Social media can be perceived as all fun and games so it was initially difficult for businesses to see the value it can bring to their overall internet marketing strategy and how it can contribute in achieving its various objectives. Then marketers took the social networking leap of faith and many have experienced significant successes over the recent years.
Despite the number to prove its worth, the debate whether social marketing should be taken seriously won’t just end. Included in social cynics’ main arguments are:
- Posting Facebook, Twitter, Pinterest, LinkedIn, Google+ updates cannot be considered a marketing skill. They argue that this can be done by anyone and everyone in the company and it does not really take someone with a marketing acumen to engage in social network marketing
- A social media marketing company cannot measure success and cannot deliver real and tangible return of investment
- Social platforms are not universal. They are suitable for some but not for many
These may sound like strong contentions, but here are the reasons why not having a social strategy is like a modern-day marketing suicide.
Promoting Businesses in Social Sites is Leveraging on Human Nature
Time and again, an old adage reminds us that no man is an island. Interacting with other people or entities such as brands and businesses is natural and instinctive. With that being said, every social media agency knows that it’s not really the platform that matters, but this human nature that makes this form of marketing effective.
More specifically, “mingling” with customers has allowed businesses to improve their customer service and reinvent their products and services. Don’t you notice how heirloom businesses (those enterprises that got passed on from generation to generation) still keep that warm practice wherein the owners themselves go around the shop or the stores asking what customers think? This later on evolved into structured market research. Being social is an important attribute for business to evolve with the times which is every social media marketing company is pushing to carve their place in the internet marketing sphere.
You’re Depriving Your Business of User Generated Content
Statistics show that 25% of total web traffic of the world’s biggest brand is user generated. This is something a social media agency simply cannot ignore. If Google and other search engines are now indexing social media content, why wouldn’t you want to have them? Also, statistics show that people look to blogs, especially from key opinion leaders, whether to trust a product or service. It’s also an effective feedback mechanism and no business can improve what they are presently doing without knowing what people think.
Social Media Has Evolved into Something Measurable
Marketing in social channels have evolved rather rapidly over the past few years. If before, businesses are going at it blind, a social media marketing company can easily offer metrics and measurable key performance investors for your investment. They bring traffic, increase engagement and contribute to conversion rates.
Clearly, social marketing is not all about fun and games anymore. It’s serious business.