Social media is a very powerful strategic marketing tool. Considering blogging started in 1997 and Facebook is only ten years old, social media marketing is a recent phenomenon compared to traditional forms of marketing.
So why is social media such an influential strategic marketing tool ?
FREE
There is no cost for companies to create an account on the vast majority of platforms. Facebook is the largest social media network globally with 1.3 billion monthly active users. It’s free to create an account and share content on Facebook. By strategically boosting a post on Facebook a company can increase the reach of their campaigns very easily and for a small price. The real costs lye in the time spent managing the social media accounts or putting a team in place to manage them.
Measuring Results
Facebook insights, Google Analytics and Hootsuite are three of the most popular tools used by businesses to measure the effectiveness of their online campaigns. A business can see from the live feedback these tools provide how successful or failed a marketing campaign has been.
Flexibility
Social media is a very flexible marketing tool. Promotions can be added, edited or deleted very easily unlike with traditional forms of marketing. Once a printed advert is signed off for it is very costly and difficult to change. Social media allows business’s two way communication with potential customers through interaction on posts, unlike traditional media. Answering customer’s queries is seen as a very important aspect by customers and makes people feel engaged with the brand or business. Unanswered queries or questions often leaves a bad taste in the mouths of customers.
A study by Socialbakers highlights which industries are best at engaging with customers and answering their questions:
The options to share different types of content in the one place is also a great advantage to businesses. Another study by Socialbakers shows the type of content which attracts the most engagement is Photos. Surprisingly video made up 2% of engagement compared to 47% – photos.
Pre-qualified Traffic
By Sharing content with people who have already liked your page or followed your account, you are reaching out to people who have indicated an interest in the business already. These are warm leads who are likely to take advantage of promotions offered in a marketing campaign. In this way pre-qualified traffic can be generated to visit the company’s website and generate sales!
Successful Campaign
An example of one very successful social media marketing campaign was the Old Spice Man. In 2010 Old Spice targeted over 187 individuals on Twitter with customized videos. The campaign generated 11 million views and over 22 thousand comments in three days.
Here’s one Addressing Ellen Degeneres:
Conclusion
It is clear that social media is a powerful strategic marketing tool. It is likely this will continue for the foreseeable future as social media continues to grow and as businesses are offered more ways to promote themselves and measure the effectiveness of their campaigns. It’s no coincidence that the biggest brands in the world are spending time and money investing in their online presence.
“Social media is not only more cost-efficient than advertising, but it also offers great opportunities for innovative engagement with your customers” Richard Branson