It may seem counter-productive for us to write such a post, after all, aren’t we supposed to laud the merits of social media? Isn’t it the end all of online marketing means? It is for most, but we’re in it for the long haul, and the long haul requires perspective and honesty, how else will we grow and outlive the growing pains of a new methodology?
We recently came across a great quote that summed up the difficulties of social media as a primary marketing tool quite well.
Social media can only successful if you integrate it and support it through other marketing means
One of the greatest issues we face as an agency is the desire by our clients to be a strong marketing tool for them without any other means for us to draw upon. What we mean is, social media is the vehicle, but we need the passenger, and that passenger is you.
It can be as simple as you attending conferences, networking or your brand’s community involvement. This gives us something to talk about that promotes you without being blatant, after all, the 80/20 rules still applies in the digital world. One of the greatest supplementations to social media is a blog, a place where your expertise, adventures and humanity can play out in an arena that we drive traffic towards.
Content marketing is our greatest ally, it is the passenger we want in our vehicle.
The dissemination of one blog post can yield countless posts on other channels, all titled with a different reference to the article itself. As an example, we can yield a good 15 posts over the course of a week from one article. We can turn it into an infographic and post it on Pinterest, we can make it a whitepaper and provide it as a download in exchange for a prospects email address, helping us grow your mailing list, in essence, it helps us turn your brand’s expertise into evergreen content (long lasting content that boosts SEO).
So you ask, ‘What can social media do if I don’t have another marketing means running?’.
Three very important things.
- Your presence creates Brand Awareness, helps to legitimize your brand in the eyes of online users. Twitter is used by many as a customer service hub for the brands they like, are you available to answer questions so quickly?
- Facebook gives you the opportunity to create a community of advocates (Audience Cultivation) that keep you top of mind when your services becomes a need, are you involved in their daily dose of humour, community or education?
- LinkedIn helps build your reputation through Engagement, helping to put your entrepreneurship into the greater community, building connections that are vastly different than other channels. Do your competitors know who you are? Does your next partnership see your successes?
*channels used are solely reference
As you can see, social media has its uses as a sole marketing effort, but combined with other means, content marketing, community & industry involvement, the possibilities become exponentially great and more potent.
So in closing, consider how you can leverage social media to benefit an already active approach to your brands awareness and you’ll begin to see why so many people see our medium as a god-send.
