Does Social Media Marketing Work?
For some it does, for many it doesn’t. Big brands that already pour large sums into advertising, online and offline, use social media for branding and do it with great success. Of course they also use it to push their products, but they do this subtly, with little or no direct promotion. One of the biggest reasons they use it is for damage control. Hopefully as a small business you don’t have too many spot-fires in social media you need to deal with.
Social media and commercial intent
Big companies know that a user doesn’t log into his Facebook or Twitter account with a commercial intent, only to interact with friends and meet new people; if it happens that a good offer comes their way, they will take it, especially if it’s shared by a friend. But don’t expect a Facebook or a Twitter user to go looking for special deals or offers because they won’t. If they wish to do that, they use Google search.
Small businesses don’t have the advertising and marketing budget that big businesses do, and to compensate, they usually market their products more aggressively on social media sites. This is a counter-productive approach for many, because social media users are not there to buy products but connect and interact with others, and they have little patience for sale-pushers.
Possible effective
Whether or not social media marketing will work for you depends on who you are, what you are promoting, and how you do it. The fact is that despite the ever-growing popularity of social media marketing, not many businesses experience increases in sales that can be easily correlated to their social media activity. And when increases in sales do appear, it’s usually hard to compare the results and the amount of time and effort invested into social media and decide whether all that effort was worth it.
Think less about social media as a marketing tool and use it for branding instead. Use it to connect to customers, to keep them updated, to promote your brand culture, to establish closer connections, and put the occasional spot-fire out. Facebook, Twitter, and Google+ are just perfect for that.
B2C and B2B
One more thing to keep in mind. Social media seems to work better for B2C companies than B2B. Why? There are many theories, here’s my opinion. The purchase cycle in B2B tends to be longer, and customers buy products ‘more rationally’. With B2C the purchases are done more impulsively and emotionally. B2C products and services tend to be more exciting where B2B can often be a little boring. Consider your product and service and whether its something people will want to chat about online. For example, if you are selling hemroid cream, it’s probably not ideal for you.
