Social Media Marketing: Does the End Justify the Means?

We all know the outstanding popularity of social media websites. With the creation of a new type of segment to target to, the development of a new service, social media marketing, has become inevitable for millions of companies around the world.

I have already talked about some disadvantages associated with social media marketing, and how to overcome them. Now, on a more positive note, lets talk about the benefits of developing a good social media strategy:

1)   Customer Engagement with the company/ Brand Awareness: This is an obvious benefit that results from social networking websites. The more you engage the customer (by giving them more information about the products, doing raffles, surveys, posting pictures, tweeting, etc.) the more you make your brand stick in their head, which leads to customer retention and loyalty.

2)   Low cost: Social media can be very inexpensive compared to other promotion tools and the results that it might bring. Social networking websites offer free registration, and the endless things that can be done with these accounts (if wisely used) are relatively affordable. We need to have in mind that a staff dedicated to maintaining these websites is needed, and paid ads within these websites are also good since it helps bringing more followers (due to behavioral marketing).

3)   Customer Service: Social networking sites bring an alternative way of offering customer service to customers. Is an easy and interactive way of doing it, and by answering a question to one customer, this same answer might help a hundred of other customers. It is a quick and easy way for users since they are almost all the time connected to their networking sites, and prefer this medium rather than others available.

4)   Feedback: Interactive feedback can be really beneficial for a company. Through customer interactions and opinions about products, a company can immediately know the different reactions to new products or services, and act accordingly. Feedback through social networking site might also reduce the cost and time of doing surveys, phone calls, and focus groups in order to gather and measure qualitative and quantitative data, and create reports. Even though some feedback might be negative and the effect of word of mouth might also affect the brand negatively among its costumer, the same medium and exposure can be used to restore the image (as discussed in my previous post).

5)   Market Research: As mentioned before, social media marketing leads to easier gathering of qualitative and quantitative data, which is crucial for marketing research. These are different things that can be result from social media, and that can be used for marketing research:   

a)Online Focus groups

                         b)Online Trends

                        c) Online Forums           

6)   Leads: Social media is about lead generation.  But it does not stop there, it should be used as an essential tool to educate these leads and improve the lead conversion opportunities.

Social media websites are an awesome tool to build communities, and also to maintain, educate, and engage these communities into the company’s culture. I believe that this is one of the areas of marketing that should be more prioritized and valued in a company. It is accessible, and with effort it can generate dramatic results. ROI is difficult to measure, but is very attainable!

Happy Sharing!

- Nicole Quinones

Sources:

Horton Chris (2012), “Why Social Media Marketing is a Bust for Most Companies”, Social Media Today (April 13), http://socialmediatoday.com/synecoretech/489132/why-social-media-marketing-bust-most-companies

“Benefits of Social Media for Market Research”, Frontera Marketing Group, (January 18, 2011) < http://fronterahouse.com/blog/2011/01/18/benefits-of-social-media-for-market-research/>

Who Said Interacting Was Easy?

As many of you know, Social Media Marketing has become one of the most crucial marketing strategies for companies nowadays. The first question that would arise is WHY?

Social media has become very popular among millions of people around the world. Users describe social media websites (i.e. Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, etc.) as addicting and perfect for easy and convenient interaction with friends. It works great for people that have friends in other parts of the world, or that don’t have time to meet with friends because of their hectic schedules and fast pace lives.

At the same time, this became a perfect opportunity for many companies to be able to interact with customers. The fact that they would be able to reach out millions of users throughout advertisements via these online sites was exciting, but even more exciting became the fact that they could use the tool of social media to interact directly with the consumers.

Many disadvantages have been brought to the table when it comes to companies interacting with customers via social media websites. Even though these might discourage a company, I would never suggest leaving your company out of social media marketing.  This is the biggest medium of communication nowadays, and a company with no Twitter, or Facebook accounts, among others, would be literally an outcast! We need to have in mind that any strategy will always have its pros and cons.

I will now present some negative issues that can arise due to interacting with customers in social media websites, and their solutions or “on the bright side” statements:

1-    Interacting in social media websites takes a lot of time, and time is money.

We have to understand that although is difficult to measure the ROI for social media marketing, this definitely creates a great value, brand awareness, and customer loyalty that in the long run, are crucial for a company’s growth and development in an industry. Any company facing issues with having to spend a lot of time in order to answer their customers’ feedbacks and questions, should have a staff dedicated to social media which only tasks would be to be on top of these accounts. Some companies might need a bigger staff depending on the amount of followers and users interacting on their website. A company should never stop the interaction because this will slower down the customer awareness of the brand since many other companies will come to play, and catch their attention. There are many approaches to minimize the costs incurred with social marketing, and get the most of it.

2- Social Media is full of many companies interacting too.

It might become more difficult to attract customers due to the fact that there are many companies that use the tool of social media, but this would happen anyways in other mediums. The key is to be creative! Also, social media is a good way to track your competitor’s tactics.

3- Negativity may arise from interaction.

Word of mouth has always been there. Every company will always have bad word of mouth for many different reasons. Not every customer will be satisfied with your product, and this is something any firm needs to deal with. I personally believe that the same medium used to spread a negative comment or feedback, would be the best to use to revert the effect.  On the bright side, the bad feedbacks will be able to be measured, and somewhat controlled because these can traceable. The company could learn from these feedbacks and know what the consumers are really looking for. Customization would be more assertive!

In conclusion, even though the ROI results for social media marketing are very hard to measure, the creation of value and brand image are worth the struggle. Be aware that recurring to social media is a never-ending project, but the positive outcomes and uses can be infinite!

This is an interesting video about the importance of social media marketing nowadays!

Enjoy Sharing!

-Nicole Quinones

Sources:

Cohen, Heidi (2011), "Do You Know What Your Social Media Marketing Really Costs?", ClickZ (July 11), <http://www.clickz.com/clickz/column/2086747/social-media-marketing-costs>

Ray, Augie (2010), "The ROI Of Social Media Marketing: More Than Dollars And Cents", Forrester (July 19), <http://blogs.forrester.com/augie_ray/10-07-19 roi_social_media_marketing_more_dollars_and_cents>

TUMBLR: A “Happily Ever After” Social Networking Website?

    For the last 10 years, we have seen an amazing increase when it comes to online social networking. It has become part of our culture, and up to a point, that is difficult to remember about that time without MySpace, Facebook, or Twitter. Even many the other websites have integrated the system of “sharing” their articles, videos, and information, on the social networking sites. One might think that the only social networking websites that exist are the most popular we all hear about, but there are so many of them, and with different formats. Somehow, almost every online user is linked to one of these, or in many cases, to several at the same time! Nowadays, it is so common to hear: “I have a Facebook account, also a Twitter, a Tumblr, and a LinkedIn account…”

            Now, what is it that has made these websites so successful?  What is their major risk? Is it new trends or maybe loosing popularity?  At what point do the users get tired of them?

Tumblelogging

            Tumblr is a social media platform created by David Karp in 2007. This Website was created as a microblogging platform, but it also serves as a social networking site, which has made it stand out from many other regular blog sites. Tumblr users describe the site as addictive, easy to use, and what they love the most about it, is the concept of “fast-blogging”. 

            One of the things that has made this website so successful, is the fact that users feel they can express themselves in an easy way, they can be creative, and above all things, the fact that many other users around the world can appreciate their blogs by “following” or “sharing”. For them is fulfilling the fantasy of “being followed”, as I called this phenomenon. We all human have the need of attention, admiration, and popularity. This is what is so genius about Tumblr. Its founder knew that when you combine easiness, blogging, and a full network of people willing to see and share your posts, in which you can express whatever you want with no limits, the results of this would be millions of users!

Talking About Business…

Once a person gets addicted and used to an interactive website like Tumblr, the consumer loyalty grow by itself. But in order to prevent a decline like many other sites did in the past (do you remember about hi5?), the site would have to keep bringing interesting features to be able to maintain the consumers engaged, and build stronger customer relationships. New ideas and benefits for the users will keep them excited and satisfied. One good strategy is that of celebrities joining social networking sites. Twitter has gained millions of users just because of the fact that many wanted to “follow” the celebrities that had a Twitter account. As well as with Tumblr, in which even the very own President Obama has his blog!

Many other sites will come to play as competitors, and try to gain the users. Nowadays we can see the strong competition among social networking sites. So, what is the key to keep in business?  Creativity and Uniqueness.

By analyzing all the sites, I would draw the conclusion that what consumers really pursue is the freedom of self- expression, with a combination of media, customizable elements, and again, easiness. A successful social platform is the one that makes the user feel like that is HIS or HER website. 

Winning phrases? “ Join ME on Facebook”,  “ Follow MY Tumblr”, “Follow ME on Twitter”.

By the way, you can visit my Tumblr here 

Talking About Stalkers...

       Behavioral advertising is a strategy that has become very common and essential for companies to promote their products in the Internet.  About 2.3 billion people around the world have access to the Internet, and as of December 2011, Facebook had 845 million monthly active users. These statistics give us a clue of why companies are so dedicated to e-marketing. It is good to mention the strategy introduced by Amazon, in which in addition to the fact that the site is personalized for each of its customers, the site generates a list of recommended books based on the purchase history of the customer. Sellers also match the individuals’ tastes and preferences with specific products by checking the consumers’ Facebook profiles or the websites they browse. Now, some questions can arise like, at what point can customized advertising become stalker advertising? Or when does building a relationship with a customer through behavioral advertising become a struggling relationship?

Beware of What You Ask for!

        Many consumers are getting more worried about their privacy in the Internet because of the data collection that is needed by companies in order to customize advertisings. With the new privacy matters related to Facebook and Google, we can see how many consumers are rising up and complaining about how unsecured they feel, and how their privacy is being violated. But have they thought about the fact that maybe is their fault and not Google’s, or Facebook’s?  Do they remember about the privacy agreement they had to sign before registering in these sites?

Consumers have become addicted to social networking Web sites, and also to the fact of publishing every aspect of their lives: where they are at, what they are having for dinner, what they are wearing, what country the visited for vacations, etc… How can they complain about privacy when they are the ones divulging it? 

Facebook and Google on the Attack!

      Facebook and Google have a very critical competitive advantage that any company would wish for: A BIG list of users. Both have been able to become an essential part of each of their consumers and it is funny how people complain about Facebook and Google, but you don’t see them leaving their services. These Web sites are in a point that they can do whatever they want, and they will continue to do so. They will continue micro segmenting the online population, and taking advantages of the tools they have available (the data of their million users). They are doing a trade with consumers: their free services for personal information. The following video refers to the concerns of the consumers when it comes to the new Google privacy policy. For those who are against the policy, what would be their solution? CLOSE their account. 

On the Bright Side…

    Data collection is not the problem, but the methods online forces use. Behavioral advertising is beneficial to consumers since they are being targeted with the products they would mainly prefer or match their interests. Web site should though be a little more sensitive when it comes to the privacy of online consumers in order to maintain peace, and maybe don’t push consumers so directly, but smoother. The right targeting can bring great effectiveness not only for advertisers, but also for the customer experience.

Again, what would be the solution for consumers who claim for privacy?  If you don't want them to know, don't spread it! Simple as that!

References:

 "Internet Usage Statistics" (2011), Internet World Stats  <http://www.internetworldstats.com/stats.htm>

  Elias G. Carayannis and Jeffrey Alexander, "Electronic Commerce" 

<http://www.referenceforbusiness.com/management/De-Ele/Electronic-Commerce.html#b>