I’m going to start this post off with two statements that might seem a little counterintuitive coming from someone who works in social media marketing
- There is nothing new about social media marketing.
- Social media won’t replace anything your organization currently does.
If this is the case, then perhaps social media shouldn’t be so high on your list of priorities. Well, you’d be wrong because there is a third point.
- Social media will enhance virtually everything your organization does to market and sell its products or services, retain its clients and drive revenues.
Let me explain:
If you look at social media in its simplest form, it is essentially a conversation between two or more people. When two or more people talk about a brand, product or service, this is often referred to as word-of-mouth marketing. Word-of-mouth marketing has been around for as long as people have been doing business together and is widely recognized as the most influential (and potentially dangerous) form of marketing available. This is because potential clients are more likely to trust individuals who they can identify with than a carefully crafted marketing campaign.
Social media essentially acts as an accelerator and amplifier for your word-of-mouth marketing. Traditionally, word-of-mouth could take days, weeks or even months to generate any significant impact. On social media, a single tweet by a person of influence can build or destroy a reputation within a matter of minutes. Having the right technology in place to monitor and engage with social media conversations about your brand will enable you to exercise a degree of control over these conversations, maximizing the returns from positive mentions and lessening the impact of negative sentiment.
So if social media is so great, why not cut back on existing strategies?
No new media has ever replaced an existing one. For example, radio did not replace newspapers or books, television did not replace radio, the internet will not replace television. Each medium has basically found its space in the market and occasionally the lines between two different types of media have been blurred (we’re seeing this happening a lot with TV and the web at the moment). As such, social media marketing will not replace your email marketing, paid search, SEO, content marketing or PR activities. It will however enhance them significantly. For example, social media has the potential to turn a traditional retention marketing tool like email into a highly sophisticated acquisition channel (without the high costs normally associated with acquisition marketing). Again social media is acting as an accelerator and amplifier, helping maximize the results from your traditional marketing efforts, building reputation (quickly) and driving revenues.
If social media is not on your agenda, or it is constantly being placed on the back burner, you risk falling behind faster, louder organizations that understand the importance of acceleration and amplification.
To find out how Viralheat can help you maximize your ROI from social media, join us for a free product demonstration every Thursday at 1pm (PST), 10am (EST), 6pm (UK).
Photo credit: Alejandro C
