Is Your Business Too Reliant On Social Media?

There is a fine line between integrating social media as part of an overall marketing strategy and relying completely on it to market a business. Just because social media is the so-called “next big thing”, it doesn’t mean that it can be a business-savior.

The following are some reasons why relying on social media along won’t guarantee marketing success.

News Sharing

Sharing company and product news and information solely via information will limit the people who may see it. In additional to sharing news, new products, and other developments, other marketing outlets that should be utilized include:

• Press Releases
• News Section on the Website or Blog
• Radio and TV
• Mailing List

Campaigns & Coupons

Marketing and promotional campaigns are great to grow a social media audience (including Twitter followers and Facebook likes), via giveaways, contests, and awareness promotions. However, any marketing efforts should be spread evenly among all marketing channels.

For instance, if a business is trying to grow their social media presence and is going to give away a laptop computer to a random Facebook fan.

Besides promoting the giveaway on their Facebook page, they should also mention the giveaway on their website, in their store, on their products, in employee email signatures, and anywhere else current and perspective customers may see it. This helps drive traffic and engagement by moving customers from one marketing medium to another.

Not Considering Demographics

When it comes down to it, social media is going to reach a certain demographic — people who use social media. For some companies, this may be ideal. But for a company that markets to all age groups or even a specific age group, this may not be the best way to market a business.

Even though some of the fastest growing age and gender demographics aren’t tech-savvy people in their 20s and 30s, this doesn’t mean that everyone is using social media, and businesses should marketing their brand and products accordingly.

Implementing social media as a piece of the entire marketing pie (with the “pie” being the budget or time and effort) is the only way to not only reach the demographic that uses Facebook, Twitter, and other social networking sites, but to also potentially reach customers who don’t even know what Twitter is.

Cross-Promotion With Other Mediums

As mentioned above, cross-promoting social media with other marketing mediums can help make it an effective piece of the pie.

Besides promoting social media giveaways via other marketing mediums, implementing an overall brand strategy that doesn’t make social media stand out, but rather makes it fit in, is what works.

Bravo TV

A good example of this is the way that Bravo (the TV channel) shows custom Twitter hashtags at the bottom of each of their main shows or events.

For instance, The Real Housewives of New Jersey may have the hashtag of #RHONJ.

The hashtag runs alongside other promotions of upcoming shows that run at the bottom of the screen, seamlessly adding it to Bravo’s total marketing of their television shows.

Bravo isn’t making a big deal about how they have a presence on Twitter.

They are recognizing that using Twitter to discuss what is on TV is now part of their viewership’s lives, and they are making it easy for fans to connect and discuss the show, together.

This is what integrating social media in other types of marketing and media is all about.

Whether a company is coming up with a marketing plan for a TV show or a new line of body wash, the underlying efforts of seamlessly integrating social media instead of focusing on it as the only way a company can have a marketing presence is what is important.

Yes, social media has changed the way we communicate; however we are all still speaking the same language (with occasional # symbols thrown in).