Interesting Data About Social Ads

Link: Burn It Down, Start From Scratch And Build a Social Media Strategy That Works


In the previous class, we've talked about Search, Display, and Email in the digital marketing world. As we are moving to Social and Mobile, I read this article about how to build effective social media strategy.

"Social ads aren’t social; they’re just ads."

It's true that while many companies are chasing their presence and "likes" on social media, they are doing social wrong. The opinions in this article are not new, however, the author did share some interesting data about social ads. I think it's very informative and it helps us understand how to build social ads strategy to bring out the most of the "social" aspects.

Although the data parts are more interesting, here are some main takeaways we can recap from the article when building social media strategy:

-Create and measure a new definition of WOM, and get people talking to each other. 
Fake WOM gets people to click "like" on something the brand posted; real WOM gets people to tell others why they should trust, try and buy your product or service. Authentic word of mouth matters. Engage your happy customers and help them to share their experiences; intercept customers at moments of truth to encourage sharing; build P2P ratings and assistance into every mobile and web experience; connect people to each other in meaningful ways;

-Reconsider what department should lead your social media efforts.
PR or marketing?
Among Financial Service firms, just 38% see social media as a channel for retention; the majority sees it geared for acquisition and cross-sell. That means most of these firms are using social media to chase marketing strategies to drive sales (an approach we now know will fail) while the minority have social media strategies designed to improve customer satisfaction, reputation, loyalty and retention--goals generally not associated with Marketing but with Public Relations and Customer Care departments.

-Start listening to customers and responding with what they want and need. 
Brands that win in the social era will not be better at storytelling but in using social media to hear, help, educate, encourage, empower, connect and respond to their customers and prospects as individuals.