Social media continues to dominate much of the marketing conversation and for good reason. Marketers can now truly engage in conversations directly with their target audiences in a way they never could before. Add on the hundreds of millions of users of these sites and services, and you have a marketing channel that can’t be ignored.

But…

For all of their revolutionary strengths, Facebook, Twitter and other social tools have one glaring weakness – shelf life – or the number of impression per touch. Call it either a cause or a symptom of the fast paced world we live in, social media channels offer little in longevity.

One recent study from the link shortening site bitly found that the average lifespan of a link shared on Facebook or twitter was three hours. That’s one touch for one impression within a three hour window, and then it is lost in the social media abyss. To fight the barrage of personal and promotional messages in these feeds Marketers must continually feed the beast with more messages.

Promotional products are well known for their longevity. A 2010 study by the Advertising Specialties Institute found that the average promotional item lasts for six months. That’s one touch for multiple impressions during a six month period. Why do promotional products last so long? They are useful and serve a purpose to the target audience.

Calendars, for example, are the poster child of promotional longevity (and yes, people still use calendars). In 2011 the Calendar Advertising Council and the Promotional Products Association International found that the average person looks at a calendar up to 10 times a day. A calendar usually lasts a year, so that’s up to 3650 impressions, to at least one person, for one calendar or one touch.

To get that number of impression on someone’s Facebook wall or Twitter feed, you would have to post something 10 times a day. That flood of posts would most likely result in an unfollow or unlike. With a promotional product your marketing message goes from intrusive to integrated.

Every marketing channel has its weakness, no matter how new, cool or “in” it is. The bottom line is that it’s important to have mix of marketing channels to cover those weaknesses. Because of their longevity, promotional products need to be part of the mix with mobile, social, print or whatever other channels best reach your audience.