Like every other advertising revolutionary and marketing genius, we here at The Envision Group are dipping our toes into the murky swamp that is Social Media Marketing. And, like everybody else, we know that it is going to be a tricky slog. There are articles and blogs all over the place claiming that advertising on social media sites can’t work, that it won’t work, that it doesn’t work…and they are right.

If you go charging into some dude’s social cyberspace, uninvited, and slap an ad on his profile, he is definitely not going to buy your stuff. He might even proactively tell all of his 900 friends not to buy your stuff, and then update his status to report on how much your stuff sucks. (Of course, being mentioned in someone’s profile status can only increase your visibility, but that’s another topic, and the great likelihood is that your unwelcome ad will just go largely ignored.)

Social networks, like file-sharing sites, are completely uncharted commercial territory for one reason. Their primary function as media formats is NOT to generate revenue. Think about all of the so-called traditional media: television, radio, magazines, billboards. These things were all created to sell products. Actual content was only produced to fill the time and space in between commercials and ads. Theatrical programming, like modern-day stadiums, had names like the Crest Toothpaste Dance Hour and The Chevrolet Comedy Show. “Advertainment," which has seen a resurgence in recent years, dates back to the beginning of broadcast.

Of course, by this reasoning, we should thank advertising for the great strides in magazine journalism and television entertainment in the last century, in the same way that we should thank the Catholic Church for the Renaissance. We have been thanking our sponsors since the Roman Circus. But what happens when a media outlet is born without sponsors? If the format grows without the help of ad dollars? When the entertainment offerings are solely donated user content, and not heavily-financed, star-laden ad bumpers? Well, that’s the sticky wicket.

Mark Zuckerberg of Facebook; NewsCorp, which owns MySpace; and Google, the highest bidder for YouTube in 2006, are working day and night trying to figure out how to make a buck off these sites. Selling ad space the old-fashioned way just isn’t working. Advertisers aren’t seeing impressive click-throughs, let alone increased revenues from impressions alone. These major companies are hemorrhaging cash supporting profitless sites, and we just want to blissfully poke each other.

Will it all collapse under the weight of uncompensated server space? Can social media sites survive if no one wants to do business on them? How long will Rupert Murdoch be willing to essentially donate entertainment to the world?

Social network and file-sharing sites are actually evidence of a brand new social phenomenon. There’s an entire study at Yale devoted to researching this new trend. People actually want to give each other things without receiving anything in return, and the internet facilitates that to an unimaginable degree. Everyone is connecting globally, acting locally and giving on a scale previously unseen in human history. Now, an entire family of hugely popular websites has been conceived on these philosophies of giving, sharing, helping and informing. Why on earth would anyone assume that their users would be receptive to sales overtures? The flip side to this love-in of a societal shift might be the death of commerce as we know it.

…But people are still going to buy food, clothes, vehicles, houses, insurance, entertainment, technology, services and tchochkes, so a new kind of commerce must emerge, partnered with a new way to market.

Businesses are going to have to offer something truly real to attract buyers. Gimmicks, loss-leaders and BOGOs are just not going to get the consumers’ attention anymore. There needs to be a charitable donation, interactive game, social involvement, cultural contribution, or any other earnest, tangible reason to chose Brand A over Brand B. The (RED) campaign has been wildly financially successful, and has actually distributed antiretroviral medicines to millions of AIDS sufferers. Burger King continues to grow as CP+B generates one weird, entertaining app after another.

In order to use social media marketing to effectively promote a product, companies must also let go of the concept of immediately quantifiable results from advertising efforts. And although it seems like the antithesis to accelerating lifecycles, patience is a virtue that will really pay off.

It takes time to build an internet presence and foster trust among potential consumers. Successful companies will demonstrate a pattern of social consciousness and position themselves as an invaluable source of information through web and traditional PR initiatives—all the while collecting and cultivating friends and fans on social networks. Buzz will be generated. Interest will be bred. Branding will be tested and solidified. Then, with their target market primed, these companies will be able to introduce their offerings—online as well as in the real world—to a highly receptive buying public.

It’s really not a new concept at all. Spend the time getting the good press, then sell the product. However, there is a new twist to it. If customers are all about sharing with each other, then they are going to demand that the companies they patronize are sharing, too. So what should those companies share? Information. Experiences. Service. These things should no longer be extras, but part of everything that is bought or sold.

As human interactions, and financial transactions become more and more virtual, businesses with the most friends, the most information, and the most worldwide reach will succeed, and it will be they who drive commerce, health, democracy and art. Right now, Facebook, Twitter, and the like seem to be the path that will take us from the Information Age to whatever is next. It’s inexpensive, fun and full of possibilities, so go make some friends already, or get left behind.

—Lisa