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It doesn’t seem like that long ago, but Facebook was created in 2004 and only college students could create an account. Now anyone can have it! LinkedIn was created prior to Facebook, in 2002, but it has changed from what it started as to what it is today.; Instagram was created in 2010 and it is ever changing and growing. The point of this is that social media and social media marketing is still very young and isn’t something we were officially taught (although now we can be!) in school. Social media platforms boomed in the early 2000’s and have grown tremendously since then. As an agency that handles social media accounts, social media marketing, management and content creation, we see it change – sometimes daily. But the question at hand here is are there definite outcomes when using social media for marketing from a business perspective? Let’s dig deeper into this.
There is a difference between social media marketing and management but people tend to mix them up and use them interchangeably. According to Publicize.co, social media marketing focuses on a strategic approach to use social media to grow a business. This is done by leveraging both paid and organic social media. Social media management, on the other hand, is centered around creating and distributing content on social media platforms and building relationships with the users through interactions such as likes, comments and shares.
When a business has a social media presence, it is certain that it will help bring more brand awareness to the business when used properly. Additionally, new leads, customers and conversations have the ability to happen on social media, AGAIN, if used properly. If the goal is to drive social media users to your website, then using social media can absolutely make that happen if it is used properly. Do you see a theme here? If the goal for having a social media presence is to drum up business, then a strategic plan needs to be put in place of how it potentially can happen. But again, nothing is ever guaranteed.
Nothing drives a marketing professional to scream more than when something with social media marketing works great with one client, but bombs with another. The way we explain this in the biz is that every client is different. Each client has different followers on their social media and each follower has different intentions. Each strategy is unique and everyday is something new.
It is important to build trust with your followers, generate content that will be of value and interest to them, and engage in meaningful conversations when appropriate. These are a definite must.
If there is one thing for certain, it is that organic reach (a post being seen by someone without putting money behind it) is decreasing rapidly. Social media companies are businesses too so they also want to make money. While it is free to create a profile and to post, the chances of posts being seen by a target audience gets slimmer and slimmer by the day. Social media companies want their part of the cut just as much as a business wants to sell whatever it is that they are selling. So we like to say to our clients that they have to pay to play in the social media world. Monthly budgets are necessary to get a profile and posts noticed. Talk with us about what we would recommend if this is something you are interested in.
Don’t be alarmed if one day you did something on social media but the next day you can’t. This is a trend that we have found to be very common. It is also quite common for one person on our team to be able to see something completely different on the backend of the social media site than someone else. Patience with social media marketing is a must. The platform needs to learn who you are just as you need to learn who your target audience is.
If you are already on your choice of social media platforms, just remember to keep your social media presence alive if you want your audience to follow you. If you aren’t on anything and you’d like to discuss a social media marketing strategy, let’s talk.
