As social media marketing matures, how can brands make the most of its potential? Photograph: Ognen Teofilovski/REUTERS
Social media marketing came of age in 2014 with Facebook named advertising medium of the year and big brands doubling down on their paid media investment. Marketers have begun realising that these channels have huge potential to drive results when done right. It’s a good time to take stock and think about what brands could be doing even better going forward and here are five suggestions I think should shake up the industry a little in 2015.
1) Deprioritise some Of that data
You’ll hear a lot about big data, but while statistics can be revelatory they’re more commonly the scourge of social media marketing. Just because you can follow every like, comment and retweet doesn’t mean you should – in fact the kinds of activities which pander to driving these digital actions tend to be the worst kind of digital marketing. So-called engagement metrics are at best measuring the tip of an iceberg and give only the slightest indications of whether your content is truly driving actual business results, offering surprisingly little correlation with actual return on investments (ROIs). The data that matters shows if you’ve truly affected the hearts and minds of your consumers, or ultimately driven them to purchase, and today any businesses can use simple online survey tools to monitor their ongoing brand metrics.
You’ll hear a lot about big data, but while statistics can be revelatory they’re more commonly the scourge of social media marketing. Just because you can follow every like, comment and retweet doesn’t mean you should – in fact the kinds of activities which pander to driving these digital actions tend to be the worst kind of digital marketing. So-called engagement metrics are at best measuring the tip of an iceberg and give only the slightest indications of whether your content is truly driving actual business results, offering surprisingly little correlation with actual return on investments (ROIs). The data that matters shows if you’ve truly affected the hearts and minds of your consumers, or ultimately driven them to purchase, and today any businesses can use simple online survey tools to monitor their ongoing brand metrics.
2) Realise that less is more
If engagement data has driven marketers to cats, babies and competitions then the seeming pressure to post something every day has driven them to stock photography and possible insanity. Consumers have no expectations of hearing from brands every day and actually probably a strong feeling that they’d rather not. Creating less content means brands can realistically put paid media behind every single post and ensure a meaningful number of people are reached with their message (something which correlates far better with ROI and sales). The answer to how many posts should I create is often pretty simple – how many can you afford to put paid media behind?
If engagement data has driven marketers to cats, babies and competitions then the seeming pressure to post something every day has driven them to stock photography and possible insanity. Consumers have no expectations of hearing from brands every day and actually probably a strong feeling that they’d rather not. Creating less content means brands can realistically put paid media behind every single post and ensure a meaningful number of people are reached with their message (something which correlates far better with ROI and sales). The answer to how many posts should I create is often pretty simple – how many can you afford to put paid media behind?
3) Tell true brand stories
Getting off the treadmill of daily creative executions means brands can put more effort into what they do post and they can stop jumping on every event and meme just to find something to say. Great social media content isn’t about tricking someone into clicking like, it’s about being remembered by that person days later. That means telling powerful stories, while staying true to your brand’s essence, and increasingly it will mean higher production values and more video. Remember that more people can now see a heavily-promoted Facebook post in a day than would see an advert you ran during the X Factor final.
Getting off the treadmill of daily creative executions means brands can put more effort into what they do post and they can stop jumping on every event and meme just to find something to say. Great social media content isn’t about tricking someone into clicking like, it’s about being remembered by that person days later. That means telling powerful stories, while staying true to your brand’s essence, and increasingly it will mean higher production values and more video. Remember that more people can now see a heavily-promoted Facebook post in a day than would see an advert you ran during the X Factor final.
4) Get more personal
If reaching millions of people with great content sounds too much like traditional broadcast media thenpersonalisation at scale is where unique digital creativity comes in. In 2015, there’s no reason to be reaching all your potential consumers with the same piece of creative when you can use simple targeting and basic adaptations (even just tweaking video thumbnails or lines of copy) to make it personally interesting to them all. Don’t take it too far though, as people aren’t ready to be stalked by adverts that address them by name.
If reaching millions of people with great content sounds too much like traditional broadcast media thenpersonalisation at scale is where unique digital creativity comes in. In 2015, there’s no reason to be reaching all your potential consumers with the same piece of creative when you can use simple targeting and basic adaptations (even just tweaking video thumbnails or lines of copy) to make it personally interesting to them all. Don’t take it too far though, as people aren’t ready to be stalked by adverts that address them by name.
5) Throw a laptop at a creative
Not just out of frustration that they’re pitching a complicated digital activity no one will ever do, but because they’re showing it to you on a laptop in the first place. In 2015 as much as three quarters of social media marketing will be seen by consumers on their mobiles so if you’re not considering how your campaign looks on a 5-inch screen then you’re out of touch. If some interactivity isn’t mobile compatible then why are you doing it at all?
Not just out of frustration that they’re pitching a complicated digital activity no one will ever do, but because they’re showing it to you on a laptop in the first place. In 2015 as much as three quarters of social media marketing will be seen by consumers on their mobiles so if you’re not considering how your campaign looks on a 5-inch screen then you’re out of touch. If some interactivity isn’t mobile compatible then why are you doing it at all?
Ok, violence in the workplace is never acceptable, but if 2015 is going to be the year that social media marketing truly starts delivering for brands then the industry does still need a bit of a common sense shake-up. Detailed consumer interaction and customer service are vital in some sectors, but anyone not seeing the chance to go large on social media is missing out on the biggest innovation of them all.
