Introduction:
According to a recent research study social media marketing has allowed the companies to increase the overall market exposure (Dyer). Hence, it will be beneficial for the organization to invest in the social media marketing as it will generate high ROI.
Organizations in today’s highly competitive world are looking for different innovative methods and tools to differentiate themselves from other competitors and at the same time to attract more customers. Social media, in this regard, has gain high importance recently. More and more organizations are including social media marketing as one of the most important part of the overall marketing strategy (Fisher, 189-195).
In this proposal an attempt will be made to communicate the benefits of using social media as part of overall marketing strategy with the help of the statistics and facts. This will be followed by a set of recommendations for best social media marketing tools and cost effective ad campaigns.
There has been increasing trend of companies using different social media channels in order to attract more customers as shown in the image below:
(Henrikson)
It is evident from the above image that organizations are giving high priority to facebook and twitter as compared to other social media sites. Along with this, it can also be seen that companies prefer to use different blogs in order to enhance the overall PR and marketing activities. These trends can also be confirmed by the image below:
(Baird and Parasnis, 3)
All these companies are giving preference to social media marketing because of its increasing benefits and effectiveness in reaching the target market. According to a recent research study, around 89% of the marketing professionals are of the view that social media allows increasing business exposure (Dyer). Some of the top benefits achieved by the organizations from social media marketing are shown in the image below:
(Dyer)
Along with increasing business exposure social media marketing also allows the organizations to generate more leads, improve the search engine rakings, provide marketplace inside, and develop loyal fans as shown in the image below:
(Dyer)
Social media marketing is one of the most effective marketing tools, as it allows the organizations to directly interact and communicate with the target market and thus enhancing the overall CRM (Baird and Parasnis, 1-4). In order to make sure that social media marketing generates considerable ROI, it is important for the organizations to understand their specific needs and thus select the social media channel and ad campaign which are more suitable and beneficial (Hoffman and Fodor, 41-49).
The company can build up integrated social media marketing strategy by establishing facebook page and profile on twitter, LinkedIn, and Google+. The content creation on any of this social media tool will be almost free of cost and in turn will create a huge social media effect as shown in the image below:
(Social Reflextion)
Apart from this, Facebook provides different types of ad campaigns according to the budget and needs of the company like Cost per Click and Cost per Mile ad campaign. These ad campaigns allow the company to attract the relevant traffic and customers within limited budget. CPC means that facebook will charge for every click on the ad and CPM means that facebook will charge for every 1000th time the ad is displayed. Several companies are using these both ad campaigns in order to increase the overall exposure and reach to the target market.
Recommendations:
In order to get the best ROI from the social media marketing, following recommendations can be followed:
- Facebook is the best social media marketing tool to use. Facebook allows more flexibility to the marketers, as they can not only promote their videos but they can also market images and messages as well. The users on Facebook are increasing and thus providing the marketers with more options to interact with the target market (DeMers).
- Given a tight budget, the company can work on increasing the social presence on different social media channels and work on building strong communication network with the customers and target market. The social media will generate word of mouth and increase the overall exposure of the company.
- CPM and CPC both are effective ad campaigns and can be used according to the needs and requirements. If the nature of the advertisement is that no one will click on it then CPC will be more cost effective and if the company wants more click then CPM will more cost effective.
Conclusion:
Hence it can be concluded that investing in social media marketing strategy will be beneficial for the organization, as mentioned by DeMers that social media marketing will grow in the coming years. The company needs to come up with effective and efficient social media marketing strategy in order to attract more customers. The success of social media marketing is dependent on the customized social media strategy according to the needs and requirements of the company. With the help of the well thought and planned social media strategy the organization can improve the overall ROI through this cost effective marketing medium.
Works Cited
Baird, Carolyn, and Gautam Parasnis. From social media to social CRM: reinventing the customer relationship, the second part in a two part series. NY: IBM, 2011. Online. 11 Nov. 2013. http://public.dhe.ibm.com/common/ssi/ecm/en/gbe03416usen/GBE03416USEN.PDF
DeMers, Jayson. The top 7 social media marketing trends that will dominate 2014. Sep. 2013. Online. 11 Nov. 2013. http://www.forbes.com/sites/jaysondemers/2013/09/24/the-top-7-social-media-marketing-trends-that-will-dominate-2014/
Dyer, Pam. The top benefits of social media marketing – infographic. Jul. 2013. Online. 11 Nov. 2013. http://socialmediatoday.com/pamdyer/1568271/top-benefits-social-media-marketing-infographic
Fisher, Tia. "ROI in social media: A look at the arguments." Journal of Database Marketing & Customer Strategy Management 16.3 (2009): 189-195
Henrikson, Jenise. The growth of social media: an infographic. Aug. 2011. Online. 11 Nov. 2013. http://www.searchenginejournal.com/the-growth-of-social-media-an-infographic/32788/
Hoffman, Donna L., and Marek Fodor. "Can you measure the ROI of your social media marketing." MIT Sloan Management Review 52.1 (2010): 41-49.
Social Reflextion. The social media effect. Online. 11 Nov. 2013.http://visual.ly/social-media-effect
