Don’t panic. You have not been forgotten or become less popular. It’s just the social media effect. Know the reasons why social media marketing strategy is what companies need.
It’s omnipresent. It’s everywhere and many people cannot survive without it anymore.
And if people benefit from it, then companies can too. It’s one great reason why companies need a good social media marketing strategy. It is an easy way to draw new audiences, convert them in to customers and make them regulars. The consumption of social media is very high and more importantly the viral effect is probably higher than any other medium.
75% of people are somewhat or highly likely to share content they like online with friends, co-workers or family —
49% do this at least weekly
[Source: Chadwick Martin Bailey Consumer Pulse 2010]
Social media can become the mouth piece for a brand. It also doubles up as the eyes and ears to know how consumers are lapping them up and what they want, need and expect from the brand. It has empowered the consumer and companies can now directly hear their voice or see their joy or displeasure. Social media allows you to be the one thing consumers want you to be – Human.
Social media marketing enables brands to have a global reach, empowering them to influence the target audience with content, images and contests at a much more cost-effective efficient manner than any of its predecessor channels. The time it takes to prepare and spread the message across is less than 1/10th the time as compared to any other medium.
The power of social media to penetrate through to the right person is so phenomenal that a company can actually have a person in mind while designing the message and think of all of his tastes and lifestyle quirks to factor that in so the message will reach him and the progress can be monitored. The relevance of the medium to its consumers makes it a platform that cannot be ignored by companies.
Today, it is an integral part of a consumer’s staple virtual diet and hence must be an offering from every company too. It must be an integral part of the marketing and PR strategy right at the beginning and the usage must be as much tactical as strategic. It may be difficult to see the uses and benefits of social media if a company does not have a strategy in place. A huge percentage of companies are hesitant to get down and dirty with a social media marketing strategy because they feel it’s too informal. That, in fact, is one of its biggest advantages.
