In the modern era, almost every brand has social media presence. Most of the digital marketers have noticed that they need to cough up more and more in order to achieve any significant reach.
Considering social media is increasingly becoming a paid channel rather than an earned one, it is imperative to reevaluate its role in marketing mix.
Here are the few things that can be taken into consideration about how to make the most of your thousands or possibly millions of fans and followers on social media platforms.
- Turn your Fans and Followers into Subscribers
Your emails get delivered more than 95% of the time, while Facebook posts get delivered 3% of the time. In short, it has ‘Killing’ organic reach.
Tip: If you get an option to choose between adding a subscriber to your email contacts list or getting a new Facebook fan, go for email every time.
While you progress, you can also collect some relevant customer data. This is simply possible with a social-enabled log in option or subscription like Facebook Connect.
Before you proceed any further, you need to keep in mind these two points:
- You should have a genuine, valuable proposition that your target customer is willing to subscribe for. This can consistently valuable and relevant content and/or just a giveaway with prizes that your subscriber will be delighted about.
- It should clear to the prospective subscriber that the data you ask for other than the email address is for their own benefit in the near future. For example, Consistent relevant updates will be sent to their inbox.
- Weigh Up the Return on Investment on Paying to Earn
Expect a positive response. It is obvious that not all your fans and followers will subscribe to you instantly, especially in the earlier buying stages. You need to analyze how you built your following:
For example, if you or the past marketers made people subscribe you using various kinds of advertisements, what valuable propositions did you use? All you need to do is compare the number of people you’ve been able to convert in terms of clicks and sales to other channels. If it is actually better than the rest, then social media is worthy of your paid media budget, especially for future prospects who are still in the research phase of their journey.
While you are still scrutinizing your options, it is essential to balance apples with apples. If you’ve majorly ignored the other channels in the past compared to social media, and they’re still contributing a similar amount of traffic and revenue; gains might be higher there with a little more effort.
- Provide value to Influential People over Social Networks
As nearly all marketers know, people are much more inclined towards other people than brand names.
Your customers are a valuable marketing asset. It’s because of them you earn a popularity and name along with revenues. It is pretty much evident that after years of utilizing remarkable digital tools and channels, customer experience is the new black in digital marketing. A good impression just lasts for seconds. Whereas, relationships last for years and years.
You need to develop positive relationships with you best clients and relevant influencers. They can be individuals or different communities. They will spread the word for you to the right people. The very same group of people who are of your targeted age demography.
The bond you create with people is of foremost importance as new social media networks emerge from time to time and fade away faster than any one brand can really keep up with the people who were a part of it. Hence, try to build a connection with your prospective customers and collect as much data as possible.
What needs to be done is the prioritization of the provision of value to the people who/can play a vital role in your business.
None of this is to say social media has no value anymore. However, the historic abuse of social as a ‘free’ part-earned, part-paid channel has led to social networks clamping down on brand reach.
In turn, that has prompted the question of how to reach those customers again, preferably in a more efficient, win-win way. Doing so may just be the best entry into a more customer-centric, personal form of marketing that delivers rather than disrupts the expected results.
