Are you new to the idea of Social Media Marketing and wondering if it’s right for you and your Kiwi business?
If that sounds like you, here are six things you need to know to determine if Social Media Marketing is appropriate for you.
1 Social Media is where your customers are
Roy Morgan Research reveals that in New Zealand we now spend almost half of our media consumption time online …
… and the biannual World Internet Project NZ data reveals that two-thirds of us (in this instance, “us” means Kiwi Internet users) visit social media networks at least daily.
In other words, where once the best place for marketers to find Kiwis in large numbers watching TV, listening to radio or reading newspapers or magazines, nowadays online in general (and social media in particular) is where we mostly choose to spend our time.
2. Social Media is where you can go to join the conversation
In the introduction to his 1999 book “Permission Marketing“, Seth Godin told us:
Whether it is the TV commercial that breaks into our favourite programme or the telemarketing phone call that disrupts a family meal, traditional advertising is based on the hope of snaring our attention away from whatever we are doing. Seth Godin calls this Interruption Marketing, and, as companies are discovering, it no longer works.
Interruption Marketing has no place in Social Media, either. It’s called “Social” for a reason — it’s all about conversations. Bring your sales pitch to a friendly chat and you’ll quickly get ignored.
Instead, be ready to listen, engage and build relationships with consumers and you’ll finally start to get somewhere.
3. Social Media is where you can get feedback about your brand and your products
If you provide a lousy product or service, you’ll hear all about it on Social Media. Here, people have a voice — and they’re not afraid to let their friends (and you) know what they think.
On the other hand, if you build a wonderful product, people will happily talk about that as well.
4. Social Media is where you can find people who may want to come to your website
Once you build a relationship with your followers, you can invite them to come and visit (and be comfortable that you won’t offend them).
Alternatively, you can pay for sponsored posts inviting people to your website (which will work, if your content is interesting and relevant to them).
5. Social Media is where you can actually make sales
Again, if you have the right sort of relationship with your followers, you can actually sell stuff directly to them.
Or, again, you can pay for product ads.
6. You will have to pay to reach people through Social Media
Once upon a time, you could create a Facebook page or a Twitter or Instagram account and lots of people would see your messages without you having to pay anything.
Those were great times but, alas, they couldn’t last, in this commercial world. Now, unless you pay to advertise, most of your social media messages will simply go unseen.
For many years, Facebook has been reducing what it calls Organic Reach (the number of people who see a post for free, without you paying to promote the post).
In early 2018, Organic Reach took yet another hit, as Digiday reports:
If any brands haven’t already shifted their Facebook strategy entirely to paid, then they may have to soon.
The social network is changing its news feed to prioritize what friends and family share, which will reduce the amount of content that users see from brands and publishers.
Agencies believe brands will have to spend more on paid ads on Facebook in order to get the same number of views — further lining Facebook’s pockets. This is just the “final nail in the existing coffin” of organic reach, said Doug Baker, director of strategic services at digital agency AnalogFolk.
Our own data confirms the local decline and fall of Organic Reach. We took a look at our New Zealand database of more than 23,000 Facebook pages as at 28 February 2018 and found that:
- 80% of NZ Facebook pages are now achieving less than 2% engagement
- Just 3% (750) of the NZ Facebook pages we measured achieved more than 10% engagement (people liking, sharing or commenting on their posts) in the previous week
- A mere handful of NZ Facebook pages (31, 0.13%) achieved better than 50% engagement — typically driven by the strong performance of a single post. Most then returned to normal low engagement in the following weeks
So what should you do? How can you learn more about Social Media Marketing, including what to do (and what not to do)?
Here’s where we can help. We offer a number of courses which can show you how to market effectively through Social Media:
FOR AN OVERVIEW OF ALL YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING OPTIONS
- Our thirteen-part Principles & Practice of Social Media Marketing course will take you through all the Social Media platforms relevant to New Zealand marketers.
JUST ABOUT FACEBOOK
- For those already operating a business page on Facebook, check out our Facebook Accelerator course by clicking here
- or (for those entirely new to Facebook) our Complete Facebook Marketing course here.
FOCUS ON INSTAGRAM
- Details of our Instagram Marketing course can be found here.
FOR B2B MARKETING ON LINKEDIN
- This course will show you how to use LinkedIn effectively.
IF YOU INTEND TO OUTSOURCE YOUR SOCIAL MEDIA MARKETING
- This course will take you through what you need to know to prepare an effective Social Media Marketing Brief
Welcome to the Social Media Marketing playground!
