Exploring the world of social media and how it relates to the success, conversion, and audience of business in the marketing world.
The other day, I saw that a major retail bank is on Instagram. And only one question screamed in my mind: WHY?
Why would a large retail bank feel the need to be present on Instagram? Social media is a powerful communication channel, yes—but for a corporation, it is not a must-have in the least.
Social media is overhyped. A study conducted by Time back in 2014 showed some staggering revelations: Not everyone who clicked, read. The same applies to shares.
Many businesses have a common misconception that adding social media to the communication plan of a campaign simply means replicating the same message on those social media channels. Wrong!
Social media is overhyped. A study conducted by Time back in 2014 showed some staggering revelations: Not everyone who clicked, read.
Not all messages are made to be viewed on a mobile device. Some customers may prefer to use other methods to seek information about your business and keep Instagram for friends and family only.
Remember that online marketing doesn’t automatically mean mobile marketing. Don’t equate social media to marketing. Social media is meant to get you to network and socialize with your audience.So before you join the social media gang, let’s put things in perspective:
Each social media has its own community, and believe it or not, you can’t bundle them all up as one. Pinterest followers have different lifestyles and characteristics than those who use Twitter; Facebook is a whole different ballgame when compared to Instagram. Manage those individualities and tailor messages accordingly.
Do you have resources to manage your social media presence? It’s not enough to just hire a wiz that administers and disseminates your social presence. You need a social media marketing strategy with targets, tools, and, most importantly, aptitude for subtle, not-so-in-your-face marketing.Apparently, social media accounts for 1.14% of all e-commerce traffic (source: marketingtechblog.com). That number seems too low, true, but this refers to actual conversion into business, which makes sense.
When a business publicly puts itself on the line, open to all, it can invite some negative feedback and possibly risks.
When compared to word of mouth, social media ranks pretty low to a call to action that actually results with financial impact. Email, for instance, still has a much higher conversion ratio, so win by establishing rapport via email instead of a generic Instagram post.
When a business publicly puts itself on the line, open to all, it can invite some negative feedback and possibly risks. A public profile means all comments—good or bad—are accessible. Deleting them is not an option, but dealing with them is a must. Sometimes the whiplash of negative comments resonates for a long time.And lastly, what happens online, stays online. Literally. It will never be deleted no matter what you do. A marketing mistake, a glitch—it will haunt your brand forever. So if your business has a lot of risks associated with it (by nature), perhaps its best if you steer clear from such turbulent marketing tools.
