Why All Your Advertising Needs To Have A Social Meida Element To Be Effective
All marketing campaigns need to have a social media elemnt
Social marketing builds relationships, promotes content and influences buyers before they are even interested in your offer. We all like to buy from people we like and trust. If friends recommend products to us we are more inclined to buy them.
Social media allows companies to show their personality and engage with prospects. A company can have followers on social media sites that grow to become their advocates. Then these “fans” do the selling peer to peer. O guia completo
However social media alone may not do enough especially when it comes to selling B2B. Advertising works, but today it works best when it involves an element of social media. Combine the two and your campaign will have a broader reach and more effect.
“Marketing today is difficult. There are 200 million people on the US “Do Not Call” list. Over 84% of TV viewers admit to skipping commercials. 44% of direct marketing is never opened. Roughly 99.9% of online banner sare never clicked. Buyers wait until they have completed 60 – 80% of their research before reaching out to vendors.”
Michael Brenner – Senior Director of Global Marketing at SAP
Why do I need social media marketing to sell to businesses?
Previously businesses sold through sales reps and sales events. They promoted with direct marketing and brand building. Then with the advent of the Google search in 1998 B2B marketing moved to pay-per-click (PPC) and SEO. We wanted to be found.
Then being found wasn’t enough we need to offer white papers and downloads to get people on to our lists. Then we could nurture the prospect before trying to sell. Now today the SEO and PPC still has a place. In fact email marketing is still the most productive for actually getting sales.
However social media engagement drives interactions on the web. Through all the many connections businesses can create peer to peer selling rather than business to client. They can build valuable relationships and use them to promote sharing and engagement. This is why every marketing campaign needs to have a social element.
Stats Taken from “2012 Social Marketing Marketing Industry Resort” by the Socail Media Examiner:
• 59% of marketers are using social media 6 hours a week or more
• 74% of marketers reported that social media marketing has increased their site traffic
• 85% of marketers that the number 1 benefit of social media marketing is generating more business exposure
• 93% of B2B marketers use social media marketing to market their business
Social Media Marketing Basics
• Be social – make content interesting, engaging and fun – don’t take yourself too seriously
• Combine social with paid and see powerful results
• You still need a good offer, and engaging web content
• Be sure and have a reason for them to leave their data
• Give value first (my motto) – give away as much as you can
• Social is 2-way so involve people in the conversation
• Peer to peer sharing is the best way to get your message spread and heard
Getting Started – a few questions to ask in planning…
This seems like a daunting task and it can be a bit overwhelming. If you already have social media you need to bring all channels in to line. You get a much greater effect if you have all channels running in concert.
Decide where the content is going to come from and who will be responsible for the follow up conversations.
Know where your prospects are and go there. It’s no use being on Vine if you are selling to the silver surfers. See the chart below.
Set clear goals, or you won’t know if you have succeeded.
Ask if you have the resources to commit to this strategy fully and for the long term. Social media needs to be worked on over time.
Is your company website ready for the added attention? What will it do to engage with these new visitors and how will you capture their data?
Are you committed to have every advertising and promotional initiative include a social media element?