A BBC reported today on an annual survey highlighting the time spent on social media now overtakes that of TV, with 15 year old’s spending on average 4.8 hours per day. What does this mean for marketers and advertisers? It’s clear, go where the customers go, on to Social Media!
Clearly this report focuses on young people but Social Media has been around for some time now, Facebook was founded in 2004, therefore it shows the trend is amongst all age groups.
I come across many people suggesting that their business isn’t social and therefore not suitable for social media. I would of course disagree, even if you are a firm of accountants, I’m confident that the vast majority of their clients will be on Facebook, therefore why not build the relationship further on Facebook?
Where you have to be careful is to ensure the tone of content is suitable to the platform you are using. An accountant could post pics of new staff, interesting businesses they have worked with, topical relevant news and share useful short tips for their buyer personas. What business owner or FD not want to know how to save some cash on their tax returns! They will be interested regardless whether they are in the office, in front of the TV or on the golf course.
Carrying on with the golf example, you might not think it’s related to Accountancy, yet you have lots of golf days organised by accountants. This is due to the simple fact that they know a significant number of their clients play golf and they would like to build their relationships, Social Media is no different.
Finally, I also hear retailers turn their nose up at the likes of Facebook and twitter because of the very low conversion rate (few followers actually buy from being on social media). This information is based on Google Analytics showing where the sales have come from. Most will be coming from Google, whether it be organic or paid and very little from social media. This doesn’t mean that social media activities are not having a positive effect, as I’m pretty sure that TV advertisers such as Jaguar don’t expect people to see one of their ads, get up, leave the house and then stroll into their dealership. They know however, if they constantly get their appealing messages in front of their Buyer Personas, they will then think of them when looking for a new car in Google.
Social Media is perfect for top of the funnel brand awareness activity and increase the numbers searching your brand or choosing to click on your brand in Google. Once the sales process is over, Social Media doesn’t stop, it’s also perfect for after-sales, having delighted them with your product/service, they can then promote your business for you, by engaging in your future posts.
To summarise, all you need to know is that your customers are most definitely on social media and so should you.
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