SUMMARY: According to the Nielsen CMO Report CMO’s are planning increase spending on social media even though social media marketing is both hard to measure and is “dead” as consumers turn away from organic social media posts. However, a closer look at the data indicates that marketers are including social media advertising as social media marketing. This is a huge mistake.
Marketers have been trained to go where “the eyes” re when it comes to digital media. Despite Facebook’s problems advertisers show no sign that they are willing to abandon the site. However, we must make one thing clear: Facebook has become a media site and as such it’s nothing more than another media site for advertising. So why is social media so hard to measure?
[inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]When it comes to website analytics a lot of marketers have numbers, but very few understand what those numbers are telling them.[/inlinetweet] One example is “path through the site” and “pages viewed”. This analysis can tell you how people are thinking about your brand and how they are approaching the purchase decision yet very few pay attention to this analysis instead focusing on meaningless analytics like website visitors (without bounce rate).
Social Media is still a HUGE customer service tool
80% of all internet users are active on at least one social media platform and social media is a key tool to both listening to and responding to your customers but it has to be done in Internet time. According to the information from this data sheet by UK Website Builder, brands send an average of 23 promotional messages for every 1 response they give to a customer or audience member. Meanwhile, [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]95% of customers who have a complaint will never be heard by the companies or brands they’re trying to reach out to[/inlinetweet]. [inlinetweet prefix=”” tweeter=”” suffix=””]For every 100 people who demand more information about a product, service or brand, only about 13 of them will get a response.[/inlinetweet]
When consumers have a question or a problem about your brand, your window to answer them is short. Consumers have become used to “instant gratification takes too long”. In short, when a consumer becomes a customer they expect you to be there through the whole product journey including using the product.
Do you need to respond to every comment? Of course not, but you need an experienced and empowered social media customer service person who can both thank customers for compliments and reach out to customers who have problems with your product. If you don’t, you risk losing a customer that was very hard to get.
So the bottom line is should brands invest invest in social media? The short answer is YES. However, don’t lump in ads on Facebook as social media marketing and learn to leverage what consumers are saying about your brand, and competitors, on social media for marketing intelligence. The challenge is to do it so it doesn’t become just another “data deck” buried in your inbox.
