Tuesday, March 26, 2013

At our stations, we recently had a local social media expert in to talk to our sales staff about why some clients are leaving traditional media for exclusively social media -- and he said this is foolish! Here are some other notes from that meeting.

• When you are talking about social media for marketing and business, you are only really talking about Facebook. Despite growth of others like Pinterest, Twitter, Tumbler, Instagram and others, only Facebook, which he described as the AOL of social media (because now your grandmother is on it) is the only relevant entity. He referred to Twitter as better for public relations, not marketing.
Social media is a support medium, not a complete marketing campaign. It should be integrated with other (broader reach media), but not replace it. If you are using Facebook, but not "sponsoring" or "promoting" the posts with cash, you are severely limiting your reach. Facebook still hasn't quite figured out their mobile app ... and most people's likes, reads, and interaction on Facebook is from mobile devices. Google Plus, designed to replace Facebook, is a no-go.

When using Facebook for marketing:

• PRODUCTS WORK, SERVICES DON'T
• When you can use video, pictures, contests and get the "people talking about" scores, you are doing well. That's easier for products and much harder for services. Plus, services like attorneys, insurance, and financial are so highly restricted for compliance.