It’s obvious to all of us that social media has become an integral part of our social media marketing plans. According to a recent BI Intelligence report, Americans spend more time on social media than anything else on the internet. According to research done at Duke University and shared on the Wall Street Journal, Facebook and Twitter alone account for 9% of marketing budgets, and if the growth continues it will reach 21% in the year to come. If you are going to spend on social, then make sure you are doing everything to increase SMM ROI. Want to be better? Want your profiles to scream “authority”? Want to be a must-follow on social media?
1. Social media isn’t about creating a great brand. It’s about acting as if you already have one – @SXSW
Social media is a place to be creative and is your best opportunity at interacting with your community. You create the backbone of your brand in the office, and when use social media practice is over for branding. You put on the big boy pants and sit at the grown-ups table.
Take for example the UK based @Red_Web_Design that shares content as well as anyone on Twitter. Are they the largest web design firm in the UK? It doesn’t appear that way, however on Twitter they don’t just talk the walk, they walk the walk – and have got us reeled in as a fan of their brand.
2. What’s the point in having 33 million fans if you don’t do anything good with them – @AEWheeler
Much too often we see people playing the “numbers” game on social media – adding/following someone and then unfollowing moments later just so they can win at the “numbers” game. Check out @lollydaskal, @ericttung, and @2morrowknight. What do they have in common? The ability to engage – they are top dog social media influencers – that don’t engage themselves in a game of numbers. They just use their profiles day in and day out to ”just engage”.
3. What’s the ROI of your mother? How can you put a value on a relationship? @GaryVee
What do you and your mother have? Trust (among other things), and so when you connect with someone new on social media, your aim should not be “how do I sell them something”. No, you should be thinking – how do I interact with this person/group so that there is trust between us. Once there is trust, you can create a mountain of other things on top of that. Want to see how? Follow Amtrak.
4. Social media is one area of business where you don’t need to outspend your competitors in order to beat them – @Jeremywaite
We are not about to tell you that you don’t need to ever spend a dime on social media. What we are going to tell you is that the content you share on social media – whether it be video, blog content, or just a message – needs to be perfect. Spending money to reach people won’t help if the message isn’t clear and positive. Why don’t you click on the Facebook ads, or the promoted tweets/accounts? You may not now it, but it has everything to do with the content.
Marketing is all about getting a high ROI – don’t expect a good one if you think promoting a deal is all you need.
5. A brand is no longer what we tell the customer it is – it is what consumers tell each other it is – Scott Cook
Are you familiar with the Applebee’s social media blunder back in 2013? Needless to say, customers were not bragging about the restaurant after their social media failure. Unlike that negative turn of events, DKNY probably avoided a negative PR parade and might have gotten a few raves on social media thanks to their actions.
You can share as many bits and pieces of great content that you want, but if you are not creating a winning relationship then your consumers won’t talk about you. If you are not creating a winning relationship and just trying to sell, you won’t have a community. You can share 10 status update on yourself, but 1 by a consumer is infinitely stronger.
