Social Media Marketing – Why It’s Not Enough
Posted on 21. Jul, 2010 by Matthew Toren in Business, Entrepreneurship, Internet, Social Media
There’s little doubt social media marketing can be a valuable resource for both internet-based and brick and mortar businesses. But it’s just as important to know what it can’t do for you as to know its benefits. While you’ll see a lot of articles on this site and others touting the benefits of social media, the best strategy is to incorporate a mix of online marketing and traditional marketing techniques. Rather than replacing all methods of traditional marketing, the two can work hand-in-hand to optimize your overall marketing strategy. In case you’re not sure why you would want to use anything other social media marketing, here are 5 reasons to consider:
1. Not everyone uses social media – or even the Internet. Every time we post a story on this site or our YoungEntrepreneur.com site about Twitter or Facebook or any other social network, we invariably get comments from people saying they don’t use that network, they don’t like that network, or that they’ve been meaning to but haven’t started yet. This is proof that not everyone is using social media. Furthermore, there are still plenty of people who don’t have internet access at all, or just use it to check email. If you’re a blogger, those people clearly aren’t your target audience, but if you have a more traditional product or service business model, you’ll alienate a lot of potential customers if you assume everyone is online and on the same networks you are.
2. Wider reach. When you spread your marketing between online and “legacy marketing” strategies, like print, radio, and TV, you reach a wider audience. Again, assuming everyone is looking at the same medium is folly. Billions of dollars are still being spent on non-internet campaigns, because they still work, as long as they’re approached right and well-targeted.
3. Consistency. People don’t typically schedule when they’re going to be on Twitter or the specific time each day when they’ll check their Facebook page. On the other hand, people listen to the radio during drive time, and a great number of people read the paper or magazines and watch TV at specific times each day. When you need to get your message in front of your audience at least seven times on average before they act on your marketing, traditional marketing helps make sure that happens.
4. People don’t like it when you sell on social media. As we pointed out in a recent post, and several comments confirmed, those who try to sell on social media too much turn off their audience. On the other hand, we all expect to see ads in print publications, hear ads on the radio, and see commercials on TV. No one expects these media to be ad-free, so they’re a great opportunity to be as salesy as you want without putting people off.
5. Traditional is tried and true. Twitter and Facebook are both wildly popular right now. With hundreds of millions of people on social media, we can’t even imagine them going anywhere. On the other hand, that’s what people thought about MySpace just a few years ago, and while it’s still around, few serious businesses are devising MySpace strategies today. The point is: Social media is forever changing, and what we think is here to stay today is “so yesterday” tomorrow. Traditional marketing has been around for decades, and it shows no signs of disappearing in the near future. While newspapers have suffered great losses in recent years, magazine subscriptions are actually way up, and broadcast advertising is still fairly strong. It’s also very measurable, so you know how many people you’re reaching with your message.
Again, we love social media marketing and the potential it brings. In fact, there is no business that cannot benefit in some way from marketing through social media. It’s just that social media isn’t the only basket you want to have your eggs in. An approach that includes the best of all the marketing channels gives you a wider reach and the best results.
What kind of marketing are you using for your business? What has worked, and what hasn’t? Share with the community in the comments!
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13 Responses to “Social Media Marketing – Why It’s Not Enough”
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Corinne
21. Jul, 2010
Good article Matthew. I think that in today’s society a lot of companies focus all of their marketing efforts only into social media. While this is in fact very important, you make a good point in saying that not everyone is on social media- we may be missing some of our most important potential markets! Twitter has worked great for our company because it helps us update our customers on what’s going on and keep up with them.
Jason
21. Jul, 2010
Diversifying your marketing methods is imperative if you want maximal reach. As Matthew mentioned, not everyone will be using social media, so if you exclude everyone else, you are foregoing many potential customers.
This is a very intelligent article; traditional methods of marketing have become a bit overlooked since the advent of social media platforms, but they are still an integral part of any successful business. Good read.
Jason
http://twitter.com/StartupSidekick (Follow me on Twitter for entrepreneurial advice)
Credit Girl
21. Jul, 2010
Right! Kinda like diversifying your stocks, you need to diversify your audience as well so you can reach more people. However, if you use social media properly I’m sure that’d help you gain a lot of readers as well and build your online reputation.
Smooth Entrepreneur
22. Jul, 2010
Great article! I think the moral of the story is that you should not put all of your marketing eggs in one basket. Mixing it up between traditional and online marketing does give you a wider reach, and I have seen that personally. I hope other people take advantage of this advice.
Franchise Opportunities
23. Jul, 2010
Great piece of information. Today for any business marketing is very important. Along with traditional one must surely look forward to online marketing techniques.
tires
25. Jul, 2010
I think at the end of the day, this means we have to put all of our marketing eggs in more than one basket, much similar to the way it’s always been preached about with the way you make your money online. I would be interested to know just how many people still use MySpace compared to it’s day when that social media was on top of the world. I still think the number is relatively high but certainly not what it used to be. I personally need to diversify my marketing methods, I think sometimes we can all get caught up too often on one media that works for us, and we forget about expanding and getting a more broader vision for ourselves.
Till then,
Jean
Beaded Napkin Rings
01. Aug, 2010
I learned the hard way that pushing your sales on social media is not a very good thing. Ive lost almost 20% of fans when i was just posting my articles with prices. Good thing i realized right away what made people to leave so i fixed it on time.
Sharon Ball
03. Aug, 2010
Matthew, this is a great article and I think you’re on point with the insight you shared. Thanks for offering a fresh perspective.
Tej Kohli
04. Aug, 2010
Social Media is the best way for Branding and Generating Traffic , But If you are looking for conversion rate its very Minimum
LS 2208
06. Aug, 2010
Social media is growing, but honestly 99% of businesses aren’t even utilizing the most very basic functions of the Internet yet. Just last week I saw a big company website that had two locations and the phone number for both locations was the same. Meaning the web guy copy/pasted the phone number for both locations and nobody noticed. The two locations are in two different provinces in Canada.
The problem is that a lot of businesses still don’t value their websites at all. They slap together the cheapest thing they can just so they can say they have a website but they don’t care about it at all, so then their website doesn’t care about them either.
I think social media is great, but I still think a lot of businesses need to catch up to what was available in 2000, let alone 2010. :)
-Paul
Christine Morris
17. Aug, 2010
This is a great article. I think it is important to remember that Social Media is one of the many tools we have in our marketing toolbox. Although many people try to sell on Facebook and Twitter, it is important to remember that social media is about building relationships and steering potential customers toward your other methods of selling. Use social media to direct individuals to your site where they can find out more about your products. For customers who may not be using social media, your newsletters or traditional media are the tools for you.
Robert Jordan
31. Aug, 2010
Good points about using/abusing social media for marketing!
Mauricio Malchevic
22. Sep, 2010
Ideal combination = Blogging + SEO + Social Media + SEM