Is Social Media Worth Investing In?

Today I was asked what the biggest challenge I have had with social media, it was not a particular tweet or Facebook post, but was being able to show those who are not ‘sold on social’ why and how it is important.  Today we thankfully have more analytics around social media, but there is still a lot of social that is hard to put a number on and tie it to the bottom line.

In an article by Tara Hunt, a digital strategist, she says that she is “continually bowled over when [she hears] people complain about how their social media marketing doesn’t work.”  She believes that companies think that by paying for marketing it’s just magically works, yet she points that that “some Super Bowl ads go unnoticed – and that audience is one of the biggest captive audiences in the universe!”  Marketing and social media are still worth the risk as “it’s better to be finable than not…and good marketing means that you will be more finable AND have more credibility (if the branding is done right) when people do find you.”

So why should you put energy into social media, other than wanting to be there when someone looks?

Data/Analytics:
For certain channels, such as YouTube the analytics can show you exactly how your consumers are interacting with the videos you post.  The views will show you what consumers find interesting.  The drop-off time shows you when people get bored or the video is too long.  Facebook and Twitter analytics show you which pieces of content that people are actually interested in by liking, re-posting/re-tweeting, or commenting about.

Feedback:
Large companies spend large amounts of money on focus groups and have anthropologist study groups to find out what makes them tick, but with social media your customers’ opinions, wants, needs, desires are all right there in blog comments, forum topics, Tweets, status updates, photos…  According to a post by Jeff Bullas, there are “more than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) shared each month.”  If you could gather and harness the pieces that are shared about your company, think about all the information you would know that could drive marketing and even business decisions.

Engagement/Relationships:
Today’s social world allows companies to have two-way interaction with its customers.  Look at the post from last week about the impressive customer service that Delta Airlines is able to provide via @DeltaAssist.  Before this channel if you had a complaint or question you dialed a 1-800 number and waiting to elevator music until someone finally picked up and hopefully was able to help you in a timely manner.  Now companies can converse in real time with their customers, whether that is helping them with a question or just telling a customer thank you for visiting.  These virtual relationships that are forged make for loyal consumers who keep your brand at the top of their feeds (and mind) which ultimately translates into sales and increasing the bottom line.

So what do you think?  Is social worth investing in for businesses?  How would you explain a social effort to a CFO?

Why Does Emerging Media Matter?

Taking a look over the last decade, the access to broadband internet has grown exponentially, which has profoundly changed how media content is delivered.  Newspapers, radio, and TV have become a group of media that is called traditional media.  In most cases the media channels/platforms that have been provided to us via the internet are called emerging media.  Think Facebook, Pinterest, Twitter, Instagram, Blogs, etc.

According to WorldWideWebSize.com there is currently an estimated 3.64 billion indexed webpages, which means there is a lot of content out there, including a site for nearly every business and product we use.

So for these brands they have to find a way to get in front of their consumers, and in today’s world, they are online.   According to a Pew Research Center survey conducted in May of 2013, they found that 85% of adults in the U.S. use the internet.

Pew Research Center also list out some of the things that adult Internet users spend time on each day.  Here is a peek at some of the top activities:

	% of adult internet users in the U.S. who do this on a typical day▼	Survey month/year
Use a search engine to find information	59%	2/1/2012
Send or read e-mail	59%	8/1/2011
Use a social networking site like Facebook, LinkedIn or Google Plus*	48%	2/1/2012
Get news	45%	5/1/2011
Go online just for fun or to pass the time	44%	8/1/2011
Look for info on a hobby or interest	35%	8/1/2011
Check the weather	34%	5/1/2010
Look online for news or information about politics*	28%	8/1/2011
Look for information online about a service or product you are thinking of buying	28%	9/1/2010
Watch a video on a video-sharing site like YouTube or Vimeo	28%	5/1/2011

As you can see from these activities, many of them include opportunities to reach potential consumers through emerging media, whether that is through online advertisements or promotion and engagement through social channels.

To survive in today’s world with nearly 85% of adult consumers online, businesses need to understand why emerging media matters.  According to an article on Social Media Today, having a presence in emerging media, and specifically social media, “that is both engaging and engaged it helps reassure clients that [the] business is reputable and can be trusted.”   It also “humanizes [the] brand” and creates “real one to one relationships.”

To sum it up, emerging media matters because if businesses are not utilizing it they are missing out on making connections, creating greater brand awareness, and ultimately affecting the bottom line.

How do you feel about emerging media?  What is the best way to educate non-believers of social media?