Social Media and The Importance of Having a Strategy

Social Media is the buzz word of the day for professional and amateur marketers alike, and most business have at the very least a growing knowledge of what the term means, if not how it can be used for their own individual companies. So just how important is it for companies to get on board and start engaging in this exploding practice? The answer depends on how committed you are to coming up with a solid strategy on how you will use it.

Looking at recent data collected in April of 2010, especially at a cursory glance level, it appears that while a majority of marketing professionals are touting the importance of wading into the social media waters, only 35% feel like their efforts have resulted in increased profits or revenues.

When you get beyond those numbers, however, another interesting trend shows up. Those professionals that responded that they had seen increased profits as a result of social media efforts were twice as likely to have a “formal strategy”, and were also more likely to have people specifically designated to manage their social media campaigns.

So what was the biggest obstacle for not having a firm social media strategy? “Not having enough data to come up with a measure of return on investment”, which was followed closely by not having senior management buy in.

The lesson here is clear: Social media can be a powerful tool, but makes sure you plan ahead on HOW you will use it. Take the time to create a defined strategy and to do that start with garnering data on who your target customer is. What will build the most community around your brand, and cause social media users to engage with it and then share it with others? Take a look at your website analytics and understand the mindset, wants and needs of the common users are.

Social Media is not a panacea for all marketing ailments as some may have you believe, but those businesses that ignore its power and pervasiveness do so at their own peril. A study conducted in March of 2010 revealed that among the participating small to midsized companies that sold B2C those that had active Twitter accounts had double the median monthly leads over non-Twitter using companies. Furthermore, the more active the Twitter account, the more powerful a tool it became. In the same study, companies with 100-500 followers on Twitter generated 146% more median monthly leads than those with 21-100 followers. Among companies that sell B2B, those that maintained an active blog between December 2009 and February 2010 generated almost double the monthly leads as those that had no blog.

Thinking about sticking your toe in the social marketing pool? There’s a great big market share out there waiting for you, just make sure you have the right target, good aim, and a plan on how to hit the mark. Let us know if we can help!

From where you are to where you want to be,

Doug