Insights On Social Media Marketing And Your Business

If you have a business, big or small, you no doubt have made investments in social media and mobile marketing. If your business is still asking why social media is a channel you should consider, recent insights might help you along. You want mileage for your brand or service and a wider reach for potential customers (ie to make real time contact with current and loyal customers) then having the right marketing tools, the right marketing team and the right marketing objectives will help grow your business.

Do you remember the hit marketing of the first “Deadpool” movie?, It created so much hype that it was a hit even before the movie was released. Ryan Reynolds was dead right to play Deadpool, but the marketing team of Fox studios was the right blend of old school and new school marketing. The teaser racked up 11 million views in just a few days. Their social media marketing was so good that every Facebook, Twitter and YouTube release were all trending.

Yes, your business can learn from the guerilla marketing Deadpool strategies but, you also need to think about how your marketing strategies should fit your brand and service.

At present, engagement is the name of the game when it comes to social media and mobile marketing. Creating conversation and shares are the main goals of social media and a meaningful engagement can equal to a meaningful return on investment. You have to remember why your business and other businesses are using social media: that is to create brand awareness and brand building.

Data And Insights To Consider For Your Social Media Marketing Strategy

Let’s look at some data presented in the February 2018 CMO Survey.

For those interested, here are the quantifiers. The survey sample was made up of 2,796 top U.S. marketers at for-profit companies and 362 respondents with a 12.95% response rate. The survey was administered using email with four follow up reminders. The survey in field is from January 9-30, 2018 with 98.3% of the respondents VP-level and above.

So according to the data collected, from August 2009 up to February 2018, social media marketing spending grew 243%. August 2009 saw just 3.5% spent on social media marketing as compared to February 2018 with 12%. That is a big leap.

It is also expected that social media marketer spending will still go up by another 71% in the next 5 years. Currently spending is at 12% and is expected to go up to 20.5% within the next 5 years.

There’s also a difference between business to business (B2B) and business to consumer (B2C) spending. B2B product and service is at 9.3% and 13.2% respectively, while B2C product and service is at 13.5% for both. The same trend is expected in the next 12 months and within the next 5 years.

B2C is up by a few percent compared to B2B which means that the social media marketing spending is focusing more on making consumers engaged, satisfied, educated and happy.

Marketers are spending more for relevant content to be published and shared with potential and loyal customers. More relevant and educational content like articles, videos, video blogs, infographics, eBooks, tutorials and others will be made available to customers to know more about the products they are planning to buy and influence them - ie the product or service that they are checking out is the right one for their specific needs.

Reasons Why A Business or Brand Uses Social Media

Below are the reasons companies are using social media marketing:

• Brand awareness and brand building – 46.6%
• Acquiring new customers – 32.6%
• Brand promotions – 29.0%
• Introducing new products and services – 28.7%
• Retaining current customers – 28.7
• Improving employee engagement – 21.8%
• Marketing research – 16.6%
• Identifying new customer groups – 13.5%
• Identifying new product and service opportunities – 10.2%
• Improving the current products and services – 8.3%

The survey also showed that the impact social media has made to businesses has improved in the last 4 years. 14.6% in August 2014 increasing to 23.3% February 2018. This means that businesses are getting the desired results by having the right social media marketing strategy.

Businesses that continue to adapt to modern technology will find success in creating brand awareness, building the brand and making people engaged and educated. Gone are the days or cold marketing and advertising. Consumers now want to get involved and have a direct relationship with the business or the brand. Social media marketing will link your business to people and people to your business in real time, and it builds trust. Once trust has been established between your business and your customers, they will be your unofficial brand ambassadors who will help your business further achieve its goals.

The next round of CMO surveys will be in July 2018

If you want to participate in the next round of the survey click here.

If you want to check on other results from the February 2018 survey click here.