb's down official badge of disapproval from VFTD. (Trust me, I do so have the big foam thumb in a closet someplace. Along with a few foam fingers and I have a particular finger in mind for some of the more egregious offenders.) I have tried to be understanding--no, not really--but it's getting out of hand, going too far.
It seems Paintball discovered social media about a day late and a dollar short, as per usual, but is desperately making up for lost ground--and I don't know about you--but it's beginning to piss me off. Okay, I lied again. (I lied the first time about all those foam fingers but that doesn't mean I don't still have one, a finger, available for you.) It's not beginning to, it's been pissing me off for awhile now but I wanted to be the kinder, gentler VFTD and show some paintball solidarity but .. but ... I've had enough.
If the idea of social media is easy-peasey interactive communication networked via shared interests, friendships, etc. the reality is Paintball is using it like a bludgeon to beat me senseless with their (mostly) commercial messages or like a home invader intruding through every portal to inundate me (and you) with time-wasting rubbish. Knock it off--or at least dial it down a notch or two.

4 comments:

Jr. said...

Kind of disagree. Mostly because it was kind of general. The industry isn't that big so It's easy to point out some of the annoying Social Media Peeps. My main suspect is Tippman, they constantly buy engagement ads on fBook, and have these little games that really are of no intrest to me and I dare to say most people.

On the other hand, with no webcast available PSP used SociaMedia and kept lots of people up to date. Really helpfull in my case.

Dye, I think they got a good mix of news/sweeps/self-promo. Even better than some Fortune 500 companies we've studied at work.

Planet Eclipse, I would put them behid Dye just because they post some non-intresting things, but their webisodes are nicely put together.

Social Paintball
Not invasive, tons of good video material for free. Love their use of the platform.

HK
Its like having and over active buddy on facebook. If you love the brand its great for you, if not then you shouldn't be liking them on fbook.

There are more, and probably not as good as the previous examples, and some companies could be using the platform to their advantage and are really missing out.

To wrap it up. SM is a great avenue for smaller companies to get their message/brand to peeps intrested in following them. For the rest there is a unlike/unfollow/unsubscribe button.
Anyway SM is 100 times better than getting trash-email every other week with promos and reminders.

Baca Loco said...

In my defense I'm old and I hate everything--and I sorta lumped email in with all the rest. :)

Jr. said...

No attack intended.
I Read your stuff off my rss reader all the time. Enjoy it a lot.

Anonymous said...

Valken does a lot to target its "fans" on Facebook, often offering give-aways and special promos from its very own wall posts. They are probably one of the most social media-friendly companies that I have seen so far. As Jr said, DYE, PE, and HK do pretty well with it, too.