Four Social Media Marketing Facts That You Need To Know

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In the modern marketing times, we often find ourselves in a big conflict among other competitors. Everyone has their own weapon: social media marketing. Business owners often seem to want specific results from social media campaigns, while they don’t realise that social media marketing is a long journey, not an instant one.

This can cause a clash between social media agencies and their clients. There is a big misunderstanding regarding social media marketing. Here are four bitter but true facts about social media marketing in a nutshell:

1. Forget About ROI (For Now)

No-ROI

Here is the biggest misconception that most business owners believe. They think that the success parameter for a social media campaign is sales. Well, it’s more than that. Social media marketing isn’t merely for pushing products or services.

Here is a little illustration: if you are doing social media marketing only to get a big sales, then prepare yourself to be disappointed. If, on the other hand, you understand that your brand’s identity and awareness can be improved or showcased via these platforms, then you’re starting down a path toward success.

It’s so simple: forfeit any goal, objective, or tactic that you’re expecting will make more sales (or money) in the short term. You should target a bigger goal, which lead us to the point number two…

2. Better and Meaningful Measurements

If money is not our priority anymore (for now), then how do we measure our success?

It’s simple. We are measuring human behavior.

Yes, we are not kidding. People who use your products and services have different behaviors, and your goals will be slightly different from your competitors. Okay, enough with the conception. Here is a real, practical example:

First of all, you need to set a tangible business goal. For example, you want to exceed your top competitor among younger demographic by 20% in the next six months. Thus, you need to break down your goal into several process, such as “reach 10% more users in younger demographic segment with social media messaging”,  “warrant 5% more average engagement from these users” and “increase advocacy within this segment by 5%”. All of those steps must be finished in six months.

The point here is to create a tangible metric that you can connect to the major business objective. You need to know that social media agency is not solely cramming social media to metrics. However, having measurements in place on the most descriptive form can come in handy when you’re determining expectations, making decisions regarding campaigns, or explaining your progress to your clients.

3. Social Media Marketing is A Big Trial and Error Process

A good social media agency is willing to pull any social media efforts  in order to get the best result. However, they also know when to stop and change the direction as well. They always ready to alter, refine and optimise other strategies if needed. Here are some common questions that might appear in the middle of your social media marketing journey:

  • “Is Pinterest or Instagram the better place for our insurance firm to post content?”
  • “Are we attracting the right audience on these channels?”
  • “Are we moving closer to or further from the goals (and mini-goals) we’ve set?”
  • “What should we pursue next?”

If these questions emerge, you need to think about the next steps to do, which lead us to the fourth point…

4. Always Prepare For The Unexpected

Unexpected things happen all the times. It would be better if you have prepared the worst case scenario ahead of time. Here are some tricks you can do to confront the hard times:

1. Set a response time for inbound messages and stick to it

Social media is fast enough to make a flaming post spread like wildfire if it left unresolved. Set a two-hour response window for low-level messages and 30 minutes for those potentially problematic ones.

2. Allocate the right resources to solve the conflict

Dedicate some of your team to handle all inbound social inquiries. Doing this will ensure that responses are consistent, personalized, and quick.

3. Use social media tools to ease your job

Services that offer real-time discussions among your social media team or the ability to quickly assign messages to the right individuals are out there. Assess your needs and choose the best social media tool that suits you (HootSuite, TweetDeck, and Sprout Social all offer this to some degree).

4. When in doubt, redirect the discussion to a private medium

The worse thing than dealing with a very dissatisfied customer is having the problem solving process on the public domain. Often, it is better to have a win-win agreement over personal message rather than in a lengthy chain of commentaries. When sensitive or personally-identifiable information come into play, offer to take the conversation off social either to a phone call, private chat session, or direct email.