We Need To Talk About Social Media Marketing.

We Need To Talk About Social Media Marketing.?

I’m writing this article because it’s time that we had a little chat about social media marketing. It’s not you. It’s them. And that’s the problem. Let’s begin.

Let me just get this out of the way first.

‘Digital Marketing is not just social media. Social media is a part of digital marketing.’

Okay that felt good.

The Big Elephant in the room

They don’t care. They don’t care if you have a new product or a new offer or a new office or anything, unless it benefits them in some way.

This benefit does not have to be monetary or transactional. It can be emotional as well.?

Take a celebrity for example. Why do their photos of them just sipping coffee get so much engagement? I mean okay, they’re having coffee. So what? Millions of people do that every single fucking day. What’s the big deal?

The big deal is that they have a huge following. Why do they have a big following? It’s because they produce relatable content. It’s relevant for their specific niche, their world, and hence they get that level of engagement.?

So there isn’t any real financial gain for these people. The gain is purely emotional. By liking a post that they can relate to, they get a sense of satisfaction. Plus there is that mentality of ‘belonging’ to a certain crowd. I liked this photo that millions of people have. So I’m part of that group.

They don’t care if they aren’t getting any benefits out of it. So before posting anything, think about this: What am I giving them in return?

Boosting posts does nothing. Boosting the right post does

If you’re putting money into promoting your content, then you should get a profit at some point. Every marketing investment has an ROI. It can be short term ROI or long term ROI. Which means that if you're boosting a post, there needs to be a ROI on it, since it’s an investment.?

Brand awareness also has an ROI, which is mostly long term. Hence it’s important to boost the right post instead of boosting every post or any post at random. Think about the end goal of that post. What are your expectations from it and is it worth boosting? Can these goals be achieved organically?

I would say invest more in running targeted ads and less in boosting posts. Engagement is important but we have to plan it out properly. Inaccurate boosts will drain your budget in no time.?

Final Words & A Bit About Leads & CPL

Traditionally, social media ads lag behind PPC ads when it comes to lead quality. Because people on Google are searching for your product or something related to it. So it makes sense that marketing on Google will give you better lead quality.

But, Google can get expensive.

So you have to balance it. It depends a lot on your budget for marketing and how much of that budget is coming to ads.

Social media ads are cheaper(ish) to run than PPC ads. But then the lead quality kind of reflects that. So to get the max quality possible from social media, you have to fix your targeting.?

Also, use lookalike audiences, custom audience lists and other audience data to lower your CPL.?

Targeting cold audiences for lead ads is a bad idea. You’re not going to get good results. Offer value first, promote your products second. Pumping money is not a solution to this.?

It’s important to be realistic when it comes to social media. Set realistic goals. Offer a ton of organic value and build your brand. Jumping into social media ads straight away is not a solution. It definitely is a way to burn through your cash though.

Chao.

Abhishek Samant | Monochrome Social