Social Media Marketing Strategy

Social media marketing fails for 98% of businesses who try to implement a traditional marketing strategy with social channels. Social media is just that, a social environment and pushing products or services when people are interacting with friends and family will have low returns. Let’s face it… your product or service cannot compete with puppy photos or baby pictures.

Many businesses try to force their marketing onto social users thinking that if they hit enough people with their off-target promotions that a small number might actually respond. Marketing companies push social advertising because of its low cost, high potential reach and rank success based on the number of Likes or Shares a campaign generates. But is that really success and was the promotion worth the cost and effort? Beyond Facebook Likes, did social users leave Facebook and visit your site? Did they buy your product or hire you for your service?  Marketing companies are very good at taking impractical data and making it look far more important than it really is.

Let’s look at social media in a more realistic light

There are several scenarios that make social marketing campaigns successful.

1. Business to consumer marketing via some social channels can work well when the advertisements are highly targeted and offer really good incentives to users. The key here is “Highly Targeted”.
2. Local businesses reaching local consumers with offers that entice them to visit a brick and mortar store.
3. Businesses who use social media to boost their Google ranking.
4. And businesses who can utilize items #1, #2 and #3 to their advantage.
   

With business web sites gaining 70%+ of their traffic from search engines, marketing on Google is no longer an option but a necessity for online survival. The difference between search engines and social media is important to understand.

Social Marketing To Increase Sales

Social media users are on social channels for friends, family and to view current news and events. Users did not login to Facebook to search for your company and your advertisement, even if it is highly targeted, is an interruption to the users original intent. They may like your company and they may even click on your advertisement but it is an after-thought and not the original intention.

Search engines function differently in that it is the only advertising medium (besides the phone book) where users are specifically searching for exactly what your business offers. You are not forcing advertisements into a users personal space and time, they are actually looking to find you. Conversions are much higher when consumer intention is focused on searching for what you offer at that exact moment.

Understanding what social media is and isn’t and how to best use it to impact sales is far more important than looking at shares and likes. We utilize social channels to brand companies in specific marketplaces and increase search engine ranking… which ultimately creates higher sales volume.