Why are social media marketing experts so obsessed with the letter “C”?

Social media marketing is not new. But now that the number of social media users is growing, a new generation of so-called experts is reinventing the wheel and coming up with great theories about a phenomenon that exists since many years.

What was once called word of mouth is now, well, many other things. The reason why there are so many “experts” is simple: companies are finally starting to wake up and often don’t have a clue, so they hire “experts”.

It has always been like that, especially in times where companies don’t take risks any more and prefer to let others solve their challenges, it’s about fear and responsibility. Yes, I admit, I don’t like people that brand themselves as experts very much. The same goes for companies that need experts and consultants for every little decision they have to make. “I like to move it, move it”. What ever happened to thinking and deciding yourself?

And right now I hate that “C” obsession that’s going on.

I remember that we, the first generation of emarketers, the “old school”, played with the “C’s” ages ago: content, community, customer, context, collaboration, creativity, conversation, customer centric.

We laughed about it, after all it’s not about theories and certainly not about theories that you can resume in a few words that all start with “C” or “P” or “X” or whatever.

But “C” is a great letter, you can add many more words if you want: co-creation, call-to-action, click-through, convenience, crowdsourcing, hell, there’s even two “C’s” in “cut the crap”.

Wouldn’t that be a good idea if you have nothing else to do? Let’s make the ultimate “C” list. Think of every social media, Web 2.0, marketing-related or customer-related word that starts with a “C”.

Add it as a comment (hey, comment starts with a “C” too!) and we’ll make a great theory, called the 39.5 C’s of social media.

Why that obsession with the letter “C”? No clue (clue starts with a “C” too!). Does it matter? As long as the crap keeps selling, right? Capital! Cash!

Communication, corporate blogging, closed loop, cloud computing, come on, I’m creating something here. Join me, I’m counting the “C’s”.

C you.

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