Discussion: Social Media Marketing

We all know social media is a huge deal these days - there are 750 million people worldwide on Facebook and 200 million users on Twitter, so there can be no denying that there is a massive market to be reached through these social giants' network.

But how should companies market on Facebook? According to a recent Harvard Business Review study, only 12% of companies surveyed claim they are "effective users" of social media, while only 7% think they have been successful in integrating social media across their marketing campaigns. Why is this? Why is marketing through social media so elusive?

Let's start with the biggest problem. Social media ≠ Facebook. Sure, Facebook is a huge player in the realm of social media and it should not be neglected - but is Facebook the right path for your company's social media needs? Before starting a social media campaign, consider what platform might be best for your needs. Facebook has an incredible market to tap into, but Twitter makes it easier for users to interact with the company in an informal setting. Other networks, such as Foursquare, help users band together and benefit from using and sharing a brand. So what image are you creating? Is it best for your company to interact with fans, users, and customers from behind the veil of your brand, or do you want your users to feel like they are interacting with a person or representative when they reach out? Is your brand strong enough to rely solely on your users to pass on the word? There is no all-encompassing right or wrong answer - it all depends on what's best for your brand. Don't jump into social media without doing the proper research, but don't be apprehensive about it. Find out what's best for you and implement it.

How can social media help you? In the world of marketing, we throw around the term "impression" a lot. It might be a media impression made by a print ad, billboard, or television spot or it could be a "social media brand impression", a new breed created by the prominence of social networks. An impression is an instance in which your advertisement is seen or displayed. Marketers and companies alike love unpaid impressions. These are self explanatory - impressions gained without payment by the company. Since social media is largely populated by free services, social media brand impressions are often unpaid. How do you gain these impressions? Easy - be active with your network. On Facebook, you have a first network (your "fans") and a second network (friends of your "fans"). By publishing posts on your Facebook page, you can gain impressions for your current fans by showing up within their Facebook News Feed. By gaining new fans, you tap into that second network - the action of "liking" a page will show up in the News Feed of the friends of your new fan.

Now, Twitter is bit different. While you can gain "followers" quite easily, there is no way to tap into that second network unless you engage your first network enough to merit retweeting. However, it's much easier to tap into the entire market of Twitter users as all tweets, whether made by a company, celebrity, or you customers, are public. You can search your company name and receive a feed of all tweets mentioning you. Learning to navigate Twitter can provide a new challenge but reap new benefits.

Perhaps my own personal bias is showing through here. Personally, I find Twitter to be far more effective than Facebook at marketing yourself and your company. There are many out there who disagree with that statement, so it all comes down to personal taste, your research, and your needs. As an avid user of my personal Facebook account, I can tell you that the companies that I do "like" don't score many impressions with me. That may be because of Facebook's annoyingly inaccurate Edge Rank algorithm (this how they rank content based on how likely the user (in this case, me) might be interested in it). I have realized many times that Facebook's algorithm is causing me to not be able to keep up with all of my friends, including the companies I follow. Twitter uses no such algorithm and I am able to receive all of the information that I actually signed up to get. However, Facebook marketing has its merits (and a user base of 750 million strong), so it is of utmost importance to do the research and find out what's best for you.
 
Thanks to Jeff Bullas: Is This the Holy Grail of Facebook Marketing? for some of the information you'll see in this post, as well as being the impetus behind my writing it.

Please comment with any of your thoughts or questions!

Predictable Introduction Post

Welcome to my new blog, Advert This! Here I'll be commenting on the goings-on in the world of business, advertising, and social media and sharing my views with all of you. Feel free to follow along and share your thoughts in the comments section. Hope you all enjoy!