Does Your Brand Fail On Social Media?
Many companies see “Digital Marketing” as posting to a couple of Social Media channels. Not only is this wrong, but they also expect to see immediate return on their investment. Unfortunately, this rarely happens.
The questions that resonate, are you using Social Media correctly and are your objectives realistic?
Simply, Social Media is not, at least in the main part, a money generator. Social media campaigns rarely get people to directly buy your products there and then. So why bother to use social media for your business?
Well, that’s an easy question to answer. Social media is about far more than a direct selling tool. When used as part of a wider content marketing strategy, Social Media can be an invaluable tool. The fact is that using social media is an interruptive form of marketing. We send out posts aimed to hit our target audience in their leisure time. Most users go on to Facebook to view their friends latest picture updates not to be hit with your latest “limited time, buy today, special offer!” This is not the way to use social media!
When used with compelling imagery, and a strong, clear, concise message, social media can be integral to get your brand in front of customers and create awareness of your products or services.
This is a complex stage to quantify, many top decision makers often confuse this with a failing campaign. On the contrary, this is just the initial steps. The success of the compete strategy will decide if you have failed.
Instead of using social media to try to sell individual products or boost short term revenue, offer value to your customers above and beyond that of your competitors. Publish entertaining, educational and informative material with your target audience in mind. Done right, your target demographics will seek out your content and you will establish brand loyalty with these people. Then the rest of your marketing and sales strategy can take over to push home the sale.
This can come through a variety of less intrusive methods. Search marketing through organic SEO work and targeted PPC campaigns help your company to be there when your customers need you. Email marketing can be used to great effect to keep your customers informed, but ground work must first be done to build a trust structure that will ensure your emails are opened on, or your website is where their search lands. This will rarely happen by chance.
Social media is a great tool in any digital marketing strategy, which can propel brands in size, stature and significance to any audience. However, it is only a part of the overall strategy and needs to be supported in order for a successful outcome for any business. ROI is not instant in most projects your business will undertake, so why should your marketing strategy be any different?
Agree with me, or think I'm wrong? Leave a comment below.
James Bellamy