July 22
Creating A Social Media Marketing Strategy
It cannot be ignored that Facebook is no longer an American phenomenon, it is a global phenomenon. Facebook is now used by one out of every three people who have Internet access, globally, and that 69% of B2B decision makers use social media not only for personal interactions, but also for business purposes—conveying a message that companies of all sizes need to determine how to incorporate social media in their marketing and PR plans.
Research indicates that 76% of marketing and PR professionals “agree” or “strongly agree” that social media marketing is changing the way their organizations communicate. With marketing budgets battered and slashed by the economic slump, only two budget line items were projected to grow by larger shares of respondents than to be reduced: social media (social networks and blogs) and email. Tactics slated for cuts by large majorities of respondents included traditional marketing stalwarts such as radio/TV, email to rented lists, and print ads.
Although budget lines were expected to grow for some social media marketing contacts, concerns linger. The two most significant barriers cited to social media adoption were “lack of knowledgeable staff” and “inability to measure ROI.” The first challenge is, for now at least, being met by using outside consultants, while a new breed of social media metrics vendors are building tools to address the second.
Reports note that advertising on blogs and social networks–the easiest tactic to measure–is the least effective, while the social media marketing and PR activities viewed by research to be most effective–such as online news release distribution, company blogs, and blogger/online journalist relations–are the most difficult to measure. Since this is a catch-22, marketers can measure the value of the resulting conversations and relationships qualitatively, rather than focusing on moment-in-time transactions like traffic, hits, etc. Marketers obsessed only with statistics may find themselves employing much less effective social media tactics solely for the sake of measurability.
Significant majorities of respondents viewed social media as effective at building brand awareness and reputation, improving search engine rankings and increasing website traffic. Some have even found social medias “somewhat effective” at generating leads or increasing sales. Research in both traditional and non-traditional medias show time and time again that those who invest in branding and positioning now, in a recessionary environment while competitors are slashing spending across the board, will be best positioned to thrive and steal market share once the economy recovers.
The bottom line strategy is do what makes sense for your organization, and creating your strategy starts with listening to what your customers and prospects are saying about your company, your competitors and your industry. Remember to measure the value of conversations and relationships qualitatively rather than quantitatively. Base your plans on market and client research, but learn from the mistakes and successes of social media pioneers.
This is such an important topic, I wish more people would write about it, and not just spam other people’s ideas. Researched content is hard to find on the Internet these days.