What Role Does Social Media Play In Marketing

A discussion on the importance of social media might seem outdated, even now. However, while social data collected by the big networks clearly shows a stark rise in the number of business to customer (B2C) sites and promotions, they're no where near the surprisingly high number of businesses and marketers who have still not figured out the role that social media can play in their online businesses and the dramatic ROI that many are getting.

We now know that social media generates two times the number of leads as trade shows, telemarketing, emails, or PPC. We also know that the natural and "word-of-mouth" phenomenon makes the value of social link or recommendation many times more influential in creating a user action than a typical link in a blog post or article.

Its clear to see that yes, social matter in business, and matters a lot. Yet surprisingly there are still many business (both large and small) and affiliates who haven't made serious efforts to put their message in front of these potential customers. Is it simply a matter of not knowing what to do, or perhaps a lack of time which prevents people from jumping on the social media train?

What Are The Experts Saying?

Is social media really important for businesses?

The answer to this question is simple, and we all know the answer. Yes, its a universal consensus that social media is no longer just another platform for businesses to explore, it's a must. En.gauge.media calls it "The biggest shift since the industrial revolution." That's a bold statement, but if you spend any time at all looking at the numbers it seems clear that the business / customer relationship is about to get face to face on a universal scale.

Unlike like old-fashioned and traditional online media like magazines, blogs, and even this article, where people browse through and leave, social media calls for (almost beg for) sharing and personal engagement. And that single action, that click of the Like, Share, Pin, Favorite, Tweet or other social share button is the magic that drives the phenomenal growth and power of social media.

While it's the short snippets of information along with powerful visuals that satisfy the growing need of "short and sweet" information in the media age, the act of sharing it, of giving the personal endorsement, is what makes these networks the powerhouses that they are, and its why national and global brands are tripping over themselves trying to establish their identities early.

For example, the largest brand on Pinterest is Nordstrom, which has over 4.4 million followers. The power that this simple and FREE social media site gives to Nordstrom is nothing short of amazing. They can reach 4 1/2 million customers at will. Think about the impact that such a connection can have even for small businesses.

Do you actively use social media in your business?

It would be interesting to see what others think about the ongoing emergence of social media as a serious business tool and how it is shaking out in terms of its influence on both sides... marketing and purchasing.

How To Maximize Facebook Marketing

Considered By Some The Most Important Social Site For Business

Every major social site has a distinct advantage for businesses and marketers, but Facebook stands at the top of the list of platforms for a few reasons. First, the numbers don't lie and Facebook has a lot going for it. In a 2013 study at SocialMediaExaminer.com (the image above is from this report) they asked online marketers to choose the most important social network for the business efforts. Here's what they wrote:

"Because only one choice was allowed, the findings are revealing. Nearly half of marketers (49%) chose Facebook as their most important platform, followed by LinkedIn (16%), blogging (14%) and then Twitter (12%)."

Next, there's an enormous opportunity on Facebook for advertisers and businesses to drill down very tightly into a niche or interest thanks to the extensive data collection practices of virtually all of the networks. That ability to target specific demographics means less wasted money and resources trying to find your customers. Granted, conversions will always rely on your presentation and call to action, but common sense dictates that narrowing your campaigns down to very-specific, targeted audiences will have a higher ROI.

How business and affiliates approach Facebook marketing is also important. It is costly and time-consuming to build, manage and test campaigns on a large scale. Having the ability to automate a lot of the work is key to growing your reach via larger and more campaigns, and the enhanced ROI that you can get via direct social media marketing means you can invest even more into it.

Facebook Marketing Software

Are there good alternatives to manual management?

For the most part businesses have to hire dedicated staff to manage their online presence and separate staff to manage advertising campaigns. While this may seem like common sense when we're talking about large businesses, but how do these time requirements affect smaller businesses and online marketers? It turns out that it does have an impact and may even be a limiting factor for many smaller affiliates who cannot afford to outsource.

That's why Jason Fladlien spent over $150,000 developing a new Facebook marketing program called FB Echo. His stated goal was to make something which made it simpler and easier for people to take advantage of the opportunity that Facebook provides by automating a lot of the work.It also opens the possibility o getting away from those dinky little "sponsored" ad slots in the right sidebar, which no one pays attention to, and get your brand, product or offer right in front of people via the Fan Page. It does more, but I'll those interested dig in to it more.

The point is to start looking at social media as more than just "another" medium, but as the top choice of advertising medium of the top professionals and businesses. The potential is enormous and there's no reason for anyone to not utilize it more, and better.

Below is a video review of FB Echo and perhaps more importantly why Social Media matters to marketers and businesses of all size.