Social media has evolved over the years from direct electronic information exchange to virtual gathering spaace, from a retail platform to a vital 21st-century marketing tool and it continues to mature. Today, it has become an integral part of our lives as it allows us to interact in ways we could never imagine.
For brands it is always important to stay abreast of the latest marketing and advertising techniques and social media is one such tool that you cannot do without. Most people enjoy communicating via social media or just surfing the internet and learning about the latest trends and new ideas. A savvy brand or business will find a way to communicate with potential customers using social media platforms.
However, executing a proper social media marketing strategy is now getting more difficult than ever before. Several studies show that engagement has been falling over the last few years. The algorithms are tightening up and favouring non-commercial posts or paid commercial posts, only rarely displaying commercial posts that aren’t ‘promoted’. There is also a lot of fake new circulating on platforms making it tough for brands to reach the right audience and hard for individuals to sort between what is real and what is corrupted.
It makes one stop and question whether it is worth the time, effort and money anymore. Is social media still a valuable and reliable marketing channel? Or is it now corrupted with influenced and fake news?
The Challenges
The selling point of social media has always been that it is disruptive, democratic, autonomous and open access. But reality is different. Social media is not free and all the ‘proven’ approaches are offered at a price. So brands pay platforms to get results, making social media not much different from traditional media channels. The only difference being that social media platforms possess superior information about their followers, which they exploit. Thus brands have to create sponsored content that might be more promotional in nature.
Social media has become just another marketing channel and most consumers do not want many or daily conversations with brands. Brands, meanwhile, have been running after likes and followers, concentrating on quantity rather than quality. Buying followers or likes might give the brand image a boost, but it actually does more harm than good. Buying likes or followers means those people have zero actual interest in the brand and are not going to engage with anything you post. However, the algorithms take into account your engagement levels. So buying likes or followers isn’t going to translate to an increase in sales or engagement.
Social listening is the buzzword. It’s all about seeing the big picture so that you can identify trends. It also allows you to better understand your niche and target audience, see the conversations happening around your competitors, understanding what types of content works for your audience, and then building better performing campaigns. However, with the rise of trolls, cyber bullies and the “consumer-mafia”, brands need to play their cards judiciously to avoid unnecessary controversies.
Hit or a Miss
Social media has the power to make or break the image of a brand. Let’s look at how these platforms have been used to pull up brands or break campaigns:
Amazon: The e-commerce platform found itself in the midst of a huge crisis for allegedly selling slippers, doormats, and toilet seat covers with the pictures of Hindu gods and goddesses. A user took to Twitter and shared the images which claimed to hurt the sentiments of a lot of people. People expressed their displeasure and urged the retailer to remove these products, with angry Twitterati calling to #BoycottAmazon.
Zomato: The online food discovery and delivery brand faced flack on social media in 2019, when a customer requested the app to change the delivery person on the pretext of the latter was not of his religion. In reaction, Zomata CEO and founder Deepinder Goyal took a stand by saying that the company as well as food does not discriminate on the basis of caste, creed, and religion. While a majority of people supported the stand but soon #BoycottZomato was trending on social media platforms.
Tanishq: A prime example of what happens if you create an ad with a social message but can’t stand by it. The Tanishq Diwali ad, a simple touching human interest story of a Muslim family taking care of its pregnant Hindu daughter-in-law, brought a lot of ire to the brand and social media was ablaze with calls to #BoycottTanishq. While the brand apologised for hurting sentiments, they took down the ad and then did the same with another ad a few months later. Read Tanishq and Facebook: A tale of two commercials.
Controversy can also be an effective way of getting noticed. Here are some campaigns that made it with the help of social media:
Gillette: Gillette’s “We Believe: The Best Men Can Be” ad had nothing to do with shaving. It instead challenged stereotypes. So when the brand waded into the fray of the #MeToo movement to promote a new kind of positive masculinity, it garnered both praise and scorn. However, the ad also went viral with over 30 million views! While people either loved it or hated it, overall it got unprecedented media coverage and customer engagement, especially from women and millennials. While brands need to be careful about social messaging and commenting on current affairs, done right it can be rewarding.
Nike: Colin Kaepernick Nike’s ad featuring ex-NFL quarterback Colin Kaepernick as the center of their “Believe in Something” campaign is one of the most controversial ads in recent memory. The ad thrust Nike into controversy that had already been smoldering around Kaepernick and it risked alienating countless consumers. However, the campaign announced in a simple tweet by Kaepernick generated at least $43 million in free advertising for Nike and sales skyrocketed by 31 percent.
Weight Watchers: This is a great example of a unique approach and how picking the right influencer can help brands recast their image to reach new audiences. Popular global artiste DJ Khaled became Weight Watchers’ official social media ambassador. DJ Khaled used his social channels to share his weight-loss program by using Weight Watchers’ program. DJ Khaled has big following that is young and social media savvy and he gave the brand the potential to connect with a whole new crop of clients.
So what should brands focus on?
Innovate: There is no winning formula to social media that everyone can pick up and use unchanged. Each brand or business needs to put its own spin on things to capture attention and make an impact. Seeing how social media is evolving, do not get too caught up in the tactics of what is currently working in social media, trends are not that important.
Set Goals: Do not jump in blind. Creating goals and a strategy for your brand’s approach to social media needs to be pointed and specific. Do you want to build a community or do you want your social accounts to drive more revenue? Your goals will define your content strategy and the time and money you need to dedicate to your campaigns.
Pick the right channel: Remember different platforms attract different audiences. So pick a social media platform based on the needs of your brand. Making assumptions will not help your business, research will. Make sure the platform you pick will help you reach the audience specific to your business.
Measure ROI: When it comes to business, the time spent on social media correlates to what you get out of it. To know whether or not your efforts are proving successful, you need to measure your ROI. You must know where your time and money is going. There are plenty of analytical tools available such as Google Anlytics, HubSpot, SproutSocial etc. that can be used to that end.
Meaningful Content: Social marketing isn’t just about instant interactive experiences rather it is about rich and relevant storytelling. It is import how the brand is being perceived and you can control the stories being circulated. Most importantly, good storytelling will ensure your customers know about your business’s products / services. You should focus on content that is meaningful to people.
When it comes to social media marketing, there are a lot of things to consider. There are benefits and downsides. But what is important to keep in mind is that, it is not for everyone. Each brand or business must analyse and discuss just how valuable social media presence could be. However, if done right, social media marketing can make a big difference to reach the target audience. Don’t get me wrong, social media is not dying, it is maturing and evolving. With the rise of disruptive technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Augmented Reality and Virtual Reality, users are about to get more immersed in the social experience than ever before. It is time to move beyond the hashtag and likes bandwagon and embrace the exciting future.