Social Media MarketingA Journey, Not A Destination

But 92% of Americans ignore at least one type of ad

•  Online - 82% Television - 37% Radio

- 36% Newspaper - 35% •  The online ads Americans are most

likely to ignore included: online banner ads (73%), followed by social media ads (62%), and search engine ads (59%).

•  The highest wage earners, those with a household income of $100k+ per year, were statistically more likely than those households making less than $50k per year (86% vs. 78%, respectively) to say they ignore online ads.

Source:  Harris  Interac0ve  on  behalf  of  Goo  Technologies  in  January  2014      

And a lot of people are using social media

But social media successis not easy

And there are so many choices

Social media does play a smallrole in the purchase path

And there is a disconnect between marketers and consumers

•  Enthusiasm for social media appears to be a greater driver for investments and

usage plans than proven results. •  There is a significant disconnect between marketers’ eagerness and consumers’

attitudes to being marketed to via social media. Consumers still largely opt out when it comes to social media marketing, preferring to follow peer recommendations of brands and products rather than clicking on advertisements.

•  The implication is that message delivery by brands via social media is not

reciprocated by consumers, and that social media therefore is not fulfilling its potential as a two-way, conversational channel

•  This suggests brands need to put their enthusiasm for social media aside and focus on understanding their customers’ individual needs and preferences, establishing effective measurement and investigating the make-up of their social media marketing mix. In particular, it will be critical to success to get the balance between pure-play advertising and content-driven, conversational tactics right.

Source:  Pitney  Bowes  White  Paper  Social  media:  contras0ng  the  marke0ng  and  consumer  perspec0ves    Brands  and  consumers  disconnect  over  social  media  marke0ng    

   

Even Forrester is questioningthe real value of social media

•  Forrester analyst Nate Elliot, only 55 percent of Twitter marketers say they’re “satisfied with the business value they achieve” from the platform.

•  That’s low compared to other established

online marketing channels like search, email, mobile, and online display.

•  Forrester is sounding the warning bell that

underneath all the rosy signs of a thriving ad business, Facebook faces a welter of marketer dissatisfaction that will inevitably diminish the importance of the lifeblood of the social platform.

•  According to Elliott’s research, only 51

percent of marketers are satisfied with how Facebook helps them connect.

And the social media hypeis being dismantled

•  1 billion people have tried Twitter and three quarters of them abandoned it. –  Twitter has seen more than one billion registrations to its

service over the past seven and a half years. Stack up that figure against the most recent active user number — 241 million — and you’ve got a retention rate somewhere in the mid-20 percent range.

•  Phony Facebook likes have become all too common even among pages seeking legitimate followers. –  Facebook is complicit in allowing bogus accounts to run up

like totals because they act as a buffer between pages and their actual fans.

•  Facebook recently admitted in a regulatory filing that as much as 11.2% of its accounts are fake, but did not publish any numbers about how many likes may be fraudulent.

•  Princeton forecast says Facebook will lose 80% of its peak user base within the next three years.

Facebook is even beingchallenged & questioned

•  1%. Or, to be precise, 1.4%. That's the percentage of fans and friends of fans of the top 200 brand pages on Facebook who are actually engaging with those pages, according to the Ehrenberg-Bass Institute.

•  Retailers have invested heavily in making money off

social networks like Facebook and Twitter. 

•  But despite all the interest, it doesn’t look like social networks do much to drive sales, according to a recent report Sucharita Mulpuru at Forrester Research. 

•  Less than 1 percent of the online transactions she

tracked could be traced to a social media post, Mulpuru wrote in her report. 

•  Paid search traffic is the most effective way for retailers

to engage new customers, while email marketing captivates returning customers, Mulpuru wrote. 

But social media continues to be important for Moms

And it’s not just for Millennials

But there are still a lot ofpeople who “don’t get it”

•  Social media is dictated entirely by consumers, not brands. Trends,

discussions, and points of interest are going to be generated by news, current events and pop culture, not brand business goals.

•  Every marketer is trying to maximize earned media, but with the exception of a

few brilliantly conceived lines by a handful of companies, the majority of the hashtag encouragement is a waste of time (and for anyone promoting trends, a waste of money).

•  The brands that really achieve earned media at scale are the ones who

relevantly insert themselves into ongoing conversations in a fun or witty way. •  Consumers' attention spans are shortening by the second; most news is only

relevant for a day or two, if not less.

They buy into the social media myths

•  Most consumers want to have relationships with your brand. –  Only 23% of the consumers in a study said they have a relationship with a brand. In the

typical consumer’s view of the world, relationships are reserved for friends, family and colleagues.

•  Interactions build relationships.

–  No, they don’t. Shared values build relationships. A shared value is a belief that both the brand and consumer have about a brand’s higher purpose or broad philosophy.

•  The more interaction the better.

–  Wrong. There’s no correlation between interactions with a customer and the likelihood that he or she will be “sticky” (go through with an intended purchase, purchase again, and recommend). Yet, most marketers behave as if there is a continuous linear relationship between the number of interactions and share of wallet.

Source:HBR.org · by Karen Freeman, Patrick Spenner and Anna Bird

While there is risk marketersare measuring the wrong metrics

And believe engagement increases reach

Engaging in the conversation" does not increase your reach in social media.

blog.hubspot.com  ·∙  by  Dan  Zarrella  ·∙  August  16,  2011  

While consumers trust eachother more than marketers messages

Some recommend jabbing withconsumers but I believe they’re

smarter than that •  Instead of going for an

immediate sale the first time a prospect gets to hear about your brand, you should first build the relationship by providing high-quality micro-content with no strings attached.

•  If you've engaged them intelligently, they will then respond to your offer.

So then do brands really need social media?

But first

The reality for thesocial media journey

•  QUIT trying to DO social media.

–  Quit worrying about being first to tweet a post, first to wake up in the morning and post a cat photo to Facebook. Instead get in your office, roll up your sleeves and do the hard work that needs done.

•  It is YOUR responsibility to educate your stakeholders on the fact this is a

journey, not a destination. –  You must help educate them, change their mindset over time and let them know there is no quick fix

Band-Aid called social media that is going to save the broken parts of the business. •  It’s not about completing the task list of randomness that makes you feel good

each day. –  It’s about making forward progress on your journey to become a social business. It’s about raising your

own bar above the status quo. It’s about making the shots you were previously afraid to even try for. •  It’s about aligning social to your audience needs and business goals, period.

–  It’s not rocket science, but it takes time and it takes investment in process, not just Vine videos, Instagram and pretty Facebook images of cats and quotes for posting.

Source: http://www.pammarketingnut.com/2014/02/social-media-business-results-agency/

And clearly define your objectives

Along with success metrics

And don’t forget to generatebuy-in from organizational influencers

Because your brand needsto be on social media

Consumers expect you to be on social media if they want answers on your product/brand.

But before you start get toreally know your customers

Is your brand/product worthyof a social media relationship?

Look in your pantry..

How many of those brands do consumers have time to have a social media relationship with ?

And what are the primary drivers of action?

Even couples are using social media

•  The internet, cell phones, and social media have become key actors in the life of many American couples— the 66% of adults who are married or in committed relationships.

•  Married and partnered adults are just as likely as those not in a relationship to say they have sent sexts; single adults are more likely to report receiving and forwarding such images or videos.

Source:Pew Internet

And marketers forget that BLOG’s are social media too

Blogs’ influence and trust level drive purchase intent

Key questions to ask beforeinvesting resources into social media

1.  How important is our brand/product in consumers everyday life ? 2.  Is our brand/product worthy of a social media relationship? 3.  Are consumers going to research our product via the Internet and social

media or is the decision to purchase made in-store? 4.  Have I convinced the organization that social media marketing is a journey

and will not lead to overnight success? 5.  Do we have someone who can collaborate, listen and respond without

sounding like a sales person? 6.  What’s really important to our prospects & customers? 7.  Have we done a really good job with our branded website? 8.  Have we done our research on how to add value to our customers?

In the end it’s about

And

About Me

I  am  a  marke(ng  contrarian  in  that  I  always  try  and  challenge  people  to  do  their  best  when  it  comes  to  digital  marke(ng  because  the  power  has  shi8ed  from  marketers  to  consumers.    I  currently  own  a  consul(ng  business  and  live  in  Sudbury,  Mass.    Mt  clients  have  included  Amazon.com,  Microso8,  Paramount  Pictures,  Nature  Made,  Amgen,  and  Amgen.    I  love  the  challenge  of  digital  marke(ng  and  would  like  to  hear  from  you  as  well.    You  can  reach  me  here.  

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